Hearts United with Haiti

Crystal with her family on vacation in Mexico- 2009

Crystal with one of the girls (and a group of children) at Life is Wealth Orphanage in Port au Prince, Haiti.

Crystal Funk  
         Founder/Executive Director of Hearts United with Haiti                    

Born Sept. 15, 1961 in Pennsylvania, USA, Crystal has been married for 40 years to her husband Ron and has three daughters ranging in age from 35 to 30 years old.  She is also the proud "Grammy" to 3 little girls. Ron and Crystal live in Coastal North Carolina since the spring of 2018. Prior to that they lived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where Ron owns his own "over the road" trucking business and where Crystal used to work in a Middle School as a Title One Tutor for 7th and 8th graders in Reading and Mathematics (though her degree is in Physical Therapy).  Crystal worked in education for over 12 years.  Perhaps that is why the prospect of bringing education to a group of children who would otherwise not receive it was so exciting to her originally.  (and the health care background helps with her interest in medical care for Haitians)  She has seen first-hand the impact lack of education has on youth- working mainly with "at risk" teenagers to help them stay in school and not drop out as a result of their difficulty in learning.  

Crystal has been involved in mission work for many years- both as a participant, as support staff on trips, and as a leader.  She did extensive work stateside following Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast and then abroad in Haiti for the summer of 2010- working with an amazing missions organization and helping them serve short term mission teams in the Carrefour area.  She also has lived in Haiti for up to 3 mos at a time off and on since 2010 and travels currently whenever there is a mission group in country with the organization. Otherwise, her position has become more administrative because our Haitian staff run the daily ministry in Haiti.  (she has trained and equipped them to do so and this is exactly God's plan)  

In addition to mission work, Crystal and Ron were lay senior high youth leaders at Living Rock Bible Church in Elverson, PA for many years and she also taught Sunday School at her former church for years before that-  grades 5/6.  She was involved in starting a Bible Quizzing team at her church in Pennsylvania and coached/coordinated that ministry for 3 years.  Other interests include photography and travel/meeting new people.  Crystal has a heart and love for people and is often encouraging them (particularly teens/young adults) to reach beyond themselves to serve others.  
  
After traveling to Haiti many times and talking to many people in the US about her work in Haiti, she started to see just how God was using all those past experiences to prepare her for service in Haiti.  So, the idea of Hearts United with Haiti was "born".  The goal of this organization is to connect people- individuals and churches in other countries with those in Haiti and to provide a way that they can support one another- whether that support be prayer, physical (labor to do the work), financial (raising funds for various projects) or emotional (just to provide a "listening ear" and/or mentorship) in nature.  Currently Hearts United with Haiti is working to serve in a few different areas of Haiti- such as the remote community in Bas-Citronniers (outside Leogane), the community of Carrefour, a few families outside Mirebalais, and a few we still work alongside in Chaveneau (our original ministry location near Les Cayes).  

Crystal is VERY excited and feels blessed to be part of these projects and would love to talk to you about how YOU can be part of it as well!!  ("the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few"- Matthew 9:37-  let's change that together!!  We need MANY "workers" to assist in these projects- there is something for everyone to do!)