Dreams and Dignity Foundation
When he was 16 years old, Jean immigrated to West Palm Beach, Florida from Arcahaie, Haiti, a small town just about 32 miles north of the capital Port-au-Prince. He says “I remember what it felt like when I landed at the airport in Miami. Finally, I had made it, in my eyes, to the greatest country on earth, the United States of America.” That excitement was short lived because he didn't speak any English and found it very difficult to adjust to his new life. Despite how tough life was in Haiti, it was still his home. It was the place that built his foundation and where he had friends.
For the next three years after arriving in West Palm Beach, he would make trips back home for various family matters. What he realized was that every time he would board a flight to return to the United States, he would spend hours thinking about those still there and wonder why people had to live that way. Why God’s children would be deprived of the most basic necessities like food, shelter and clothing.
He spent a few years in high school in Florida and on one fateful night in the winter of 1996 as he was hanging out at a Subway sandwich shop on 45th Street in West Palm Beach, the owner, Lewis Smalls, noticed him and said “have you ever thought about attending college.” After thinking for a moment, he replied “ yes, but I have no idea where to start.” Lewis made arrangements for Jean to visit his alma mater Bethune- Cookman College that summer. Ultimately, Jean decided to give it a try and enrolled at Bethune-Cookman that fall. College was the hardest transition of his life. While he had received his high school diploma, he was still learning English. That fact combined with working on a degree and trying to fit into American culture at the same time made it a difficult road.
Despite the challenges, Jean managed to keep decent grades, worked on his English, and joined a fraternity. He graduated in five years with degrees in International Business and Literature, and more importantly, met the girl who would later become his biggest supporter, the mother of his children and the love of his life!
Jean worked a couple of different jobs after graduating and then eventually ended up in Cincinnati, OH. While living and working in Cincinnati, Jean started attending Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church. It was there that he encountered the newly installed Pastor, Reverend Dr. Elliot Cuff. He challenged Jean every Sunday from the pulpit, but more importantly he introduced his "Vision 8" initiative for the church, developing paragraphs that he would ask the congregation to recite on the first Sunday of every month. In there were these words "we must work hard to help alleviate the suffering of the poor and meet the needs of the disenfranchised." That is when Jean decided that he must find a way to give back to his home country and the small town he grew up in where he knew for sure he could make a significant impact on the lives of the poor and most disenfranchised. With the help of his wife and a couple of friends, he started the nonprofit Education Beyond Borders, now called Dreams and Dignity Foundation.
Everyone has a different calling in life and Jean would be the first to tell you that he is still sorting through his, but what he knows for certain is that he can and hopes to continue to inspire many lives in that small town north of Haiti's capital because he is their living proof of what dreams and dreams with dignity can produce! He hopes you support this cause, but if not this cause, he’d like to challenge you to find a way to lend a helping hand in your community, your church, your workplace and help the next man or woman realize his or her biggest dreams. For it is in helping others that we realize our biggest dreams.