God Cares Outreach and YBLA Donate Home to Single Mother in Belize City

In a heartwarming display of community spirit and generosity, NGO, God Cares Outreach, in collaboration with the Young Black Leadership Alliance (YBLA) donated a home to a single mother in Belize City. The organizations recently completed the construction of a new home for the deserving member of their community church. The home is fully furnished and is ready to move in. This marks the second home built by the organizations, underscoring their commitment to fostering hope and stability through volunteerism. Derrick Pitts, the Founder of God Cares Outreach, spoke with Love News about the heart behind the initiative.

Derrick Pitts, Founder, God Cares Outreach: “One of those, another thing that we do is the house built for single moms. And this is what we’re doing here for Miss Heidi. This is the second house that we’re building. So we built one first in the Jane Usher area and we’re building the second one in the Antelope extension. And the cool thing about it is that we partner with this organization, YBLA, out of Charlotte and Miss Heidi today believed that she’s just receiving a house, but little does she know that it’s a fully- furnished house. I mean everything is in there so when she walks in there it’s a turnkey I can sleep in my bed kind of thing.”

Reporter: Talk to me about the value of the house.

Derrick Pitts, Founder, God Cares Outreach: “Well we purchased this property and our plan is to put more than one house on this property so we’ll put at least two or three of the houses on this property and then the house to build the house with the furnish and everything it’s running us close to like sixty thousand now. She’s originally from Guatemala but she’s very involved in the church and volunteers for like six years. She has been feeding the kids at one of our sites for six years not receiving a salary. And so when it comes around for us to identify who will be the single mom that will receive the house it came up to be her. And she’s currently living with her mom but in her house there is like three other families living in that house. So for Miss Heidi  this is a dream come true. And I tell, I always tell people, this is not just a building project for us. This is us restoring dignity, and then also changing the trajectory of these kids’ lives, because she has two boys, to grow up and know that we have our own house, we sleep in our own bed, we have proper decent living condition. So it’s not just about building a house for us, it’s actually restoring hope and adding dignity to somebody’s life.”

The project brought together volunteers from both organizations who dedicated their time and skills to make the dream of homeownership a reality for a family in need. Chavis Longhorn, College Ambassador of YBLA, told us about the organization’s focus on empowering young leaders and encouraging volunteerism.

Chavis Longhorn, College Ambassador, YBLA: “We’ve served in a few different countries throughout the years. We’ve served in Haiti. We’ve served in Jamaica as well. We’ve also, back in the states, we do a lot of local service. Like Mackenzie said earlier we’re a headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. We’re also in Atlanta, Georgia as well. We do service around our local communities as well as abroad.”

Reporter: Do you guys come to Belize often? Is this your first project in Belize? Let’s talk a little bit about the relations that you have with Belize.

Chavis Longhorn, College Ambassador, YBLA: “So this is actually our second trip to Belize. Last year we had the opportunity, we were able to be a blessing, we were blessed and were able to be a blessing to another family as well. We built another house last year, so this is actually gonna be our second house. We have connections with Pastor Derek, as Mackenzie mentioned earlier. That’s kinda how we got connected to Belize and that’s how we started this partnership.”

Reporter: Where did you guys build that first house? 
Chavis Longhorn, College Ambassador, YBLA:“The first house is actually still in Belize City. It’s actually not too far from here. Volunteer work, it’s one of our, like I said before, one of our pillars of service and volunteering and serving, it’s just a natural thing that we all have in us. One of the quotes that Dr. Martin Luther King said, “anybody can be great because anybody can serve.” And in that, we take that on, we really feel that and we know that we’re all capable of serving as you all see here with the house. I mean, some people had to paint, some people had to go shopping for different things inside. Some people, as you can see the gravel, we had to shovel the gravel as well. I mean service is not hard work it’s heart work. It’s something that you do from the heart and the feeling is unmatched. I mean, though physically you may be tired but you’ll feel rewarded once you can see the things that you’re doing and the blessings that you’re being able to be to other people.”

The recipient expressed gratitude for the donation.