Over Labor Day, cyclists in Cedar Springs and Midland raised nearly $10K for the Gardens of Hope campaign, funds that will help partner Jeremie Rising invest in the education of more than 200 Haitian children.
JAMES DEATON
Content Editor
Over two dozen United Methodists, from beginners to avid cyclists, pedaled for a purpose over Labor Day weekend to raise funds and give a boost to the Michigan Conference’s Gardens of Hope campaign. The fundraising campaign, extended by the 2026 Michigan Annual Conference, aims for every United Methodist local church in Michigan to give at least $350 to reach its goal.
Give now to the Gardens of Hope campaign.
The Michigan Conference Haiti Task Force sponsored the Bike Ride for Haiti, with cyclists riding the Pere Marquette Rail Trail from Midland to Clare on Saturday and the White Pine Trail from Cedar Springs to Big Rapids on Monday. A host of volunteers also assisted with check-in, offered encouragement and water at rest stops, and drove SAG vehicles as needed.
Rev. Rob Nystrom, pastor of Roscommon: Good Shepherd UMC, led the rides on each race day and expressed gratitude to those who biked and raised money to support the ongoing growth of our mission partners in Haiti.
“Thanks to all who helped with the ride,” expressed Nystrom. “Funds are still being received, and it sounds like the ride will have raised between $8,000 and $10,000. I am looking forward to celebrating that final result. I will be over-the-top happy if we reach $10k, which is 10% of the remaining conference goal.”
The Gardens of Hope campaign aims to raise $200,000 to invest in four mission partners in Haiti and has already surpassed $107,000, with 168 local churches participating so far. Churches that haven’t given yet are encouraged to take up an offering or plan their own fundraiser. Read about the soup fundraiser Georgetown UMC held earlier this spring.
The Labor Day bike fundraiser also signals that teachers and students are returning to school in the United States and in Haiti. Jeremie Rising, one of the four partners supported by the Gardens of Hope campaign, is investing in children and youth in Haiti by providing tuition sponsorships that help them reach their potential and contribute to their communities.
Started in 2019 by United Methodists John and Nancy Smith, members of Birmingham: First UMC near Detroit, Jeremie Rising is grateful for the investment local churches are making through the Gardens of Hope campaign in the lives of people in and around Jérémie, Haiti, a port city of more than 200,000 in the southwest department (province) of Grand’Anse.
Explore Jeremie Rising’s new website to learn more.
Because of Haiti’s fragile economy, many parents struggle to feed their children and lack the extra money to send them to school. It’s often a choice between one or the other. Jeremie Rising helps Haitian families keep their children in school through tuition sponsorships. Currently, about 200 children receive scholarship money to stay enrolled.
John Smith notes that part of the scholarship money will help fund book stipends so children can study at home.
“We’ve learned over the years,” explains Smith, “that we can provide tuition, but if the kids don’t have books to take home, it has an adverse effect on their schooling. We had assumed that parents could pick up the cost of uniforms and books, which was true in some cases but not in others. So we’re asking our ground team to pay attention to the family’s ability to cover these costs and make sure the kids have the books they need to study at home.”
Thanks to generous United Methodists, Smith is pleased to report that part of the earmarked funds Jeremie Rising has received so far from the Gardens of Hope campaign (about $16,000) will cover a quarter of this year’s tuition scholarships. Local churches are investing in Haiti’s future by making a difference in children’s lives and education.
Smith also wants to share two new education-related areas of growth that Jeremie Rising is working on, in addition to expanding tuition and stipend sponsorships.
Jeremie Rising is building a new school in the village of David, where they built a church in 2019, to provide a better learning environment for children. The new school in this remote village will include satellite Internet access, improving communication and resources for the village. Read more about the building of the new school on Jeremie Rising’s blog.
He also notes that plans are in place to support promising graduates, who routinely score 90% or above grade by grade and want to go further, with stipends for trade school or university education to create job opportunities and invest in the community.
“The theory,” says Smith, “is that those are the kids who are going to help everybody else, with their creativity, with their innovation. They’ll create job opportunities and create that virtuous upward cycle.”
Smith explains the overall impact of education on the lives of Haitian children: “Growing up in the United States, we realize the value of education, but we also have a huge safety net. There is no such thing in Haiti, so education, to some degree, gives people the tools to create that for themselves. But spiritually, it’s far more valuable for kids to feel like they belong to something — a class, a school — and that somebody cares enough to keep them in school. It’s all about delivering hope with Jeremie Rising, not just on the tuition side, but also on the medical side. I don’t think there’s any more valuable commodity when people are put upon.”
Thanks to funds from the Gardens of Hope campaign, Jeremie Rising can also conduct mobile medical clinics. Jeremie Rising focuses, as noted on their website, on “forms of assistance where the need is greatest and where our ground team is most effective.” That includes mobile medical clinics, K-12 tuition sponsorships, building shelter homes, and other ministries.
“In the month of July alone,” notes Smith, “we organized three mobile medical clinics in three different villages where over 600 men, women, and children in a day were seen and treated at no cost to them. So the Gardens for Hope campaign absolutely helped us cover the cost of those three mobile medical clinics, and we’re happy for that.”
Last Updated on September 22, 2026