| The Leadership and Staff of Haiti Fund Inc. | |||
Officers
of the Board
Michael & Nicole Carlin - New Directors
During this period, Nicole had a variety of jobs, not the least of which was the home schooling of their four children. A graduate of Messiah College in Lancaster, PA, she has a degree in elementary education and is a commercial artist. In addition, she worked for CCO Campus Ministry in a capacity similar to Mike’s, and assisted in the work of Campus Ministry. She served as the Teaching Director for the Pittsburgh East class of the well known Bible study program, Community Bible Study which focuses on doing Bible study as part of a local community – with a broad spectrum of participants from various denominational perspectives. As a Teaching Director for the Pittsburgh area, her responsibilities included the shepherding of class leaders and preparation of weekly lectures. She is a frequent speaker in university settings, and has led weekend retreats. After practicing their faith in Pittsburgh for several years, Mike, Nicole, and family sensed a call to ministry away from the comforts of home. Haiti presented the opportunity to do this and they are excited to be moved in and working in CODEP in Haiti. Mike and Nicole have four children – Sam, 11 (very talkative and interested in a broad range of things); Sophia, 9 (who has a natural-born sense of serving others and being welcoming and friendly); Tessa, 7 (one with a very inquiring mind and who is into exploring all sorts of things); and Riah, 5 (who loves to try to do all the things his older brothers and sisters are doing). Now living in L’Acul, Haiti, they are busy learning about new adventures, and taking care of fish and kittens. In January, they expect to have Sharon Bush live with them as a self-funded intern to assist in schooling the children. The family is currently working on learning Haitian Creole and are making remarkable progress. Learning the culture is important too, and they plan to do this by extensively walking the CODEP project, sometimes with some or all of the children in tow.
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The Carlins have been living in Pittsburgh the
past 12 years where Mike initially worked as a laboratory chemist
for a University of Pittsburgh professor after graduating from
Penn State with a BS in Biochemistry. Spending two years there
doing research in genetics and encouraged to go to graduate
school in biochemistry, he instead felt called to work
with Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO). CCO is a Pittsburgh-based
organization that equips individuals to do ministry on college
campuses. Mike was called as Campus Minister for the University
of Pittsburgh, and worked out of Bellefield Presbyterian Church,
where he and Nicole are members. He was a Campus Minister for nine
years and left this position at the end of August, 2007. This work
honed his skills in leadership development, which is one of his
many talents. During the intervening time, he has been a subcontractor
in the housing and commercial development industry in Pittsburgh.
His carpentry skills led him to build the home they live in – located
in an urban setting in Pittsburgh. They purchased a dilapidated
house, tore it down and built an energy efficient, three-story
home in its place.