RDO is Proud to Support the Amazing Work of Christel House

RDO and the timeshare industry as a whole is passionate about giving back to communities in need and supporting people both locally and around the world. While of course it is very important to provide an excellent service to our owners and guests, we also understand that there are many around the world who are not fortunate enough to be able to enjoy vacations. In fact, shockingly, even in this modern age there are still hundreds of millions of people who barely have enough to eat or drink, and millions of children who receive little or no education.

This is a tragic international injustice considering the vast wealth that exists globally, and despite growing global prosperity, inequality is rising in many regions of the world. On the other hand there has been a massive increase in global consciousness towards ending the inequality and poverty that exists, with a huge number of charitable organisations being set up to combat this problem. One of these is the brilliant Christel House, a charity that has been supported by many RDO members for a number of years.

This is a charity dedicated to transforming the lives of impoverished children around the world, by helping to break this cycle of poverty and building self-sufficient, contributing members of society. The charity operates from a holistic approach at its core: rather than merely focusing on education, feeding or providing health care, the charity aims to perform all of these vital tasks, in order to help some of the poorest and most vulnerable young people in society. This is accomplished for the children that Christel House works with from early childhood through to early adulthood, in order to develop the total child who will then go on to live a successful adult life.

No child chooses to live in poverty, but sadly the millions of children that are unfortunate enough to be born into this situation never realise the amazing human potential that they posses. There are certain birth rights that all children should be able to expect growing up; living in a loving stable family with sufficient food and drink, adequate shelter and education. Instead of this, the children that Christel House aims to support grow up in lives of poverty facing physical and psychological trauma – hunger, malnutrition, disease, low self-esteem and lack of opportunity. These are all things that no-one should have to face, especially the most vulnerable members of our society, children and teenagers.

This is why the amazing work that Christel House has been doing since it was started by Founder and CEO Christel DeHaan is absolutely vital. The charity is helping children that would ordinarily face a harsh life of struggle and poverty and instead provides them with just the right start in life for them to go on to lead happy, productive and fulfilling lives. The charity has programs that focus on key areas of a child’s life: education, nutrition and health care, character development, college and careers, and community outreach.

What sets Christel House apart from practically every other large charity in the world is that not only do they aim to address the root causes of poverty through a holistic human development model, but also 100% of donations directly benefit children. Through the structure of the charity, all administrative expenses are paid for by Founder and CEO Christel DeHaan. You can be guaranteed that every single part of any donation you give to Christel House will directly go to benefitting the people it is intended for, the children that the charity supports.

“Christel House embodies the philosophy of 12th Century Philosopher, Maimonides—“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Our Outcomes:

• Our graduates have the dignity, comportment, values, skills and abilities to make a positive contribution to society
• Our students stay in school, graduate, continue their studies and gain employment
• Our commitment to students is often 20 years or more—from kindergarten to career
• Our model creates a “multiplier effect,” as once the cycle of poverty is broken, all future generations benefit”

In addition to regular support throughout the year from many RDO members, there are also substantial donations made to Christel House at the annual RDO Conference which as mentioned earlier all go towards the children the charity supports.

On top of this RDO is a proud sponsor of the annual RCI Christel House Open international charity golf tournament. This year is the 15th edition of this event which promises to be the biggest and best yet, with 11 tournament sites and expanded dates in 2017. As with all other areas of the charity, 100% of proceeds raised by this brilliant annual tournament directly benefit the children of Christel House. For more details on the tournament, click on the link here: http://christelhouse.org/event/christel-house-open/

As you can see Christel House makes a massive difference to the lives of the children it supports in India, South Africa, Mexico and the US. We would also like to offer a big thank you from us at RDO for anyone and everyone who has supported Christel House through donations and spreading the word about this amazing charity.