As Chances for Children marks its 20th anniversary, the organization is preparing to celebrate two decades of work in Haiti at its annual Night of Hope Gala. But the story of what became a lifeline for thousands of children began with one couple, one trip, and three children who changed everything.
Craig and Kathi Juntunen expected retirement to be quiet. After leaving their successful consulting firm in 1998, the Valley couple filled their days with golf and skiing.
Then, during a round of golf, a friend told Craig about adopting a child from Haiti. The conversation awakened a curiosity about the country and about adoption. In 2005, those questions carried Craig and Kathi to a Haitian orphanage.
“The purpose of that first trip was really pretty simple,” says Kathi, who went on to found Chances for Children and now serves as its president. “We wanted to visit the orphanage, learn more about the work they were doing and become involved financially. Craig and I had also talked about adoption. What we didn’t realize was just how much that trip would change the direction of our lives.”
The flight from Florida to Haiti takes about 90 minutes. The distance on a map is small. To Kathi, the difference between the two places felt immense.
“It’s hard to describe just how different Haiti is from the United States,” Kathi says. “The roads are mostly gravel and dirt, filled with cars that have seen better days. You don’t see telephone poles, electrical infrastructure or the basic services we take for granted, such as police, fire departments or ambulances. Open air markets are where people shop, and there is very little basic infrastructure.”
Yet hardship was only part of what she encountered.
“What struck me just as much as the poverty was the people. They were welcoming, joyful and incredibly resilient.”
At the orphanage, three children transformed a fact finding trip into something deeply personal.
“They found us,” Kathi says. “Or, more appropriately, God brought us together.”
Craig noticed Amelec first. The boy was throwing a ball with such natural athleticism that Craig, who had played football in the Canadian Football League, was immediately drawn to him.
“Then Esperancia appeared and walked past us,” Kathi says. “She suddenly broke into this animated walk that I had seen Craig do from time to time. It was as if she was copying him without ever having met him.”
Quinn arrived at the orphanage door during the same trip. He was only three months old.
In 2006, Craig and Kathi became parents for the first time when they adopted Amelec, Esperancia and Quinn. Kathi remembers the children staring in wonder at the city lights after coming from a village without electricity.
Becoming their mother made Haiti personal. It also gave Kathi a new understanding of parents who love their children but cannot provide food, medicine or safety.
“I can’t imagine being in a position where you love your child deeply but don’t have the resources to provide food, medical care, safety or a future.”
While the adoptions were underway, the orphanage caring for the children suddenly ran out of funding. Craig and Kathi stepped in, believing their involvement would be temporary.
That emergency became the beginning of Chances for Children, which Kathi & Craig founded in November 2006.
“I don’t think we ever set out with the intention of starting an organization,” Kathi says. “One thing led to another, however, and before we knew it, we were not only adopting three children, but also taking responsibility for running and funding the orphanage.”
What began with 45 children in one orphanage grew into a network of programs serving children and families across Haiti. Kathi began traveling there regularly, often six times a year. She also lived in Haiti for a year and a half with her daughter while Chances for Children built facilities and hired and trained Haitian staff.
As the organization grew, its mission expanded beyond orphan care. Kathi came to understand that protecting children also meant giving parents the resources to care for them.
“The first time I sat across from a mother who wanted to give her little girl up for adoption, I witnessed something I will never forget,” Kathi says. “It wasn’t a lack of love that led her to that decision. It was love that made the decision necessary.”
That encounter helped shape the organization’s approach. Whenever possible, Chances for Children works to prevent poverty from separating children from parents who love them.
“Mrs. Jean Marc originally came to us wanting to give us her youngest son because she didn’t have enough food to feed her children, and her son was very sick,” Kathi says. “Whenever a child has a living birth mother, we do everything we can to try to keep that child with his or her family.”
Chances for Children enrolled the children in a feeding program and school and connected them with medical care. Mrs. Jean Marc entered the organization’s business training and micro-loan program. Her husband joined its agriculture program.
Today, the family grows food for itself and its neighbors, and Mrs. Jean Marc sells crops at the local market.
“They still have a ways to go before they reach true sustainability, but they are on a very solid path. That’s exactly what we hope to accomplish.”
For Kathi, stories like theirs keep the mission grounded in individual lives.
She often thinks of Lionel.
“I remember taking a mission team to one of our remote feeding programs. On our third day, a woman brought us a little boy. He was about a year old, malnourished, dehydrated, and weighed only seven pounds.”
The woman was Lionel’s great aunt. His mother and twin brother had died. His father was a farmer who could not remain home to care for him.
“She begged me to take this little boy and give him a chance at a better life.”
Today, Lionel is thriving with his adoptive family. They continue to attend the organization’s annual Night of Hope so supporters can meet the child whose life their generosity helped save.
“Behind every statistic is a real child, a real family and a life that can be changed.”
Over the past 20 years, the work has also demanded decisions under extraordinary pressure.
After the 2010 earthquake, Chances for Children needed to evacuate 12 children whose adoptive families were waiting in the United States.
Kathi and her team borrowed a satellite radio, rented helicopters and secured a charter plane.
“The charter plane landed and had only a 45 minute window to remain on the ground and wait for the children,” Kathi says. “Once they arrived at the airport, we lost contact again.”
With only 10 minutes remaining, communication was restored. Staff found the plane and got the children safely aboard just as the pilots were being told to leave.
“It still gives me chills thinking about that day.”
The challenges facing Haiti have changed again. Gangs now control much of Port au Prince and surround Kenscoff, the mountain community where the Chances for Children campus is located.
“Travel to the capital and up to our campus is now impossible.”
Kathi has instead traveled to Cap Haitien, where the organization is expanding its feeding and agriculture programs.
“Even though the circumstances have changed, our work continues.”
Two decades after Craig and Kathi stepped in to keep one orphanage open, Chances for Children serves more than 10,000 children across 16 Haitian communities.
Its feeding programs reach approximately 9,000 children. About 600 students attend school without paying tuition, and more than 2,000 children receive medical care each year. The agriculture program supports 315 farmers, while business training and micro-loans help families create sources of income. Chances for Children also employs approximately 150 Haitians.
“Every number has a story behind it.”
The organization’s 20 years of service will be honored at the 14th Annual Night of Hope Gala on Friday, November 13th, at Clayton House. The evening is both a celebration of what Chances for Children has accomplished and an essential source of support for what comes next.
Night of Hope generates approximately 40 percent of the organization’s annual funding, much of it from the Arizona community.
“What I love about our community is that people don’t just write a check, they become personally invested. They want to know the children, understand the work, and be part of the solution.”
That support is especially urgent now.
“Chances for Children operates 17 feeding programs,” Kathi says. “We are having to restrict the number of children we can serve simply because our funding cannot keep up with the need.”
The years in Haiti have also transformed the way Kathi sees her own life.
“In the beginning, I would come home and hear people at the health club complaining about a lukewarm latte, and I would want to say, ‘What do you have to complain about?’”
“Over time, though, I learned that judgment wasn’t the answer. Instead, Haiti taught me to develop a daily practice of gratitude.”
“Every day I thank God for the many things we often take for granted; running water, electricity, a flushing toilet, food, access to healthcare, and so much more.”
As Chances for Children enters its third decade, Kathi points away from herself when she talks about what the organization has become.
“Thanks to hundreds of people who decided they wanted to be part of something bigger than themselves. This work has certainly asked a lot of me over the years, but what it has given me in return is far greater. Friendships, a deeper faith, three incredible children and the privilege of watching families move from simply surviving to building a future.”
Night of Hope
“None of us can do everything, but we can all do something. Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live." -Kathi Juntunen
The 14th Annual Chances for Children Night of Hope Gala will be held Friday, November 13, at 6 p.m. at Clayton House. Chaired by Kathi Juntunen and Hillary Leto, the evening will feature an auction led by Letitia Frye. Tickets are $250 each with a two ticket minimum. Sponsorship opportunities are available.
chances4children.org