ABOUT US
OUR MISSION
Vi Bella is committed to empowering and equipping disadvantaged persons in Haiti and Mexico through job creation and education. By providing training and safe employment opportunities, Vi Bella helps individuals and communities break free from extreme poverty, realize their potential, and build sustainable livelihoods.
We Believe Purchases Impact Poverty
We are part of a larger movement to provide ethical employment for those with limited access to provide for their families. Your purchase with Vi Bella makes a difference. Each purchase of jewelry and accessories has a positive impact that provides life-changing employment in areas that lack resources. Our artisan communities are in both Haiti and Mexico. We are about more than ethically-made jewelry, we stand for job creation and poverty alleviation.
Vi Bella Serves, Inc. is a U.S.-based non-profit 501(c)(3) that provides school sponsorships for children in Haiti and aid to impoverished communities in Haiti and Mexico. The Vi Bella Serves Inc. board members serve voluntarily, therefore this non profit has no administrative costs. Every dollar donated goes directly to a person in need. We pledge to be faithful stewards with the funds you provide.
The majority of the money raised through Vi Bella Serves, Inc. goes directly toward school sponsorships for Vi Bella artisans’ children. School is not free for children in Haiti, the poorest county in our hemisphere. Because of this, many children are unable to attend school and lack hope for a bright future. We are working to support and empower as many families as we can to change that. More than 65 children rely on Vi Bella Serves for school sponsorships to continue their education.
There are thousands of children living in orphanages in Haiti. The majority of these children have living parents, but the parents lack financial and other resources to care for their children. Sadly, families are broken and children are brought to live in orphanages in the hope that there they will be fed, housed and educated. Vi Bella LLC, a social enterprise, exists to provide good employment to individuals empowering them to walk out of severe poverty with the aim of keeping families intact.
Vi Bella Serves is the non-profit sister to the social enterprise, Vi Bella, aiding in their mission to bring hope to people in great need. In addition to providing education opportunities, we also provide housing and medical assistance to help lift Haitian families out of extreme poverty. We have funded the construction of a much-needed new building in a Haitian orphanage, helped build or improve housing for artisans, and routinely assist artisans and members of their communities with health care and basic needs.
Leadership
Founder and CEO
Julie Hulstein worked as an instrumental music teacher and band director in public and private Iowa schools for 27 years and served for many years as an adjunct music professor at Dordt University.
In 2009, Julie's plan was to exit her teaching career and become a full-time grandma. But a mission trip to Haiti changed that trajectory. After exposure to extreme poverty there, she carried the stories and faces of those she met home with her. God planted in her heart the desire to create a path to economic sustainability and life enrichment for the women and families she encountered. Vi Bella sprouted out of that seed. Vi Bella means “beautiful life,” and as the company's founder and CEO, a beautiful life is Julie’s vision for Vi Bella artisans, their families, and their communities. Vi Bella artisans, many of whom experience deafness or amputation, have become highly skilled creators who enjoy a positive, encouraging community at Vi Bella.
Julie and her husband Kirk live in Sioux Center where Kirk continues to work at the family business. Married for 45 years, they have been active in many church and community activities and organizations. They love traveling; however, their great joy is spending as much time as possible with the people they love--their children, grandchildren, extended family, and friends.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President- Amanda Bahena
Attorney at Woods, Fuller, Shultz and Smith P.C. Sioux Center, IA
Treasurer- Vonda Post
Professor of Accounting at Northwestern College Iowa- Sioux Center, IA
Secretary- Julie Hulstein,
Founder and CEO Vi Bella- Sioux Center, IA
Diggan d’Adesky,
CEO d’Adesky Import Export S.A - Port-au-Prince,Haiti
Mark Hulshof
Insurance Agent at VanEngelenhoven Agency- Sioux Center, IA
Kayla Van De Berg
Educator- Hospers, IA
Lisa Wilcox
Educator- Sioux Center, IA
STORIES OF HOPE
Here are just a few of the many stories of hope through the impact of Vi Bella Serves:
- We were delighted to be able to help Marie Rose receive excellent medical care when she was faced with a pregnancy with serious, life-threatening complications. Marie Rose delivered a healthy baby boy! Both mother and child are doing well.
- Other donations are helping Marie Yolaine complete the home she has been building for herself and her family.
- Vi Bella Serves helped two separate artisans purchase small generators so they could build their own businesses.
- We linked arms with Haitians to provide food and water donations to their hard hit community after a hurricane.
Vi Bella Serves, Inc. invites you to be part of these beautiful stories, meeting the immediate needs in the communities where we serve. If you would like to donate to Vi Bella Serves, providing funds that will directly impact the needs of Vi Bella artisans and their communities, please click the donate button and join the beautiful story.
