Kayla and Webert Raymond met a boy named Loveson four years ago. He was 4 years old. He weighed 16 pounds.
When the couple rescued a girl named Wishla, she teetered on the brink of death, just 8 pounds, 5 ounces at 11 months.
Those children and a third, 8-year-old Jeffte, are in the process of being adopted by the Raymonds, who live and work in Simonette, Haiti. The Raymonds eight days ago welcomed their first biological child, daughter Rubie.

By Tim Gallagher, Sioux City Journal

Kayla and Webert Raymond met a boy named Loveson four years ago. He was 4 years old. He weighed 16 pounds.

When the couple rescued a girl named Wishla, she teetered on the brink of death, just 8 pounds, 5 ounces at 11 months.

Those children and a third, 8-year-old Jeffte, are in the process of being adopted by the Raymonds, who live and work in Simonette, Haiti. The Raymonds eight days ago welcomed their first biological child, daughter Rubie.

The Raymonds and Kayla’s parents, Dell and Renae Grooters, of Rock Rapids, Iowa, surprised Kayla’s younger brother, Luke Grooters, on a sun-drenched Tuesday afternoon at Elwood Olsen Stadium on the campus of Morningside College, where Luke was recognized for his place on the 2016 Allstate American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team.

Luke Grooters earned the honor, in part, for 20 mission trips he’s completed while serving the Touch of Hope nonprofit organization his parents founded in 2009. The group serves more than 1,000 children at a school they built in Simonette. They serve many other children in an orphanage, a number of them facing daunting odds, like the trio that bounced happily on the artificial surface team captain Luke patrols as a linebacker for the Mustangs.

Luke, a senior business major, dashed from a marketing class to practice Tuesday afternoon. Just as he entered live action, head coach Steve Ryan stopped and huddled the team for a plaque presentation.

“Selfless” was a code word adopted this week by the football team, Ryan said, as in putting team above any individual, thus making the collective unit stronger. The word describes Luke, who, after his first visit to Haiti, has seen that 11 teammates have joined him on subsequent trips to build homes and school structures.

“The first time I was in Haiti, I took a bus ride that lasted two hours,” he said. “You look out the window and you can’t fathom how people live, sticks from trees and pieces of tin for the roof make a house with a dirt floor.”

Luke said he didn’t spend spring break and other times in Haiti for the recognition, although the national award and a trip to the Sugar Bowl for a presentation are incredible outcomes. No, Luke said he picks up the hammer in Haiti because kids like Jeffte, Loveson and Wishla need his help.

“You give back, it makes you feel better,” he said. “Small things make a difference.”

Small things? Touch of Hope is a big thing. Dell Grooters must have been shaken to his core after a 2009 mission trip to Haiti, an island nation in constant battle with natural disasters and poverty. Dell came home to Rock Rapids and immediately initiated plans to “drag” his family back to Haiti. Kayla, a freshman at the University of Northern Iowa at the time, didn’t want to go.

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