About the TYC

Project Founder, Mike Heid, has a passion for missions. He visited and worked in over 20 foreign countries including many in Africa from the 1970s-1990s. Mr. Heid saw the suffering of the poor, the extended bellies of starving children, the shacks for living, no running water for drinking or sewage disposal, and the people dying too early in life.

This prompted him to serve in missions for two years in both Mexico and Ecuador. After serving in the mission field, he began working at home helping groups who sponsor missions on short-term basis. He also began sponsoring children through Christian organizations.

Mr. Heid attended The Shepherd’s Conference in California in 2007. During a break in the program, with 5,000 men in attendance, Mr. Heid was walking up the isle and saw Pastor Isaac Gikonyo sitting alone and stuck up a conversation. That day began a long and loyal friendship between the two men.

This led to a relationship between Tumaini Youth Center in Africa and the newly formed sister unit of the Colorado Mission Committee for Tumaini Youth Center. Many of Mr. Heid’s friends say how lucky it was that these two men met and began this work. Pastor Gikonyo and Mr. Heid both know however that luck had nothing to do with this meeting. It was God’s providence that brought them together. Their new friendship led them to plan for future development of the center.

The center shelters around 50 orphaned and displaced children on a regular basis. The primary goal of the Colorado Mission Committee  is to provide for the basic daily needs of these young children and foster their spiritual growth. The second objective is to produce income generating projects for the center with the goal of self-sustainability in mind. The Colorado Committee provides construction project management and financial assistance through your donations. 

Now we have completed our first project, an apartment building at the center which will to help provide needed income for the staff and orphans. At best, it is a humble start, but it is a good one! We also hope to sponsor pastoral conferences at the center, in the future.

The children are provided with basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, medicine and education. The staff also focuses on their spiritual development through prayer and bible study on a daily basis. We are a young organization but one filled with the assurance that God is leading us and as long as we continue working for His glory and the children’s salvation we will continue to grow. Children living in the underdeveloped countries face many hardships but your donations, and prayers will fill their hearts and journey with HOPE.