Debi Elliott
Debi Elliott was born and raised in Southern California, living in Huntington Beach for over thirty years. She spent 27 years working as a Controller/financial manager for Hughes Aircraft Company, and then she worked as a Loan Officer in the mortgage industry for 12 years. She received her MBA from Pepperdine University and her BS in Finance from Cal State Long Beach. She has four adult children and three grandchildren.
Debi became passionate about serving as a missionary in Zambia when her home church (Christ Pacific Church in Huntington Beach, CA) formed a partnership in 2007 with David Livingstone Memorial Presbyterian Church (DLMPC) in Livingstone, Zambia. After five short term trips there leading teams for various projects, she became very involved with the church’s fast-growing youth ministry, including coaching and discipling teenagers and young adults in the church. The need for raising-up more youth leadership and equipping the church in the area of local mission created a loud calling for her to go and serve. Debi moved to Zambia in 2014 and soon after, she and her Zambian son Adrian co-founded a Non-Government Organization (NGO/Non-Profit) Wings of Hope Community Outreach and Wings of Hope International (USA). School is not free in Zambia and many hundreds of kids who pass grade 7 exams cannot go any further because they are so vulnerable they cannot afford to.
Wings of Hope strives to raise funds to keep those super high performing kids in secondary school all the way through grade 12 and occasionally into tertiary education. Debi and Adrian give leadership that provides partial to full scholarship funds for these kids every year from grade 8-12. They raise money for school fees, sometimes uniforms, shoes, books and even food for the families who are really struggling. They teach a scripture based purity curriculum to all their kids each year to strongly address the ever-growing population of teen pregnancies. In addition, they give leadership to a sponsor program for the primary school at David Livingstone Presbyterian Church and School.
Poverty is a major issue in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over half of the 19 million people in Zambia are under the age of 18 and unemployment or underemployment is over 75%. Approximately half of all children in Zambia never go past grade 7 due to the cost of the schools and their requirements. Education planning, career development, faith counseling and leadership mentoring are critical in this context and Debi feels privileged to be serving in these strategic arenas.
TO DONATE BY CHECK
TO DEBI’S SUPPORT:
Make checks payable to The Antioch Partners, write “Preference for Elliott Support” on memo line and mail to:
7132 Portland Ave, Suite 136
Richfield, MN, 55423
