Al Lackey, father to three and grandfather to ten, has served as President of Kids Alive International since October of 1996. Graduating with a B.S. from John Brown University and a Masters from Eastern Michigan University, Al Lackey has always been involved in giving back.
"My experience as a child of a missionary pastor has taught me a lot about the faithfulness of God. As a teen, my involvement in our youth group and mission trip to the island of Dominique strengthened my weakening faith and sowed a seed of love for the needy children of the world," he said.
Kids Alive International is a non-profit, Christian faith mission dedicated to rescuing orphans and vulnerable children, as well as meeting their spiritual, physical, educational, and emotional needs. Kids Alive provides children with the love and care every child deserves and raises them to be contributing members of their society.
Lackey has been a part of the Valparaiso community for the past thirty years, and a part of Kids Alive International for the past seventeen. Lackey has always been interested in helping children that need help, and that's when he came across Kids Alive International who was in the process of hiring their sixth president. As President, Lackey oversees the worldwide ministry of Kids Alive, consisting of Children's Homes, Care Centers, Schools and community outreach programs in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and the Pacific Rim.
"I have a compassion for children and I have a passion to help someone who needs help, and with the proper care and guidance could do those things," Lackey said, passionately speaking of his work with Kids Alive. "Working for Kids Alive seemed to tie all of this together, and it ties my Christian faith into it. It was just a wonderful fit where I could meet my Christian goals and help children who would otherwise have no help or hope."
While there is a basic staff of twenty-four in Valpo that Lackey oversees, there are also hundreds of volunteers who assist at the Kids Alive children's homes and care centers. They have teachers go to various countries for teachers training, people that go around to asset up computers, and doctors that provide medical and dental care. All of these volunteers raise the money to fund their trips around the world to provide help and care to the children of Kids Alive.
When Mr. Lackey isn't travelling around the world, taking care of the children under the care of Kids Alive, he is busy casting a visions for the organization. He works with his staff to design a strategy of how to improve the care of the children. Lakcey guides the process with a great, supporting staff that carries it all out. He also travels around the area, speaking to various organizations, driven to raise the funds to care for the children.
"If we don't have the funding to care for those children, we can't just cancel the program and close the homes, because we are their family," Lackey said.
Every year, Lackey visits six or seven different countries a year, encouraging the staff, seeing the children and keeping everything fresh.
"I love connecting with the kids that are going off to universities, we help them in those aspects and we even help them start their own businesses as well," he said.
Many businesses in developing countries are family owned, so the only way to get a job, without a college degree, is to start their own business.
In his free time, Mr. Lackey loves spending time with his grandchildren and working on his home and yard.
"One or twice a year, I love to go fishing for a week, where I can just focus on the fresh air and let everything go," Lackey said.
Then, it's right back to doing what matters the most, helping the children who need it the most.