TIVERTON — She was well along into a close-to-home teaching career, when Tiverton's Amanda Scanlon made an abrupt change of course to the south.

The seed for the switch was sown in July of 2013 when she and her aunt Betsy Wood, also a Tiverton native, took a trip to Haiti to the new Be Like Brit orphanage.

They helped build a home for a family and "we got to play with the then-33 children at Be Like Brit … Within a week of being home I re-booked to go back for Christmas week of 2013."

And no sooner was she back from that one that she bought tickets to return in June of 2014.

Before she left, though, she heard from Len and Cheylann Gengel.

They are the parents of Britney Gengel, a Rutland, Mass., student who, at age 19, had been in Haiti for two days in January, 2010, when the earthquake killed over 300,000. Britney was among the victims.

She had sent a text message to her mother just three hours before the quake that read, "They love us so much and everyone is so happy. They love what they have and they work so hard to get nowhere, yet they are all so appreciative.  I want to move here and start an orphanage myself.”

Her body was found 33 days later in the rubble of a hotel; not too long after that, her parents decided to fulfill Britney's orphanage dream.

"And so the Be Like Brit Foundation was born," Ms. Scanlon said. "The 19,000-square-foot building, symbolic of Brit’s 19 years of life, is in the shape of a letter B.  It sits on a hill in Grand Goave, the town in which Britney was supposed to work the day after the earthquake."

Something about Ms. Scanlon's enthusiasm and ability to relate to the orphans must have impressed the Gengels because they had an offer for the Tiverton teacher.

They "approached me with the opportunity of a lifetime. With my background of teaching for four years in the Fall River community and my past experience as a Britsionary, they asked me if I would consider moving to Haiti to work at the orphanage using my education background as the assistant director.  I couldn’t think of anything that would stop me from doing this.   So on July 10 I moved to Haiti to live and work at Be Like Brit."

It was a sudden decision, she admits, but one she hasn't regretted for a moment.

"Knowing that I am making such a difference in the lives of these kids … I can't imagine doing anything better."

Her parents, Steve and Lois Scanlon, and grandparents, Al and Jeran Cameron and Joe and Jeannine Scanlon — all of Tiverton — have been supportive if understandably apprehensive about her, as she put it, "up and moving to a third world country."

She reassures them, Ms. Scalon said, by describing how "incredibly happy and friendly" the Haitians she has met all are "despite the terrible things they have endured." And she tells them about the orphanage's impressive security, the fact that a security person accompanies her whenever she ventures beyond the orphanage. She appreciates the concern but said she's received nothing but warm welcomes when she visits town — "I've never felt scared..

Be Like Brit is now home to 56 children and the home is looking for the final 10 to fill its beds. Their goal has always been to provide a home to 66 children — 33 boys and 33 girls in recognition of the 33 days that Brit was missing.

"It has become a lasting memorial to a girl who wanted to make a difference," she said.

Ms. Scanlon said she never ceases to be amazed by the good spirits of the children who arrive there. "They have been through so much yet they are full of love and smiles."

Some come to the orphanage from extended families who took them in after their parents were killed. That's not always a happy experience, Ms. Scanlon said. The orphans represented another mouth to feed for hard-pressed families and quickly came to realize that they were a burden.

But at the orphanage they get a clean place to live with good food and a first rate school.

Beyond providing the basics, the orphanage aims to create interest and talent-based goals for every child — "It's a wonderful program," Ms. Scanlon said.

And while the orphanage can only help a small portion of the children who need such care, it does help the surrounding community in other ways.

"We also help the Haitian community by providing 1,000 gallons of clean water daily to our neighbors, and each group of 'Britsionarys' that comes to help gets to fix or build a new home for a family in the community," she said.

How to help

But the orphanage can't do it without the support of donations, its sole source of funding.

Says Ms. Scanlon, "Our 56 children are provided for by sponsors who can support a child at our orphanage for as little as $33 per month.  There is also a list of items that we constantly update that we need in order to  provide for our children.  If you are interested in donating to our wish list or learning more about Be Like Brit, the Sponsor-a-Child program, or even visiting us in Haiti, please visit www.BeLikeBrit.org for more detailed information.