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Her entrepreneurial vision and deep commitment to helping children overcome poverty shaped Christel House’s holistic model, giving children the support and opportunities to shape their own futures. This Founder’s Day, we honor her life, her leadership and the vision that continues to help children build futures beyond the circumstances into which they were born.

A Life Shaped by Possibility

Born in Germany on October 20, 1942, Christel grew up amid the hardship of the Second World War and its aftermath. Her father was killed before the war ended. Even during these difficult times, her mother shared what she could with war orphans and hungry neighbors, showing Christel the importance of caring for others.

At 16, she left home to work as a nanny in England before returning to Germany, where she worked as a secretary on a U.S. Army base. There, she met her husband, a U.S. citizen. They married and moved to Indianapolis in 1962. Through determination and an entrepreneurial spirit, she co-founded Resort Condominiums International (RCI) in 1974 and helped grow it into a global business before selling it in 1996.

A visit to a home for orphaned and abandoned children in Mexico City gave her next chapter a new purpose. What began as a response to a request for a donation became a lifelong commitment to helping children access opportunities their circumstances had denied them.

In 1998, she founded Christel House International. She understood that breaking the cycle of poverty required education alongside healthcare, nutrition, family support and career guidance. Drawing on her business experience, she built a foundation for sustained care.

What Started as One Vision Has Grown into a Global Movement

In 2026, Christel House is serving more than 8,500 students each year. We opened two new schools in India, and increased enrollments at our Bangalore and South Africa campuses by 50%, bringing a Christel House education to thousands more students.

2027 will be an even bigger year. We will open four more new schools in four countries: Colombia, Nepal, a second school in Mexico, and a fifth campus in India. Each new school means more children reached, more families supported and more opportunities to change the course of a life.

This Founder’s Day, we celebrate an extraordinary woman whose own life showed the power of opportunity and whose leadership helped make it possible for others. Her legacy lives in every student discovering their strengths, every family moving toward economic mobility, and every educator, partner and supporter continuing her work.

Her message remains as powerful today as it was when she first founded Christel House: Poverty does not define a child’s destination. Opportunity does.

Join the Circle. Help carry her vision forward.