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Christmas Fundraiser: Getting Close
Here is a quick snapshot of the original vision, and a video with an expanded vision.
10 days till Christmas. Time continues to move quickly; Holiday parties, shopping, gift wrapping, travel, etc!…whoops, I forgot about the eggnog and the other “cool” holiday Starbucks coffee-drinks. Through the busyness of day-to-day life, the HELP tribe has been able to raise $4000 for our Christmas Fundraiser. We only need $1200 more to fully fund The Chicken Project. This is so exciting!
100 kids in Zimbabwe will have meat in their diet in 2010. 1) Thanks for your generosity! 2) We still have some work to do. $1200 in 10 days, we can do it! Do us a favor; please Facebook this link, Tweet it, email it to your friends and ask them to donate. $10, $20, or $100, every bit helps us reach our goal.
BTW: The pictures that you see are the kids that will get the chickens, so they can have meat in their diet on a consitient basis.
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Signs of a Movement
Humbled, it’s the best word I can describe when people get involved with HELP. In the past few weeks, look at all the folks that are doing something to change the lives of 100 kids in Zimbabwe:
- Sherry Birk and the folks @ Soma raised over $300. They just did a C-Mas fundraiser in Austin, and one child has been already sponsored so far!
- Jason Dukes donated a percentage of the proceeds of his book sales in the month of December.
- Liz and Blanca are doing a Christmas Party in Austin next weekend. They also donated a percentage of the proceeds oftheir book sale.
- A church in Delaware raised $1500 for our Christmas Fundraiser.
- We’ve had NUMEROUS one-time personal donations for theChristmas Fundraiser.
- We’ve had several friends who’ve asked people to NOT get them birthday gifts and instead donate to HELP via Facebook.
- We have another stateside supporter who committed to giving monthly.
- We’ve had multiple people sponsor kids through HELP One Now.
- We’re doing a house show in VA, and a HELP One Now Sunday in Philly this January.
- We’re talking with multiple people about taking a vision trip to S. Africa and Zimbabwe in 2010.
- We’ve raised over $10,000 so far, for thebuilding of our first orphanage to rescue more kids at Musha Wevana.
- I know there is more…I just can’t remember it all right now!
These are signs of a tribe: a compassionate group of people who are committed to rescuing orphans, restoring their hope and renewing their communities.
It’s only the beginning!
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Update: Christmas Fundraiser
Wow! First of all, I want to thank each of you for a great response. Last week we raised $2000 for our kids in Zimbabwe. That’s huge! That being said, we’ve decided to raise the ante, if you will. Why, because we have new information:
Here’s what I now know. It takes $100 to feed 100 kids a meal which includes meat. So, if we raise $5200, each kid would have access to meat at least once-per-week.
We’ve already raised $2000 for the Christmas Campaign. We have over $1000 in our child sponsorship funds, and more people/churches who are raising funds in December. So, we only need $2000 to complete the project.
But wait…it gets better.
With the funds raised it’s going to help launch “The Chicken Project.” So, instead of just buying meat for the kids to eat, we are now going to purchase chickens, so the kids will be able to raise the chickens, get protein from their eggs, and meat from the chickens. Basically, this will help the Musha Wevana Children’s Home to be able to care for themselves. This will help create a sustainable way for this community to be able to love and support themselves once they have the leverage. (chickens)
I think we can do this! We need $2200 raised in the next 22 days. Spread the word, donate, throw a fundraising party…everything counts!
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Orphan Sunday
Currently, in our world, there is close to 145 million orphans, let the following stats remind us of the horror:Each day close to
- 16,000 children die because they lack proper food, water and medicine.
- Every 6 seconds, a child slips into eternity, hungry, thirsty and sick.
- Over 1 million children die each year due to malaria, most of these deaths happen in Africa.
We could go on and on, but who needs to. Enough is enough, we can end extreme poverty if we choose to prioritize our lives, be more generous, take more risks, and support more kids; this is a biblical issue that requires an immediate response, and that is exactly what is happening on Sunday November 8th, with Orphan Sunday.
When the local church takes full responsibility, we can start a movement of love, hope and story, and this movement, can end extreme poverty, seek justice, and care for the orphan, which is a child that is created in the image of God.
If you want to learn more about orphan Sunday, how you or your church can get involved. Please email us and we will be glad to help!
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Orphan Statistics
These are the most recent and reliable statistics on the global orphan situation.- The most recent estimate is that there are approximately 145 million orphans in the world (UNICEF 2008). For this number, an orphan is defined as a child who has lost one or both parents.
- More than 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, over 11.6 million of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.
- In 2007 67.5 million Children in South Asia and East Asia had lost one or both parents due to all causes.
- Included in the 2008 estimate of 145 million orphans are more than 92 million that have a surviving mother—-with whom they most likely live.
- Another 38 million have a surviving father.
- Approximately 15 million children are “double” orphans—growing up without either mother or father. That’s about ten percent of the whole 145 million.
- The UNICEF orphan numbers (145 million) are only for deceased parents. If you were to factor in single parents in general, we’d be talking a number many times higher.
- The UNICEF orphan numbers DON’T include abandonment (millions of children) as well as sold and/or trafficked children. Are the millions of kids abandoned in China not orphans?
- The UNICEF orphan numbers DON’T include many non-reporting nations (namely, Middle Eastern Islamic nations) where shame and divorce abandonment are rampant. 200,000 + orphans in Iraq, for instance, are not part of the count.
- I think we’re looking at a number quite higher than 15 million “double orphans.” We often communicate that the real number of kids that fall into our care categories is somewhere around 40 or 50 million.
- According to data released in 2003 as many as eight million boys and girls around the world live in institutional care. Some studies have found that violence in residential institutions is six times higher than violence in foster care, and that children in group care are almost four times more likely to experience sexual abuse than children in family based care.
- As of 2002 in Europe and Central Asia, over one million children lived in residential institutions.
- Worldwide an estimated 300 million children are subjected to violence, exploitation and abuse, including the worst forms of child labour in communities, schools and institutions, during armed conflict, and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage.
- In the US there are approximately 500,000 children in foster care (Based on data submitted by states as of January 16, 2008)
- 130,000 of those children in foster care are waiting and available for adoption. Children waiting to be adopted include children with a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated. Children whose parental rights have been terminated, who are 16 years old and older, and who have a goal of emancipation are excluded from the “waiting” population. An individual child is included in the count for each year that he or she has these characteristics on the last day of the year.
- Approximately 51,000 children are adopted from the foster system each year.
- That leaves 79,000 children annually in the US needing an adoptive family.
- Each year, an estimated 20,000 young people “age out” of the U.S. foster care system. Many are only 18 years old and still need support and services. Several foster care alumni studies show that without a lifelong connection to a caring adult, these older youth are often left vulnerable to a host of adverse situations:
Outcomes
Earned a high school diploma 54%
Obtained a Bachelor’s degree or higher 2%
Became a parent 84%
Were unemployed 51%
Had no health insurance 30%
Had been homeless 25%
Were receiving public assistance 30%Sources: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/trends.htm, http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/HIVData/GlobalReport/2008/2008_Global_report.asp, http://www.unicef.org/sowc09/docs/SOWC09-FullReport-EN.pdf, Young adults ages 18-24 years old 2.5 to 4 years after leaving foster care: Cook, R. (1992). Are we helping foster care youth prepare for the future? Children and Youth Services Review. 16(3/4), 213-229. Cook, R.; Fleishman, E., & Grimes, V. (1989). A National Evaluation of Title IV-E Foster Care Independent Living Programs for Youth (Phase 2 Final Report, Volume 1). Rockville: Westat, Inc., http://chrisitianallianceblog.org/?p=74, http://abandoned-orphaned.typepad.com/paulmyhill/2009/08/the-count.html
HT: Jason Kovacs
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Holiday Shopping & Poverty
Last week I hit on the topic of consumerism. It’s easy to always focus on an issue without creating pathways for change. We’re all consumers, that is not bad. We need to consume to keep the economy flowing which hopefully can help resource people. If we’re not greedy and we choose to consume with wisdom, we can make a significant difference and help end extreme poverty.
The problem is when consuming becomes an obsession. When we spend more then we make or we use all of our resources on our wants, our desires and our passions…Another-words we don’t give generously and consider “others before ourselves.”Here are some convictions that have become important to me.
I EVENTUALLY want to give away 20-25% of my resources and I want to only buy with cash. No credit outside of mortgage and college loans. This helps me create healthy boundaries as I consider how to utilize my resources and make sure I avoid falling into sin by consuming and being selfish.
So as we think about the holidays and gift-giving. Maybe one of the ways we can fight consumerism is to give gifts with meaning, gifts that fights poverty and blesses hard working people in under-developed countries. Below I’m going to list multiple organizations that are fighting poverty and selling quality merchandise in order to make a difference.
Need new shoes…Buy from Tom. When you buy a pair of shoes Tom donates a pair to kids in under–developed nations like S. Africa.
Invisible Children is partnering with business owners in Uganda who are making great bracelets so they can ignite the local economy. You also get a DVD.
My friends at Servlife have multiple items you can buy from business owners in Asia.
You can support the Feed Project by purchasing a bag to help the hungry.
Support those who are fighting human trafficking by purchasing a t-shirt or CD. The CD includes great artists like Cold War Kids, Matisyahu, Rocco Deluca, and Switchfoot among others.
Jedidiah also has some great clothing options from their Hope Collection. So far they’ve raised over $200,000 for those in-need. I have three of these t-shirts.
For those who love to read you can buy a book for them and support an orphan in the process.If you know of any others organizations who are doing likewise please feel free to leave a comment with their info.
