Our Help One Now initiative helps provide orphans with basic needs – such as food, water, shelter, medical care, and education. We currently have over 200 children sponsored in Zimbabwe, Haiti and Uganda!
In May 2010, we began partnering with Pastor Gaetan in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, who cares for 30 orphans. Many of these children were abandoned or orphaned as a result of the January earthquake. The pastor, his wife, and all the children have been living in tents since the earthquake. We are excited to say that all 30 kids are now sponsored! They have food, clean water, clothes, medical care, and they go to school! We also were able to raise funds to build them a new home so they no longer have to sleep in tents!
In November 2010, we visited a community in Haiti called Drouin, where the cholera outbreak in October started. We stopped at Spirit of Truth School, where teachers work without a salary and children faint daily due to lack of food. We learned that it costs less than $1 a day to feed one child 3 meals, and yet many of these children go days without any meal at all! We’ve added a group of these children to our Help One Now campaign, and hope to have all 300 children from Spirit of Truth School sponsored, as well as help pay a salary for the teachers at Spirit of Truth School!
In October 2010, we took a small team to visit Musha Wevana orphanage in Zimbabwe. It was such a joy to re-connect with the local leaders and visit the sweet children. Zimbabwe has suffered much after years of government corruption and an economic collapse that led to a 90% unemployment rate and a rapid decrease of food and fuel in the country. The orphans were literally relying on God to provide for them every day. Thankfully, the sponsorship money from Help One Now is definitely helping restore hope to these children! We met with the principal of the local primary school, who told us, "Thanks to the help you are providing, I no longer worry about the children not paying their school fees!" It is such a huge blessing to be able to send all 100 children to school!
For more information on this initiative, please visit: www.helponenow.com
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On January 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake pummeled the nation of Haiti. This earthquake is now being described as one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. An estimated 300,000 people lost their lives, 1.5 million people are now homeless, and - according to sources - over 400,000 children were orphaned. We visited Haiti four months after the quake and were heartbroken to meet the locals and hear their stories, and tried to comprehend their grief.
It's hard to see thousands of people living in tents with no running water, sewage or security, and taking baths in potholes because they don't have anywhere else to bathe. It's hard to see buildings that once stood tall now flattened and turned to rubble.
In our response to this tragic disaster, we want to let the people of Haiti know that We Have Not Forgotten and that we are coming alongside them to help restore what has been lost.
In the days before we arrived for a trip to Haiti in November, a hurricane hit causing further damage to this nation. We were able to raise emergency funds to take with us to Haiti and help communities that suffered from the hurricane.
This year in Haiti we were also able to build two single-family homes, we started over 60 sponsorships, and we built an orphanage and funded a water filtration system for the orphanage and their community. We also funded a water well that will begin being drilled the first week of January!
For more information on this campaign, please visit: www.helpendlocalpoverty.com/helphaiti
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This year we launched a new initiative - Garage Sale 4 Orphans.
We wanted to create a simple way for everyone to get involved and help orphans and communities who are struggling due to extreme poverty! Throwing a Garage Sale Party is something everyone can do. It’s also a great way to bring your community together. Kids groups, schools, churches, small groups, youth groups, businesses, families, individuals…the list goes on! We can all come together, work hard, and throw a Garage Sale to help rescue abandoned orphans.
While visiting Musha Wevana children's home in Zimbabwe this October, we discovered that the water crisis was getting worse. Every morning, you wake up not knowing if you'll have water that day. Some communities had gone as long as 30 days without running water. While we were visiting, the orphans were painting signs and organizing a march in order to raise money to drill a water well. Their crops were dying, they had little water to drink, cook, bathe, or wash clothes. They were desperate! It was heartbreaking to see that these children had little access to clean water, and we knew we needed to do something to help!
Less than two weeks after we returned, Austin New Church hosted four garage sales and raised $11,000! It was incredibly encouraging to see their church community come together and work hard to throw these garage sales, all to help care for orphans. With the money raised, we were able to fund the drilling of a water well in Zimbabwe, as well as fund the rest of the orphanage in Haiti that was being built! The money has already been sent to Zimbabwe, and the water well is currently being drilled!
A few months ago our friend, Dan King, told us that his 7-year-old son wanted to use this Christmas season to give a gift to orphans. They had been praying for Haiti since the earthquake, and Dan's son was specifically praying for the orphans. They decided they wanted to use the holiday season to host a Garage Sale and raise money for Haiti. Their garage sale raised over $800! It was amazing to see this family work together to bring hope and renewal to Haiti!
To learn more about Garage Sale 4 Orphans, please visit: www.garagesale4orphans.org
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End-of-Year Giving
If you would still like to make a tax-deductible donation before the end of the year to help orphans around the globe, you can do so by clicking here.
We'd like to thank you for your support, prayers, generosity and encouragement this year! We are excited to enter into a new year, and we look forward to partnering with you in 2011 to help rescue orphans, restore their hope and renew their communities!
Visit our website www.helpendlocalpoverty.com and check out our blog for updates www.helpendlocalpoverty.com/blog.
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H.E.L.P. is excited to participate in The Idea Camp on February 25-26. The Idea Camp is a collaborative movement of idea-makers who facilitate hybrid conferences and develop resources for people who desire to move ideas towards implementation. This Idea Camp will be in NW Arkansas and will focus on Orphan Care and the Church. It will facilitate fresh, honest and transformative conversations with leading thinkers and practitioners on topics including US & International care, community development, trafficking of orphans, adoption, foster care, child sponsorship, HIV/AIDS, special needs, cross-cultural & religious dynamics to care, and many more. Our desire is to live life as God’s loving expressions of grace and hope to our world through tangible acts of care for orphans.
We would love for you to join us! Register online at: www.theideacamp.com
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