Outstanding job! The donations of school supplies was fabulous. We wound up with 7 bottles of body wash, some Post-It notes, 4 binders, 17 erasers, 8 boxes of colored pencils, 5 boxes of washable markers, 3 boxes of red ink pens, 1 pack of blue pens, 26 boxes of crayons (for a total of 586!), 47 glue sticks, 8 boxes of pencils, 9 pencil pouches, 19 notebooks, 18 pair of scissors, and some miscellaneous items. Apparently, the children in DeSoto will be well-prepared for cutting and pasting lots of paper! These items are being divided between the Athena and Vineland elementary campuses based on their needs and will be distributed this week. Any other items brought in through the end of August will be divided up as well. Thank you! So many students will benefit from your very generous donation of school supplies. Once again you have proven to be a church committed to doing God’s work for his children.
September’s goal for missions is to raise at least $600 for Festival of Sharing. We will be taking monetary donations for three different Festival of Sharing-supported ministries. Any money given to support this mission during September should be marked for “Festival of Sharing”. The amount raised will be divided between Beans and Rice, Mobility Worldwide, and Heifer International’s Empowering Women Farmers program.
Beans and Rice
Festival of Sharing purchases long grain white rice in bulk from Martin Rice Company in Bernie, Missouri. The leaders down at the Dexter Sharefest help with those arrangements. The rice is purchased in 50 pound bags and taken to each event where it is repackaged into 2 pound bags, so the agencies can more easily distribute it. The agencies who receive the rice are in Missouri and are the same agencies who pick up the other Missouri kits, such as hygiene and food boxes, at our Sharefests. They send their requests for rice (along with other kits) in the summer, and Festival of Sharing tries to order enough rice to fulfill those requests. Last year across the seven Sharefests, we distributed 16,945 pounds of rice.
The beans are a project specific to the Dexter Sharefest. Some years they have purchased bulk bags of pinto beans and repackaged like the rice and some years they have partnered with local stores to purchase 2 lbs. bags of pinto beans. This is an item of interest to local agencies. Some of the funding is also used for the supplies it takes to package the rice such as compostable bags, labels, hairnets and gloves.
Mobility Worldwide
Mobility Worldwide reflects the love of God by bringing the gift of mobility & dignity to those in developing countries who are unable to walk. A child has the opportunity to attend school and receive an education; a family provider can find employment or bring products to market in an effort to provide for themselves and their dependents; beneficiaries can go to church, the marketplace and social gatherings; individuals can travel to local health centers for increased access to needed medical care; recipients have their pride and dignity restored as they are raised to a comfortable level which helps them interact with others.
Heifer International’s Empowering Women Farmers
Empowering Women Farmers in Nepal is changing the country’s traditional goat marketing practices to increase the benefit to women. The project, currently in the second of three planned phases, works alongside women goat farmers because in the hands of women farmers, livestock, education and specialized training leads to better nutrition, access to health care, increased income and so much more. The program supports 125,000 families throughout 28 of Nepal’s 77 districts. The first phase, which ended in 2017, saw 461 women gain leadership in Nepal’s farming institutions. By better integrating farming families with other stakeholders in the goat industry, families have more opportunities in processing, value addition and branding, which in turn earns them more money. Working through and with these groups enables women to grow into leaders. In these multi-faceted partnerships, women have a voice and the skills to influence the policies and practices that impact their lives.
You can learn more about the work of Heifer International in Nepal by checking out the YouTube video.