Meet Mr. Albert
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| Serve the Children’s work could not happen without our wonderful local partners! We would like you to meet Mr. Albert who is a teacher and social worker at the Emmanuel Education Center in India. At the Education Center he teaches the local languages Hindi and Marathi to the younger students and math to the older students. He is very good with the children and they enjoy his teachings and respect him. After teaching in the mornings Mr. Albert does community visits to meet with the parents of the students and other community elders. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the imposition of the lock down the Emmanuel Education Center has not been allowed to be open. However, Mr. Albert has been a great help with the food distribution in the slum community. He also has been explaining to community members the importance of regular hand washing, social distancing, and the use of the face masks and hand sanitizers he has been distributing. We are so thankful for Mr. Albert and his commitment to serving the children and community at the Emmanuel Education Center. |
Sponsorship Program Update
Big changes are happening in the sponsorship program here at Serve the Children! We’re excited to introduce you to REACH – the new tool we’ll be using to manage our sponsorship program, donations, projects, and fundraising campaigns. One of the reasons we chose this new system was for its many benefits to you as part of the Serve the Children family.
With REACH, you’ll have 24/7 access to your data. You can edit your contact and payment information, review your donations, print your tax receipt documentation, and manage your sponsorships. You are even able to send messages and pictures to the child you are sponsoring, making communication and relationship building even easier!
If you have not yet signed in to the account that has been created for you please email Celina, our sponsorship coordinator, at Celina@servethechildren.com and she will assist you. Click Here if you want to see what the new site looks like.
Save the Date!
Save the Date for our Serve the Children Dinner & Auction October 10, 2020! We are carefully monitoring the COVID-19 situation and if we are unable to meet at McGavick Conference Center, we will have the event online.
Our theme is “A Day in the Life.” We will share with you what an average day is like for the children we serve in Liberia, India and Zambia. This is always eye-opening and inspiring. Seeing these kids and families gaining hope and a future through your support is life changing for you and for us too. We raise about 30% of our annual budget at this event each year, so we are working hard on it and looking forward to a great evening.
We do have a big auction announcement. The silent auction will be done online whether or not we have a live or online event. In April, I participated in an online auction for the first time and came away impressed. Bidding was fun and easy and I received a text every time I was outbid. No more hovering over the silent auction table! To bid on an item, you download an app onto your phone, and you are ready to bid. We will provide instruction on how to do this, so no matter your level of experience, you will be able to participate.
We will continue to explore the online option for the whole event and wait patiently for the government to give us guidance on having a live auction. Normally at this time, we would be gathering silent auction items and firming up live items, but with so many businesses and people impacted, this has been partly put on hold for a while. This might impact the number of auction items we have to offer but not the desserts! If an online auction becomes necessary, we will somehow make the desserts work. Trust me on this; I have seen some of the samples! We could use some help securing auction items if you are available.
The other day, I was sharing my concern about COVID-19 impact on the auction with one of our donors. He immediately responded with a very encouraging statement, “Serve the Children has some very dedicated supporters and they will give to you whether it is a live auction or an online auction.” Thank you donors for all you give. We truly appreciate you.
Please Save the Date for our 17th Annual Fundraiser on October 10th. We look forward to seeing you. We will keep you informed in case we need to move the auction to an online format. May each of you have good health and peace of mind in the midst of these challenging times.
Sincerely,
Dr. Doug Collier
How Can We Have and Give Hope?
The hottest commodity right now is not whatever the grocery store is out of. It’s HOPE.
How do we have hope in the midst of the uncertainty and the questions of a pandemic? How long will it last? What if we get sick? What will happen with my job? With school for the kids? Will we have enough?
And how do we give hope in the middle of it all to our STC children and families in Liberia, India and Zambia, who were living day to day before the pandemic, and who now face even more desperate challenges?
Where does hope come from in the midst of trauma? When people can’t think straight and only have the energy to deal with the present crisis, how can we have and give hope?
Firstly, as Christians, our eternal and present hope is in Christ Himself, and in His death, resurrection, rule and return. If we know Him as Savior, we have this sure hope of eternal life, now and in the future. This is not a maybe hope, like, “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow.” This is a rock-solid, base your life on, strength and joy for today, and yes it’s going to happen hope.
Secondly, as human beings, because God is good to us, we have been given hope through the kindness and care of others throughout our lives. Parents, family, teachers, counselors, friends, mentors and all those God has provided who have cared for us and encouraged us to keep going forward, whether they be few or many.
Because we have the hope of Christ in our hearts, the love of God compels us to help others in crisis in whatever way possible, even as we are affected by whatever is happening. Spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally – our fellow humans made in God’s image need us to help them deal with crisis in practical, tangible ways. We can only do this as we depend on God for our strength and wisdom, and as we come together and support each other with encouragement and help, remembering to keep close to our Lord and take care of ourselves so we can be effective.
Hope grows when people see and experience people helping others, when there is calm strength from God instead of fear, when there is listening and understanding, and even when there is opportunity for those who are cared for to help others in some way.
We can’t do everything, but we can do something. God has prepared each of us to be and do that something for such a time as this.
Will you join us in praying for Raghu’s family and all the other children and families STC serves? Will you join us in trusting God and having hope that comes from God alone during this time? We are all in this together!
A Day in Life of Raghu
Raghu (shown in the picture with his mother and sister) is a 14 year old boy living in the slums of Ambernath in Mumbai, India. His parents work as Rag Pickers collecting plastic waste and metal to earn a daily wage to provide food for the family. Raghu does not go to school. Each morning he gets up with his family and they eat leftover food from the day before if there is any. Then Raghu along with his parents goes into the city to collect plastic bottles and metal items.
Then in the afternoon the family goes to the dumping ground where the local municipal dumps all the garbage collected from the city. Here Raghu separates the waste and looks for items he can sell in the recycling plant. He does this without wearing any gloves and often cuts his fingers due to unknown sharp objects from the garbage. The family receives their day wage in the evening and then they buy only food and go back to their slum community. His mother prepares dinner for the family. He goes to bed right after dinner waiting for another day to repeat the same routine to survive.
The outbreak of the Coronavirus has affected the whole world. It has affected the people living in slums of Mumbai immensely. The people fear they will die of starvation rather than infection from the virus. The Indian government has issued a complete lockdown for 21 days. This means Raghu, his family and many other families like his cannot leave the community to work to provide food. Life is quite difficult for Raghu’s family and all the others in the slums of Mumbai.
A Look at Romans 15:13
Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
God is the “God of hope”…
• the Author of our hope.
• the Foundation of our hope.
• the Builder of our hope.
• the Finisher of our hope.
The things mentioned cannot be possessed apart from God, and we can possess them only as He gives them to us.
1. There is joy (charas): an inner gladness; a deep seated pleasure. It is a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful heart. It is a cheerful heart that leads to cheerful behavior.
2. There is peace. Note that peace comes through believing. No man has true peace apart from God. The meaning of peace with God is striking. Peace with God does not mean escapism, a quiet atmosphere, the absence of trouble, the control of situations by positive thinking, the denial of problems, the ability to keep from facing reality. The source of peace is Jesus Christ. Peace comes from knowing and having a personal relationship with Jesus. Men can have peace with God only because of Jesus Christ. It is He who reconciles men to God. The first result of justification is peace with God
3. There is hope: to expect with confidence; to anticipate knowing; to look and long for with surety; to desire with assurance; to rely on with certainty; to trust with the guarantee; to believe with the knowledge. Note that hope is expectation, anticipation, looking and longing for, desiring, relying upon, and trusting. But it is also confidence, knowledge, surety, assurance, certainty, and a guarantee. When a justified man becomes stronger in character, he draws closer to God and the closer he draws to God, the more he hopes for the glory of God.
When Scripture speaks of the believer’s hope, it does not mean what the world means by hope. The hope of the world is a desire, a want. The world hopes—wants, desires—that something will happen. But this is not the hope of the believer. The hope of the believer is a surety: it is perfect assurance, confidence, and knowledge. How can hope be so absolute and assured? By being an inward possession. The believer’s hope is based upon the presence of God’s Spirit who dwells within the believer. In fact, the believer possesses the hope of glory only by the Spirit of God who dwells within him.
These great qualities come only through the power of the Holy Spirit. God and God alone is the source of the things that give life.
Romans 15:13 comments partly based on Word Search Bible commentary content.
Meet Our New Bookkeeper
My name is Jodi Jennison and I am the new Bookkeeper here at Serve The Children. I am excited to get back into the working world after having been a stay-at-home mom for the last 14(!) years. Before kids, I had a career working in International Banking for Columbia Bank.
My husband and I just celebrated 20 years of marriage, and we have 3 active kids! I am a self-proclaimed, “health nut,” and love to exercise and cook/bake healthy things. My family has a daily Fitbit competition to see who can get the most steps. After all, competitiveness is healthy, right?
A couple of my favorite things are walking the Chambers Bay golf course with my husband or a friend, and watching funny cat videos with my kids.
I believe wholeheartedly in the mission and vision of Serve The Children, and am grateful for the opportunity to work here. I look forward to connecting with you!
Jodi Jennison
Jodi@servethechildren.com
Thank you for all your support!
Because of the money we raised at the auction we were able to provide solar panels for 3 chicken pens in Zambia. Pure Nard Ministries currently has over 12,000 chickens and produces 200 trays of eggs per day. The profit from the egg sales helps sustain Pure Nard Ministries Preschool and the Teen Challenge Program. These solar panels will keep the chickens warmer, help with egg production and egg quality.
Are You Ready?
| Mission trips are life changing! To touch the life of a child in Zambia, Liberia or India is an amazing event. It is never too early to start planning to go on a trip. We have scheduled mission team meetings at my home for the trip in May to Zambia (February 27th at 6.30pm) and the August team to India (February 16th at 1pm). We also have a team going to Liberia in April. Please email me if you want additional information on any of these trips. You always walk away from a mission trip a little different, a little changed. Part of this change comes because you have the chance to make a difference in the lives of children in your own unique way, a way no one else can. An STC mission team is made up of all kinds of people who bring various skills and backgrounds to the group dynamic. When you go, you add something special to that dynamic that would be missed if you were not there. Many of us can easily list all the reasons why we cannot go on a mission trip. My best advice is to change focus. Think about the way God can break down all the barriers to going and how you can impact the lives of children overseas for eternity. You will come home a different person with different passions. No mission trip is free or easy. You will need to raise funds, deal with work or school, coordinate family or pet responsibilities, have your immunizations made current and add a couple to the list, attend meetings and make various other mission trip preparations. There will be bugs, new foods, you will sleep in a different bed than your own with other team members in the same room, experience unique bathroom procedures and experience a different culture to understand. But where we see barriers, God sees the future. The seemingly endless barriers get washed away when you see the smile on the face of a little child holding your hand. Have you ever had five children hold your hand…..five on each hand? Have you ever held a child who does not regularly experience love in their life? Have you ever read a book to a group of children who have never had a book read to them? Have you ever given rice krispie treats to a group of children for the first time? I can list a lot of firsts and I want you to experience firsts like them with me too. Are you ready to give hope and a future to children in Zambia, India and Liberia? Contact me now! You can also download the 2020 Mission Team books for Zambia, India or Liberia found on our website at www.servethechildren.com. A mission team application, a team covenant form, child protection policy and a medical release form are included with the mission team book and need to be completed and sent to me. It’s the first step in your life-changing mission trip journey. Dr. Doug Collier doug@servethechildren.com |
Meet the Newest Member of our STC Team
My name is Celina Graciano and I am excited to be the newest member of the Serve The Children team as the Child Sponsorship Coordinator. STC is doing incredible work that has a large impact in the countries in which they are present and I am ready to be a part of doing something great!
A little about me, I’m originally from Washington and moved to Southern California for my Bachelors Degree in Global Studies from Azusa Pacific University. I have had the opportunity to work in South Africa, India, and most recently Guinea. In Guinea I served as a member of the Peace Corps as a Public Health Educator for 2.5 years. My favorite aspects of my service were working cross-culturally, building relationships with the community, and learning that even the smallest actions can have a large impact. A few of my hobbies include reading, baking, and watching movies.
I’m looking forward to getting to know you and working with you to continue to Serve The Children. Thank You!
Celina Graciano
Child Sponsorship Coordinator