Thanksgiving Family Service Activity
Please send this out to everyone on your email list and help us make this Thanksgiving a time of thanks for the children we serve!
Are you looking for something your family can do together this Thanksgiving that will be meaningful to you and make a difference in the lives of children who are not as fortunate? Well here it is!
What: The Thanksgiving Fast is way to teach your children about the condition of children around the world, and confirm in yourself that the act of giving DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE, to us and to the ones who will benefit from your giving. The project is simple, and everyone can participate! Invite your family to fast for a day, and donate the money that you would have spent on food to the Mothers Without Borders Children’s Feeding Programs. When you feel hunger, it puts you in one mind and one heart with the children that are hungry every day. It creates both empathy and gratitude.
Who: This is a wonderful opportunity for families who are looking to give service. Many people have the desire to help, but because their donations seem small, they don’t feel their contributions will be significant enough to make a difference.
Recently, a concert was held to benefit Mothers Without Borders. There were about 250 people in attendance. During the intermission, Founder Kathy Headlee Miner conducted a social experiment where she asked everyone to donate loose change and whatever they were comfortable givingfrom their purse or pocket. Baskets were passed through the audience. Quarters or dollars, it didn't matter as the purpose of the experiment was to show that when we combine our resources for good, IT ADDS UP IN SIGNIFICANT WAYS. At the end of the concert, the total was revealed, and the audience was shocked and pleased to learn that they had collectively donated more than $2000! Imagine their joy when they were told that their contributions would to buy enough baby formula to keep 65 babies alive for a month. The moral of the story is this: Your money combined with hundreds of others makes a big difference. Every dollar counts in the effort toward feeding the hungry children of Africa. Together we CAN and DO make a difference.
When: Thanksgiving season with all its abundance is the perfect time for this project. During our big Thanksgiving dinners, we focus on the love of family and the gift it is to be together. The fact that there are many children who are alone and hungry without parents to feed them is NOT a time for guilt, but a time for gratitude and sharing. This is the time to teach our families that with gratitude in our hearts, we can touch the lives of others for good. It can impact your children in a profound way.
Why: We have been blessed with so much, and sharing that abundance is a happy gift, to us and to the children in Africa. The smallest of donations will impact the lives of these children for the better.
Where: This is the best news of all! You don't have to go anywhere because this service project takes place in your own homes. This is a great experience for your family to learn together. Fasting for and donating to these children will affect your family, and will help each person to be thankful for what they have. Those who participate will begin to think of service in a new light as they relate to the hungry children of Africa.
How:
- Sit down as a family and talk about what you're grateful for. Then share the facts (listed below) about the situation of these children in Africa. Read the stories, and discuss what you can do to help.
- Set a time when you will fast as a family. You can start one night by fasting through dinner, and then fasting through breakfast and lunch the next day. You can decide which meals you will choose to skip. Break your fast by talking about the money you will donate, and how many children you will have fed by donating. We have found it's most effective to do this right BEFORE or right AFTER Thanksgiving, and contrast the feeling of abundance and being full, with that of being hungry.
- Go online to www.motherswithoutborders.org and click on "Donate Now." You will then have the choice to donate online with a credit card, or print and mail your donation.
- Decide how many times a year you will fast as a family for the orphaned children of Africa. Make it a tradition in your family, and see the difference in your lives by helping others.
The FACTS:
- More than 36 million children under 15 are orphaned in Sub-Saharan Africa today.
- It is feared that there may be more than 80 million orphans in India and Asia.
- Every 14 seconds, a child is orphaned as a result of AIDS.
- Every 7 seconds a child dies from hunger.
- In Zambia, 90% of adults are under or unemployed making it very difficult for them to provide for the simplest of needs for their family.
- Many families around the world survive on one meal a day.
There is Hope:
- $25 dollars will feed a child for a month.
- MWB feeds 200 orphaned children each day in Zimbabwe.
- We have provided baby formula for more than 310 babies just since August.
STORIES OF GOOD NEWS
Anthony’s Success
Anthony was 7 yrs old when his parents died, by 8 he was living on the streets. When I met him he was dirty, barefoot, dressed in rags, sleeping in drainage ditches and digging in trashcans for food. He came into our program and started school at the age 13. He could barely read but he was eager to learn and worked hard. Today, he is 18. He attends a good boarding school and is at the top of his class in both science and math. He will graduate with top honors in just a few weeks, and head off to college. He wants to be a Doctor and help the people of Zambia. From street boy to scholar, he is living proof of Mother Teresa’s belief, "We will change the world, one child at a time." (Story as told by Kathy Headlee Miner, MWB)
This is the story of the children pictured in the photo at the top of this email:
The Zimbabwe Feeding Program Continues Despite Political and Economic Chaos.
The political and economic situation in Zimbabwe continues to worsen at an alarming rate. Inflation is over 1 million percent, a figure that is nearly impossible for us to comprehend. Shelves in grocery stores are often found empty, fuel is almost impossible to find and the suffering of the innocent is heartbreaking. Thanks to the dedication of Lettie Mhiza, the local woman who started the feeding project for more than 200 orphaned children in her community, the caring men and women who sacrifice so much to assist her, and the unbelievable generosity of Rob and Sharon Spencer who have single handedly assured that these children received a truck load of nutritious food EVERY WEEK for the past 18 months, our efforts to feed the children continue. Each day these sweet children, all from child headed households, line up outside the small house used to store and prepare the food, hoping to get their one meal for the day. The line stretches on and on, and Lettie and her friends are the only thing that stand between them and hunger.
This is Peggy Bwalya, and this is her story:
When Peggy came to Mothers Without Borders, her baby was just a few weeks old and dying from starvation. Peggy was too ill to nurse the baby and had no money for baby formula. We began giving her food for herself and her two young sons, and formula for the baby. Then we helped her with a small loan so she could start a small business and support her family on her own. Today they are healthy and strong.
