Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Day 14: A Heart of Gold

Today, despite several challenges and only small movement on my charitable goal, I am somehow feeling more optimistic and "in the rhythm" than ever. Perhaps my body is getting more accustomed to the lower calorie intake or perhaps is just learning to be more efficient in the fat burn and metabolization of the food I'm consuming? No idea. Any nutritionists out there want to share your thoughts? Please do. I've lost 7 lbs. in two weeks now, from 208 to 201 (I'm 6'3") if that tells you anything.

So, speaking of my charitable goal, I had a breakthrough idea that I see working already in small steps! I'm calling it the "Heart of Gold" and here's how it works. Do you have a heart of gold, you really want to help, you really want to make a positive impact in this world, but you just have a hard time imagining how your small contribution is going to make any difference? Then you're just the person I'm looking for. 

For example, the next heart on our "Monthly Donor Heart-Chart" we need sponsored is a $37/mo commitment. This level of commitment will provide about 100 fresh-cooked meals (over a month of meals) for a child in one of our programs. How is this possible?! I know, I would ask the same question if I didn't get it. You see, all of our programs include farmland and gardening projects, so we grow much of our own food, greatly reducing the cost of our meals! What a concept!  

Imagine if I had planned out my 30 day challenge in such a way that I took the challenge around a harvest season of my own gardening project? I could eat much more well-balanced and satisfying meals at very little cost! That's exactly what we're doing at Peace Gospel for the children we're serving!

Let's take a look...

Our rice farm in Myanmar stocks several tons of rice annually in our orphan home pantries, and on-campus gardening projects provide a wide variety of fresh vegetables in our children's meals

Our farmland and gardening projects in Nepal yield several harvests of potatoes, corn and various vegetables

Philippines: we have a hen house project, fishery, coconut grove, and several other agricultural and gardening projects that sustain our children's programs food needs, not to mention funding generation from excess sold at market

Uganda: we have a farmland producing potatoes, vegetables, beans, coffee and other crops.

India: our rice farm produces several tons of rice annually, and on-campus we enjoy bananas and several vegetable harvests from our gardening projects

So let's say you've now really caught the vision of the "Heart-Chart" and what we can achieve together, but you cannot afford $37/mo. Ok, no problem, I get that!

So what can you afford? $1/mo? $5/mo? $10/mo? Ok, we can work with that! You know why? Because we are taking your donations and multiplying them in the field by way of our farmland and gardening projects! Your $1/mo is providing three fresh-cooked meals for a child every month. So that is real. You are really making a tangible difference in the life of a child recovering from hazardous child labor, trafficking, and/or malnutrition!

So now the "Heart-Chart" has a new shiny little "Heart of Gold" at the top-left of the chart, right where it belongs, because that kind of simple generosity and belief that your small "widow's mite" can make a difference is the cornerstone where charity begins. 


The main concept of what makes charity work, a concept I have been preaching from day one of my first 30 day challenge is this: we all can make a difference, if we overcome our indifference, and come together to pool our resources toward a common goal!

A "proof is in the pudding" moment: (sorry food is on my mind)... Our recently filled $36/mo heart is made up of 8 donors who chose to overcome the belief that their contribution wouldn't make a difference! 

And we now have four "Heart of Gold" donors who have effectively pooled their resources to come up with $23/mo so that now we only lack $14/mo before we will fill in the $37/mo heart. Are you starting to see it? This brings us that much closer to our goal of seeing 50 new hearts filled by the end of June!

You know what will change the world? Several people choosing to take small actions, to achieve a greater result they never could reach alone.

Call me an idealist (as if that were a dirty word) but I think we are starting a movement right here, together, that will literally change the world.

I'm dedicating day 14 to the girls of our India Girls Home, who, without your generous and consistent support, would still be stuck in dangerous child labor and, yes, even child slavery situations. Your support of the "Monthly Donor Heart-Chart" goal directly benefits their security, health, education, and well-being. Thank you. 









Charitable goal explanation. For those of you just tuning in, I'll recap what I'm trying to achieve with the "Monthly Donor Heart-Chart" and my goal of finding 50 new sponsors for these "hearts" which I like to think of as representing lives being transformed and, ultimately, saved.

Why am I seeking monthly donors? The orphan care, child labor response, and human trafficking response programs we've pioneered at Peace Gospel and She Has Hope— while sustained in part by small business enterprise— need charitable support to be fully sustained. The budgets of these programs have fixed, monthly expenses. Thus, while one-time donations are deeply appreciated, it's the monthly donations that give us something to count on and plan with. Therefor, long-term, they're the most powerful.

If you're willing to make a small monthly sacrifice of any amount to help ensure that the following merciful actions are fully funded each month, I would be grateful for your partnership with me in this effort. With your help, our monthly budget enables us to…
  • Provide resident care for 290 orphans in 11 homes in Asia and Africa
  • Operate 4 schools and 4 after-school care programs reaching over 1000 children
  • Serve approx. 50,000 fresh meals to children in our programs
  • Train 100s of girls how to avoid the dangers of human trafficking
  • House, rehabilitate and empower 20 girls recovering from human trafficking

On to what I was able to create with just $1 worth of food today. I enjoyed my egg-fried rice creation from last night so much that I decided to do a repeat of the same dish for dinner tonight. Just wish there was a little more!

Click or tap on image to enlarge...

Breakfast.



Lunch.



Dinner.


Take Action!

1) Please consider helping me reach my goal to find 50 new "Sustainers"— donors willing to give a small amount each month toward our work helping vulnerable children and trafficking survivors. Learn more and sign up here!

2) Please visit my unofficial sponsor, Amazon.com through this link. 7% of your purchases made through the link are given to the work of Peace Gospel's programs helping orphans, at-risk children of the slums, and human trafficking survivors.


3) If you're compelled by my effort here, please share it with friends. One of the main goals is awareness. So if you can help with that, huge.

4) Leave me feedback. Please comment on this post, especially if you have any ideas about what I should try to cook with these ingredients I have available. I love hearing from you! It really helps!

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