Saturday, January 16, 2016

Exciting New Thing #1: Manna 4 Lempira Child Sponsorship Program

Today I am ridiculously excited to be officially announcing a program which has been running for several months now, mostly under-the-radar. With the amazing volunteer help of the hard-working team of Jonathan and Kim Hall, we have begun a sponsorship program for individual children in our feeding center ministry!

BUT - before I go into any more details - my crazy husband wants me to give you this information in a blurb, right up front: You can feed up to 61 children for only $15 per month!!!!! (If it was possible to add flashing lights, I'm sure he'd have had me put those in, too. We now return to your regularly scheduled blog post.)

As the program started up, we offered sponsorships for children in only one of our feeding center locations, but because Kim and Jonathan have already recruited enough sponsors for almost all of the children in the Mercedes village center, we are in the process of starting the program in a second location, as well!

The name of the sponsorship program is Manna 4 Lempira, and you can visit the Manna 4 Lempira Facebook page, for more information, and to see the photos, names and details of children available for sponsorship!


These are the specific details:
  • Each sponsored child receives two nutrition-packed meals each week. 
  • The children will receive de-worming medicine twice each year.
  • Once each year, just before the start of the Honduran school year, each sponsored child receives a pair of shoes and a school uniform, so that they can attend the public school.
  • At that same time, each child also receives a school backpack, filled with the school supplies required by the public schools. 
  • The children and the sponsors will have the opportunity, with the help of translators, to correspond with one another, and the sponsors will occasionally have the opportunity to send special gifts to their sponsored children. 
  • Their participation in the program will bring these children into relationships with the pastor and members of the congregation of a local church. They will receive regular Bible lessons, and a tie-in with caring Christians in their community. This kind of local support can be vital for families living in poverty!

Here is where the numbers get really interesting, though: The cost for all of these benefits is only $15 per month. We can do all of this so inexpensively because everyone involved is a volunteer, serving these children for the sake of Christ. There are no salaries, and minimal overhead costs.

As they say on TV . . . "But wait! There's more!"

Because of our volunteer staff and extremely low overhead, we are able to stretch that $15 donation sooooo far, that in addition to paying for all of these benefits for your sponsored child, your monthly donation will also pay to feed as many as 60* other children in our feeding centers which do not currently have sponsorship programs.

Is it time for you to sponsor a needy child? If you feel the importance of making every dollar count, the way we do, then perhaps Manna 4 Lempira is the child sponsorship program for you! To get started, visit the Information Page of the Manna 4 Lempira blog! In no time, you could be helping a child in Honduras with their nutritional, educational, and spiritual needs!

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*Note: Be advised that the exact number of additional children fed will fluctuate, as our costs for food and shipping change over time.

Addendum: If you're interested in how this project came into existence, Kim Hall wrote a great post on that subject, here.

Finally, if you've read all the way to the bottom of this blog post . . . my crazy husband also told me to put this here at the end: He has promised me that, if I get ten comments on this blog post (here on the blog, not on FB), he will wash the dishes for a week AND take me out to dinner! Please help make this happen . . . please?

35 comments:

Charla said...

I will comment just so dishes get done. ;)

Trish said...

He he he - that's ONE! Allen just told me that I don't get to count my own comments, LOL.

Pam Llewellyn said...

Get your dish washing hands ready, Allen!! Hope there are lots of replies, Trish!

Dawn said...

I love this post for multiple reasons! Mostly because of the ministry you all do! But how could I pass up a chance to help your earn a dish free week ;-)

Emily said...

Husbands who wash dishes are the best!

It always impresses me how far you all are able to stretch a dollar.

Anonymous said...

I can't remember my Google login password, which means I haven't used it in forever. I always love your programs. And a week with no dishwashing is almost as great.

"Veronica Lee"

Unknown said...

Allen...get to washing sir! Also, I will share the information and let folks know that I can personally vouch for the authenticity of This program as well as the impact that it is making.

Trish said...

Halfway there! Thanks friends!

The Reader said...

This whole post is awesome, but especially a dish washing husband AND dinner out! Wow! Not to mention, seriously, 60 kids and the sponsorship for just $15/mo.....wow. I am continually impressed by how well you guys run your ministries. Awesome job!

Mindy S said...

This is an awesome sounding program! You guys are making a splendid difference in precious lives!

If you're going out for dinner the dishes left to wash at home shouldn't be too horrible ;)

Christine Ewert said...

I will gladly leave post #10. Make dinner out a good one!

Susan said...

What a great ministry! Going to go check out the website now.

Kristi R. said...

This program sounds quite exciting.

I hope your husband doesn't get dishpan hands!

dragonfly summers said...

I think you are going out for dinner and getting an interim dishwasher.

Cindy in GA said...

This is exciting news; ya'll are doing such wonderful work!!

Trish said...

Thanks all, for the comments! Now, I'll need to decide where Allen will be taking me on our dinner-date.

Unknown said...

haha here's another comment to help you...this week in hotel casa celaque there's a promotional menu for women to celebrate our month! there's your dinner!

elilillie said...

I will be sure to share your post.

Shawn Taggart said...

Can we get two weeks of dish washing? :)

Unknown said...

Love this!! Can we get 2 weeks of dishwashing?

Sherri said...

That's one week for EVERY 10 comments, right?

Anonymous said...

I'm voting for two weeks of dishes, dinner out, and a weekend getaway in Valle de los Ángeles.

Unknown said...

Get to it Allen! Love this program!

Cindy in California said...

I like the "one week for every ten comments" idea AND how far you stretch the funds in your ministry. I hope you don't try to "stretch funds" too much on your dinner date and have a really nice meal. :-)

Heather in WI said...

Great way to get the word out, Trish! Enjoy your break from dish duty!

Tamara Manahan said...

Will share :) Happy dishwashing, Allen! Enjoy your dinner date.

3kidmama said...

If we get you to 30 comments, Allen....

3kidmama said...

Can we get you to .......

3kidmama said...

Steal Trish away for a

3kidmama said...

Romantic weekend to celebrate your 10th wedding anniversary?

jani said...

10th???

Love it!!
Thanks for all you do!
Xo

Trish said...

I want you all to know that Allen is currently washing dishes, while singing "It's been a hard day's night, and I've been workin' like a dog . . . . "

LOLOL

Passion4compassion said...

You've earned at least a second week of dishwashing and another dinner date!! Bonus!!

Judy (from Canada)

Sheila said...

LOL--That's a great way to get people to leave comments! I read blogs on theoldreader.com, so almost never leave comments, because I have to click on the blog and wait for it to load, etc. But even though I'm over a week late even reading this, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to make sure you'd gotten your ten comments. :-)

Trish said...

You guys are GREAT!!! Thanks so much for all of these comments!

We had two teams, back-to-back over the past two weeks, so we haven't started Allen's dish-washing week as of yet. I believe that will start tomorrow. :)

And now, to decide where he'll be taking me to dinner . . .