Cash on the Barrelhead

Covid-19 has brought about some challenges. In the U.S., it caused a coin shortage. For Sowers4Pastors, it is causing a cash shortage. Trish was hesitant to have this written into a blog post because you need to understand that this isn’t a desperate plea for donations. (Though, certainly, your donations would not be turned away!) This is about a shortage of physical paper money. Legal tender. Bread. Bucks. Dough. Moolah… What we might call greenbacks in the States, but which come in a variety of colors in Honduras!

When teams visit, they are requested to bring the money for their expenses in cash, rather than sending it through wire transfer. There are a variety of reasons this is preferable. For starters, it eliminates losing money to transfer fees and high bank exchange rates. There’s also the issue that many people wait until the week prior to their trip to pay for it. That isn’t enough time for a wire transfer to be completed.

Some people have stated concerns that moving money in this way was an attempt to avoid paying taxes on the money. That simply isn’t true. Any money Sowers4Pastors receives is reported to the IRS. The money the teams bring down is used to pay for their food, lodging, and other group expenses while they are in Honduras. It isn’t going into the ministry. But an absence of teams has meant an absence of physical, cold, hard cash.

This is also a time when more money is going out. There have been extra expenses for the church building project in Quelacasque. And the additional food costs for the ministry have meant spending significant amounts of money.

The reason this lack of physical Lempiras is concerning is that Allen and Russell are getting ready to leave for their U.S. backpack collection trip. And, Trish is still socially isolating to avoid any nasty little Covid-19 germs that might be floating around in Gracias. If you let that sink in for a moment, you’ll realize that means she can’t make a quick dash to the bank whenever the need for cash arises. No one other than Russell, Allen, and Trish is on the ministry accounts, so it’s not a matter of sending Iris or Melvin to the bank. (I asked. You’re welcome.)

Trish will need to pay the bills during this time and, as charming she is, she has thus far been unable to get by on her charm alone. She has been spending a lot of quality time online with Western Union trying to get the bill-paying/cash situation sorted out. Ideally, she should be able to transfer the money online, from their bank to Western Union. She has tried using Allen’s account. She has tried using Russell’s account. And, in a most UNcharming manner, the Western Union site has told her that those attempted payments were not accepted. She called the bank and was told, “We don’t do Western Union transfers.”

One of the banks in Gracias where you can pick up money sent by Western Union

That whole bank not doing Western Union transfers isn’t 100% accurate because Rachel uses the same bank and she can transfer funds without difficulty. Anywho… Please pray for the ability to get the ministry funds to the areas where funds are needed.

 - posted by Christi