Funds Raised in the Nick of Time

Praise reports and prayer requests go together like… Peanut butter and jelly? Sugar and spice? Trucks and mud? The 1980s and big hair? Take your pick. The point is that praise reports and prayer requests often go together. This blog post is another example of praise and prayer joining hands.

The recent fundraiser to celebrate Allen’s birthday was a rousing success. Due to matching funds donations, more than $40,000 was raised to be used for shipping food containers to Honduras. That’s enough money to ship and pay customs on approximately 1.5 million meals!

A lot more people are requesting food than is normal for this time of year. Usually, pastors aren’t in as big of a hurry to pick up food during the time around coffee harvesting season. This is typically the season when families have enough money to purchase some extra food, for stocking up. They will usually take this time to buy an extra bag of rice, an extra bag of beans, and several bags of corn to see them through the leaner times. But things are different this year. The cost of food in Honduras is going through the roof. Prices have increased by 25-50% on most items.

The World Food Programme is still studying the problem in Lempira specifically, but it has already determined that 30% of Hondurans are suffering from acute food insecurity. 7% of Hondurans were found to be in a state of emergency food insecurity.

Farmers are doing what they can to combat the problem. But, as Allen said, “There are only so many bad fields they can plant in. A lot of farmers have run out of places… In addition to that, the cost of fertilizer has already gone up 30% over last year’s prices and is expected to double this year.”

Allen also discussed the overall nutrition dropping. To compensate for higher prices, many people are only eating protein once or twice per week. Sowers4Pastors is even exploring the idea of helping people get chickens because the cost of eggs has gone up 50% in the last year.

Another ministry recently reached out to Sowers4Pastors because they were getting requests for food from the more than 30 pastors they work with. Sowers4Pastors was able to respond by sending them 110,000 meals! That is both a prayer request for other ministries and a praise that S4P was able to help people in another area of Honduras.

The money raised to transport food is an obvious answer to prayer. Food for Kids has committed to doing everything they can to help out with food donations. Allen is also reaching out to other groups in hopes of getting more food. Please pray that one or two of those groups will be able to donate another container or two filled with food. It is important that the containers be full. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense to ship them. Also, please pray that the cost of shipping doesn’t go up any more than it already has. It increased 50% in the last year, climbing from $8,000 to $12,000. Another 50% jump would put the cost at $18,000!

Please continue to pray for the feeding centers. Pray that the pastors will take full advantage of the opportunity to share the Gospel with the kids while feeding them.

In the praise column, Allen wants to thank everyone for making his birthday wishes come true with your generous donations. He said, “We’re happy to be in the middle of helping to get these kids some of the nutrition they need."

- posted by Christi