“The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.”– Helen Keller
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It’s a humbling experience to lead a non profit organization that is based solely off of donations. For my family, it brought new meaning to the words “live by faith”. But, knowing that there are those who believe in our vision gives us great energy to accomplish our rather large mission.
We have multiple reasons for our existence but only one true, deep down in-the-core mission – We want to end the orphan crisis.
We have multiple reasons for our existence but only one true, deep down in-the-core mission – We want to end the orphan crisis.
We partner with churches and organizations who want to end the crisis in their community and within their influence globally. We also jumped at the chance to serve on an alliance in Washington, D.C. that is working on behalf of children in adversity world-wide.
In every conversation we have, the answer is always the same for us.
The church is the answer.
In this post, I would like to highlight some of what has been accomplished through the efforts of Patch Our Planet and at the same time say a big “thank you” to all of you who have trusted us with your investment and to those who, in the future, may choose to do the same.
Because of our donors…..
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- We were able to speak about the importance of the church in caring for the orphan while on the International Adoption Panel at the White House. Click Here
- We were able to partner with a local church in Costa Rica to begin the process of assisting the churches there to care for their own orphans. Click Here
- We were able to travel with our partner church to Lviv, Ukraine and assist the local churches there in multiple orphanages. Click Here for our trip update and Click Here for more photos.
- We were able to work on behalf of our partner church in Buffalo, NY (The Chapel) to assist the church leaders there in starting a foster care ministry. Click Here to see the video. Since Father’s Day 2012, there are 400+ volunteers signed up, hundreds of families have gone through the formal foster care training and 30 families (as of last week) were in the final stages of receiving their foster children. We roll out the “adoption” piece on Orphan Sunday, November 4th and then go to work on the global strategy soon after that.
- We were able to partner with First Baptist Woodstock as we assisted them in writing a framework for global orphan care. More recently, we were asked to help collaborate with the staff to refine the foster care ministry. This ministry has already made a significant difference in our community. We are excited to be a part of helping the kids in our own backyard. Link to church here
- We are able to contribute to articles, speak to reporters, and work our own book – not just to spread awareness, but to spread solutions.
…the incredible resources of the church are being released into the community and the foster child and global orphan are benefitting from the long term strategies being employed by these churches to get children into families.
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Every child that benefits as a result of the work of Patch Our Planet benefits because there are generous people, businesses, churches and organizations who have entrusted us with an investment to make a big difference on their behalf.
We are working hard to be effective.
Your “mighty shoves & tiny pushes” are putting the wind behind this great cause…
Thank you.
Steve Gillis
Founder | Executive Director
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Budget Update:
Budget 2012: $67,000
Gifts as of August 31, 2012: $37,100
Need for 2012: $29,900
