Print, Post, Repeat!

Here's a flier that explains the crisis at the El Salvador Orphanage and tells about our fund-raising efforts. Feel free to print it out and use it to spread the word!

Thanks to all who are working so hard for our kids. We just heard today that one person who had accepted the "1 of 130" challenge has already met it! Now she plans to more than double that by fund-raising extra hard.

God Bless!

Can you help our kids?

For some time now, SHIP’s focus has been on building a new orphanage home for the children of Jehovah Jireh Orphanage in San Salvador, El Salvador. Over the years, we have come to love these children, and they are a part of our family.

On June 26, we were saddened to learn that new laws threaten to split up our family. Many repairs need to be made to the existing orphanage building by October 15 of this year, but, even if all repairs are made, the government says that the current building is too small to house all of our children. They plan to take away 19 of our 34 children.

We can’t let this happen. Our only option is to complete work on the new orphanage building. In order to complete the project, we need $130,000. That’s a lot of money, but we can do this if we just break that big number into small, manageable pieces. Just think about it like this:

If 130 people give $1,000 each, how much money have we raised, and how soon can the building be complete?

It’s simple, really. All it takes to raise the $130,000 that we need is 130 gifts of $1,000 each. But, $1,000 is still a lot of money. Personally, I don't have $1,000 to spare, but I do have some money, and I do have friends. That’s why we’re asking you to think of how your 1 family, 1 church, 1 youth group, 1 sorority, 1 poker club, 1 whatever could get together and raise $1,000.

Can you bake? Can you put together one awesome garage sale? Can you wash cars?

Whatever it takes, can you (with the help of friends, family, co-workers, anyone) raise $1,000?

I will be 1 of 130. Will you be 1 of 130, too?

How to be 1 of 130:

1. Get a group together. Talk to your family, friends, co-workers, Sunday School class, Brownie troop. Talk to anyone whose heart will be touched by this need, and get them to join you in raising $1,000.
2. Raise $1,000. Raise $1,000 really fast. We hope to start the final phase of construction on August 1. We know it’s fast, but we also know that you are amazingly capable of doing anything you put your mind to.
3. Send the money to SHIP. You can donate via Internet at http://shipinternational.org/donate/, or you can send a check to:

Shelter the Homeless International Projects
P.O. Box 3003
Bryan, TX 77805-3003

Please Help Us!

We love these kids. We love every single one of them. We’ve seen them grow up over the years, start school, graduate, go to college. We’ve seen them fall in love with those of you who’ve gone to El Salvador. We’ve seen their faces light up when they get their Christmas gifts from those who’ve sent them. We’ve seen the love they show each other and us, and we’ve known that in them we see Christ.

They are a family. They are our family. But, our family is in trouble.

Today we visited the orphanage and learned that the orphanage is in danger of being shut down. The government agency in charge of child welfare (CONNA) thinks there are too many problems with the orphanage. The building needs to be bigger; repairs need to be made; they need more people on staff. We have until October 15 to make that happen.

Even if all repairs are made and staff added, CONNA still believes that the building is only big enough for 15 children. There are 34 children in our family.This means that 19 of our kids will be taken from the only loving home they’ve known and placed in an impersonal, government-run orphanage.

These are children who have known physical and sexual abuse, abandonment, neglect. Many of our children have been through the government system before; some of them still carry the scars of it. We can’t let our children go back to that. We can’t look at the faces in that picture and choose who we could part with.

We need the new orphanage now—sooner than now if possible. We need $130,000 to complete construction. We need your prayers. We need to keep our family together.

http://shipinternational.org/