Highlights
June 08
Phil Snyder - Editor
Back to http://glowmi.org
Rocking On
Haiti’s shops are full of wonderful and colorful crafts for the tourists. Gifts are made from banana leaves and stalks, coconut shells, dried flowers, straw made into hats, fans and all kinds of materials, and of course being so close to the ocean, there are the beautiful shells to buy.
While shopping one day with a few other missionaries, we came across some little rocking chairs, hand carved by the Haitians. We each decided to buy one and when we got back to the compound we tried them out. The rockers were uneven causing the chairs to go every which way and we nearly fell off our rockers with laughter, but hey, they were only $25.00.
When my grandson Jacob was born 28 years ago in the country of Haiti, I could hardly wait to show him to all of my Haitian neighbors who had never seen a little white baby before. He quickly won all their hearts and became a favorite with the people.
I then decided that I needed a rocking chair for baby Jacob so I went to the shop and bought a beautiful white one painted with flowers of all colors. He was such a joy to me and I have so many beautiful memories of the evenings I would sit in that rocking chair singing and rocking him to sleep.
This past April while I was in Haiti I received a call from the States telling me that Jacob had been in an accident and was killed. I was devastated with the news and for a while I was inconsolable. How could this be? He had just called me a month before. He was my handsome grandson, so talented in music and art, a University graduate, and now he was gone.
It was hard to think about the reality of the situation but I knew I had to make preparations to come back to the States to be with my family. I hurried to make those preparations but the evening before I was to leave I pulled out that old, faded rocking chair, sat down and once again, in my heart rocked, Jacob to sleep.
I know that his home is now in heaven and as I look back on my times in Haiti I reflect on all the parents who have lost children in that country, dying daily from sickness and disease, the cold hand of abject poverty. My heart goes out to them in a greater way now, feeling the compassion and sorrow that they suffer through. Those parents hurt as I did and their children are just as important to God as my Jake!
When I attend our ladies meetings in Haiti they always sing my favorite song; “Jesus took my burden and He left me with a song.” Yes He does but the burden for the hungry in Haiti lingers on. Please continue to pray for Haiti.
Thank you for your prayers for our family during this time of grief.
In His love, Bettie
NEW BEGINNINGS AND HOPEFUL SOLUTIONS
Night and day for several weeks, I have thought about only one thing- how do we respond to Haiti's food crisis in a quick decisive way, in order to meet the needs of thousands upon thousands of our Haitian friends? At times I've had to get up out of bed to write down my ideas, because I couldn't sleep until they were on paper. I have had a few Eureka! moments, so here we go!
I believe the fastest, most sustainable solution to the current problem is to increase our child sponsorship program. Right now GLOW operates a full school and feeding program for 2,000 students. Only about 400 of these children are sponsored. This means that from month to month we have a portion of our monthly budget funded by our faithful child sponsors, but the rest of our budget must be met using our general fund. Each month we must make up for those children in our programs who are not sponsored by raising those funds using other means! This creates a bit of a headache, because we sometimes just squeak by. Food prices have risen 50% in just six months. That means our feeding program alone is costing 50% more than it did in December 2007.
Why fully fund our schools? So that our Haitian pastors and directors can carry out hunger relief work in their own villages. They know who needs help. They can deliver that help.
A BOLD CHALLENGE: Champions Wanted
Here’s our goal: SPONSOR EVERY GLOW STUDENT BY DECEMBER 31, 2008.
I believe working together, we can find a sponsor for every child in our GLOW schools.
That’s 1600 NEW SPONSORS!
I’m taking this project on as a personal goal. I need the help of every GLOW sponsor to reach this goal! I know that many of you would like to do more to help our kids in Haiti, but you just don’t know how & don’t have the tools.
I can’t possibly find 1600 new sponsors by myself. But if eighty of our friends champion this cause, and we each find just twenty sponsors our job is done!
If this many folks help: We’d each need to find:
100 16
160 10
200 8
320 5
400 4
NEW SPONSORS
I don’t know what you’re thinking, but this sounds do-able, even easy, to me! Can we each find ten people who’ll love these kids? I know we can!
Are you willing to accept my challenge? Will you CHAMPION their cause?
Eureka! The Bold Challenge Relay 1600: Runners Take Your Mark
I’m developing some tools to help us find those sponsors. I am so excited about the potential in this project I can hardly contain myself. The kids are tired of my talking about it to all their friends! The hunger problem is like a coconut. It’s really hard on the outside, but if you use the right tool, it cracks easily. Then you can get to the good stuff on the inside.
SPONSORSHIP On a STRING : S.O.S.
GLOW’s S.O.S. is a special lanyard we’ll wear to the grocery store, school, work, or the dentist. Everywhere we go, people will see a beautiful Haitian child’s face. Some will ask why- and this will give us the opportunity, even those of us who are shy, to share the needs of our kids in Haiti.
Walkin’ Talkin’ Billboards
It’ll work like this: You are the first leg of the relay. Talk to everyone you know about the food crisis in Haiti. Tell them about our need for new child sponsors. Tell about our GOAL. Ask if they can bring us one step closer by caring for one child.
Your S.O.S. will have a clear vinyl pouch of small information cards. If someone shows some interest in helping, share a card, and ask them to visit our website or to call for more information. Sponsorship registration and making contributions are easy to do on our updated website which will have lots of new information and pictures of our programs. If the person says YES, they’d LOVE to sponsor a child, give them your S.O.S. After they register, they become the next runner! The idea is that they will wear the S.O.S. among their circle of friends, widening the network of people who are available to help our little friends. As they share the need and find a new sponsor, the circle gets bigger and bigger! This relay can go on and on as long as we share our enthusiasm and CHAMPION our cause courageously.
Please help me to plan. I need to gauge how many helpers we’ll have. Please respond on your monthly coupon or email: sos@glowmi.org to tell us if you’d be willing to participate in the Bold Challenge Relay 1600.
Don’t worry, you can volunteer to help later, too.
Success Stories
~ Last year GLOW was blessed by a group of dancers, from Holland, MI. These talented young people choreographed a beautiful ballet presentation to share the story of GLOW with others. It was inspiring to see the creativity they invested for Haiti’s sake.
~Another gentleman found soccer balls at his local Wal Mart for about $2 apiece. He then ran Adopt A Soccer Ball Day at church. Folks bought the balls for $10 or $15 each, decorated them with encouraging words and drawings, then turned them in to be deflated and sent to Haiti. Nearly a thousand dollars were raised.
~A quilter extraordinaire sent us one of her works of art for auction. It was a colorful love letter to anyone who’d wrap up in its softness.
I share these stories because we all have something we’re great at. Let’s use our talents to bless Haiti!
Champion:
n.1) a person who fights or defends any person or cause
2) fighter or warrior
v) to act as a champion of:
defend, support
“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.”
The Apostle Paul
WELCOME TO THE GLOW-LYMPICS
More Champions Wanted !
Are you wimpy? That’s wonderful! Puny? No problem!
The Olympics are games designed for the fastest, strongest, bestest of the best athletes in the whole wide world.
Welcome to OUR world, where nobody’s not good enough, where you can Go for the REAL GOLD. Where you might even win a tee shirt if I can find a corporate sponsor who’ll foot the bill. This is going to be fun . This is going to go down in history as the coolest thing to do in the Summer of 2008. I mean it.
THE GLOW-LYMPICS – WHAT’S YOUR EVENT?
A friendly series of events and competitions to help you to turn:
Your Passion into Their PROVISION
Your Fun into Their FOOD
Here’s How it Works
1. Choose a goal. How much would you like to raise for Haiti?
2. Create an event. Got an idea? Run with it!
3. Choose your team. Individual, team, or country (Really Big) event?
Now, make it happen!
Individual Events could include:
Dive Right In - Talk to groups about Haiti’s needs
Runner - Collect pledges for your next marathon or 5K
Knitter, Crafter, Seamstress, Quilter, Artist - Create a masterpiece, organize a show
Musician - Let us enjoy your talents, stage a concert
Gardener - Plant some flowers or pumpkins, have a produce stand
Gourmet Cook, Baker - Hold a special meal, teach a cooking class, sell goodies for dough
Neatnick - Clean something for pay or pledges, fridge-a-thon, window wash
Quitter - Get rid of that nasty habit, invest the money in heavenly treasure!
Collector - sell that dusty, useless collection your kids don’t want to inherit. That one.
Team Events:
Benefit Concert, Food Booth, Fast for Hunger, Canasta, Euchre, Scrabble Tournament, Lack of Talent/ Talent Show/ Play, Pool Party, Beach Volleyball Day…your idea here….
Country (Really Big) Events:
Fishing Derby, Golf Scramble, 5K, Softball Tournament, Field Day, and more……
So now that I know your imaginations are humming, BRAINSTORM and PRAY,
For I believe God will bless every effort done on behalf of his special people in Haiti.
Kids are welcome to participate and I know you will come up with the coolest ideas of all! Here are some to get you started:
Art Sale, Garage Sale, Garden Stand, Weed - a - Thon, Penny Carnival, Obstacle Course
So, let’s all be CHAMPIONS for Haiti’s Children!
Opening Ceremonies Soon …. Finish Line December 31, 2008
* Please send me stories & photos on your event in progress, to inspire others.
How We Did It - Creative Ways We Have Helped GLOW, is a booklet in the works.
* Please correspond with me directly about the Bold Challenge Relay 1600, and the GLOW-LYMPICS!
BeBold@glowmi.org or call me on the GLOW-LYMPICS HOTLINE 616.283.9616
* I really need some special project sponsors and corporate sponsors to help underwrite some of the materials
for both of these programs, so you’ll be my hero if you call me today!
READY, SET, GLOW! Amber Snyder
CHAMPIONS
Phil Snyder
When I was a little 10 year old kid the neighborhood bully ran me down and was pounding the tar out of me. I was a scrapper but he was way bigger than me and he eventually ended up sitting on my back, pinning my stomach to the ground. That wasn’t good enough for him. He reached around and took hold of my chin, pulling my head back until I thought surely my neck would break. I was on the verge of blacking out, seeing stars when my oldest brother showed up. Jack got that thug off my back and gave him a thumping to remember, he never messed around with me again. Jack became my champion that day.
Israel was being mocked by a giant, on the tipping point of total moral defeat. A boy with 5 smooth stones and a sling stepped into the arena and became a champion that day. A wild prophet stood alone before 300 worshippers of Baal and challenged them, becoming a champion. Gideon, declaring his “clan” the weakest of all and himself the least in his father’s house, stepped out in the strength of his personal faith and became a champion.
I have the privilege in this ministry of knowing hundreds of champions. An elderly lady wrote me the other day explaining that she was on a fixed budget but she heard about our “mission” and wanted to sponsor a child. A more affluent individual heard of our “mission” and sent in a check for $10,000.00. A younger man met one of our friends in Haiti and chose to sponsor him. The Haitian boy was sick and in need of medical attention, we helped him get that. It turned out that the intervention most likely saved his life. I look into the eyes of the children in Haiti knowing their health is being sustained by caring individuals all over the USA and recall many of your faces, champions!
The one thing that sets these champions apart from everyone else is this; they chose to act! It is too easy to sit by exercising our faith that God will take care of everything in His time. Champions understand, this is our world, we are the ones who will make a difference, the hands and feet of grace, the ears, the mouth, the very heart of God on this little blue planet.
A few months ago I wrote about one of our old cooks up in Fonde Baptiste who needed help building her house, she had been living in a shack that was little more than a chicken coop. Someone sent in a nice gift to help, I sent it on to her. The next time I was in Fonde Baptiste she cornered me between the coffee trees and the kitchen depot and plastered so many kisses on my face I though she was going to smother me. The funny thing was that I’d forgotten what this onslaught was all about. Then she reminded me and kissed me some more, I had to flee. In Haiti I am never far away from this measure of gratitude. It is poured out on me and I try and return it to you through my writing and pictures.
It is true that we are facing one of our most difficult challenges; how to keep feeding the children in the light of this global food crisis. We barely eked out through the end of this school year. Next year is a formidable challenge. We believe that together we can rise to this challenge.
Champions are not born, they are self made. They step up and act when action is needed. Most are reluctant, we are all reluctant to step out into the unknown. But if I’ve learned one thing in the 30 years I’ve served this vision it is this; people will respond to your passion! I’ve seen it a thousand times, the step becomes a leap and the One who watches over us all honors that, He brings in the increase. He just asks us to take that step.
Is it your turn to step out? We can help you. Don’t put it off for another day, call us today. Help us, help Haiti, be messengers of hope, glean the blessing for the neediest and you will fulfill one of the most dynamic principles in the Bible, loving your brother as yourself.
Jesus said, “Just as you have done it unto the least of these, in my name, you have done it unto me.”
A Little Publicity Never Hurt Any One!
GLOW received a little unexpected publicity and some help for Haiti last week when fans of American Idol contestant, Jason Castro, decided to do a good deed in his honor.
McLovin, of http://Castrocopia.com, decided she'd spend her i-tunes money on our kids in need, rather than mope in disappointment that her favorite was no longer in the running. Suggesting that other fans do likewise she started some kindly folks thinking about our kids too. The only trouble was, GLOW 5K, of Texas, was actually Jason's intentioned charity.
Donations came in through our website and soon the confusion was cleared up. Jason and his fellow ‘dreadheads’ decided it was a mistake worth keeping. Our organization is recognized on Jason's fan website, http://daydreamingboy.com as his charity of choice. Many thanks to the kind and generous fans of Jason Castro, and to Jason himself for the lovely and unselfish way this has blessed us. Check out http://towelsforjason.com for additional love and support from his fans.
News Flash
Pastor Feronnel just called to inform me he has received a visa to come and visit the United States. Fero is an old, old friend of mine and a partner/director for GLOW Ministries, Haiti. This will be his first visit to the States so this should be interesting.
Fero is a Godly man with a strong anointing in speaking and prayer. He and I go back to the early years when he was the administrator of the schools under our Mission Possible. He continues his dynamic ministries in Haiti through a number of churches and a daily radio program in St. Marc.
If you are interested in inviting him into your church or fellowship group please let us know. He will be in South Florida during the last two weeks in June and in Michigan through July. Give me a call and we’ll see if we can set something up. Phil
Haitian Marketplace Makes Food Prices Real
Last month I (Amber) had a unique opportunity to share the reality of Haiti's food crisis with the students at Innocademy in Zeeland, MI. Using groceries from our local supermarket and current prices sent to me by Damil in Haiti, I was able to set up a small simulation of a Haitian market. It included baskets of mangoes, coconuts, rice, beans, coffee beans, & oranges. Plantains, canned milk, water, and other basics, like garlic and boullion cubes were available.
After a brief lesson, the children were given an assignment: to do their imaginary grocery shopping having a dollar to spend ( I believe most Haitians live on 50 cents per day). One lucky student, who represented the rich upper class was allotted 10 dollars. We all had our eyes opened as we saw the sad fact of how little a dollar will buy. Oranges and mangoes were just too expensive, as were bananas, which are grown widely, but sold as a cash crop. Meat did not even appear in the exercise, because a live chicken is currently $10, while a goat is sold for $77 USD.
The most heart wrenching part of the lesson came when we measured out how much food a family of six would have, after buying some precious canned milk for a baby. We talked about how evaporated milk would be reconstituted with impure water. Our imaginary baby came down with diarrhea, and had to go to a doctor, which took even more money from the family food budget. At the end of the lesson, there was very little food for our pretend family: about 1 1/4lbs rice, and 3/4 lb beans for the whole day.
I was shocked and saddened that morning. It renewed my vision to work hard so that our Haitian friends will survive this difficult time of crisis. If you'd like to try this exercise with your class, I'd be happy to share the prices and shopping list with you.
This is an excellent program to share with your Sunday School or Vacation Bible School program in conjunction with World Hunger awareness.
Please call Amber Snyder if you would like more information on how to conduct a Haitian Market experiment in your program. 616.283.9616
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