My Favorite Ministries

Hello everyone!

This kind of stemmed out of the ALS ice bucket challenge going around on Facebook. Dump a bucket of ice water on your head or donate $100 to ALSA. The money goes toward research to find a cure for ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Of course some people donated and poured the ice water on their heads, because the water challenge is more fun than donating, apparently. ;) Plus all of the videos are bringing awareness (and lots of money) to the cause.

I was tagged in a friend's ice bucket challenge video, and although I didn't make the 24 hour deadline (I was gone all day yesterday), I'm now taking time to respond. I thought about standing under a waterfall of ice water, but that sounds scary. I thought about doing nothing, because I'm not one for peer pressure, and believe it or not, facebook challenges aren't laws. ;) Then I thought about donating. The whole point of this fad is to bring awareness and encourage people to give to this cause. The problem with donating to ALSA is that they support embryonic stem cell research. As someone who is pro-life, I don't believe that killing tiny people to help save other people is ethical. In fact, it's contradictory.

So then I decided I still would donate $100, but I'll be donating it to a few organizations and ministries that I really admire and have been wanting to donate to. The challenge is supposed to encourage and remind people to donate to help those who are less fortunate. So that's what I'm doing. And it'll be more fun than pouring freezing water over my head. ;) Here are the ministries Andrew and I will be donating to.

Save the Storks

As soon as I heard about this ministry, I loved it. I have a passion for unwanted children (even more so now that I have a baby of my own). Truth is, the majority of unwanted children in the world aren't even allowed to take their first breath. This ministry, armed with high-tech equipment and experienced counselors, brings the pro-life message straight to the women walking into abortion centers. Love it!

Their Mission

"Statistics have shown time and again that many post-abortive women felt like they didn't have all the information they needed to make the choice for life. With the arrival of ultrasound technology, we think this is a travesty that more women aren't able to see their babies before they make this life or death decision. Our solution? To build as many Stork Buses as possible to reach as many women as possible with the truth about life and abortion. Many women don’t know that pregnancy centers exist, so we want to extend the reach of the centers to reach abortion-minded women with truth and compassion. The result of these efforts is that 3 out of 5 women who board a Stork Bus will choose life after seeing the ultrasound images of their child. Our mission is to empower abortion-minded mothers all over America to choose life. We’re accomplishing this by partnering with local pregnancy centers that will own and operate our vehicles outside of abortion clinics to reach women who feel like they only have one choice. By doing this, more women will be saved from the pain and heartbreak of abortion."

Adorned in Grace

I heard about this shop from one of my friends who bought her wedding dress there! This ministry up in Portland takes in donated wedding & formal gowns and sells them, donating all profits to help the problem of sex-trafficing in the area. If you haven't looked into modern-day slavery, please do. Slavery is still here, in 21st century America.

Their Mission
"Adorned in Grace Bridal and Formalwear uses all proceeds to raise awareness of the problem of human trafficking, conduct outreach events and training for the prevention of human trafficking, and provide support for rescued victims. Through outreach workshops and special events, the Adorned in Grace Design Studio in SE Portland inspires women and girls to become advocates on behalf of their at-risk sisters in low-income, high-crime neighborhoods. Donated gowns that can't be sold in the shop are used to inspire design creativity, teach young girls valuable life skills, develop healthy mentoring relations and raise awareness for the prevention of sex trafficking."

The Little Bee Co.

Of course I love this ministry. One cute cloth diaper for you, one cute cloth diaper for a needy child in another part of the world! What a great way to build a business by providing a cute and useful product and then turning it into a ministry to help others who can't afford the product.

Their Mission
"For each diaper purchased The Little Bee Co. will donate a diaper to an orphan in need. Along with providing a quality diaper, our passion is to help children in need and bring an awareness to the orphan crisis consuming the world today."

Gleanings for the Hungry

Gleanings for the Hungry is an organization in California that receives rejected and unbought food from companies and processes it with the help of lots of volunteers. They then partner with companies who take the food and the gospel to foreign countries.

Their Mission
"In 2011, Gleanings produced over 30 million 8-ounce servings of soup mix and over 550,000 pounds of dried fruit. We partnered with 52 ministries to distribute 5.2 million pounds of food across 30 nations. This ministry continues to minister to the poor and needy of the world, with the vision to feed the hungry of the world, both physically and spiritually"

This is not the most recent video montage (I couldn't find it), but it is still very good. Plus that's my hubby at 0:43. ;)

Thank you for reading this blog post. I encourage you to check out these ministries and give, either to one of these or to another ministry you admire and have been wanting to give to. I know there's a lot more that I would love to give to later! Let me know how you donated in the comments. :)

"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’"
(Matthew 25:34-36 ESV)