“Why do you support kids halfway around the world?”
Good question. Simple answer: when we started doing this we asked where we could help and were directed to Project Rescue and this specific HOME OF HOPE. So we said YES.
“Why don’t you do something locally?”
Good question, not quite so simple. So I dig a bit. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, it would make fundraising a lot easier.”
“How’s that?”
“Two reasons. Some people think we should help at home before we go trying to save other countries. And many big foundations prefer their funds to be used in the U.S. rather than internationally.”
Hmmm. Okay, I get it.
I’d welcome a huge grant from a foundation. Foundation boards need donation guidelines to assure that giving aligns with values and priorities. They can’t support every worthy cause. But it wouldn’t make much sense to choose who needs help based on the number of deep pockets available to support them.
If folks want to support trafficked kids locally, there’s no shortage of opportunities. We’re happy to connect them with worthy local organizations doing great work. Trafficking in the U.S. is a horrible, growing cancer that requires every possible heart to defeat it.
I’m certain, though, that when God looks at a child He doesn’t see a flag. Our kids were born in a filthy, evil place called G.B. Road, the red light district in Delhi. That makes them no less worthy than children from Denver.
Right now, at the U.S. border, children are ripped from parents and housed in cages simply because they’re poor and born under a different flag. I’m outraged. Perhaps a good time to take a stand, to say the kids at our HOME OF HOPE (and all people everywhere) deserve our support simply because they’re precious children of God.
Fundraising locally would be easier.
Yeah, well, Jesus never said anything about easy.