Gifts of Hope – $10.00 and Under

• nothingbutnets.net – Buy … Distribute … Educate … Save a life
• worldrelief.org
  • Burundi – Fight AIDS with Abstinence … Send a youth group member on a retreat designed to encourage members to stay committed to premarital abstinence and build communities to hold each other accountable to their pledges –
  • Cambodia – Reach Children With Truth – Support teaching teams as they share health messages and Bible-stories through puppetry and drama to thousands of children.
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo – Daily Bread – Support teaching teams as they share health messages and Bible-stories through puppetry and drama to thousands of children.
  • Malawi - Offer Guidance – Provide guides for Sunday Schools as they lead students through biblical messages and health messages about AIDS prevention.
  • Mozambique – Care for People with Aids – Provide a manual that clearly explains the causes and symptoms of HIV/AIDS. It will be used by volunteers to share life-saving information and reduce stigma and fear within their communities.
  • Rwanda – LifeSaving Antibiotics – Provide guides for Sunday Schools as they lead students through biblical messages and health messages about AIDS prevention.
  • Rwanda - Seeds of Hope – Provide seeds and tools to people living with AIDS so they can grow nutritious food.

  Step by step we can do this. Step by step, we as individuals can give the gift of hope!

Bono and Fair Trade

Have you heard ?

As blogged in in the book edition Bono bottom lines his beliefs re: Fair Trade – shopping is politics. Every time we are spending money, we vote.  Totally thought provoking. The bottom line – trade is good only when it’s FAIR.

Rhythms of Redemption shares that Bono’s wife, Ali has just launched her own Fair Trade fashion line

She originally made her children’s clothing. Why? As stated in ROR – she did not want to think another mother’s child was being exploited in making her children’s clothes. We’ve all heard the reports of child/slave labor in other countries. Exploitation? Justice? How do they walk hand in hand?

What can we do as a generation to change circumstances? What can we do as a generation to give hope to the hopeless? We can do something … day by day … person by person, dollar by dollar.  The first step to change is awareness. Once we know … we are no longer able to say “I didn’t know.”

As Bono said at the Labour Party Conference, November 2004, “We are the first generation that can look extreme and stupid poverty in the eye, look across the water to Africa and elsewhere and say this and mean it: we have the cash, we have the drugs, we have the science – but do we have the will? Do we have the will to make poverty history? Do we?”

Fair trade is a beginning. Helping and aiding groups … reaching out to countries is a beginning. We can do this. We can be that generation … people helping people … step by step.

Take a step!

World Relief is all about …

people … who need help … victims of poverty, disease, war, disasters and persecution.

WWII ended and people in Europe needed help i.e. food and clothing. The National Association of Evangelicals established The War Relief Commission 1944 and in 1950 the group decided to continue under the name of World Relief.

World Relief is a Christian faith based organization working with local churches to reach out and impact those who need help the most. The local churches become “the hands of Jesus.”

We’ve all heard and read about celebrities being involved in helping countries … Bono (U2), Brad Pitt and others are partnering with World Relief 

December 8th – come and reach out your hand to help people in need.

Who is World Vision?

World Vision states on their website that it is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

World Vision needs our help! The organization promises that every gift that is given goes to the children and families who need it most, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. More than 87% of World Vision’s revenue goes into programs helping children and families in need AND most of all – World Vision promises that your gift WILL change lives.

World Vision has been in existence for over 55 years. World Vision offers gifts that give shelter and warmth, education, health care, nourishing food, clean water, animals – gifts to raise up and empower people around the world.

If you are more interested in helping and giving to those people in the United States, World Vision has 3 programs targeted in various sections of our country including right here in the Chicago area.

World Vision’s statement of what they are about – can be overwhelming! Sounds futile! Sounds like a lost cause! They are all about lost causes! They are all about bringing light into the hopelessness of lives that seem beyond hope! Sounds like a world view gone awry. Come join us on the 8th in turning on the light and changing lives!

Nothing But Nets and the 6 Foot, 200 Pound Mosquito

Before you read further – click on this link – nothingbutnets.net

The site won a ! While you are at the site … be sure …. to check out the 6 foot, 200 pound mosquito in the video. It’s well worth the minute it takes to watch it.

Nothing But Nets is all about saving lives – lives of children and their families – from mosquitoes – from malaria. Nearly 3,000 children die daily … one person every 30 seconds … from malaria. Malaria has almost been eradicated in Asia, the Americas and Europe – but NOT in Africa. Malaria deaths have increased over the last 30 years.

For $10.00, Nothing But Nets gives a family of four a treated net that they can sleep under and be safe, from malaria, for up to four years. For $10.00 – your gift can save the lives of FOUR people!

The NBA and Sports Illustrated are both supporting this amazing cause. FYI – your entire donation goes to the purchase of the nets. Nothing goes to administration costs. The United Nations Foundation covers the cost of the extras due to an amazing donation of THE Ted Turner in 1998.

Got children who play in sports? What a GREAT gift for them to give! Instead of soccer nets, basketball nets, ping pong nets – your kids – your family can buy nets that actually save lives.

There will be an opportunity for you to purchase nets at the Holiday of Hope Bazaar on December 8th.

Bzzzzzzzzzzz! Swat!

Who Does Fair Trade Help?

Fair Trade is the proverbial extension of one’s hand to help another person. It’s all about forming a relationship … a partnership between consumers and the producers. These working relationships are based on mutual trust and respect. By extending a hand … Fair Trade gives people the opportunity to step out of poverty. Fair Trade provides a way to impact the quality of people’s lives.

The bottom line: Fair Trade = Fair Wages. Local communities in remote parts of the world are being paid fair wages for their work through Fair Trade partnerships. You may have heard or seen the words “Fair Trade” in the media. Groups, companies, and individuals are beginning to see the value of Fair Trade.

Years ago, Fair Trade stores were usually small shops … often known as world shops … placed in a neighborhood that was rather remote or a neighborhood known for artsy stuff. However, since about 1988 – the view of Fair Trade has changed radically and is now being mainstreamed into the larger consumer market.

The dream of a Mennonite Central Committee worker, Edna Byler, who in 1946 traveled to Puerto Rico when she saw a way to improve the lives of women in poverty became a successful reality. She returned to the US and began the realization of her dream in a basement. This program grew into a strong alternative trading organization and in 1996, the name Ten Thousand Villages was adopted.

Lives of some of the world’s poorest people are changed when Fair Trade business relationships are formed. The people begin to earn fair wages for their work and the money they receive then becomes an investment into their families and ultimately becomes an investment into the community i.e. education, health clinics, child care, etc. The possibilities for impact are endless.

Fair Trade empowers. Fair Trade restores the dignity of man.

What is Fair Trade Anyway?

A few months ago my oldest son wanted to trade his little brother his big nickel for his little dime. “Look, this one is better, it’s bigger! And look how shiny it is.” Quickly we went over and explained to our oldest that he couldn’t use his advantages of strength or knowledge to trick his brother into an unfair trade. And now that we’re in the age of Pokemon cards, the lessons are again presenting themselves. Being fair in your trade is more important than getting more out of the trade.

The interesting thing however, is how these childhood lessons are abandoned when we become adults. The almighty dollar instead of fairness rules the day and we are left with a system that works for some but not for many. In some ways, it is that simple. But as the fair trade movement gets more momentum, the label has some more specific meanings. The fair trade label ensures that the cooperatives are not only supplying quality products but that they are being treated fairly, being paid a fair wage for their work and that social and environmental standards are being upheld. Ten Thousand Villages, a retailer of fair trade products, even goes the extra mile. They offer the artisans 50% of the money ahead of time so that they may purchase materials. This kind of treatment of producers is in many ways unprecedented. But it makes a way for third world producers to compete in the global market. TTV also keeps its costs down by using volunteers in their stores so that the artisan who makes the product is ensured that wage, hence, making them a non-profit retailer. For these reasons we are happy to offer fair trade products at our Holiday Bazaar and are just as thrilled to have Ten Thousand Villages join with us to see fair trade become more of an option in Naperville, Bolingbrook, and beyond.