We are so grateful for your partnership with us at Bright Hope. Your gifts and prayers are such a blessing and they are bringing hope and help to the poorest people in the world.

Last week, I had lunch with a friend and we talked about the different ways people can help the poor. Some projects or activities provide food, others water, some shoes, others medicine, there are many new organizations that have popped up recently. We talked about which ones seem the most effective, and how not all of them offer the kind of holistic support that Bright Hope offers. “The real test,” I said to my friend, “is to ask where the poor you are trying to help will be twelve months after you start helping them.” Will their living conditions be improved? Will they be earning more income? Will their children be in school? Will they have moved toward a relationship with Christ?

My friend had an immediate response. “Then make sure you don’t chase the shiny penny!” he said. He went on to explain that the saying was popular with the people at his office. They didn’t want to chase the shiny penny because although it’s attractive and catches the eye, it’s still just a penny. It may cause you to stop in mid step, maybe even change direction just to pick it up. But in the end, it is not worth much and won’t make much of difference.

What my friend was saying is that Bright Hope’s mission of serving people holistically is so important and life changing that we can’t risk the eternal goals for activities and ideas that are just temporary gains — even if those efforts seem to be succeeding for the short term.

Wow! What a great moment that was. I felt like I was seeing our ministry with new eyes –eternal eyes that burned away the temporary challenges in light of what we are really gaining.

That’s why I am so passionate about what we do here. We are still focused on:

1. Meeting the immediate physical needs of people who must have that help.
2. Meeting long term needs through income producing programs.
3. Meeting eternal needs by connecting people to a local church and to believers who can lead them to Christ and disciple them.

Here are a few ways we are achieving our primary ministry goals:
In India, we are helping a group of 20 churches reach out to women with HIV/AIDS. These churches are teaching the women sewing skills, and as a result, 75 families are earning enough to meet their needs. It only costs $80.00 for each family to get started on their way to a more promising future.

In Haiti, we are helping 13 village churches start schools for children in their area. About 2,000 children are being educated and given one hot nutritious meal every school day. It costs $75 per student for a full school year of meals – the only meal that many of these children will have.

In North India, we are helping to start a new church in a very impoverished rural village. Forty people have come to Christ, and now, the leaders want to help the orphans and vulnerable children in their village in new ways.

Our goal is to help poor families break the cycle of poverty and start on a path that helps them on every level. If we have to “leave the shiny penny” beside the road, so be it. We want our holistic ministry to change lives immediately, for the long term and for eternity.

Thanks again for helping us. We deeply appreciate your support and kindness toward the poor. We are moving into the summer months and it is our time of greatest need, so your gift this month is extremely important. Please help us if you can.

Your gift through www.brighthope.org will be a huge help and blessing to someone in great need. May the Lord bless you and encourage you with His love and peace.

In His Service,
Craig Dyer
President of Bright Hope International

P.S. A shiny new penny can look really enticing, but the hard work of helping the poor out of poverty with relief aid, economic opportunity and into relationship with Christ will always be Bright Hope’s charge. Can you affirm our calling by writing or giving and letting us know?

This week at Bright Hope, finishing touches were made to allow 1,400 children to be fed in the slums of Mathare Valley in Nairobi, Kenya. Henry Chu, one of our project specialist here at Bright Hope, helped in facilitating this project. Read more details about it by clicking here!