Bright Hope is on the brink of unveiling a large campaign to help the poor.

This is like nothing we have ever done in the past - this is Run For Hungry Children BIG!

For a life changing experience make sure your calendar is cleared for October 22-25.

Keep checking in to Bright Hope’s Homepage and this blog for details.

Bright Hope is gearing up to send a team to Mathare Valley from Hope Community Church in Springfield, IL. Jennifer Young is on that trip and wrote us these encouraging words about God’s vision to get her on this trip…

“In January or February of 2008, I went to a movie called “The Invisible Children” that our church was showing and it was about kids in Uganda. God, just really started tugging on my heart. I ended up going to an informational meeting on Haiti and then in February my husband was served with papers to go back to court for more child support and post-secondary education for his daughter.

This meant no Haiti Trip.

God took me out of my comfort zone while on a mission’s trip to an Indian reservation in Minnesota but I kept hearing “Mathare” in the back of my mind. Then when the trip happened last September, I went and heard their excitement about what had taken place. It kind of lit the fire a bit.

Months went by and then there was a little blurb in the church bulletin about an informational meeting coming up on “Mathare”. I thought, what the heck, I’ll go. I went and the fire just started to consume me. I was so excited and then I saw the cost was close to $4,000.00. I thought “no way” but stepped out in faith and filled out my application. It was a huge leap for me!

I prayed about it and left it in God’s hands, telling Him if He wanted me to go He was going to have to help me. In March my daughter gave me my first $100. I sent notes to a few people. In less than a month, I had all the money that I needed to go on the trip and to pay for my shots!!! It blew me away.
God just told me – You have My Love in your Heart, my Holy Spirit – that’s all you need.

I was told at the first meeting to pick a name for myself that represents what God would have me do on this trip. I was thinking encourager but then while praying, God brought me Isaiah 61: 1 “He has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners set free.” My new name: COMFORTER. God told me “You will comfort the brokenhearted.”

Well here’s the end or should I say the beginning of my journey. I was told after I gave up on going to Haiti – “don’t ever let money stand in the way of you going on a mission trip, if you are supposed to go, God will provide!” I believe that now. I still stand amazed. -Jenni”

You can support projects opportunities like Mathare Valley and more by clicking on our Project Map!

Many of you don’t know Laurie Teper but all of that is about to change.

Laurie’s passion for running began in 1985 through short distance triathlons. She was hooked from the start and has competed in many events since then. Laurie has taken her love of running to the next level when in 2009 she served as the Co-Race Director for Bright Hope’s Run For Hungry Children in Woodstock.

This year Laurie is competing in the Ironman Wisconsin race on September 13th, 2009. She has been training for 8 months and did we mention she’s doing this at the young age of 52?

With her passion for running comes her connection to Bright Hope. All of the money raised (and her goal is $3,000!) will go to our 62 World Wide Projects. To access Laurie’s First giving page, you can click here to read more about Laurie or donate!

On August 5th, Bright Hope Staff helped package, load and ship a container to Haiti. En route as we speak are: 100,000 meals for a school feeding program, notebooks and pencils for all 2,500 students and that is just for the students!

The schools (a total of 17 this year!) will receive chalkboard paint, a large supply of chalk, along with markers and crayons and that is just for the schools. 89 Bikes were added to the shipment as motivation for the Teachers. All of these gifts will greatly increase the quality of education the students will receive.

For pictures of the Haiti Shipment click here!

But the work isn’t finished yet. We still need help to pack 270,000 MORE meals to go to Haiti.

To be apart of an amazing experience clear your schedules for October 22-25.

Details to follow!

Congratulations to Chad Ware for his 1st place win in the male division at the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon on August 2nd, 2009.
Chad will be running this year’s Chicago Marathon where last year he took 18th place, with Bright Hope International’s Team.
To see Chad’s time click here!

Bright Hope’s marathon team is busy training and raising money on behalf of the extreme poor.
You can be apart of the team by praying for the members: Chad Ware, Dwayne Kennemore, Henry Chu and Mike Wiersema as they prepare to run 26.2 miles!

If you would like to donate to his Firstgiving fundraising page please click on this link.

Collin Alto Baptist church has opened up to the community by adding over 20 new people to jamming project. The church was overwhelmed when the church filled up one Sunday morning with people interested in being part of the program.

In past, evangelistic efforts they had been happy with two to three visitors. This day they had over twenty, so needless to say the project has seen fruit in numerous ways… Click Here to Read More!