Friends,
I don’t normally send you emails like this, but these are desperate times and I appreciate you taking the time to read this.
The GoServ Global board met yesterday and we received updates about the urgent needs of the people in each country we serve. Report after report was the same: people are starving because of COVID-19. It broke our hearts.
The people we work with in Peru, Haiti, India, Guatemala, and Uganda live day to day in normal times. There is no hoarding of groceries or toilet paper because there is only enough money to buy what is needed for the next day.
Of course, all that changed when COVID-19 entered the world. For the past few months, people have not been able to work or make an income. Food is running out and families are starving. They need your help.
- In Peru, desperate families set aside the shame of poverty by putting out a white flag, letting the world know their household has no more food and they need help. For several weeks, Genesis Church has been distributing food to these families. So many of them were left speechless and brought to tears by this act of love. In addition to starvation, Iquitos, Peru has been hit hard by COVID-19 and the healthcare system is crashing with not enough beds for the sick, oxygen, or medicine. In the city of 462,000, there is only one hospital that remains open.
- In Haiti, food prices have skyrocketed.
- In India, the national team receives numerous phone calls each day asking for help and much of their time is spent delivering rice to those in need as well as going village to village explaining the importance of hand washing, etc.
- In Guatemala, our church/school is closed so teachers and employees are now baking food to share and our leaders are butchering hogs, chickens, and whatever they can get their hands on to give to those in need.
- In Uganda, the local team is providing food for more than 60 widows in the area. The team also reports that the number of highly vulnerable people keeps growing each day and is now reaching into those families who had little income before, but now have none.
Today, you have an opportunity to make a positive change in a world where COVID-19 has taken away so much. Your gift today will help us feed those who have no food. Today, you have the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
We urge you to send in a gift to provide emergency food for a family or child in need.
Thank you for your support as we come together to help those who are hungry.
In Service,
Paul van Gorkom
GoServ Global Executive Director
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink…” Matthew 25:35