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. ***UPDATE (Aug 17) – Thanks to your donations, we have distributed $81,000 toward COVID-19 Relief!
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink…” Matthew 25:35
Here is an update from our national leaders around the world about COVID-19:
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.
Here are a couple of blog posts by Riley Brinkman, an RN & Missionary serving in Iquitos through GoServ Global.
PERU
In HAITI, food prices have skyrocketed. Haiti has been shut down since March 19th when the first two cases of COVID-10 were confirmed. Recently the cases have jumped and have now reached Les Cayes, but our orphanages are safe. **UPDATE (Aug 17) – Our Haiti directors were able to fly into Haiti this week and school begins today. So, a sense of normalcy has returned!
Here’s an article about COVID-19 and Haiti: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/05/08/853052522/haitian-doctor-says-this-is-the-worst-epidemic-hes-faced?fbclid=IwAR1ouHkLrR3T-ykS2ehVJ9MKKsmoGCX-Zm8MPjRf85JqQGK_L1RQV1k87R8
HAITI
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. Our city is under strict lockdown – going out of the home is still a punishable offense for which thousands of motor bikes are confiscated by the police and people are beaten for not following the rules. ***UPDATE (Aug 17) – We have distributed two weeks’ worth of food to 900 families. There is enough to distribute to another 100 families after the lockdown restrictions ease up a bit.
INDIA
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. The government is being extremely strict to all movement in the country as they know that if they lose containment it will devastate the population. ***UPDATE (Aug 17) – COVID is in full force in Guatemala right now. We have lost 3 people from our congregation and 5 pastors from Nueva Concepcion. Our team continues to serve breakfast 3 days a week, feeding over 200 people per day, and distributes food remotely the other 2. We have handed out 900 bags of food and water since the beginning of the virus (1 per family).
GUATEMALA
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. ***UPDATE (Aug 17) – Over the past four months, we have supplied life-sustaining substances to over 500 widows and families that otherwise would be going without food. We still have enough funds to keep food on tables for another two distributions to over 60 homes. The food distribution has caused many to praise God, and more than 10 received Christ as Lord and Savior. We have enough funds for two more deliveries to 120 homes.