Throughout March, we are collecting a mission offering to support the work of our Weekend Backpack Ministry and of Midwives for Haiti.
The Weekend Backpack Ministry is in its fourth year and is growing and going strong! Through this ministry, we provide Ginter Park Elementary School students with backpacks of nutritious food over the weekends and holidays when free and reduced-price breaks and lunches are not available.
This year we once again increased the number of children fed by now providing 35 backpacks of food each week this school year. The offering raises funds toward the 2018-2019 school year and will help determine the number of children we are able to feed this next school year. In order to provide 35 backpacks for 2018-2019, we need to raise $7,000. Every donation helps! If you would like to donate your time as a volunteer, you can sign up through this link.
Midwives for Haiti is an organization dear to our heart as it was founded by our own Nadene Brunk. Midwives for Haiti trains Haitian women in becoming midwives. From their website:
“Haiti has the highest maternal and infant mortality ratios in the Western Hemispher. It has a severe shortage of skilled health providers and only enough to provide 10% of Haiti’s population with full reproductive health care (UNFPA 2014). Nearly all maternal and infant deaths in Haiti are preventable with access to a skilled birth attendant. Our mission is to increase access to skilled maternity care.”
Our offering will be divided between these two amazing ministries, with 75% given to the Weekend Backpack Ministry and 25% to Midwives for Haiti.