Rewind almost three months. I was attending the annual Tea with Purpose at our church where we had tea & dessert while perusing handmade items from Africa to purchase to benefit the Mathare community. The speaker for the night was a lady who talked about the organization Big Dent. I decided that night that I'd help via the business and donate money in the coming months to this great organization. {little did I know that time would get away from me, and I'd all but forget about this fantastic organization that so deeply affected me that night}
Today as I was reading my Joyce Meyer daily devotional the following really hit me. Joyce was talking about a day when during her quiet time she asked God, "how can You stand seeing all the pain, starving children, human trafficking, genocide, injustice, degradation, poverty, in the world and not do something?" She then heard God say back to her, "I work through people. I'm waiting for My people to arise and do something."
I think most of us who call ourselves Christ-followers know that Jesus calls us to help the least of these. Jesus calls us to take care of the widows and orphans. He calls us to speak up for those who can't speak for themselves. He calls us to help with whatever means God's blessed us with. For some, it's financial. For some, it's physical. For others, it's simply loving people when they're hurting.
This reminded me today of Big Dent. I'm all about people giving money and providing food for those in need. I get that. But the thing that I love about Big Dent is that instead of only giving money, people give needy people a loan. To start a business. To help their family get out of the cycle of poverty.
Those who want to start a business go to Big Dent and are put on a list. Then people who want to donate can do so and choose the business that they want to help start. The money that is received is given as a loan to the recipient, who does training or purchases materials to start the business. After a certain amount of time, the loan is paid back and it then goes to another recipient who wants to start a business.
I love this aspect of helping someone succeed. It's teaching a man to fish instead of just giving him fish. It's helping a woman get out of the cycle of prostitution and owning a business so that she and her family can eat. You can donate any amount of money that you're able to provide, you don't have to fund the whole loan yourself. Can you help make a big dent in poverty?
Other fabulous non-profits that I love:
Love146 {ending sex trafficking in young girls}
Amazima Ministry {showing the people of Uganda God's love}
147 Million Orphans {helping needy children receive food & medicine}
Today as I was reading my Joyce Meyer daily devotional the following really hit me. Joyce was talking about a day when during her quiet time she asked God, "how can You stand seeing all the pain, starving children, human trafficking, genocide, injustice, degradation, poverty, in the world and not do something?" She then heard God say back to her, "I work through people. I'm waiting for My people to arise and do something."
I think most of us who call ourselves Christ-followers know that Jesus calls us to help the least of these. Jesus calls us to take care of the widows and orphans. He calls us to speak up for those who can't speak for themselves. He calls us to help with whatever means God's blessed us with. For some, it's financial. For some, it's physical. For others, it's simply loving people when they're hurting.
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| source: big dent |
Those who want to start a business go to Big Dent and are put on a list. Then people who want to donate can do so and choose the business that they want to help start. The money that is received is given as a loan to the recipient, who does training or purchases materials to start the business. After a certain amount of time, the loan is paid back and it then goes to another recipient who wants to start a business.
 |
| source: big dent |
I love this aspect of helping someone succeed. It's teaching a man to fish instead of just giving him fish. It's helping a woman get out of the cycle of prostitution and owning a business so that she and her family can eat. You can donate any amount of money that you're able to provide, you don't have to fund the whole loan yourself. Can you help make a big dent in poverty?
Other fabulous non-profits that I love:
Love146 {ending sex trafficking in young girls}
Amazima Ministry {showing the people of Uganda God's love}
147 Million Orphans {helping needy children receive food & medicine}
Amy, You have a such a kind heart! I've never heard of Big Dent. It's always nice to hear of a program that really wants to help others!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
We are doing this at church through Kiva.org. We have loans out to 8 different people all over the world. It is wonderful to see the loan being paid back and then knowing that you can then reloan that money to someone else. I love picking who we are going to loan the money to. It is such a great feeling.
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