Thank you One and All who have
been following these blogs. Many of you
have responded with gifts for our 20 year celebration and with alternative
gifts. Thank you!
The gifts that you make are truly
Life-Giving. We use your gifts to save
lives in our health clinic, improve lives in our health clinic and our
dental clinic, and enrich lives of small farmers, employees, and the people we
serve.
Sometimes to do what is right by
people who suffer from poverty actually costs more than we receive in donations…well, it
always does! …but usually we only spend
what we have on hand. This year, though:- the clinic expenditures were 22% more than last year due to cost of increased medications, expansion of the health promotion, and hiring an additional physician who had volunteered with us for the previous 8 years;
- food prices sky-rocketed due to the drought (the worst in 32 years);
- governmental insurance and social security for our staff increased greatly;
- and the sesame plant’s infrastructure expenditures were more than we anticipated.
The result of all this is that
we may be closing out 2014 in the red, which is unusual for us.
Many people have told us in the
past, "If you need funds then ask." Asking is
difficult for us because we trust -- and it has been true for us over the years -- that "it will all work out in the end"…but if we are to trust in God and trust that things will work out, then I guess occasionally we need to let other people know what
the “it” is that needs working out.
So here you have it, folks: Today’s “it” is the struggle to not end the
year in the red.
Life-Giving is an on-going process and we need prayers, good energy,
help in locating new funding, and just plain old money. We also need to find new sources of funding
for future years. Let us know if you can
help...working together is the only way end poverty.
-Kathleen
