Monday, February 25, 2008

We Need YOUR Help!!

Hi Friends and Family!

As many of you know, Josh and I are headed to Zambia, Africa this summer (July 20 - Aug. 3) with Family Legacy Missions International to serve as camp counselors to orphaned children at "Camp LIFE!" We will be working directly with the orphans of Zambia each day: Playing games, teaching Bible lessons, singing songs and most importantly, sharing Christ’s love with them. We are SO excited and humbled about this amazing opportunity! You may not know that of the eleven million people who reside in Zambia, over one million are children who have been orphaned due to the ravages of AIDS and other poverty-related diseases. Zambia has the highest per capita orphan rate in the world and 50% of the country is under the age of sixteen. These statistics are just bone-chilling to me. The Lord has laid a heavy burden on our hearts for these precious ones...and we can’t wait to be a part of what God is doing in the lives of Zambian children to further the next generation of this young country.

On Sunday we went to our first team meeting for Camp LIFE. We learned a lot more about what our time in Zambia is going to be like...we're definitely getting more and more excited about going each day! This year, 10,000 orphaned children are expected to attend Camp LIFE over 8 weeks. On Thursday of each week, each child is given a brand new pair of tennis shoes. Many of the children come to camp with no shoes or worn down shoes they had to borrow from a friend. So as you can imagine, receiving a brand new pair of shoes is quite amazing to them! Each year a company has been able to donate enough shoes for each child, but this year the company is only able to donate 6,000 pairs...which is a ton of shoes, but not enough for 10,000 kids. So, we need to raise 4,000 pairs of shoes in order for each child to receive a pair. Josh and I have committed to provide 100 pairs of girls tennis shoes...size 2 or 2.5....we'd love to get more, but 100 is our goal. We could REALLY use your help in doing this.

If you're interested in helping out, please leave me a comment or send me an email at mindyrives at gmail dot com (I had to spell it out so I don't get spam!). We need to have all of the shoes by March 29th, so they can be shipped to Zambia in time for Camp LIFE. We are collecting girls tennis/athletic shoes in size 2 or 2.5. They need to be unused tennis/athletic shoes...any color/style will do. Target, Payless and Wal-Mart are great places to find affordable shoes. You can drop the shoes off at our house, mail them to us, or we're happy to come pick them up from you if you live in the DFW area....whatever is easiest for you.

So here is the re-cap...

-Need: 10,000 pairs of shoes
-Have: 6,000 pairs of shoes
-We've committed to collecting 100 pairs...hopefully more!!
-Girls tennis/athletic shoes (UNUSED)
-Size 2 or 2.5
-Any color/style will do...as long as they are tennis/athletic shoes
-Drop off at our house...mail them to us...or will come pick them up from you (in the DFW area of course!)
-Deadline: March 29th!!
-Leave a comment or send me an email if you're interested, so we know how many pairs of shoes to expect
-Pass this along to anyone you think might be interested in helping!

Thank you so much for helping us...and the children of Zambia!

XOXO,
Mindy and Josh



"But you, O God, do see trouble and grief...you consider it to take it in hand. The helpless commits himself to you....you are the helper of the fatherless." Psalm 10:14

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