Although malaria is not prevalent in the United States today, malaria claims twice the number of African children as AIDS. According to the World Health Organization, one in every five childhood deaths (20 percent) is due to malaria. Sadly, a child dies every 30 seconds from malaria.

Malaria is very preventable and very inexpensive to prevent! How can we help, and importantly how can we get children involved to help their peers throughout the world?

I implemented a program for my daughter’s third grade class to raise money for malaria.  I taught a simple lesson to the kids on malaria, and how easy it is to prevent it by the use of malaria nets. I also based the lesson in scripture that Jesus would want us to help those who are sick. And by helping those who are sick, we are serving Him (Matthew 25:35-40)!

For the month of April, the third grade classes will collect coins and at the end of April we will send money to His Nets.  His Nets is a non-profit organization which purchases and distributes mosquito nets to families in Africa to protect them from malaria infected mosquitoes. Because many homes in Africa consist of one small room, an entire family can use one large net for up to four years for protection from mosquitoes at only $6.00 per net! For less than the price of a dinner or movie, one life could be saved and an entire family can sleep in peace.

There are many other great organizations that you might partner with. Check out these websites:

1. Compassion International-Bite Back
2. Sweet Sleep-Nickels for Nets
3. Malaria No More

Take a stand and do something this month to fight malaria!  Let me know if you need a copy of the lesson I did–I love to share!

The Denver Nuggets decided to continue Jacob’s Nothing but Nets project; instead of soccer nets, it was basketball nets.  On January 19, the Denver Nuggets donated $6 from each ticket sold in the upper level section of the Pepsi Center toward His Nets.  KUSA- 9News in Denver told Jacob’s story. Take a moment and watch this story.

Jacob’s mother, Sheri, said, “It doesn’t have to be big, but it can make a big difference in the lives of others.” How is God calling you to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children?

Share your ideas with us!

I will admit it upfront that this might be a stretch comparison, but do you think God might see that it all fits together.

For the sake of a comparison, using $400 a year to care for an orphan works out to be about US $ 160 Billion, for the estimated 40 million double orphans in the world. While that’s a lot of money, in the world view of things it isn’t much.

“Annual Estimate of the Cost of ‘Structures of Sin’
Money Laundering . . . . U.S.$ 1.5 trillion
White Collar Crime. . . .  U.S.$ 1.5 trillion
Financial Fraud . . . . . . . U.S.$930 billion
Gambling . . . . . . . . . . . U.S.$ 815 billion
Organized Crime . . . . . . U.S.$ 750 billion
Tax Cheating . . . . . . . . . U.S.$ 250 billion
Drug Traffic. . . . . . . . . . U.S.$ 200 billion
Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . .  U.S.$ 100 billion
Computer Crime . . . . . .  U.S.$ 51 billion
Pornography       . . . . . .  U.S.$ 25 billion
Arms Black Market . . . .  U.S.$5.8 billion
Electronic Warfare . . . . .  U.S.$5.8 billion
Credit Card Fraud . . . . . .  U.S.$1 billion”
—Bryant Myers, Exploring World Mission, 2003, pg 47.

By this comparison the annual cost of caring for 40 million orphans falls somewhere between the cost of shoplifting and drug trafficking. It’s no where close to the “white collar crimes” that are in the trillions of dollars each year. Cutting drug trafficking and shop lifting in half, would cover caring for each double orphan.

Do you think that if the church impacts the lives of those involved shoplifting and drug use, they could turn that into a way to care for others?

Boys are amazed at the weight of an Ak-47 that children must use.

Sarah Takes a Stand against the use of children in wars.

Last week, my teammate Karen and I, sponsored Red-Hand Day. The Red Hand Day’s symbol is a red hand which has been used all over the world by many organizations in order to say NO to child recruitment and the use of child soldiers.

We held our event in a coffee house after school.  Fifty parents and children wrote messages and added their hand prints. We displayed a military uniform and AK47 on a table close-by. What a conversation starter! As families finished, we gave them a prayer card to pray for children affected by war.

Please pray as we mail off the red hands this week to the UN Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Also please pray for children of war. Children were created to grow and learn in a safe environment, not to fight adult battles.

I attended a training course in 2006, titled “Working with Street Children”. The course was taught by Andy Sexton, who had many years experience in working with street children in Nairobi Kenya.

I just received an email from Andy announcing the launch of an exciting interactive website for anyone working with street children, or anyone who wants to become more educated on issues surrounding street children. The site is created by the 180 Degree Alliance.

Rather than being a one-way source of information, the focus of this website is about connection.

There are three main sections:

LEARN: Access the 180° ‘How To’ - one page documents written by a street children’s experts on issues such as ’Fundraising’ and ’How Not to Become Disheartened’ as well as recommended books and an expansive library of free, online/ downloadable resources.

SHARE: Here you have the opportunity to share and find out news and events, such as upcoming trainings to support you in your work.

DISCUSS: This third section is the most exciting part – here you can actually connect and interact with 180° members all over the world. So, if you’re struggling to know what to do about the kids you work with being addicted to drugs log in and find out what others are saying on the issue, if you know of something that might help, then jump in and suggest it. If you have a new problem not being discussed, start a new discussion and see what others have to say. It’s through ’discuss’ that we can really help each other with the problems you’re facing now.

So please log on and join up so that you can begin to learn, share and discuss with street children’s workers around the world.

The Denver Nuggets saw this story in the Denver Post, and decided to continue Jacob’s Nothing but Nets project; instead of soccer nets, it will be basketball nets.  On January 19,  the Denver Nuggets will donate $6 from each ticket toward His Nets.  If you live in the Denver area, please consider attending this game and being a part of Jacob’s project to help vulnerable children in need.

To order tickets visit

http://www.pepsicenter.com/groups/nuggets/hisnets

And, while they might have four walls and a roof – they don’t always have a home. They are consistently in transition, constantly living a life of survival. They live in cars. They find temporary beds in church basements or abandoned buildings. They sleep on somebody’s couch. They are seniors on fixed incomes. They are adults with full-time jobs. They are single mothers. Many are children.

I was invited by my friend Donna to attend a fundraiser called Night in a Box, Friday December 3^rd.  The fundraiser is for the Hidden Homeless in Denver.  If you live in the Denver area, consider participating.  For those outside Denver, find out about the Hidden Homeless in your area—there just might be an opportunity to help in your city.

December is a cold month!  Our Take a Stand Opportunity for December is to prepare a Jesus Cares  Kit.  I would encourage you and your family to make a few bags, and have them ready for any homeless you might encounter.

I thought it would be great to share with you a video about the journey of my adoption of Tabi.  I never get tired of telling her story because it is a testimony of God’s incredible love for orphaned children.

Psalm 68:5 says, “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families.”  I love this verse because it describes who God is.  He is Love, He is Holy, and He is a father to the Fatherless.

I give praise to Him for his relentless love of orphaned children and that he will move mountains for the love of one child.

Matt writes,

Courtney and I decided this week to put on an event, Thanksgiving Day, to benefit orphans.  Let me explain.  At our church, Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, we had a speaker who is an orphan advocate (and a friend of our family) give a short presentation on November 7.  November 7 was Orphan Sunday across the world.  Later that evening at our 2nd service, we focused specifically on the plight of orphans around the world.  So, we decided to do something about the “orphan problem” that the church is called to be a big part of.

Here’s the deal….

What?: Run or walk 1 mile with your family and then stick around for some games for the kids.

Where?: South Hills Park in Lebanon.  We are starting near the playground.

When?: 9am on Thursday, November 25th.  We will be done by 10am.

How does this help orphans?:  We are asking each family (that could be a family of 1 or a family of 10) to come with $10 cash or a $10 check made out to “Sweet Sleep.”  Sweet Sleep is an organization that provides adequate beds and bedding for orphans (most of the time their beds are highly inadequate, 1 inch mattresses, etc.) and mosquito netting to prevent malaria bites while sleeping.  Check out their website.

Why? It’s Thanksgiving.  We have a lot to be thankful for.  Plus we are going to gorge ourselves later in the day and then complain about how much we ate.  Let’s get the day started right by answering God’s call to orphans, getting some exercise, and hanging with our family and “extended” family!!!!

May this event being planned give you encouragement to plan your own Huff and Puff before you Stuff Event on Thanksgiving Day!  Let us know what you have planned!