Project HOPE's year-end update

Dear Friends,

Hope this email finds you all well. Well, 2009 is just right around the corner and we, the Project HOPE team would like to extend our warmest thanks to you who have stood alongside us in praying and helping the underprivileged all around the globe.

Here's an update of where your donations have brought this ministry. Please join us in praising and thanking the Lord for this opportunity to serve the people in need. Whether they are in need of material or a whisper of prayer, Project HOPE has extended every help we can offer this year.

Fund Drive:
Feb & May: Valentines Day & Mother's Day - we delivered flowers & raised $685
Aug: Garage Sale - raised $143

In May, we volunteered to help the poverty-stricken in Zambia & Zimbabwe, through Bright Hope & Willow Creek's Celebration of Hope: We packed nutrional meals & med packs.

November:
Donated $500 to a family whose father died of cancer and have no way of paying for the funeral expenses.

On Thanksgiving, we helped feed 10 homeless individuals through the help of Wayside Cross Ministry in Elgin. We also have committed to provide food for another 10 homeless people this coming Christmas.

Christmas: For the past two years, we've been adopting 10 extremely poor families in the Philippines. These are families who have no other way to celebrate Christmas, but to sleep in hunger. Our team has agreed to provide each family enough necessities to last them for at least a month and be able to celebrate Christmas with hope that our God cares for them. These necessities are: Rice, Cooking Oil, Sugar, Vinegar, Champorado, Spaghetti noodles, Spaghetti sauce, Corned beef, Meat loaf, Cheese, Biscuit, Coffee, Milo, Packs of noodles, and apples. To them this is more than a Christmas wish come true and our hearts celebrate with joy that is beyond dreams.

I decided to include the list of families we are helping this year, in hopes that your hearts will ache with us and continue to come alongside us in this crusade. This ministry is not a joke. Being the hands and feet of God to this broken and hurting world has opened our eyes to not envy the people above us and instead look at the people below us and be grateful for what we have.

* Mr. & Mrs. Lito&Cynthia Santilleces
Tricycle driver & plain housewife with 6 children from brgy. 10

* Mrs. Aida Tolentino – husband deceased with 3 children from brgy. 10

* Mr. & Mrs. Loreto & Gloria Aquino
Factory driver & lavandera (someone who washes clothes by hand) with 12 children from brgy. Lumbang

* Mr. & Mrs. Fred & Deylin Patino
Construction worker & plain housewife with 3 children frm. Brgy. Lumbang

* Mr. & Mrs. Jomer & Joan Moreno
Welder & helper with 3 children from brgy. Lumbamg

* Mrs. Lilia C. Leyesa- husband deceased
Store keeper & helper with 7 children from brgy. San carlos

* Mrs. Alona Kalalo
Cigarette vendor with 5 children from Brgy. Balintawak

* Mr. Armando Mista
Unemployed with 3 children from Brgy. Pinagkawitan

*Mr. & Mrs. Josie Luja Janitress with 4 children from Brgy. Tambo

*Mr. Eddy San Sebastian - Handicap with 6 children

Friends, know that the task doesn't stop here. The need has tripled due to struggling economy. The task is bigger, but the good news is God is greater than anything. He has touched your hearts to help this ministry in extending the love of God to others. And so we are eternally grateful. We have a big job ahead of us in 2009 and so we continue to ask for your generosity and compassion as we come together in unity to help the poorest of the poor.

Now as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the hope of the season, we at Project HOPE want to thank you for all the help you've extended in furthering the kingdom of God.

Please let us know if we can pray for you in any way this holiday season, for prayer is the best gift we can offer. We'd love to hear from you.

Have a Merry Christmas!

--God Speed!
Lovely Miranda

Project HOPE Team