Please, help us meet an urgent need YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE |
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Dear Partners in Ministry, We are beginning a new year of work with our Lord in South Africa and want to share our plans for ministry in 2023. First, we are very certain that God is working through encompassKids and the Setshabelo and Courage Youth programs to meet important needs for children and families in South African communities. We continue to see strong recognition of the impact our programs are having in the lives of kids and families from the local church, community, school, and governmental agencies. A record of over 7000 KIDS, ADULTS AND FAMILIES BENEFITED IN 2022. Setshabelo received national recognition for their work and leadership in combating domestic violence and abuse in the country. Our financial plan for 2022 tracked well for the first three quarters, but then fell short in the fourth. Our desire was to maintain and even grow the impact of Setshabelo and Courage Youth in 2023, but with the current economic uncertainty we recognized that we needed to plan for program reductions of 20% in 2023 to ensure ongoing sustainability. Unfortunately, this requires reducing both staff and program costs. We know these times are uncertain and, at times, frightening, and we appreciate the support and donations you have given in the past. We implore you to dig deep in your heart so that we don’t have to cut back on the wonderful initiatives we are following, through God, in South Africa. |
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HOW YOU CAN HELP Pray Please pray for wisdom for our leadership in making adjustments that best serve the kids and families in our ministries. Please also pray for wisdom in fundraising in the year ahead, especially in our search for new contacts with potential to give. We pray to reach new and willing hearts to spread our mission and keep providing the outstanding outcomes we and our team are currently providing in South Africa.
Spread the Word Simply forward this newsletter! Or bring up encompassKids in your conversations with your family, friends, and even co-workers. Make sure everyone you care about knows about encompassKids and how anyone and everyone can be involved in making an enormous difference in someone’s life. Pass along our website - www.encompassKids.org - where everyone can access information on our ministries and donate.
Give If you can and are willing, please plan to give over and, if possible, above what you gave last year to enable us to judiciously restore activities that have the highest ministry leverage. It will take about $40,000 above current projections to be able to bring our budget back in line and keep our ministry on track. Anything you can give will help! Donate Online: https://www.encompasskids.org/donate OR Mail Your Donation to: encompassKids, 16 E. 40th St, Holland, MI, 49423 For other gift arrangements contact: Rich Avink, Treasurer at encompassKidsinfo@gmail.com or 616-990-4076.
Thank you from those of us here at encompassKids, the Setshabelo Family & Child Services, and Courage Youth Ministries. There is so much we want to do and so many people we want to help. We can’t do this without you.
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| | Setshabelo Family & Child Services Future Begins in the Family! This approach mobilizes local churches and communities to provide adoption and family-based care for orphans and vulnerable children while also providing services to empower stronger families. We met this beautiful child at the place where Setshabelo gathers moms to learn and sharpen parenting skills. She is learning at an early age that good parents are like good students - they must study, practice, learn, and grow. | | |
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| | Courage Youth Courage Youth is changing the destinies of South African youth and giving them spiritual, emotional, physical, social, academic, and economic resources to combat the current reality of poverty, abuse, addiction, violence, and HIV. The engaged and excited learners we found in this classroom are a complete turn-around from the unruly and underperforming kids from a year earlier. The teaching staff credited the Courage Youth team that transformed their school. One mother said, “I don’t know what happened to my son. He used to hang out on the streets after school and never did homework. Now he comes home and does his homework.” | | |
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