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Greetings and Happy Friday!
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 MARCH 30, 2007 |
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No containers arrived this week, but 16 are en route, 21 others are waiting to leave the port in China, and 5 more are in production. (Each one holds 550 wheelchairs.)
We were a big part of a very passionate Sunday message by Kenton Beshore, Senior Pastor at our own Mariners Church. If you missed it you can watch it on Mariners’ website. It is called “Beyond Impossible”.
Go to: Mariners Church Website.
Tune in to CBS Sunday Evening News this Sunday, April 1. They will run a segment about us. They even sent a news team to Santiago, Chile to interview our partner Steven and our dear Maria. Check your local listings for the time (likely between 4:30 PM and 7:30 PM.) |
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You may recall me talking about my home town of Ashtabula, Ohio, a city of about 25,000 people right on Lake Erie. It thrived in the early 1900’s as a shipping port for iron ore and coal moving from mines in the US and Canada to Pittsburg for steel production. Other industries sprang up too. Most all of this is gone now, and like much of central USA, the economy there struggles.
Ashtabula rested very quietly in my past after I went off to college, until 2 years ago when my 4th grade Sunday school teacher read about the Free Wheelchair Mission. My old Second Congregational Church launched an awesome campaign to raise funds for 10 containers of wheelchairs. Neither they, we, nor anyone I tell this story to can explain how a church with less than 100 members did this, succeeded in raising $230,000. But it wasn’t just one church, as they went to every other church they could find.
Choir of 50 voices from various churches
Well, the little town that could has done it again. They had a benefit concert for us last weekend. Ken Medema and Julie Barne performed, backed up by a choir of 50 voices from many different churches. In the end, they raised another $50,000 for us! People there are so proud, so proud of accomplishing these unbelievable tasks, so proud to be taking part in an effort to make this world a better place. You need to know also how proud I am of them, my home town!
In my heart I know they are just beginning. We will stop for rest as we ride our bicycles across the USA next month (Ride for Mobility) and I get to speak at their National Prayer Breakfast on May 4. The offering will be for more wheelchairs.
Ashtabula: the little town that could. |
Julie Barne
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Ken Medema |
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