WAIT! Before you sign that next check for your favorite ministry. Before you join a campaign to collect shoes for orphans in a poor African village. Before you take sandwiches down to the homeless in San Diego, take time to read When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert.

I’ve often considered that politicians exploit the poor for their own purposes, but I never judged myself guilty of such a ploy. Don’t get me wrong. My exploitation takes the form of helping myself feel better about the abundance of possessions I have when I skim off some of the excess and pass it off to those who might need it more. This book has made me take more than just a second look at how I deal with the materially poor in this world. My focus has been on my deeds, but not so much on my attitude. I’ve had a rude awakening – well, perhaps not rude, but maybe radical – regarding the whole issue of “helping” the materially poor.

The authors are sharing perspectives they have learned the hard way, from their own loving but misguided mistakes. Their approach is far from authoritarian, but rather, from a shepherding viewpoint. They are sincere about helping not just the materially poor, but also those of us who want to help. Their ideas are practical, biblical, and sustainable. Do yourself and the poor you help a favor, read the book.   -Marian Drops

During our first year of giving, our SEEDS Advisory Committee was mightily blessed and challenged by the quality of the hearts and work being done around the world by the six ministries that applied for our first grant. Our great hope is that our members (ourselves included!) will keep abreast of the needs and progress of ministries that we introduce. We’ve seen for ourselves how certain causes leap out at one or another of our little committee, and we know the same is happening to all our members. We don’t, however, want to flood you with email updates from these ministries, so we encourage you to sign up for the kinds of communication you want directly on the various ministry websites. Every now and then, though, we’ll post some updates here on our blog.

The Purple Palace, which won one of our two first grants, has been forced out of their place in Zona Norte, the red light district of Tijuana where they work with the children of the prostitutes. They now have a new home and a new name–the Tijuana Children’s Home. Their new website will be up soon– www.tijuanachildrenshome.org. Until then, you can still go to www.thepurplepalace.org to keep up with their news and needs. Right now they’ve been made aware of a new baby just born. Here is their account:

“In one of the small, cold, dank, and dirty rooms of Zona Norte ,a baby boy was just born. It reminds us how our Lord Jesus came into the world. This mom named him Jesus too. Please pray that we can convince this mom to let us help her care for her new gift from God. This mom has only a little bit of food. If you could help us help her and her 3 other children we would be blessed ourselves. There are 27 more families that are on the brink of destitution in this area. We are asking for lots of blankets for them since the really cold nights have rolled in. Many are small children that also need clothing, warmth, and food. The children at our home are eager reach out to those in Zona Norte (where they came from) to help these others to have some hope in their lives. We know exactly where those that are hurting are located….could you help us help them? Please pray that we can take many of these kids home with us. We are not the government, so we try and convince the moms that we will do our best for their children’s little lives.”

Friday night, Oct. 30, 2009, in a warmly lit family room, a small group of caring, committed women gathered to hear the results of SEEDS San Diego’s first financial award votes. They heard about the beginnings of SEEDS, the joys, challenges, and fine-tuning of the year, and, finally, the two winners of our funds were announced:

The Purple Palace in Tijuana and Gogo Grandmothers in Malawi!

(As we were meeting, Tyler Youngkin from Purple Palace and Pam Gott from Gogo Grandmothers arrived and were ‘hiding’ in the living room, ready when the time came to thank us in person and tell us more about their organizations.)

Purple Palace’s request in their proposal was for a large van to ferry the kids in their care to school, to sports, to church, and to other activities. They are accustomed to making do with older vehicles and have mechanics who help keep them runing, but their ‘youngest’ van is 13 years old. We were so pleased when Tyler confirmed that the gift SEEDS gave them will be enough to buy a really good, slightly used, van!

Gogo Grandmothers requested funds to introduce a soy crop into a small village in Malawi. The grandmothers (and grandfathers) there, who are caring for their own and others’ orphaned grandchildren, grow maize (corn) primarily and are in need of a crop with greater food value – thus, soy, full of protein, easy to grow, but difficult to process. Gogo Grandmothers provides the seeds, the training, and the motivation that will not only provide this nutritious grain for these AIDS-orphaned children but will also introduce a new avenue for entrepreneurship.

Both of these fine organizations have needs that you might be interested in meeting on your own, from prayer, to money, to manpower, to ‘adopting’ a grandmother. The Purple Palace (www.thepurplepalace.org) is located just 15 minutes south of the border and is looking for all kinds of physical help – painters, plumbers, carpenters, computer technicians, etc. – as they have just this weekend moved to new facilities without much notice.  Gogo Grandmothers (www.gogograndmothers.com) establishes groups of praying grandmothers in the US (though there are NONE in San Diego at present), and encourages groups of women already established (like maybe your book club or Bible study) to adopt a gogo (the African word for grandmother) as a project.

Go to their websites to find out first how wonderful they are, and second, what you can do to help! And if you would like to get involved in SEEDS, read over the website and go to “Become a Member.” We’d love to have you!