[The following content was provided by 4-Him Ministries. Cast your vote for 4Him Ministries or check out our other finalists on our 2008 Finalists page.]
The world is in a state of crisis. As international bodies and authorities debate and work to solve some of the most complicated geo-political problems in the history of mankind, the basic and fundamental ability of one-fifth of humanity to feed itself is falling victim to a silent tsunami of food-price inflation that is sweeping across the globe.
One hundred million more people have been pushed deeper into poverty and hunger by the skyrocketing prices of the international commodity and food markets since the start of 2008 alone.
Because of the natural generosity of Oklahomans and our strong heritage of being a people of faith, Oklahoma is a point of light in pushing back the darkness of poverty, hunger and disease. If given this website, 4HIM will expand our tradition of engaging Oklahomans to answer these crises by putting Element Fusion's technology to work.
OKC-based 4HIM is approaching its 10th anniversary! In these 10 years, we have facilitated teams of hundreds of Oklahomans across all denominations into third-world countries to provide food, medical relief, economic development, hope and spiritual resources for communities and orphans.
How would your organization benefit from a new website?
4HIM would be grateful to be considered for a new website, because we are at a crossroads in growth. Having robust web capabilities would allow us to increase ministry efficiencies and opportunities to serve Christ and the “least of these.”
Having a website with an updatable content management system would allow us to do three essential things for the world’s poor:
- Be more responsive and more quickly coordinate sending medical supplies and medications in emergency/disaster and on-going situations
- Increase the number of orphans served through posting and updating sponsorship opportunities and orphanage needs
- Utilize the website to facilitate basic e-commerce of products produced by female victims of human trafficking in West Africa to be sold to American markets. One hundred percent of the profits go back to the women as wages earned and reinvestments in their businesses and expanding the vocational school that trains them. This helps break a cycle of prostitution with which women are often trapped in order to feed their children.
Finally, a new website would help elevate the ministry's image to better reflect the world-class organization that it is.
What else can you tell us about how your organization makes a difference?
Currently we are focusing on the three West African nations of Togo, Ghana and Sierra Leone in addition to Haiti and India. In each of these locations we provide ongoing food, medical and educational support to orphanages. As our presence and relationships build within a country, we look for opportunities to provide micro financing of local businesses that are a hand up and not a hand out.
Examples of funded businesses include:
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community farming co-ops
- community poultry farms
- sewing co-ops for war widows and human trafficking victims
- general goods and small vendor stores
- bakeries
Other staple programs of 4HIM include:
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providing war amputees with artificial limbs
- facilitating medical teams and supplies globally
- financing "work for food" programs
- installing solar-powered water wells in remote villages where there is no access to clean drinking water
- building churches that double as schools in villages where there is no access to basic education. Most of these buildings also become "community centers" of the village.
Thank you for your time and consideration of 4HIM. We believe that Oklahoma is the crossroads of America and a crossroads of generosity and compassion in helping the world’s poor. With Element Fusion’s technology it will only make our efforts even better!
Visit 4-Him Ministries' current website.
Posted on
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
by Tim Wall