Winter is a time of terror. I will never forget the day I walked into an orphanage and was asked a question that changed the course of my life. “Have you ever seen a child freeze to death?” As I stood there in shock over the question, he shattered my sensibilities, changing my life forever as he finished his sentence… “Sixteen have frozen to death this year.”
– The homeless –
They have slept in fields and shop doorways. They beg for food. Unwanted by family, an embarrassment to society, they are the homeless of Moldova. Winter forces them into “shelters” where they sleep lined up like cordwood on thin foam mattresses that do nothing to warm either their body or soul.
– The widow –
She sits in a hovel. Her family is gone, most likely to a foreign country for work. Time and poverty has stripped her of all dreams and hope. Winter begins with cooler nights, and ends up invading her home.
– The coat –
“I was naked and you clothed me” Matthew 25:36.
Every year, The Orphan’s Hands prepares a container of miracles. From our base in Montgomery, a year’s worth of shopping bargains, tons of donated clothes, and what seems to be countless boxes of Christmas cheer are loaded into a container and shipped to a different world. I love to see pallet after pallet slide off our forklift, bound for those in desperate need. I love to hear the stories that return to us like “bread upon the water,” of hope and love, worth and care. We have done what Jesus has asked us to do: “When you’ve done it to the least of these, you’ve done it unto me!” Matthew 25:40
Can you give a coat in His name?
It’s really more than just a coat. We feed, clothe, love and comfort those who live in desperation. We are very often the only kind word they hear, the only ear that listens. We are, to most, the only contact they will have all winter.
The container is expensive: nine thousand dollars. Yet, to gather all we send any other way would be impossible… a year’s worth of care in a forty foot container. I need your help. Will you help send this container? For us to do it alone is impossible… for us to do it together is the answer to many hearts’ cries.
If you could, will you pray about giving $90? One hundred people giving that amount gets this miracle on its way! Chrissie has spent the entire year endlessly working, gathering the coats to “clothe the naked.” Can you help get them there?
We have this month to book the container, you can help us get this done! I’m praying for your blessing as we stand together and “care for the widow and orphan” James 1:27
Philip Cameron
