Stories Of Hope

Ronda Paulson was a cheerleading coach-slash-college anatomy professor. She knew all about pompoms and cadavers. But she knew nothing about foster care. In this episode of Stories of Hope, hear the strange and unusual story of how an East Tennessee mother of two launched a ministry called Isaiah 117 Homes that’s now filling a previously unmet need in communities all over the Southeastern U.S. Go to SendRelief.org/foster-care-adoption to learn how you and your church can reach out to children who need shelter, protection and care. To learn more about Ronda and Isaiah 117 Homes, visit them online at isaiah117house.com. And if you want to dive deeper into how Ronda started Isaiah 117 Homes, listen to her interview with Lynette Ezell on the Adopting and Fostering Home podcast. You can find that podcast at SendRelief.org/podcasts/.

Sometimes, complex problems can have seemingly simple solutions. In this episode of Stories of Hope, travel to the African nation of Uganda and hear how Send Relief ministry partners there are using tea as a tool for meeting needs and changing lives. Millions of people all over the world don’t have access to clean water, education, medical care and more. Go to SendRelief.org to learn how you and your church can meet their needs and change their lives.

Sometimes, people who get knocked down over and over again need help getting back up. Three years after they were hit with not one but two major hurricanes, the people of Robeson County, North Carolina are still trying to repair their homes and rebuild their community. In this episode of Stories of Hope, hear local WMU groups are helping meet needs and change lives one dirty pair of socks at a time. Go to SendRelief.org/focus-areas/respond-to-crisis to learn how you and your church can reach out to families who’re looking for hope in the middle of life’s storms.

When New York responded to COVID-19 by declaring abortion clinics “essential” but pro-life pregnancy centers “non-essential”, Julie Rosati knew she had to do something. In this episode of Stories of Hope, hear what happened when Julie came up with a creative, never-done-it-before idea to meet needs and build relationships with women in her community who were facing crisis pregnancies. Go to SendRelief.org to learn how you and your church can help protect children and families.

For Jacob Zailian, the train track that runs through Sanger, California was a dividing line between the childhood he could’ve had and the one he actually did have. This episode of Stories of Hope is not just a story about a bad kid who made good. It’s a story about a man who could’ve run away but instead ran back to the other side of the tracks to rescue the addicted and the homeless people still there. Go to SendRelief.org/Poverty to learn how you and your church can reach out to people who lack the basics of life. To learn more about how your missions giving is helping Jacob share the gospel with hurting people in Sanger, go to AnnieArmstrong.com.

24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, someone somewhere in New Mexico is milking a cow. Men and women from all over Latin America work, day and night, on dairy farms in and around the city of Portales. Many of them even live onsite. In this episode of Stories of Hope, hear what happened when a dairy farmer, a couple of Hispanic pastors and a pastor’s wife who didn’t mind getting her feet dirty realized there was an enormous gospel opportunity right under their noses. Go to sendrelief.org/focus-areas/care-for-refugees to learn how you and your church can reach out to families who’ve come to your community from other countries.

One night several years ago, Yale Wall dreamed a dream. He was certain he saw his future children, exactly as they would one day be. If that sounds like a beginning to a story too hard to believe, wait until you hear the ending. In this episode of Stories of Hope, hear a story about foster care and adoption and a handful of other miracles. Go to SendRelief.org/foster-care-adoption to learn how you and your church can reach out to children who need shelter, protection and care.

Karen Vinyard will never forget the day she became a single, but still married mother. In this episode of Stories of Hope, hear what Karen’s church did when her husband was unexpectedly arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison, and Karen was left to support and raise their young daughter on her own. There are millions of children in North America with an incarcerated parent. Learn how you and your church can help hurting families at SendRelief.org.

Christa Lynn Hicks is a fighter, just like her mother was. But now that she’s a grownup, Christa Lynn fights different, nobler battles. In this episode of Stories of Hope, hear how a little girl miraculously escaped a world of violence, homelessness, prostitution and trafficking and now as an adult helps other young people do the same. Learn how you and your church can help victims of human trafficking at SendRelief.org/Human-Trafficking To learn more about Christa Lynn Hicks’ ministry and how you and your church can meet needs and change the lives of people trapped in the world of human trafficking, listen to the episodes linked below from Send Relief’s Adopting and Fostering Home podcast. Redemption from Trafficking – Part 1 Redemption from Trafficking – Part 2  

It’d always seemed to Kempton Turner that East St. Louis was the kind of place people leave. After all, his hometown has a murder rate 19 times the national average and two out of every three kids here live below the poverty line. But this is not a story about the kind of place people want to leave. This is a story about a city where a man who once left as a prodigal son is now welcomed back as a modern-day Nehemiah. January is Poverty Awareness Month. Find out how you can help strengthen communities at SendRelief.org.

What do you do when it feels like you can’t do anything? On a special milestone episode of Stories of Hope, find out what happens when one of the most destructive hurricanes in history hits Jorge Santiago’s Puerto Rico hometown.

When the Colombian government issued a mandatory, nationwide COVID lockdown, no one imagined people living in low income, indigenous communities might starve. This is a story about what missionaries Mike and Tisha Jones did after they heard officials instructing anyone who was desperate to hang a red flag outside their home. Learn how you and your church can help feed hungry people at SendRelief.org.

Telli’s life is probably not like yours. Telli is a homeless musician in New Orleans who scrounges for food and sleeps on the streets. Earlier this year, we asked Telli to record a daily audio diary. On this episode of Stories of Hope, walk a mile in Telli’s shoes and learn what it’s really like when you have nowhere to go. Go to SendRelief.org/Poverty to learn how you and your church can reach out to people who lack the basics of life.

The first time Jason McGibbon heard them it was the middle of the night. In this episode of Stories of Hope, hear what happened when Jason then decided to meet, and then help the people of Hamilton, Ontario, who go thru dumpsters and trash cans in order to survive. For practical ideas on how you and your church can help people who live in poverty go to SendRelief.org

Right now, 79-million Americans are having to make a choice: pay for food and shelter or pay medical bills. In this episode of Stories of Hope hear what happened when a church plant in Boston discovered a way they could erase medical debt for several thousand of their neighbors.

Bruce ate out of garbage cans. Now, Bruce helps feed hungry people on New York City’s Lower East Side. On the next episode of Stories of Hope, hear his story and learn how you and your church can help feed hungry people all around the world.

One person vs. another. One world view vs. another. Versus is a powerful word. In this episode of Stories of Hope, hear two stories about how churches in multi-racial, multi-ethnic communities met their neighbors’ physical needs, and in doing so, learned how God’s love is more powerful than anything that divides us. Go to SendRelief.org to learn more about how you and your church can tangibly share the love and hope of Christ with people whose lives have been affected by coronavirus.   Go to Namb.net/undivided to learn more about the role God has called you and your church to play in racial reconciliation.

Columbus, Georgia might not be the most well-known destination for families moving to America from Azerbaijan or Saudi Arabia or Peru. But in this episode of Stories of Hope, hear why people from over 100 different countries are coming to this small Southern town, and how they’re met with extreme, life-changing Southern hospitality when they arrive. Learn how you and your church can build witnessing build relationships with internationals in your community at SendRelief.orRefugees-Internationals. Related Story: International Relations

Taylor Field and Vaughn McLamb were the oddest of odd couples. They had absolutely nothing in common. This is the story of how Taylor and Vaughn became friends Visit SendRelief.org/mybestfriend to see and hear from Vaughn McLamb in a video we produced 10 years ago when he talked about the impact Taylor and Graffiti Church had on his life. Go to SendRelief.org/Poverty to learn how you and your church can reach out to people who live in challenging inner-city environments.

Ask anyone where COVID-19 is at its worst and not many people would think of the Navajo Nation reservation. In this episode of Stories of Hope, meet two people—a pastor and a rancher—who both received very strange and very unexpected calls for help from families living in communities that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.  Go to SendRelief.org to learn more about how you and your church can tangibly share the love and hope of Christ with people whose lives have been affected by coronavirus.