Point of Grace Benefit Concert this Sunday

Local Brentwood woman, Katie Davis, is founder of Amazima Ministries International, (http://www.amazima.org/) a non-profit organization that supports the education of Ugandan children and assists with the adoption of Ugandan orphans. Katie herself has adopted thirteen girls. She has left them in the care of a good friend, and is back from Uganda for five weeks and will speak at a benefit concert this Sunday, June 28 at Fellowship Bible Church.
Katie's journey is an amazing story going back to December 2006 when she visited Uganda. While there, Katie met Pastor Isaac Wagaba who implored her to come teach Kindergarten at his orphanage in Buziika, Uganda, called Canaan Children's Transit Center. In September 2007, Katie returned to Uganda and began teaching. While working with the children, she began to see the hardships of children and families there. There are no public schools in this area, and families financially sacrifice for their children to go to school, but most cannot pay for their children's education. Katie decided to start a sponsorship program where a sponsor could pay $300 per year and provide a student with schooling, school supplies, two hot meals per day, and any minor medical care needed. By December 2008, Katie had successfully seen 150 children through a year of school. On Saturdays, Katie also provided a bible study, a hot meal, and a bath. Most importantly, Katie gave these children fellowship and the knowledge that others do care about their well being. Follow Katie's journey on her blog at http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/ and you will be touched at the devotion of this young Brentwood woman.
Katie also works diligently to help children get adopted. The Oatsvall family is attempting to adopt children from Uganda and Katie is speaking at the June 28th benefit concert that will help fund their adoption. Point of Grace is hosting and will perform at this concert. Tickets are $10 at the door. The doors open at 5 and the concert begins at 6. The Oatsvall Team will be selling many items to benefit their ministry including tshirts, homemade flip flops, necklaces, bracelets and hats. The concert will be at Fellowship Bible Church on Franklin Road in Brentwood, Tennessee. See more about the Oatsvall's journey at http://www.oatsvallteam.blogspot.com/

Sierra Leone - Sounds pretty doesn't it?

Sierra Leone is a pretty name, like Brentwood, but in fact, it is rated by the United Nations to be the poorest country in the world and it is known as the worst place in the world to live. Think about that. The worst place IN THE WORLD. Can we even imagine that living here in our beautiful American suburb?

Erica and Jason from The Raining Season based in Spring Hill, TN recently spoke at the Leonard's home in Brentwood about their mission of food, shelter and education for families in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Their non-profit organization, The Raining Season, is named for hardships that Sierra Leone's residents suffer during their rain season. They only have two seasons there, rainy and dry. Their website describes the season, "We found that the rainy season is a constant struggle for the people of Sierra Leone. Roads are impassable, labor jobs are difficult to find and disease is rampant due to the stagnant water. malaria and typhoid fever deaths are at their highest peak during this difficult time of the year."

In a 2008 Christmas trip to the region, TRS coincidentally found a group of 80 children living in a facility with no food, water, beds, education or medical care. They were simply trying to visit a little girl who was in the adoption process for another couple in America. What they found was a lot more than they bargained for. Over thirty children were malnourished and in urgent need of medical care. Every child in the operation had not eaten in four days. The TRS members took the sick children to the hospital and found that one child was within two days of death by starvation. Thanks to sponsorship and feeding programs, that child, Festus, is now healthy enough to throw a normal toddler tantrum. Miracles are at work here.

TRS is on an urgent mission to open their own children's home for these 80 children called The Covering in September 2009. They are working diligently to raise all of the funds needed to: lease the building, hire staff and caretakers, and to cover all start-up costs associated with utilities, meals, and medical care. They are even facing the atrocity of children disappearing from the orphanage. Locals believe there is a possibility of human trafficking. To see a video of the orphanage: http://www.therainingseason.org/The_Raining_Season/Gallery.html

You can help by participating at their fundraiser close by at the Legends Golf and Country Club on July 29th at 8 a.m. where teams can register to golf with the proceeds benefiting the new children's home. Details below on their flyer. Contact TRS if you or a team of you and your friends would like to participate in a great day of golf for a good cause. Click on this site to register: https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:Join/signupId:58855/mailingId:1905550/acctId:34631 .

A little history: Erica and Jason first found Sierra Leone while attempting to adopt their daughter five years ago. After discovering their adoption agency was fraudulent, they themselves went to West Africa to adopt their daughter. It took two trips and approximately twelve court appearances, but their persistence paid off with a beautiful daughter. After several years of normal Tennessee life, they just couldn't forget. They remembered all they had seen: the displaced families, the orphaned children, the lack of income. They decided to help one family at a time and that is exactly what they were doing when they found the orphanage. I hope you will take the time to explore their site and see their story through video. Thanks for taking the time to read my site. Peace and blessings!

...ONCE OUR EYES ARE OPENED WE CAN'T PRETEND WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. GOD, WHO WEIGHS OUR HEARTS AND KEEPS OUR SOULS, KNOWS THAT WE KNOW, AND HOLDS US RESPONSIBLE TO ACT. -PROVERBS 24:12

Details are on their website for how to donate or sponsor a child. http://www.therainingseason.org/

Miriam's Promise - Making Families

"One adoption won't change the world, but it will change the world for that one child" is the idea behind Miriam's Promise, a Nashville-based full-service non-profit agency serving families and children in Middle Tennessee. They are a full-service crisis pregnancy and adoption agency offering free counseling, real choices and open adoption. Miriam's Promise derives their identity of Miriam through the bible story of Moses. Moses sister, Miriam, is a heroine who looks after and protects her infant brother. She works to ensure his safety in a turbulent time when all male babies were in danger. Miriam's Promise trys to do just this and works to ensure the well-being of children before, during and after birth.

Several families I am acquainted with in Brentwood have greatly benefited from Miriam's Promise through the adoption process. These families hold this agency close to their hearts and continue to take an active role in their fundraising efforts in the hopes of helping other families. One board member became involved not through adoption, but in her interest to assist with adoption and hopefully help stop unnecessary abortions. But for whatever reason one might serve this agency, many volunteers are needed to keep this service available. It is a place of hope and peace, and a place where you can watch the miracle of families happen.

Here are several ways you can volunteer:

Miriam's Promise has been extremely blessed by the generosity of many local churches and civic groups. They regularly receive donations of infant clothing and baby care items for our clothing closet. These items are given to our clients and to other organizations that serve young moms. These gifts must be organized into bins by size, sex, and type so that these items can be easily found by counselors. Volunteers who could do this task are needed on a regular basis.

Babysitting for support groups is another way to volunteer. Approximately 16 ongoing support groups occur each year for adoptive families of older children, trans-racial families, waiting families, and birthparents. Many of these families have very small children who need babysitting services during the monthly support group in which their parents are involved.

Miriam's Promise holds two major fundraising events each year. In the spring, they have a dinner, art show, and live auction called Pasta and Promises. The artists selling at this event donate a portion of their proceeds to Miriam's Promise. Volunteer duties include tasks such as logistics, catering, decoration, artist development, silent and live auction, ticket and table sales, and communications.

In the fall, a team Golf Challenge is hosted by Miriam's Promise. For the Golf Challenge, players raise money before the date of the tournament, and then play golf and receive prizes based on how much they raised. Volunteers are vital to make these events a success. Miriam's Promise need help with pre-events, sponsorship development, prize development, catering, and "day-of-event" needs such as registration, golfer relations, beverage cart drivers, and accounting of contributions and pledges.

Volunteers are also needed in specific technical areas such as marketing brochure development, client information systems, and archiving closing records for adoptions. If you would like to know more about helping Miriam's Promise, please check out their website http://www.miriamspromise.org/ and check the "How You Can Help" section. You can also call their office, located at 522 Russell St., at 292-3500.