Worldharvest’s Weblog

Shalom and Blessed Holidays!

By God’s grace, we have come yet again to the end of another year. Despite the prevalent and increasing uncertainties of our times, we rejoice in the Lord—our Sure-Foundation.

At World Harvest, our vision remains resolute; simply, to pour our lives and resources into ‘One Child, One Leader, One Community’ at a time. As the global markets and financial sectors are assailed with destruction from “moth and rust” and thieves breaking in to “steal” (Matthew 6:19-21), we have come to appreciate ever more the invaluable investments we have placed into people’s lives since 1989.

Over the years, by directing resources into lives, thousands of people worldwide have come to realize their dreams. Currently, about 2,500 children are being cared for through our Sponsor-A-Child (SAC) program. Of these children, 1,000 still do not have a sponsor-parent. We sincerely believe in what we do, and for this reason, we will continue to support them until we secure caring-sponsors for each of these precious children.

For this year’s end, we invite you to take a part in the mission of investing “treasures” in heaven, through soul winning and kingdom building—by sponsoring a child or purchasing a holiday gift. Your sponsorship will provide for a continual witness and the investment of your resources into a child’s life—for the Glory of God!

Please visit our site, and click on the “Happy Holiday” flash piece for more information on how you can help this holiday season, by clicking here: Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

World Harvest

Impacting the World through Creative Community, Education and Media Services:
‘One Child, One Leader, One Community’ at a time.

World Harvest Partners with Macy’s for a Community Shopping Day to Benefit World Harvest’s Humanitarian Efforts!

Buy your $10 Ticket Today and Help Support Strategic World Harvest Programs!

(Arcadia, CA) – World Harvest and Macy’s are working together to raise funds that will be directed toward the benefit of various programs associated with World Harvest humanitarian efforts.

The day of the fundraiser will be on Saturday, November 22, 2008, from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. at Macy’s Pasadena, CA. on South Lake Avenue.

Community Shopping Day is an all day event dedicated to raising funds for local non-profit organizations. By purchasing a Community Shopping Day ticket directly from a World Harvest staff or volunteer, ticket bearers will help raise funds to support World Harvest’s humanitarian efforts, plus enjoy an exclusive: $10 off your first purchase of $25 or more AND save up to 20% off on purchases throughout the store. You will also be eligible to enter a $500 Macy’s shopping spree!

Keep in mind that 100% of the proceeds from tickets sold will be directed to World Harvest!

For questions or to purchase tickets, please call World Harvest directly at: (626) 359-8500 today!

For more information on World Harvest Programs click here.

2008-05-20

Dear Friends,

As you have all heard in the news, ‘Myanmar’s Cyclone’ (hurricane) death toll keeps rising and is now officially past 100,000. Entire villages have been wiped out. Right now there has been a massive outbreak of deadly dysentery due to a lack of sanitation. Having been to Aceh right after the massive tsunami of 2004, I can only imagine what the conditions are like; they are desperate.

Ground Report:

World Harvest,

“Thank you very much for your prayer and your message on Monday, May 12 2006 12:51 AM. In view of the devastation caused by the recent Cyclone in Yangon Myanmar. We also suffered damage to Bible School and Orphanage. Our Children have no place to stay right now. UN and other nations are not allowed to help in the form of food, medicines, shelter and etc by our nation’s leaders. Therefore, we are really needed your prayer and help to recover quickly.

Sincerely in Christ,
Rev.Dr. C.B. Philip Thang (President)
Win Myanmar Mission”

World Harvest has obtained visa access to Myanmar, and today (5-15) has sent a team of 13 disaster relief specialists, comprising of 7 Doctors, a couple Nurses, and a couple Logistics members to the region. They will arrive in Yangon on Sunday morning bringing a full supply of various medicines, and also 3 units of high output water filtration machines. The team is led by Dr. Mitch Duininck, who has worked with World Harvest in Aceh, post the tsunami, and also post the Pakistan and Yogya earthquakes. Dr. Mitch and the team represent World Harvest’s premier medical disaster and relief field team.

Our times are economically depressed, however, I believe that a little effort can go a long way in expressing our compassion and care for the thousands of hurting people in Myanmar. I think it would be beautiful to see a ‘united-movement’ toward helping these suffering people. I perceive that the ‘Hand of God’ may use this tragedy to open up this otherwise closed country for the ‘Good-News.’ I pray that World Harvest will be able to minister there long term, and to see relief and development transform this impoverished nation; much like what World Harvest has accomplished and experienced in Aceh.

Please join World Harvest toward helping our brothers and sisters in Myanmar. The easiest to make a contribution toward this effort is by visiting: www.worldharvest.cc and clicking on the Myanmar “Make a Donation” link on the homepage. Updates on World Harvest’s relief efforts, will be also update periodically on the site.

Please help spread this appeal to your circle of influence, so the work in Myanmar can be maximized. The cost of this mission is approximately $60,000.00 (all our Doctors and personnel have offered to pay for their way as a contribution toward the Myanmar efforts). The funds we are attempting to raise are allotted toward medical supplies and water filtration systems.

Please pray with World Harvest so that we can meet all the needs within our ability.

Thank you so much for your care and compassion.

Danny Hanafi
Vice Chairman, Co-Founder, World Harvest

PS. I have committed to sending some of the funds raised from our upcoming Harvest Summer Concert, to further relief efforts in Myanmar. Please come and join us in order to support this noble cause.

Special Thanks from World Harvest:

The World Harvest AFRICA BENEFIT CONCERT was held on March 22nd, 2008, at the gorgeous Wilshire Ebell Theater, in Los Angeles, California. The 1,270 seat venue was sold out due a valiant effort on the part of World Harvest, strategic partners, sponsors, performers, and friends. The AFRICA BENEFIT CONCERT featured: Frontline Generation Band, along with special guest appearances by the acclaimed African Band Milele and the solo recording artist Elva.

All proceeds and profits from the AFRICA BENEFIT CONCERT have been disbursed toward strategic humanitarian projects in Africa, and specifically in Uganda, Congo, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and Kenya. Some of these projects include: aid toward the building homes and providing adoptive families for HIV/Aids orphans in Kenya; expanding an orphanage and school in Goma, Uganda, by building more ‘upper-level’ classrooms and housing rooms; and further, providing opportunities for World Harvest Ambassadors’ to visit orphans and marginalized children in Kenya and Sudan.

World Harvest is committed toward “Impacting the world” through creative means toward the alleviation of poverty, and sharing a message of Hope. We believe, that through “music with a heart of mission”, some of these goals can be achieved. World Harvest is delighted to announce that our goal of touching thousands of lives through using music as a medium was accomplished through the AFRICA BENEFIT CONCERT event.

Testimonials from the Performers:

Frontline Generation:

The Africa Benefit Concert hosted in conjunction with World Harvest was quite a ‘state-of-the-art’ production. The facility was a classic 81-year-old beautifully designed 1,270 seating amphitheater. A huge LED screen of latest technology was installed in the background, which added so much life to the event. Also, ultra-crisp sound with sophisticated line array speakers, and 16 intelligent moving lights lit up the building and stage.

At the concert, Frontline Generation released their third album: R(EVOL)UTION, featuring exciting new titles like: “R(evol)ution”, “MengenalMu yang Mulia”, “Mbbawa SbbahMu”. Also featured were songs from their first and second albums, innovatively rbixed, such as “Great is the Lord”, “More of You and Less of Me”, and “One and Only King.”

The concert also served as a fundraiser for some of Frontline Generation’s efforts in Africa. Frontline Generation, through strategic partnerships, is currently working on an orphanage/school project in Goma, Dbocratic Republic of Congo. The Orphanage was established in 2006 as a contribution from some of Frontline Generation’s partners. The funds raised from the Africa Benefit Concert were utilized to expand the number of classrooms at the orphanage, and to offer upper elbentary level classes. Thank you Milele, Elva, and World Harvest for making this event a success!

-Frontline Generation

Milele:

Awesome experience is an understatbent! When we arrived we thought we were in the wrong place as the setting looked like a Sting or Phil Collins concert; the Africa Benefit Concert was professionalism at its highest level. Needless to say, the entire event was excellently produced, at ‘world-class’ standards. The experience of love and unity at the event is how we view the Church should be! Milele loved the setting and the vibe of the event, there was a lot of enthusiasm and liberty in the atmosphere. Above all, God was greatly magnified and glorified as we worshipped together with Elva and Frontline Generation. It was indeed our distinct honor and pleasure to share the stage with these amazing and gifted musicians.
The proceeds toward Milele generated from the concert all went to the Milele Family Holmes. The Milele Family Homes Project aims to unite orphaned HIV/Aids children with adoptive parents. These newly formed families are given residential homes to live in, which are located in average, safe and pleasant neighborhoods. These homes serve as a permanent residence for children who would have otherwise been living and struggling in the depths of poverty and isolation. The Milele Homes enable the adopted orphans to lead regular lives, interact with other children, be valued and invested in as integral assets for the future. Thank you World Harvest for making this happen!!!

-Milele

Elva:

I am so grateful to World Harvest for including me, to take a part in such a wonderful opportunity, aimed at raising awareness for charitable work being done in Africa. I will be traveling to Nairobi, Kenya this summer to aid in some of the efforts being done to alleviate poverty, and bring a message of encouragbent to the natives. The proceeds toward Blue Bead Records raised from the World Harvest Africa Benefit Concert have contributed in part toward an opportunity for me to join efforts with another ‘like-minded’ organization called Far Reaching Ministries; whose work is primarily concentrated in Kenya and Sudan.

What immediately drew me to World Harvest was the ability of the organization to bpower marginalized people by providing thb with education, job/business opportunities, and an everlasting message of Hope. The benefit concert was such a momentous evening; the sold-out crowd was a joy to sing with, as they proved to be a great choir! Thanks so much to God, to those who attended, Milele, Frontline Generation, and World Harvest for an event that exceeded my every expectation! I am excited and looking forward to partner again with World Harvest on June 7, 2008, for the Harvest Summer Concert!

– Elva

2008-05-08

The News World Harvest is receiving coming in from cyclone(hurricane)-ravaged Burma grows worse by the hour, with some reports claiming the death toll is approaching 100,000 dead and thousands more missing, with thousands homes destroyed and livelihoods ruined.

However, the disaster seems to have brought one faint glimmer of hope: that the closed doors to this otherwise politically isolated and authoritarian country will open to hundreds of international aid workers are allowed to bring urgently needed relief.

“The army has been mobilized to move trees and clear away debris so aid can get to people,” says Ramesh Shrestha, a Canadian who has been UNICEF’s representative for Myanmar (the junta’s name for Burma) for the last two years. Mr. Ramesh further states that “a need for co-operation makes it ‘unlikely’ that the military would try to seize the aid, or divert it from the destitute population.”

Thankfully there are already signs that the ruling junta, accustomed to a control of power, is overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster and unsure of how to react to the unusual pressure to open its doors. So far, most of the aid obtained has arrived from depots inside Burma, operated by large agencies and international organizations. But they will soon be running on empty, in need of new supplies and skilled personnel.

As are common sentiments amongst R&D’s (Relief & Development Organizations), “The biggest challenges are getting the permissions and logistics in place,” says Dave Toycen, president of World Vision Canada.”The government has given every indication they’re open to help, and that’s a step in the right direction. But in the past they haven’t been open to outsiders, and they’re not accustomed to dealing with something like this.”

“The government is inviting help in, but it is taking longer than we need,” says Toycen. “Clean water and purification material is the most critical thing now. Children under 5 are the most vulnerable because they get dehydrated and sick quickly.”

World Harvest’s AERDO (Association of Evangelical Relief & Development Organizations) affiliates like World Vision, with long-term projects in Burma, have had a head start at relief efforts, with “pre-positioned aid” and the help of staff and volunteers on the ground. World Harvest is in the process of mobilizing medical teams consisting of: doctors, nurses, and surgeons, along with a number of ground troops to join in aid toward relief efforts in Burma.

Please help support this effort by making a contribution of any amount that will be directed toward relief efforts in Burma. Click the link below to be directed to a secure contribution section.