The Importance of Gratitude
Having gratitude changes your brain and your life.
In 2010, Small and Micro Enterprise Program (SMEP) Microfinance Bank, a Christ-centered microfinance institution serving families in Kenya, celebrated a major distinction: It became the third deposit-taking microfinance bank in the country to be licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya. But along with its approval, the central bank issued one caveat: SMEP needed to add investors to its ownership pool. It sounded like a simple request—yet it proved to be anything but.
Homes for HOPE is delighted to announce that Providence Homes is the recipient of our second annual Bigelow Award. This award is named in honor of Perry Bigelow, who served as Homes for HOPE’s board president for over twenty years before he went home to be with the LORD in July 2022.
Homes for HOPE counted it a great joy and privilege to be invited as one of the charities benefitting from Jim Davidson’s Annual Clay Day on October 19th, 2023.
Dumel Fontaine is a husband and father of three living in Les Cayes, Haiti. He’s always been committed to providing for his family—yet as someone without sight, he’s also almost always been barred from doing so. “My situation was … very catastrophic because I didn’t have a job until now,” he says. “There wasn’t enough clothing and food.” Then, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Bosco and his neighbors faced a new wave of challenges. As schools and businesses shut down, he says, “People here in the community had lost hope.”
Around the same time, a fellow church member invited Bosco to join a savings group and attend an agrifaith program through Sowers of HOPE—HOPE International’s discipleship ministry that equips farmers through savings groups to proclaim the Gospel through agriculture.
On a beautiful, late September evening, Homes for HOPE gathered in Richmond, VA with CDW Homes owner Chad White’s family, friends, trade partners, and suppliers for an open house and the launch of their first-ever Homes for HOPE Project! We enjoyed delicious El Salvadoran food sourced by his incredibly talented framer, as Chad shared his vision for CDW Homes
Lancaster, PA, is known for many things, including its Amish community, the oldest farmers market in the US, and the birthplace of the whoopie pie. But did you know that it is also America's refugee capital? Lancaster County takes in 20 times more refugees per capita than the rest of the US. It is also home to a massive number of nonprofit organizations for its size, and it has the highest volunteerism rate in the nation.
Early this year, while on a prospecting trip in VA, Homes for HOPE’s Eastern US Representative, Stephen Giordano, dropped in at Ironwood Homes with some Goo Goo Clusters – a treat from where he lives in Nashville. This was the beginning of a budding partnership, and two weeks ago, Ironwood Homes launched their first Homes for HOPE Project.
Bosco Murengera Ntwari was frequently suspended from his school in rural Rwanda for not being able to pay his school fees. His father had left the family when Bosco was young, and with three other siblings, it was often difficult to make ends meet.
Then, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Bosco and his neighbors faced a new wave of challenges. As schools and businesses shut down, he says, “People here in the community had lost hope.”
Around the same time, a fellow church member invited Bosco to join a savings group and attend an agrifaith program through Sowers of HOPE—HOPE International’s discipleship ministry that equips farmers through savings groups to proclaim the Gospel through agriculture.
In 2004, John and Tracy Houston started John Houston Homes (JHH) with a mission to reach people for Christ and give to the kingdom. Today, almost 20 years later, JHH is employee-owned by over 100 team members, is ranked among the top home builders in the United States, and builds hundreds of homes a year in four major market areas across 40+ communities.