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Archive of "Featured Non-Profit" Category
Guest Post: SlaveFree Holiday
This months Guest post is by the Restore the Innocent Network:
We are entering the busiest time of the year. We call this time, the Holiday Season. Between Thanksgiving and Valentines there will be products and more food consumed than the rest of the year combined. The problem is the majority of all that we consume has been made by slaves, many being women and children forced into unimaginable conditions, so that we can enjoy our holidays!
We are starting a campaign to promote a SlaveFree Holiday. We are crazy enough to believe that if enough based their consumer decisions on the life of innocent women and children as opposed to the leading value of consuming the most stuff for at the lowest cost, we could make a difference. If the history of a free market tells us anything, the consumer has the power. In other words, we can make a difference with our pocketbooks. We can let our major corporations know, that the welfare of women and children matter more to us than the our kids and appetites getting more than we need. We wanted to share with you a short video by Epipheo Studios to show you how this works:
We will be updating our page with more info, but we wanted to start with giving you a few links to help you make more educated decisions on what your purchase, or to put it bluntly in the words of Tim Costello, so after you eat your chocolate pies this holiday seasons, “you can go to bed without blood on your teeth.”
Check out the following links:
We would also recommend the following books:
We believe together we can make this a SlaveFree Holiday. Also, don’t forget to buy your tickets to the Restore the Innocent Event.
Guest Post: Restore the Innocent
Restore Au
stin, HELP, Music for the City, and Austin Angels are teaming together to raise awareness and support on December 7th, to unify in the fight against sex-trafficking through this event called, Restore the Innocent.We will be showing the film, Call & Response at the Blanton Museum of Art.
Immediately following the film, Music for the City will be hosting an after party in which you can learn about next steps to take in order to personally engage in the fight against modern slavery locally and globally (after party venue TBA).
100% of all proceeds will go to fighting human trafficking! So, join us in raising awareness and engaging the fight!
Please make sure to hold on to your ticket, as it is your ticket into the After Party as well.
Guest Post: Stacy Bruce of Caring Family Network
This month’s guest post is by the CEO of Caring Family Network, Stacy Bruce. Caring Family Network has
Stacy Bruce
become a great partner to Restore Austin and Austin New Church. In partnership, we have about 8 couples working through the foster-to-adopt process in order to give these children homes they deserve, along with that we have just recently began to inquire about working with them in areas of tutoring and mentoring through the summer. But not only that, Stacy has become a pretty good friend to Restore Austin’s Matthew Hansen. Stacy is an amazing leader and is doing some amazing things with Caring Family Network. If you want to know more, read below:
In 1999, I was hired by Caring Family Network (CFN), a local foster care and adoption agency in Austin. I was a young, green social worker ready to take on the world.
In 1999, Darrel and Melody Dussetschleger became a licensed foster family with CFN. At that time, Darrel and Melody had 3 children of their own (high school and middle school aged).
In 1999, Jessy and Shela were removed from their young mother in Corpus Christi and put into the State’s Care. After several placements, Jessy (age 4) and Shela (age 3) were placed in the Dussetschleger foster home and I became their case manager.
That year, all of our lives changed.
This story illustrates the biblical need to focus on God’s calling, outlined in James 1:27, right here in Central Texas. If it weren’t for Darrel and Melody’s faith and trust in God’s calling, faith in one another, faith in their own family and faith in CFN, Jessy and Shela would have very different lives today.
And so the story begins…Jessy, born deaf, was placed in the State’s care at age 4. He was removed from his young mother’s care
due to the neglectful environment of his biological home. While in his mother’s care, Jessy never learned to communicate. After six foster care placements in three months and no attachment to a caring adult, Jessy had absolutely no communication skills, no exposure to rules or structure and no social skills. I remember thinking “this child reminds me of the Tasmanian devil.” Jessy arrived at the Dussetschleger’s heavily medicated.Shortly after placing Jessy with the Dussetschleger’s, we placed his little sister, Shela. Shela was 3 years old, had been in 9 foster homes (including psychiatric hospitalizations) in six months and also appeared to be deaf. It wasn’t until a thorough medical examine was completed that we were told her hearing was fine. As I write, I recall a picture of Shela taken around the time of placement. In this photo, she is holding a baby doll. While most three-year-olds are full of life, Shela appeared lifeless, her 3-year-old spirit was deeply buried by the abuse and neglect, and there appeared to be no life in her little body. She was also heavily medicated. But at last they had arrived in a safe, nurturing family, committed to accepting this challenge.
Within the first couple of years, the entire Dussetschleger family became fluent in sign language. Jessy was beginning to communicate and Shela’s eyes were showing signs of life and love. While Jessy continued to struggle with his disability, social skills and many developmental delays, he was beginning the process of healing. At that time, Melody began the daunting task of navigating the Medicaid system to pay for a cochlear implant for Jessy. After advocating up the chain of command and ending with Carole Keaton Strayhorn, Melody was successful!
In 2005, Shela reached permanency through adoption by the Dussetschleger’s. Due to the financial difficulty of meeting Jessy’s special needs, the Dussetschleger’s chose not to adopt Jessy at that time. However, they remained 100% committed to him and in all of our minds; he had reached permanency as well.
During the July 2008 CFN Annual Summer Celebration, I was privileged to watch as in walked two lanky, well-adjusted, UNMEDICATED, much loved, and very beautiful, young teenagers. Shela spent her time admiring and picking out the perfect prom dress, while Jessy spent time talking (yes, talking not just signing) with staff, foster parents and other children.
At the August 2009 CFN back-to-school celebration, I was able to erase the haunting picture of Shela at age three, broken by such a wounded spirit. It has been replaced with a vision of life and energy that she emitted with every step she took. And there sat Jessy, as if completing the cycle of healing, holding his 18 month old foster sister, a beautiful little girl, also a victim of child abuse and neglect. The unconditional love, the commitment, and the faith in God’s Plan…the healing is so apparent.
Now to the present day! Jessy continues to struggle with his disabilities and has been diagnosed with a macular degenerative disease. He attends the Texas School for the Blind, where he is loved and quite successful. In fact, Jessy has made such an impression that the school produced a video of him to use as a model for all deaf blind children in the U.S and Canada. The Dussetschleger’s will adopt Jessy within the next month. Shela has graduated from middle school and moved to High School.
She is a beautiful young woman, full of life. I’ve watched Jessy and Shela grow and heal through our Powerful God and the powerful therapeutic care, love and nurturing that the Dussetschleger’s have provided to these two children. It is almost impossible for me to have a conversation about Jessy and Shela without crying or at least tearing up. Gone are the Tasmanian devil and the little girl so wounded she showed no spirit. What a powerful testimony to a family who chose to put God first and to allow Him to use their hands, their hearts and their family and community to bring healing to these children. Today, the Dussetschleger family consists of two proud doting parents, 5 children, one grandchild and another grandchild on the way. Along the way, the Dussetschleger’s have provided a loving, healing home to more than 20 foster children with special needs. And that young case manager that was ready to take on the world is now the CEO of Caring Family Network. I can see the Fingerprints of God all over this!!!Our lives changed forever!!!!
WHY FOSTER, WHY ADOPT the children of Central Texas. The numbers speak for themselves:
In 2009,
- There were 68,326 confirmed cases of child abuse/neglect in the State of Texas
- 12,107 children were removed from their home as a result of a CPS Abuse/Neglect Investigation
- On August 31, 2009, there were 15,932 children in foster care
- At the end of 2009, there were 6,386 children waiting for adoption
- In Region 7 (Travis and surrounding counties) alone, there are 1,761 children in foster care
- Sadly, in 2009, 1453 children emancipated from the State’s care without a family.
Why foster or adopt or get involved…because James 1:27 gives us our instructions. If you are called to care for children from hard places, if you are ready to be a part of one of the most unique, exciting and meaningful experiences in life, if you are ready to be challenged, changed and charged with an awesome privilege and responsibility, if you are ready…Texas children, like Jessy and Shela are ready and waiting for you!
Stacy, thank you so much for your friendship, your leadership, and your commitment to these children. We look forward to a much deeper partnership as time goes on. We love you and all those at Caring Family Network!
Guest Post: Alan Graham of Mobile Loaves & Fishes
This month’s guest post is by Alan Graham, the founder of Mobile Loaves and Fishes and the new
Campaign, I Am Here, which became one of the number one stories on CNN. Alan has become a real friend to Austin New Church and Restore Austin. We have learned a lot from Alan, as would any one. Please take the time to not only read this post, but to wrestle with it, and your response to it. Who Is Really Hungry?
This year Mobile Loaves & Fishes will serve over 500,000 thousand meals and will probably exceed having served over 2,000,000 (yes! Two million!) since our inception in 1998. This is incredible but what is astonishing is how many people it took to deliver those meals to the streets directly where people are. Today we have nearly 13,000 volunteers in six cities throughout the US dedicated to serving these meals with love. Every night these 17 catering trucks loaded with food, clothing and volunteers head out on to their respective streets to serve these meals. With such a large army it begs the question of who is really hungry.
Although Mobile Loaves & Fishes is known as a feeding ministry what we really do is to empower people into a life style of service to our brothers and sisters who live on the streets. This is really important on a number of levels. To have thousands of people working every month donating their time in service to others is really something. I read once where each volunteer hour has an economic value of about $17! WOW! When you empower so many people in service the way we do paradigms and stereotypes change. When paradigms and stereotypes change you suddenly find yourself with an army of advocates. This is one of the powerful resource engines for Mobile Loaves & Fishes.
Now we can advocate for homes. Go to www.mlfnow.org/HOW to take a look at what we are doing to make people “homeful”. To make people “homeful” we really need to understand what home is. In the recently published groundbreaking book Beyond Homelessness the authors identify eight characteristics of home:
- Home is a place of permanence
- Home is a dwelling place
- Home is a storied place
- Home is a safe resting place
- Home is a place of hospitality
- Home is a place of embodied inhabitation
- Home is a place of orientation
- Home is a place of affiliation and belonging
Who is really hungry? We all are! Food is merely the conduit to connect human to human, heart to heart. Some will be nourished physically and others will be nourished spiritually. If you want to become a part of our army go check out www.mlfnow.org or email us at info@mlfnow.org.
-Alan
Guest Post: Chris Marlow of HELP End Local Poverty
This month’s guest blog post is by a dear friend to Austin New Church and Restore Austin – Chris Marlow. Chris is the founder of HELP End Local Povery. HELP is a global tribe dedicated to ending extreme poverty by rescuing orphans, restoring their hope and renewing their communities. Being that April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we’ve asked Chris to write a blog concerning those children who are most abused – orphans:
The global orphan crisis seems to have captured the hearts and minds of people inside the church, and also outside the
church. It is deeply encouraging, as many have chosen not to ignore or look away from this crisis.The more conversations I have, the more people want to understand how we got here. And by “here,” I mean the orphan crisis. How, in a world of such deep wealth, intelligence and connectedness, did we come to a place where millions of kids are suffering, alone!
Let’s take a look at some possible factors:
War
When you research the global orphan crisis, war becomes an obvious target. When men and women die, kids are left behind to fend for themselves. Even when good Samaritans, or extended family take in these orphans, they also suffer. Therefore, you can track a chain-reaction destabilizing effect on war-torn countries, that last for decades. It’s truly crippling!
Extreme Poverty
Poverty is quite hard to process. We live in a world where 1 billion people don’t have access to clean water. Now think about this for a second; How can a people-group function, if they don’t have a clean water-source? Of course there are other issues, such as, political uprisings, famines, and natural disasters that causes economic collapse. For instance, Zimbabwe is a country that for years could not afford to keep the power grid working, they could not pay for food to be imported into the country, and they had civil uprising, which caused a collapse in their farming structures. All these issues lead to extreme poverty.
Disease
The fact remains, that diseases such as aids, and malaria wreck havoc on people-groups that don’t have access to proper medicine. A child in Africa dies every 30 seconds because of malaria. There are some 15 million aids-orphans around the globe, that have lost parents to this crisis. Again, it’s easy to see how this would effect a society, foe generations.
Lack of concern
However, the biggest reason that there are some 144 million orphans in the world today, is a simple lack of compassion. There is simply to much wealth and intelligence to assume we can’t do anything about this crisis. And above all that, in general the church (for decades) failed to respond on a mass-scale. Christians, like myself, simply ignored the plight of the orphan. More than war, or extreme poverty, or disease, (as bad as all of those things are) the biggest reason, in my opinion, is the lack of concern by the masses.
Hope
With that being said, we now live in a generation that refuses to ignore this issue. We’re also not scared to tackle the problem. There is hope that we can turn the tide, we can make a difference, and we will fight no matter what. It’s hard for people to understand extreme poverty, it’s next to impossible to comprehend war, and we still struggle with diseases. However, this is where EVERYONE can help. We can simply just care, and also, get our friends to care. When that happens, we can become intentional, and focus on solutions that can change the scope of extreme poverty. Scriptures like Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 58, Luke 4:16-22, Acts 11:27-30 , Gal 2:9-10, and James 1:27 are being taken seriously, again!
My hope and passion is that the church will lead the way, and fight for the orphan. That we will unite, sacrifice, and take action to make a change, to show the world the character and nature of God through His people, the church.
We can end this crisis, we can crash into eternity doing something to cause impact, and we will rescue orphans, restore their hope and renew their communities.
Chris, thank you, and the team at HELP! We look forward to the partnership between HELP, Restore Austin, and Austin New Church!
Kingdom Saturation
For the past week the pastors at Austin New Church have been writing blogs that ultimately lead to one conclusion – live outside of yourself until it hurts! (more…)
Christmas Message from Mobile Loaves and Fishes
The following is an email I received from Mobile Loaves and Fishes. I wanted to pass it on: (more…)
