Elizabeth Anleu Rodas is a member of Los Pensamientos development group which received a Kiva loan of 65,000 pesos on 21 September 2009. Development groups are groups of more than 10 people which have a bank account and meet weekly or fortnightly to make their repayments. They have a representative and a governing committee. Los Pensamientos group are currently repaying their loan.

Elizabeth works selling fragrances and cosmetics and requested a loan of 1,000 pesos to buy more products and to repay a debt for products that she had already bought. Thanks to this loan Elizabeth has paid off much of her debt, she has purchased new products and she has made a small proft which she used to buy new sneakers for her grandchildren.

When you support Share5, you are supporting hard working women like her not only in Mexico, but also in Cambodia, Burundi, Rwanda, Ghana, Thailand, and the many other places that Share5 has made loans through the Share5 Fund.  AND… because we carefully look to make our loans through specific Christian organizations that provide the loans in the field, we know that the Gospel is being offered to address not only physical poverty, but eternal spiritual poverty as well.  Its a beautiful thing.  Its TEAMWORK in action.

So, thank you for changing lives… while you were sleeping!

See the full list of the over 25 loans that you have helped us provide around the world.

Set up your automatic $5 monthly contribution to assist with the Share5 Fund today!

When morning arrived, I walked out my door to 44 degree weather, winds, and rain.  Not exactly the weather picture I had in mind.  Later, as the weather got worse, I wondered if the school would let their kids still participate.  Fortunately they did.

To wrap up the day, I had a shareholders meeting for the company that I used to work for.  To really ice the cake, my wife and I ended up walking into a room full of suits 10 mins. late, baby in hand, and barefoot.  I’ll admit I thought twice about donning my shoes for that moment… but we didn’t.

What we realized is that our convictions and our actions only gain integrity when we are willing to stick with them when it is inconvenient.  Otherwise, we’re little more than fair-weather fakes.  Thanks to the kids in the rain that helped me see a better part of humanity.  Lesson learned.

Share5 and Foothills School Go One Day Without Shoes from Share5 by WorldWins on Vimeo.

The TOMS One Day Without Shoes march in Boise, ID with the students of Foothills School of Boise. By marching to the State Capitol in 44 degree rain and wind, these young people were helping to raise awareness for those worldwide who go without shoes every day.

Find more at http://onedaywithoutshoes.com

Amy working on Stucco, Mexico House 2, March 2009

This first home will go to Beatriz Meneses and her 5 children and 2 grandchildren, who are presently living under a tarp between two adjacent walls. Things are still a little up in the air as to whether we will build a full double version of our typical house, or just complete a portion of what would eventually be their final house, just to get them in.  Regardless, it is not too late to participate financially to help make this dream a reality.  Please, make your contribution today and help us put a family in a home and off the street.

To learn more about UthBuild, how you can participate in one of our future builds, or to find out about bringing a group of your own to build a home in Mexico, visit our UthBuild page and then drop us a line!

We are officially now less than 4 days from taking over the house for Different Miracle.

So far, over $1200 in funds has been raised, and while things are not entirely worked out, here is what has transpired in the last few days in the way of NON-cash contributions…

• Many local people have volunteered labor for the upcoming build Oct 1-5
• Sherwin-Williams has agreed to donate our paint
• Lowe’s HEAVILY discounted a new range and several lights
• Someone donated over 100 sheets of sheetrock
• We are waiting to hear on some potential furniture and flooring donations
• We have had a sign company donate some various items you’ll see in the finished pictures…
• A church in Nashville is beginning to help us coordinate a plan for the family while we work on the house.
• and finally…  The family is now registered at Walmart for your gifting convenience

  under “Different Miracle”!

We will have an organizational meeting on Sunday at 7pm in Madisonville, KY to finalize alot of the remaining details.  We have made two trips to the home for measurements and prep planning, and the homeowner has made significant steps in preparing for us to take over, so here we go!

We are still greatly in need of some final cash resources, as it looks like we will need 2 new showers and some baseboard heaters, so if you can help out in that way, please see don’t hesitate – use the button on the left!

We’ll look forward to sharing the progress with you, and ask for your prayers as we start the construction work on the 1st!

]]> http://www.share5.org/2009/09/the-different-miracle-countdown-begins/feed/ 0 http://www.share5.org/2009/06/creation-care-a-compassion-and-social-justice-question/ http://www.share5.org/2009/06/creation-care-a-compassion-and-social-justice-question/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:56:09 +0000 Chad Houck http://66.147.240.185/~sharefiv/2009/06/creation-care-a-compassion-and-social-justice-question/ Christianity Today recently published an article about Flourish 09 – a conference centered on Evangelical Christianity's response to Creation Care, or in simple terms, environmental responsibility.  The key point that I appreciated was the shift of the focus from one of political agenda and rhetoric to one that is (or should be) much more realistic and critical for the church to understand:  human interest.  Flourish posed the issue of care for God's creation as one that holds both compassion and social justice issues for Christians.  Kinda brings it home a bit more doesn't it?  (Read the full article here)

Couple great excerpts from the article:

• What emerged from Pritchard's keynote talk was not a passion for the
  environment so much as a passion for people, their health and
  well-being, and particularly for social justice. "If our abuse of the
  environment raises, for example, the rate of debilitating asthma
  attacks, then it is a compassion issue for the church." (Rusty Pritchard, Co-Founder of Flourish)

• South Atlanta pastor Leroy Barber spoke of how his church worked to
  "green my 'hood." His parishioners live with all the unsightly and
  unsanitary things other Atlanta neighborhoods avoid: chemical plants,
  an auto impound lot from another municipality, a landfill, poor public
  transportation. He described his church's efforts to improve the lives
  of their neighbors through economic development, health and nutrition
  programs, and even pedestrian safety campaigns. "That's good news for
  the poor," he said.

• The dominant spiritual message was the need for neighbor love and the social justice activity neighbor love entails.

• A number of social justice ministries were represented at the conference. The most popular booth belonged to Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee,
  (a Share5 Partner ministry!) with its slogan–"Drink Coffee. Do Good."–and its endless urns of
  really good joe. The ministry helps Rwandan genocide survivors to form
  coffee-growing co-ops, then helps them speed their best beans to market
  where they command top prices. These co-op farmers typically increase
  their revenues by a factor of 4.5, exceeding the prices paid in
  fair-trade programs. Land of a Thousand Hills markets their product to
  and through churches.

            (all excerpts pulled directly from the Christianity Today article…)

It is great to hear that there is a movement of compassion finding its way into all corners of Chrisitanity today.  If not compassionate, what are we when it comes to our daily lives?  If we lack compassion, can we really call ourselves Christ-like?

His name is Ron Kotkins, and he has been giving free haircuts to the homeless of downtown Portland for over 20 years!  He was recently featured on Portland's channel 2 as an "Everyday Hero". Check out the video by clicking on the image or on this link.

Congratulations Ron, and thank you for being an example with what you have in your hands, using it for those who you see in front of you!

Download Share5′s radio interview as an mp3.

Watch for updates from Catalyst this week!  We fly at 7:30 Tuesday morning.  You can also follow chad or amy on Twitter!