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Help pierce the darkness with the light of hope:
1. Donating a gift that will be matched dollar for dollar.
2. Forwarding this email to a colleague asking them to match your gift.
3. Become informed through Dreams InDeed's
web site.
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Also Featured
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| | Read about another dreamer lighting up lives in a hard place. See Staying In, Not Escaping Out |
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Dear Friend,
No electricity. No showers. No transport. And deep losses.
Seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel. The experience of many in the wake of hurricane Sandy? Yes. And the constant struggle for survival for many served by Dreams InDeed visionaries? Yes again.
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Hurricane Sandy punches the lights out of NYC. Hurricane_Sandy_Blackout_New_York_Skyline (2)By David Shankbone (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (httpcreativecommons.orglicensesby3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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For most battered by Hurricane Sandy, services are slowly returning. Trains are rolling. Gas stations are pumping. Lights are blinking on. Yet for many in the hard places of the world, the darkness remains.
What do we call a hard place? Chronic poverty, compromised rule of law, human rights abuse, sectarian violence. That's where we discover dreamers. At the end of very long tunnels, they stand with the poor as shining beacons against incredible odds.
How do these flickers of light appear in the dark? Let's retrace our last three months in hard places.
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Abundant Life Despite Poverty.
 | | From hauling coal to teaching children. |
In Southeast Asia, a weathered mother of two confided in us. Her husband left to find work in distant jade mines. In spite of cash he sent plus her earnings hauling coal door-to-door, she had to leave her hungry children with friends. Then in the most humiliating way, she heard that her husband died of malaria...from the other woman he'd married in secret. Doubly devastating.
But a ray of hope pierced the dark. A young woman invited her and her children to join their farm community. Working together, they all share shelter, food, and healthcare in common. When her talents blossomed, they also trained her to teach preschool to tribal children more needy than her own. Now, her heart cry is "to bring righteousness, peace, and joy" wherever she goes.
Her passion aligns with their dream, "to kindle and share the light so multiple generations experience the abundant life." Outcomes so far include the organic model farm, a youth hostel, eight preschools, and a list of villages asking to join the network. Our Dreams InDeed team jumped in to strengthen servant leaders, train development skills, deploy financial systems, and upgrade technology.
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Redemptive Love Overcoming Rejection.
 | | Love dignifies service. |
Over in South Asia, a 17-year-old girl struggled to pay her mother's hospital fees. Agencies for HIV/AIDS patients rejected her mother: too sick to walk. Their odd jobs as illiterate maids couldn't keep them both alive. Neither had eaten in four days. Desperate, this teen sold her last possession - her body - to stave off starvation.
A spark of kindness appeared as a simple woman, herself previously rescued from traffickers. She gently coaxed the traumatized teen and mother to a dimly burning wick, a restoration home. Finally: food, shelter, medicine. But there was more: genuine friends and dignified work. As the teenage survivor confided in us, "Only fellow sufferers know how much love and care means."
To really understand, our Dreams InDeed team absorbed stories for days. The dreamer exclaimed, "This is the first anybody ever asked about our dreams!" Their vision? To develop servant leaders of widows and orphans redeemed from their distress. We rolled up our sleeves and went to work, strengthening their board, program design, accounting system, and internet security.
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Every Life Celebrated in Crossfire.
 | | Everyone has something valuable to share. |
Hundreds of thousands of new refugees are crossing borders in the Middle East. Those who can flee are fortunate. Many poor, aged, sick, and disabled are stuck. Getting bread sometimes costs seven-hour lines.
There was no court of appeal when all tires on our friend's car disappeared overnight. When kidnappers grabbed his brother. When a car bomb shattered his windows. Yet he's been shining a light there for years: a dreamer steadfastly weaving volunteer networks to befriend the disabled.
His dream? "Cradle to grave community with the mentally challenged." Even when three of his volunteers were killed in crossfire, he insists, "We must take action now; the lives of the helpless are at stake." With Dreams InDeed counsel and support, he's formed a board, mobilized volunteers, and rented a facility to rescue mentally challenged orphans from villages in conflict.
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Fueled with Trust.
 | | Working into the night, bringing the dream to life. |
We're discovering the most faithful dreamers in the toughest corners. Time and again we're finding that the values modeled by Jesus strengthen them to go the distance. Their lights may seem small, but they always pierce the darkness with hope.
We listen to these lamplighters. They honor us with their trust. Then we jump in to do whatever it takes to strengthen them to sustain their lights, glowing at the end of dark tunnels.
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Help Us Help Them.
Our very first dreamer once asked, "Won't you help me, so I can help them?"
That's what we do. And that's what we ask you to do for us.
We're excited that Dreams InDeed has been awarded a matching grant. Two enthusiastic stakeholders pledge to match first-time donations, and increases over previous donations, dollar-for-dollar, up to $30,000. This $60,000 will enable us to find and strengthen dreamers across the Middle East and Southeast Asia. With your help as 2012 ends, we will hit the road to strengthen these dreamers and others who:
- invest their lives in poor children so multiple generations can experience abundant life,
- redeem the rejected who in turn demonstrate love and compassion to others, and
- sustain community with challenged orphans despite violent conflict.
Fanning the flames of hope with you,
Janice Hayashi Haskell
Vice-President of Program Development
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Here is how you can join us in piercing the darkness:
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- Write a check:
Dreams InDeed
P.O. Box 30730
Phoenix, AZ 85046
Write in memo line: Hope Pierces Darkness
- Forward this email to encourage others to help meet the matching grant to pierce the darkness.
- Ask your employer or a community foundation to match your gift.
Please contact us with your questions and how we can help you turn dreams into deeds.
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