For those that aren't familiar, Both Hands is a 501c3 organization that exists to help orphans and widows. They partner with adoptive families to do service projects for widows while raising money for their adoptions. Here is how it works: We found a widow who was in need of some repairs and clean up work at her house. We gathered a fantastic team of friends and family who committed to spending one day (tomorrow!!) working all day on her house. They all sent letters to their family and friends asking them to sponsor them for the day just like they would for Race for the Cure, Light the Night Walk or a golf-a-thon. Every penny that is donated helps us bring Caleb home!! We got local merchants to donate all the supplies for the workday so the only cost we had was the postage to mail out the letters! Beautiful.
Our sweet widow is Ms Wanda Cales. She lost her husband 19 years ago and spent the last year taking care of her elderly mother who just passed away in May. Her primary help came from her nephew who tragically died in August. Ms Wanda has given so much of herself to others that we decided she needed some blessing!!
We began to dream of ways to bless her. We didn't want to get our hopes up too much, though because with it being so close to the end of the calendar year, we didn't know how much we could get in donations. Many businesses have a certain allowable amount they give to charity per year and we had been told that this was not an optimal time to ask for donations. We began to approach businesses with our Both Hands letter and ask if they could help us and we have been blown away!! We have so many donations that Steve is picking up a 16 foot box truck this afternoon to transport it all to Wanda's house!
I have to take a moment to brag on my husband here. Steve is a man of few words, but let me tell you... he is a man of action!! He has worked his tail off on this project and has done an amazing job securing donations and organizing projects. He was dreaming big...so big I feared he was setting himself up for disappointment. (Oh me of little faith!!) He saw that Wanda's windows were in some terrible shape. She hadn't been able to open them in years...maybe never. He began to call window companies to see if they had any windows in their stock rooms that were extra that would fit in Wanda's house that they could donate. (Sometimes if measurements are slightly off, windows don't fit right and have to be re-ordered, so those go into an overstock area until they can find a use for them.) Unfortunately none of the companies had any in the right sizes, so we thought it wasn't going to happen. Then, the president of Window World called Steve. She said they so much love what we are doing that they wanted to custom make all seven of Wanda's windows for her for free!!!!! They won't be ready to put in tomorrow when we do the rest of the project, but Steve and our dear friend Sean (who is on our team and used to install windows professionally!!) are going to go install them next month when they come in!!!
Here are some other merchants you may want to support: Sherwin Williams donated all the paint to paint one inside ceiling, her porch and walkway and all the trim around the outside of her house. 84 Lumber donated all the lumber to replace her privacy fence that had rotted. Franke Otte Nursery donated all the seed and hay to re-seed her entire yard. Waste Management is donating the use of a dumpster for the day. Klein Brothers donated a new lock set for her front door. Star Drywall donated drywall to patch some damaged ceiling inside her home. Chick Fil A is providing lunch for the entire team working. Meijer gave a $100 gift card used to purchase bottled beverages and snacks for the team as well as paint supplies and a few other small items for the yard work. Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot donated supplies to build a hand rail for her front steps, replace her kitchen faucet, replace two porch lights, mulch and gravel for the landscaping and more smaller items needed for the day.
So tomorrow we serve a widow to help bring home an orphan! We are so thrilled to have this opportunity! You may have received a letter asking for a donation for this project that will help us bring Caleb home. Maybe you've already given. Thank you!! This is such a team effort!! We are honored, humbled and grateful that you would choose to partner with us in this. All donations are tax deductible and we can receive donations into this account until Caleb is home....so it is NOT TOO LATE!! If you would like to give, you may send a check payable to Lifesong for Orphans with "preference Porter #3934" on the memo line to :
Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744
Or you may donate online here.
We hope to make enough from this project to be fully funded!! We sent out 600 letters. If only half of those people were to give us $33, we would hit our goal of $10,000! Can you help us get there??
We will post a video of the project and before and after pictures here soon! Please pray for our project! God has done amazing things to bring us to this point and we know he will continue to do so with your prayers! Please pray especially for a warmer than predicted day tomorrow!
Digging to China,
Amy
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