During One Great Hour of Sharing, we hear the call in Isaiah 58 to become \u201crepairers of the breach, restorers of streets to live in.\u201d During this Lenten season, we have heard stories of empowered and empowering women. Tenacious and faithful women, binding their families and communities together in strength.<\/p>\n
In every time and in every place, women usually filled the role as leaders \u2014 quietly, diligently, persistently. If we all would stop for a moment to think about the women we know in our families, in our communities and right here in our church \u2014 we know this to be true. Let\u2019s pause for just a moment to think about that. (PAUSE BRIEFLY)<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t easy. As the saying goes, it takes a village. Our village is there to encourage women like Lupe, one of thousands of farmworkers in Florida\u2019s tomato fields whose lives are made better thanks to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. As a partner of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the Coalition receives support through gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing from people just like us, and congregations just like ours. We are there.<\/em><\/p>\n With our gifts, we are part of Lupe\u2019s village.<\/p>\n We are there<\/em> with the Dalit women of India. Dalit literally means oppressed and\/or broken. Smitha is one who faced every sort of hardship imaginable following India\u2019s last tsunami. But now her family has a more hopeful future thanks to a grant from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to the Society for National Integration through Rural Development (SNIRD) made possible by gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing. SNIRD provided new shelters and sewing machines for the community\u2019s livelihood.<\/p>\n With our gifts, we are part of Smitha\u2019s village.<\/p>\n We are there<\/em>, with Paola and other women in Panama City, Panama, through a partnership with the Women\u2019s Meeting Space \u2014 a non-governmental organization that advocates for the rights of Panama\u2019s women, both Indigenous and from its poorest communities. They received a grant through Self-Development of People, supported by our gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing, and started an experimental nursery and installed a community farm stand with the goal of not only feeding the growers\u2019 families but selling surplus food to cover the basic needs of workers.<\/p>\n With our gifts, we are part of Paola\u2019s village.<\/p>\n We are there.<\/em> Our work is informed by our belief that \u201cthe Church\u201d is not an institution, but an action. For the church to be the Church, it must take action to be with those in need. For over 70 years, One Great Hour of Sharing has provided a way to share God\u2019s love with our neighbors in need around the world. Please give what you can. As we always say \u2026 when we all do a little, it adds up to a lot.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n