Celebrate America

What better way to honor our nation's birthday than to attend the annual Celebrate America event at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Thousands and thousands of people flocked in throughout the day on Sunday. Great music, fun activities for the kids, good food and fellowship kept everyone busy.

Gleaning For The World was honored to be a part of the event. We ran a booth throughout the day. It's no surprise that face painting attracted the children. Our two Gleaning workers, Justin and Mandy, painted hundreds of faces. Anything from turtles to unicorns to the Dallas Cowboys star to the American flag to even the logo for Liberty University was requested.

We collected donations at the event to assist our life-saving programs at Gleaning. More than $300 was donated! This amount will provide approximately $21,600.00 worth of supplies into the hands of those who need them most. We are able to do that because every $1 contributed helps provide approximately $72 of supplies. Less than 1% of donations is applied to administrative costs leaving the other 99% to provide program support.

If you didn't make it out this year, make certain to plan to attend Celebrate America next year. We would love the opportunity to speak with you to tell you how Gleaning For The World is making a difference.

If you'd like to help save a life, please contact us!

A Host of Volunteers

Gleaning For The World is very pleased to report that numerous volunteers spent hours at our facility helping our team to sort, pack and rack shoes... 30,000 pairs of shoes to be exact!

With a very small staff at our operation, we count on hundreds of volunteers each month to help us carefully inspect each item. We want our receiving organizations to have no trouble when the shipment arrives at their location. With our 97% efficiency record and better with all of our loads, we are determined to make it easier for those distributing these supplies so that people in need can receive aid in a very quick time.

The process is still underway here in Concord, Virginia. We are just about through sorting and packing. As soon as the paperwork is finalized with custom regulations, these tractor-trailer loads of supplies will be shipped to help better lives in Sudan and Pakistan. You may already know that people living in these locations do not have access to supplies like we do.

In Pakistan, approximately two million people have fled their homes because of Taliban forces. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to die from walking for days to refugee camps without the necessary supplies to survive. While shoes are one of many things they need, we are working with humanitarian groups to save as many people as we can. These new shoes will protect their feet from infections and other diseases.

In addition, Gleaning recently shipped out one tractor-trailer load of medical supplies, protective gear and food to people in Mexico dealing with the swine flu outbreak. The World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic on Thursday, June 11th. These supplies will help doctors administer to those sick. And since Mexico is believed to be the epicenter of the flu, this shipment will also help guarantee protection from the flu spreading to our families in America.

Thank you to all the volunteers who have made this possible! If you would like to help, either by sorting supplies in our warehouse or by making a financial contribution, please contact us as soon as possible. Together, we can make a difference!

Gleaning teams up with Samaritan’s Feet to bring relief to displaced Pakistanis

More than two million people in Pakistan have fled their homes in the last few weeks due to fighting between army troops and Taliban militants in Swat Valley. According to news reports, this is the largest movement of refugees in the world in the last 20 years and the largest movement that has ever taken place in Pakistan.

In many communities, the Taliban have moved in and given the people hours to vacate their homes or be killed. The people have walked for days without food, adequate clothing, medical care or normal supplies to survive the trip to the camps. Humanitarian organizations working with the U.S government are shipping supplies to the camps as rapidly as possible. Since this is normally the time to harvest their crops, the people could be left this winter without adequate food.

Rev. Ron Davidson, President of Gleaning For The World (GFTW), received calls from mission groups over the weekend who reported that this could be the largest humanitarian disaster we have faced in years. Hundreds of thousands of people could be lost if we cannot get the shoes, clothing, medical care and food to these people immediately. Some humanitarian groups responding to the humanitarian disaster predict that hundreds of thousands of people will perish without immediate assistance. Even with the humanitarian efforts, millions of innocent people will suffer because of the inhumane callus actions of Taliban forces.

According to Manny Ohonme, President and Founder of Samaritan’s Feet, “We are honored to be working with Gleaning to save as many people as possible. The people in Pakistan have done nothing wrong and yet they face horrible conditions and possibly death. Samaritan’s Feet is providing 10,000 pairs of high quality shoes and will do everything possible to help save these innocent people.”

Through the partnership with the non-profit organization Samaritan’s Feet, GFTW is providing $400,000 worth of shoes to the Pakistanis. Many of these people do not have shoes. The people have travelled many days to the refugee camp and will have to walk back home when the fighting subsides. These shoes are desperately needed, and will be appropriate for the conditions.

Also, GFTW is preparing a tractor-trailer load of medical supplies worth more than $500,000. A second medical load has been requested from humanitarian groups and will be prepared as rapidly as possible. Unfortunately, sickness and disease have the potential to spread quickly in these camps. And those who are wounded from the conflict will need immediate medical attention. These medical supplies will contain surgical instruments, first aid kits and personal care items that can be used by missionary doctors to help treat the people and prevent diseases from spreading.

The first two shipments will be sorted, boxed and loaded this week. They are scheduled to be shipped to Pakistan by Monday, June 8th. If you are interested in volunteering to help us pack and ship shoes and other supplies to these innocent Pakistanis, please contact Mandy Wood, Volunteer Coodinator at Gleaning For The World, Inc.

434-993-3600 (o) mandy@gftw.org