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!

A Big Bag From A Big Heart

The most interesting thing happened this afternoon at our Gleaning For The World office. A group came to volunteer for a couple of hours in our warehouse sorting supplies. One of the group members, nine-year-old Everette, approached us with a large bag of coins.

Everette explained to us that he had been collecting for quite some time now. Instead of buying a cool toy, he decided to do something bigger. He donated his ziplock bag of coins, which added up to be $50! And since GFTW can take every $1 donated and multiply it by 72 times, his bag of coins will help provide more than $3,500.

What a remarkable boy! His donation will help provide food and medical supplies to a family who may not have eaten in days, weeks or months. His donation will also help provide a stuffed animal to a child who has never owned anything, much less a toy. Little Everette is a blessing to those families and to Gleaning.

Gleaning Update

Because of your dedication, Gleaning For The World continues to provide hope in the United States and overseas. Medical supplies, nutritional supplements, and furniture are just a few of the life-saving supplies we have already placed this year. And we have much more work ahead.

In March, Gleaning has been active in providing our partnering groups with the supplies they need. Domestically, nearly 6,000 lives have been touched because of our organization. Shoes were placed in Northern Virginia, water was provided to a Central Virginia ministry, perishable food was sent to Southwestern Virginia and another shipment of furniture was provided to Hurricane Ike victims in Texas. Already this year, Gleaning has shipped nearly 20,000 blankets to groups that respond to the homeless. We realize more people will find themselves without jobs and homes, and we are committed to provide blankets, personal care items and other supplies our partnering groups need.

Internationally, we shipped 38,000 pounds of soap to people in need of better hygiene to prevent diseases from spreading in El Salvador. GFTW shipped almost $2 million of medical supplies and other much needed products to help support thousands of people in Guatemala struggling with poverty. In Zimbabwe, we sent more than half of a million dollars worth of medical supplies to help hospitals, clinics and villages in desperate need. Gaza received nearly $1 million in medical supplies for innocent people recovering from the recent conflict. We are also committing $1 million worth of medical supplies to Togo, Africa.

As you can tell, Gleaning For The World is working hard to make sure those in need receive aid. And we are grateful you have helped to make that possible. Please keep our ministry in your thoughts and prayers. Your continued support is key to reaching more people!

Sincerely,

Ronald T. DavidsonPresident & CEO