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o July's newsletter highlighted orphanage for disabled children o Bethany Christian Center saves abused and abandoned children o Bethany Christian Center needs a school bus, got one? o Sending $3600 to purchase property near Hope House in Odessa o www.HorizonsFoundation.com has new addition of all newsletters! Missouri is the ‘Show-Me’ state. As long-time residents of Missouri, Charlotte and I have adopted the 'Show-Me attitude regarding all of Horizons Foundation’s projects. If you and I are going to put money into an operation, we will continually perform due-diligence in how the funds are being spent and how the projects are being managed. We’re happy to report that during July and August, we have ‘kicked-the-tires’ and physically reviewed three of the projects that are being supported. As you know, last month’s newsletter focused upon the orphanage for disabled children in northwestern Romania, in Chidget, Romania. Substantial progress has been made during the last 7 years in improving the lives of these children. Also in July, we went to Chisinau, Moldova to see the campus and especially to attend the celebration service at the Philadelphia Church where all of the former street children attend. The change in the lives of these former street children is absolutely amazing. Now, they are members of a new family, they go to a Christian school which has one of the few computer labs available in Moldova, and they have the opportunity to express their individuality thru music and in fact over 20 of these children play in the brass band from Bethany Christian Center. We attended a meeting where these children flawlessly played several well-rehearsed songs. Amazing. Kids are so resilient. They went from being outcasts on the street, to being kids in a family, playing in band. While at Bethany Christian Center, I had an opportunity to go see a boy of about 11 who has just arrived a day earlier. He was in his new home and had been placed there after the authorities became aware of how abusive his alcoholic mother had been to him. This boy was very wary of adults and I could see the concern in his eyes as I was introduced to him. His new mom explained to me how his alcoholic mother and probably her boyfriends beat this child. His left arm was deformed between his wrist and his elbow, as if he had had a broken arm and it never healed right, because part of his forearm was almost an inch higher than the rest. He told his new mom that his old mom had beat him and broken his arm and no one had looked at it until he came to Bethany. The Executive Director asked the boy to raise his shirt so I could film his back. I was shocked as I let the camera run to see the numerous long scars and burn marks on this poor boys back. The only thing I could think of to say to him was, that he would never need to worry about anyone mistreating him or beating him again. As I turned to go, the Executive Director had tears in his eyes as he asked me in an anguished voice, “What makes a mother do that to her own child?” Having no answer, we both left his new home in silence. Thank God for Bethany Christian Center! Earlier this year, when Doru Cirdei, the Executive Director of Bethany Christian Center was at our home, we discussed the issue of transporting the children living at Bethany to the New Elim School. Bethany is in the outskirts of Chisinau and the school is in the city. Transporting 40+ kids a day to and from school is a major responsibility. Bethany needs a school bus, a 72 passenger yellow school bus. As you know Bethany will continue to grow to eventually house 120 children. Right now, multiple 15-passenger vans are used to accomplish this job. So, four sets of tires are getting worn out and four sets of suspension systems are being used up in this job. If you have or know of a bus that can be shipped to Europe, representatives from Bethany will go up to Amsterdam to drive it back down to Moldova. If we have to purchase a used bus, the cost plus the transportation overseas will be about $11,500. This will result in substantial savings for the ministry as the bus suspension system and tires are much tougher than the vans. I seem to hang the help wanted sign out a lot, but if I don’t tell you the needs, how will you know? After visiting Bethany last month, Charlotte and I also traveled to Odessa, Ukraine. We visited the facility for feeding/teaching street children, First Steps, and to visit the first family of former street kids living at Hope House. It is so gratifying to see kids of all ages living and working as a family unit, especially since we saw the intense anger and helplessness of the kids living in the streets. We’re in the last couple of days gathering the pledges for purchasing the land at Odessa. We hope to send the final portion of the $3600 to our partners, very soon! Thanks for your generosity in making this purchase a reality. Next month, we will be pursuing opportunities to help make this project self-sustaining. If it’s been awhile since you’ve been to www.HorizonsFoundation.com, please check it out. A brand new addition of all prior newsletters has just been added. Please ask God how He would have you participate in saving these children’s lives. In His Service, Al Lockhart Please send donations to Horizons Foundation PO Box 6022 St Charles, MO 63302 Al Lockhart Past Newsletters: 30 November 2003 31 December 2003 01 January 2004 01 February 2004 01 March 2004 01 April 2004 31 May 2004 30 June 2004 01 July 2004 01 August 2004 30 September 2004 31 October 2004 30 November 2004 31 December 2004 31 January 2005 28 February 2005 31 March 2005 02 May 2005 02 July 2005 31 August 2005 11 October 2005 18 December 2005 02 April 2006 30 June 2006 31 October 2006 |
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