Hey Friends, Even in the midst of this crisis, we feel so blessed. We believe that God has positioned us for “such a time as this," and we are getting together virtually every Monday afternoon to pray as we move forward. We are grateful to be nimble, without excessive payroll and operating expenses. During this time, we can continue to invest in our program elements. Without overwhelming you with information, I will say, there is a lot going on!
I thought I’d share a few ways we are using this “down time” of quarantine:
1. Our experts continue to create an optimal, trauma-informed program. We will implement it as soon as this crisis is over. These circumstances are allowing us to dig in and spend additional time designing this critical component. 2. As you have heard, we now have the title to the Sanctuary land! We officially took possession on April 1. Luckily, we identified necessary improvements to the property during our trip to Romania earlier this year. We are now equipping our 2 existing caretakers to work through these items in the coming months. Looks like they will have plenty of time on their hands to pour attention into the first Sanctuary.
3. We are working with recently freed survivors. We are leading efforts to keep them safe in their current locations while making arrangements in Romania for their eventual return. 4. We have been approached by NGOs in 4 different European countries seeking our partnership. They have said, “We have access to many Romanian Survivors. We would like to work with you to coordinate efforts for these survivors to return to their country.” We are building relationships with these groups and initiating these important conversations. We believe there will be an influx of survivors as soon as the travel bans are lifted. We want to be ready!
We are blessed to help precious souls like Natala. She recently shared with us, “I can dream again, and I’ve got courage. I am not afraid. I have new dreams and hope.” Words like hers remind us why we are passionately doing this work. Thank you for making it possible. As I mentioned before, we are praying each week, and we are praying for our partners more than ever these days. Please feel free to share specific requests with us, if you haven’t already. We would be honored to pray for you.