GIFT Material & Physical Support
Supporting the Needs of Our Brothers and Sisters In Christ, Here and Around the World
Global Development Through Church Twinning In Smart Farming -- For Solidarity And Sustainability
GIFT is helping the "Church for the Poor" provide global development via innovations in sweet potato farming and parish twinning. This includes advancing solidarity and sustainable, no-till farming practices and using supercomputing, web portals, web training and the Internet of Things for enhanced Parish twinning. Sweet potatoes are recognized as a life-saving crop and are accepted globally. So the Church helping the poor with sweet potato farming makes sense. GIFT wants to help Churches become as smart as possible about making a difference. We're starting in Haiti and ideally this focused, collaborative effort will expand globally. Click to donate
FOOD FIGHT!!!
The Great Pumpkin Food Fight: Fighting For Those Who Need Food
We have been challenged by Pope Francis to reduce our "indifference" to suffering, including eliminating our "throw-away culture" and wastefulness and confronting hunger. One example of indifference to the plight of the hungry and of our wastefulness occurs when our society spends over $100 million on Halloween pumpkins. One estimate puts the pumpkin spend at $377 million. Many of the pumpkins get smashed or thrown away (pumpkins are actually food) -- while global hunger is getting worse; and many domestic food pantries can run empty in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Fact: FAO reports 820 million of our brothers and sisters in Christ live with hunger!
GIFT runs "The Great Pumpkin Food Fight" to fight for those who need food! GIFT asks people to either forego the pumpkin purchases or to match their pumpkin spending and donate money via this campaign to the hungry instead. Funds will be evenly split between supporting U. S. food pantries and funding for GIFT's global sweet potato farming and relief efforts. Donors can then use our pumpkin photo for their decoration. Click to donate.
Innovations In Water Filtration To Avert The 50% Of Hospitalizations Globally Caused By Bad Water
As this real-world, before-and-after GIFT demonstration shows, water can be nasty. Sadly, more than one billion people are living without clean water, which is the cause of more than 50% of hospitalizations world-wide. Americans spend over $10 billion dollars on bottled water -- funds that could be reallocated to the poor. GIFT advances LifeStraw point-of-use water filtration.
Mediterranean Harvest For Life Can Help Affect Corporal And Spiritual Works Of Mercy, Can Support Evangelization And Can Help Raise Funds For The Church
While our Christian calling to care for the sick is well understood, consistent with Social Justice Teaching -- Act... Reflect.. Transform -- we should also strive to help avert illness.
Mediterranean style of eating has been proven in countless longitudinal studies to help avert most chronic illnesses and increase longevity. Plus, the amazing functionality of the food testifies to God's awesome creation. MHFL can be a beneficial community outreach strategy, enabling meaningful encounters and evangelization, and making a difference in people's lives. For more information, go to the Mediterranean Harvest For Life website: www.mediterraneanharvest.com.