Well, it has been quite an anniversary. I have seen our 50th Anniversary logo on Facebook pages all over the world. Who would have ever guessed that the little ministry that Baxter Loe started in memory of a minister in India named John Abraham would blossom and impact hundreds of thousands of people across more than thirty countries.

For our 50th Anniversary, we wanted to sponsor 500 new children. And we did. We have more children sponsored now than ever before. We had a thermometer online showing how many new children were being sponsored this year. And we rejoiced like crazy when it passed the 500 mark.

Scott Sager, one of our board members, said that we should do a fund raiser for something that cost $50. What costs $50? A goat. Hundreds of goats were bought at auction and distributed especially in the Turkana area of Kenya this year. We unloaded pipe out of one of our water trucks there and filled the truck with goats. People all over the desert were given a goat out of the back of the truck. These goats will change the lives of people in the desert.

We have drilled more water wells than ever before in 2021. I remember when we drilled our first one years ago. We were so happy. We couldn’t believe that we were able to drill a well to save lives. But our water ministry is so much bigger now. Our goal for our anniversary was to have over 500,000 people daily drinking water from our wells. We passed that goal during the summer. At one point, CRF was predominately a child sponsorship ministry. It still is, but giving clean water has become nearly as big a part of our ministry as our initial mission.

My goal was to write a book for our 50th anniversary. And I did. I just didn’t like it. But the revision is coming. It will be full of some of the best stories of the last 50 years. 

I couldn’t think of anything better than acquiring 50 acres of land to develop what could be our biggest CRF work ever. We didn’t get a 50 acre place for a CRF ministry. Instead, we got a 65 acre piece of land with great buildings on it. Where? Haiti. If you ask me where the most needed place for a CRF ministry is—I would say Haiti. And we are going to have an incredible campus there in the future to help people in need. 

Our 50th Anniversary year was a year of huge giving. I will tell the details of it in our annual report next month. But we wanted to end the year with a bang. We have been blessed by some major donors who joined together for a Challenge Gift to inspire us all to give a little bit more in 2021.

Because of their generous gift, there will be a match of $500,000 that will be used to double the impact of your gifts through our gift catalog and water projects this December! 

GIFT CATALOG:

We know that you love giving through our Christmas catalog. And this year the first $250,000 given through the catalog (including to “Where Needed Most”) will be doubled! 

WATER PROJECTS:

We also have $250,000 for water funds to double your water gifts. In other words, for every $5,000 we receive, we will be able to drill a $10,000 water well!

You have made our 50th Anniversary special. Bigger is not always best. But you have made this not only our biggest year ever but also our best. 

Thanks a trillion!

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