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2024 was a big and beautiful year for Help One Now, with incredible things happening both stateside and in our partner communities around the world.
There were mountaintop moments, challenging valleys, and everything in between. Below are some reminders of the impact of your generosity and insight into how we can best support our partners and their communities.
A Letter from our CEO and Founder, Chris Marlow
By nature, I’m an optimist. Sometimes this feels strange since I grew up in a terrible environment where optimism was not part of my experience. Not to mention, as an adult, I’ve spent decades serving those who live in what many would call hopeless situations.
From the townships of Africa to the Belen District of Peru; from the barrios of the Dominican Republic to the gang-controlled streets of Haiti, many of our brothers and sisters are living in extreme poverty, without food security, access to clean water and proper sanitation, or opportunities to earn a fair wage for a hard day’s work. Children lack access to education and medical care. They have a hard time dreaming about a brighter future and feeling safe in their own beds at night.
You could say I’ve learned a few things about brokenness and poverty. I also spend a lot of time with the wealthy. And let’s be clear about who the wealthy are: it’s you and me. If I had to be honest, the wealthy are also incredibly broken. Greed, fear, loneliness, selfishness, anxiety, and all kinds of relationship damage: broken marriages, broken friendships, broken partnerships. This is our poverty.
In essence, we are all the same, no matter your birthplace; we all have this deep desire to live a life of purpose and meaning, a life that is more than just keeping up with the Joneses…that feels like such a waste of energy. We know there is something more, something better.
Lately, I’ve been asking myself: What can the developing world teach the developed world? And the answer is simple: A LOT. They can teach us what it means to have joy in spite of suffering; how to live in and rely on community and connection instead of individualism and comfort, where we have enough money and security to ignore our neighbor and often ignore our pain.
In essence, we need two things:
1) Connection to God.
2) Connection to one another.
We need each other. Our hope at Help One Now is to be transformational rather than transactional. We, in the developed world, give generously to help our friends in the developing world chase their dreams, and serve those who are suffering with basic needs to build capacity and sustainability. And they, in turn, teach us what it means to live by faith, to lean on one another, to have this joy, and to let that joy be our strength as life hits mountain and valley moments.
This is the 15th December that I’ve asked you to give sacrificially, but also with a sense of joy. It’s not just an ask, it’s an invitation to know that our lives are full of meaning because of the stories we’ve been part of, the friends we have made along the way, and the experiences that rest deep in our souls. The experiences remind us that God is good, humans can also be good, and communities can be transformed.
We are better together,
Chris Marlow, CEO & Founder
Fundraising Highlight
This month, our friends in St. Louis, Missouri hosted an event Triple 3 Vineyard in Washington, MO. The event included a tour of the winery, testimonials from folks who have traveled with us, and an incredible impact of over $30,000 raised. We are so grateful for this vibrant and growing network of supporters in St. Louis and look forward to what’s to come for this community.
2024 has been an exceptional year for Help One Now because of you. We are looking forward to incredible growth in 2025 and we invite you to join us as we work together to eliminate extreme poverty.
Together we build,
The Help One Now Team.