March 2023: SIFAT Intern’s Appropriate Technology Learning CurveEditor’s Note: Each month, we mail an article with our contribution statements to the previous month’s donors. Click here to download a PDF version. Written by Madison Gnoose, Learn & Serve Intern Appropriate technology is the most intimidating part of my internship so far. I did not spend much of my life before SIFAT working with my hands or with tools, because someone else was always around to do those sorts of things. Plus, I have always felt more comfortable in academics. Picture someone who majored in wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture. Do you see someone in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uniform tracking bears, running through the forest looking for endangered woodpeckers or wearing waders while wrestling alligators and catching man-eating catfish. Now, erase that image! I was the girl who used artificial intelligence algorithms to better guide coastal conservation and understand waterbird migration and wrote manuals for citizen science water quality monitoring groups. I sat at my computer all day. Halfway through my junior year was the first time I considered learning additional skills and using my ecological knowledge to help real suffering human beings, not only wildlife. It became my dream to help developing communities in agriculture, which meant I needed to learn these skills first. After graduating college, as I read over SIFAT’s website and prepared to apply for this internship, I remember thinking, “Learning about poverty, global hunger and how I can help? Yes, that’s exactly what I want to do! Leading youth in loving those in need as God loves us all? Amen! Gardening? Amazing! Constructing water filtration systems, fuel efficient wood-burning stoves and other technologies? Well …”  Madison Gnoose is one of our campus interns this year, serving alongside our Learn & Serve staff. February 2023: SIFAT Grad Peter Impacts Lives in KenyaEditor’s Note: Each month, we mail an article with our contribution statements to the previous month’s donors. Click here to download a PDF version. Written by Sarah Corson, SIFAT Co-founder SIFAT works with our network of graduates helping them raise seed money to start their community projects. They expect these projects to become sustainable in the future with community resources. During the past six years, we have partnered with 29 of our graduates living in 16 different countries. Many of them have led more than one project successfully. An example of a graduate who has reached hundreds of needy people for Christ and with new hope for body, mind and soul is Peter Kirui in Kenya.
 Peter’s projects are wonderful examples of how seed money helps our training graduates get their projects started to make a difference in their communities.
Merry Christmas from SIFAT!During this Christmas season, I want to thank our staff, supporters, board members, international mission teams, Learn & Serve participants, work teams, volunteers and our training graduates who are serving in hard places of the world for joining us in SIFAT’s ministry! Thousands of SIFATers across many countries are working together to share God’s love in practical ways through SIFAT. Those of you receiving this letter are part of that global fellowship with us. God’s Kingdom work is empowered and multiplied when we are united in our efforts for Him. I am deeply thankful for you and wish you a Merry Christmas!  Merry Christmas from the SIFAT staff! GivingTuesday is Nov. 29, 2022!Why is GivingTuesday Important?Since 2013, SIFAT has been part of the global GivingTuesday movement, which was created to get everyone to join together to give to charities — whether that is a donation of volunteer hours, needed items or financial resources. When we unite together, we can do great things. That first year, we raised $108.080, and we were astounded. We were not sure what to expect or how to explain this new holiday idea. Our momentum has grown each year, and this one day has become an integral part of our financial stability. Last year, we were overwhelmed with the outpouring of generosity from our SIFAT family when we raised a record breaking $251,000.
Yes, we raise vital funding for SIFAT on GivingTuesday, but this day is about more than just money! Many of you share the opportunity to double your donations with your circles of influence: extended family members, Bible study groups and coworkers. By doing this, you help spread the word about SIFAT, our ministry and our current projects. People who did not know about SIFAT now do! When you give to SIFAT, you encourage our staff and international project leaders. Knowing we have the SIFAT family cheering us on and being part of what we are doing inspires us to keep going when we face obstacles or become discouraged. Your prayers and contributions give life to our programs and projects. Without your support, SIFAT would not be successful. Finally, when you participate in GivingTuesday, you become part of something bigger than yourself. Our SIFAT family stretches throughout the United States and around the world. We come from different denominations, socioeconomic backgrounds and cultures. But when we come together on Nov. 29, your small part becomes something great! Please make plans now on how you will be part of GivingTuesday 2022! A group of generous donors has created a $65,000 matching fund that will double donations designated GivingTuesday. You can donate online or by mailing a check to SIFAT. Check out all the ways you can give below. Thank you for supporting SIFAT! Together, we can continue Sharing God’s Love in Practical Ways.
October 2022: Worth the WaitEditor’s Note: Each month, we mail an article with our contribution statements to the previous month’s donors. Click here to download a PDF version. Written by Marie Lanier Narváez, Promotions and Marketing Coordinator For 10 years, the church in Aida Leon, a neighborhood in the south of Quito, Ecuador, waited for SIFAT teams to come start an addition for their afterschool children’s program. They had little space in which to welcome these at-risk students to get them off the streets and in school, to help them with their schoolwork and to feed them nutritious, hot meal lunches. They never imagined it would take 10 years to break ground to start building. Who could have imagined a president wanting to build a bunker and use imminent domain to take the land? How could it take so long to receive permits and clearance to build? But finally, everything was in place and our teams arrived in 2018 to support SIFAT graduate Pastor Wilson and his church. Our teams worked diligently when plans changed, and a basement needed to be dug! For two years, we served the people of Aida Leon, while enjoying beautiful views of the mountains. As we all remember, the world stopped in 2020 and so did construction in Aida Leon. At that time, we thought it might be a delay of a few months, maybe a year at most. However, we soon realized we would be paused indefinitely. That’s where you stepped in!  SIFAT Ecuador Director Dr. Roberto Contreras, international team coordinator Peggy Walker, Aida Leon leader Cecelia and I enjoy treats in the new kitchen — tostado y chicharrón. |
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