Here's the latest:

~ Canceled: Junior Victorian Tea. This youth-hosted fundraiser is the source of funds for our monthly sponsorship commitment for our World Vision sister, Linathi, in South Africa.  We'll be using some of our Taco Bar proceeds to carry us until the 2021 Junior Victorian Tea on May 16, 2021 (the Sunday after Mother's Day).

~ 30 Hour Famine will be rescheduled.  PARENTS: If your youth is interested in doing the Famine, please let me know about their sports, family vacations, and other commitments as soon as you get that info once we get back to "normal".  I have been choosing Easter weekend for the Famine for several years because it is one of the few times with minimal sports and other schedule conflicts.  We'll reschedule the Famine once the dust settles.  Maybe during Thanksgiving or Christmas break?

HERE'S THE GOOD NEWS!!

~ Saturday, August 15, 4-7PM - The youth will host their delicious Taco Bar, including Holy Trinity's famous dessert bar! Depending on the situation with COVID19, take-out will be encouraged, and we will use recommended precautions in our serving line (masks, social distancing, we will serve you). Our serving line will be outdoors and, weather-permitting, we will have limited seating outdoors.  By donation, tickets will not be "sold".  However, we'd love to hear from you that you plan to attend!  Proceeds will, as mentioned above, add to our existing funds so that we can continue to sponsor Linathi ($35/month).  In addition, the youth have decided to send the rest of the proceeds to World Vision to help with the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

   Yemen, you say?  Yemen is a small country on the southern border of Saudi Arabia, the 4th richest country in the Middle East.  By contrast, Yemen is the poorest of the 14 Middle East countries. How do I know? My research started with a recent late-night text from one of our youth: "do you know what's going on in Yemen right now? Is there any way we can donate?"  The up side of social media: "my generation is very good with spreading information on social media and helping to make others aware".  So I dug deeper, and found these facts:

*The Yemen civil war that began in 2014 has created the world’s largest humanitarian emergency. About 24 million people in Yemen need aid - that's 80% of the country’s population. More than half of the people in need are children.

*The combined death toll from conflict and disease is estimated at 235,000 people. 

*In addition to horrific violence, people are suffering from hunger and deprivation.  20 million people face acute food insecurity, as many as 2 million children under age 5 are severely malnourished.

*Millions lack access to basic healthcare, clean water, and sanitation.

*About 4 million people have been displaced from their homes due to civil war violence.

*Yemen was already a poor country, with 47% of its population living in poverty in 2014, according to the U.N. Development Program. By the end of 2019, the poverty rate in Yemen exceeded 74%.

*With economic collapse, food prices have soared.

*The volatile security situation makes it difficult to supply aid to people in need.

*Children are being killed and maimed and losing family members and friends.  (From Doctors Without Borders: Between August and December 2018, teams in Mocha treated more than 150 people who were wounded by land mines, improvised explosive devices, and unexploded ordnance. A third of them were children who had been playing in fields.)