Child Impact
International is an organization
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that gives hope
and fosters permanent,
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positive change in the
lives of disadvantaged children
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and their communities.
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Countries include
Zambia, Kenya, India,
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Nepal, Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
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Child Impact's
investment in the lives
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of more than 3,500 children
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continues to
yield infinite returns.
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Outreach spans from
child rescue operations
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to providing an
education and a home for deaf
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and blind children and orphans.
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Above all, Child
Impact's sponsors give hope
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to the ones who
need it the most.
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Hi, I'm Jim Rennie from
Child Impact International.
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And I just
wanted to take a moment
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to update you on the field
in regards to the challenges
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that we face with COVID.
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In India, Bangladesh
and Myanmar, unfortunately,
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it's been pretty
bad and it's still is.
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Many of our staff and
teachers in the schools
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that we serve and
also church pastors
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and church workers
have caught the virus.
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And sadly, some
have passed away.
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To be honest, it's
been a real challenge.
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Most of the
schools are still closed.
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But I'm excited to announce
that in the next two weeks,
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the schools in India
are starting to reopen.
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Your ongoing support
during this crisis has made
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a real difference.
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It's made a difference in
the lives of the children.
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It's made a difference in
the lives of the teachers.
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But your ongoing support
is really going to ensure
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that some of these
mission schools do remain open.
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Your contribution to the Rice,
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Health and Education
appeal has had a big impact.
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It has enabled us to
distribute over 20,000 sacks
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of rice to our children,
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to the teaching
staff and to the pastors.
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Many of these workers have not
been paid or are on half wages.
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So your generous giving has had
a real impact on their lives.
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During this time
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The Where Needed Most Fund
has been very well supported.
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And it's enabled us
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to keep working in
these difficult areas
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during the virus crisis.
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And just at our last meeting,
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last Sunday, we voted $90,000
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to help some
urgently needed projects
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for Adventist mission
schools in Bangladesh.
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We will implement
these when the schools open.
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And we're now
seeing the side effects
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or the downside of COVID.
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And in India,
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there are
thousands of COVID orphans.
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These are children
who have lost both parents
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or one parent and are
unable to cope anymore.
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These kids are often rejected
by the rest of the society
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or the village.
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And we're just so excited
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that we've been able to
take 40 of these COVID orphans
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into our home at Sunrise.
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And we're looking at ways
of working with the government
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to support many more of them.
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We see it as a big opportunity
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and a new project for
Operation Child Rescue.
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And we're just so
excited about this.
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Some of you may know
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that I'm stepping down as CEO,
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and I'll be returning to my
home country in New Zealand.
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And I just want to thank
you each one for the support
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that you have given me and
Child Impact over 14 years.
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You've seen the
organization grow
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and we simply
couldn't have done it
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without you the
donor, you the sponsor.
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And I'm just so proud
of what we've achieved.
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But I'm just so
grateful to your generosity
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and the blessings of the Lord.
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Well, today I'm very excited
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that I can
introduce the new Child Impact
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International CEO, Tom Evans.
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Tom, welcome to Child Impact.
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Thank you, Jim.
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I just want to
clarify something though.
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You said that
you're stepping down,
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but you're
actually not stepping away.
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We have met as a board
and we would really like
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to have you continue
in a role in particular
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with India and Bangladesh.
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Can you share a
little bit about that?
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Yes, in these countries,
we are facing a lot of change,
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a lot of challenges.
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And so we want to
conduct a full review
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of our education program,
of our sponsorship program.
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There are challenges
with government regulation,
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with standards of
education, political issues.
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And so my job will
be to conduct a review
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and to make recommendations
to the Child Impact board.
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I've been operating in
those field now for 14 years.
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And so I'm excited to
take on this challenge
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because it's really
needed at this time.
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And, Jim, I'm looking forward
to journeying with you in that
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and having the benefit
of all of your knowledge
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of each of these projects.
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Thanks, Tom.
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And I can continue to support
you in your role as well.
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So tell us about Tom Evans?
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Sure.
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Look, I always start out
by saying I was born in Texas.
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You know, because everything's
bigger in Texas, right?
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But grew up in the northwest.
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So that's where the accent
is from and had an opportunity
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to attend Adventist schools.
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What a blessing.
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I remember I went to
public school for one day,
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Jim and I got kicked
out the first day of school.
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So they called my
parents to come pick him up.
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So that's when I
started my Adventist education.
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So it's a big story,
but I won't go there.
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But in any
case, it's a blessing.
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And we're so blessed to
have those opportunities.
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I was able to attend Newbold
College over in England as well
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and graduated from
Walla Walla University
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and then also a couple
times from Andrews University.
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Right. And tell
us about your family?
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Sure, that's the
most important part.
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I have three grown daughters.
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And we have, they live in Texas
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and I have two boys
that are both in high school,
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in academy.
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But that wasn't enough.
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We just adopted two boys
from an orphanage in Latvia.
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Wow. Yeah.
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And we really went
out because they're both,
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one is 13, and one's 12.
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So we get to enjoy them
for their whole teenage years.
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We've known the
boys for a while,
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they visited during
Christmas and summers.
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And we finally have been
able to get that adoption
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pulled together.
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Tom, tell us about the roles
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that you've held before
coming into this new position?
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Sure.
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I've been a pastor,
local church pastor.
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Church planting has
been a big passion of mine,
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starting new churches.
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And during our time in Texas
there as a departmental leader,
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we planted 114
churches in nine years.
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So that was quite an
adventure and exciting.
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But I went from there
to teach at the seminary
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at Andrews University.
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The interesting thing, though
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and how does that all
relate to Child Impact
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is whatever role
that I've been in,
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I've really, my desire,
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my heart is to look
for those individuals
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that are
marginalized, neglected.
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And so working with
refugees or single moms
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or sponsoring
children, whatever that may be.
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That's always
been part of my heart
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and part of the
ministry I've been involved in.
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Wow.
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And what do you
see as the future?
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What excites you
about Child Impact?
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And what do you
see as the future?
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First of all, I think
Child Impact is a great name.
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I also like the name
Operation Child Rescue
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because I think in
the name Child Impact,
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it really
encapsulates what is being done.
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It's making a difference
in the life of a child.
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And that
difference begins, you know,
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with their Adventist
Mission School experience,
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but it extends to their
family and it gives them
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a whole different
direction for their life.
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So I'm very
excited about the mission
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what Child Impact represents.
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In terms of coming
to this role, for me,
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it's exciting
to see an alignment
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between my personal
passion, my personal life
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and my family
and what we represent
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and believe in and the
professional experience
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of working with Child Impact.
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So that alignment is
very exciting to be able
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to spend time doing
ministry in a way that makes
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a difference for children.
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I'm excited about that.
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And Operation Child
Rescue is going to be a key part
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of our growth moving forward.
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Just tell us about what do you
think of Operation Child Rescue
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and where it'll go?
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Well, it's very interesting,
because as I took on this role,
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people would be asking me,
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well, what does Child Impact do?
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And I would talk about
sponsorship and the schools
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and different countries.
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But as soon as I
mentioned, human trafficking,
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that Child Impact
is involved in helping
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to stop these injustice,
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this blight on our
planet of human trafficking.
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The level of interest
in that is extremely high.
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And I find even young
adults, college students,
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this is something
that they want to make
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a difference with
this particular area.
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And so the fact
that Child Impact
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is involved in human
trafficking in various ways,
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whether it be slave
labor or abandoned babies
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or vulnerable children,
due to being COVID orphans
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or even more
specifically, sex trafficking.
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The fact that we're
involved in those areas,
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I think, really is a chance
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to raise public
awareness to this need
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and to begin to see it
make a difference for these kids
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that really had been
imprisoned against their will,
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and to bring them freedom.
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I mean, what a
biblical responsibility
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we have to look out
for this kind of children.
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That's right.
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Well, the board
are very excited,
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the staff are very excited,
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the field are very excited
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that Tom has come on board.
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And it will allow me
to focus on a big need
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of the challenges
we face in the field.
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And it will also give you,
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the supporters' confidence
that we're adding resources
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and that we're
going to continue to grow.
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We live in difficult times
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and we just ask
for your prayers,
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as we face new challenges,
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new leadership and
especially for the field
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and where we operate.
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Jim, I want to say a
special thank you to you
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for your
leadership with Child Impact.
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I've come to an
organization to be a part of it
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that is well
run, ministry focused,
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putting resources into the field
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where it matters most.
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I'm so excited for the various
projects that Child Impact
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is involved in
helping blind children,
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deaf children,
orphans, COVID orphans,
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Operation Child Rescue.
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There's so much happening
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and there's so much
more that can happen.
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So I want to just take
this moment to say thank you
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to you as donors,
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you have made all this possible.
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There's so much more we can do.
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But it isn't possible
without your support and help.
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So thank you for your
generosity over the years.
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I pray that will continue
and we will keep you updated
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as we see many
more opportunities
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to make a difference
in the life of children.
00:11:33.86\00:11:35.82
It's hard to
believe that Christmas time
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is approaching again.
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I'm Tom Evans, CEO of
Child Impact International.
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Every Christmas we feature
our very important major appeal,
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which we call impact gifts.
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This year, we are focusing on
three significant opportunities
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to make a difference.
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The challenge that
COVID has left us within
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the third world countries
where Child Impact operates
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continues to pose
many difficulties.
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Their tremendous needs
are compounded by shortages
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and cost increases.
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The most tragic of all is
human loss due to the pandemic.
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It feels overwhelming
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and almost
insurmountable at times.
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I'm very grateful
for the Lord's blessing
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and the generosity of
Child Impact's supporters
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and I'm proud of the work
that this has allowed us to do.
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Impact gifts is our most
important appeal for the year
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and now has an
extra sense of urgency.
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During this Christmas season,
we would like to invite you
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to partner with us in
the following three ways.
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First is The
Where Needed Most Fund.
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This not only
supports our operation,
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but also allows us to support
urgent requests we receive.
00:13:20.40\00:13:24.03
Unexpected challenges arise
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and we want to be
prepared for this.
00:13:25.77\00:13:28.14
Where Needed
Most is the key fund
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to running our
organization and helping others.
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The next fund is the
Blind, Deaf and Orphan Fund,
00:13:33.68\00:13:36.54
which is a key program
00:13:36.58\00:13:37.91
to help serve the
special needs children
00:13:37.95\00:13:40.38
who we support.
00:13:40.42\00:13:41.75
These precious children
00:13:41.78\00:13:43.28
with special needs
are a significant focus
00:13:43.35\00:13:45.99
of our ministry at Child Impact.
00:13:46.02\00:13:48.36
Our third appeal is
Operation Child Rescue
00:13:48.39\00:13:51.19
which is doing such an
amazing work in rescuing,
00:13:51.23\00:13:54.56
rehabilitating
and simply giving hope
00:13:54.56\00:13:57.80
to many trafficked
and vulnerable children.
00:13:57.83\00:14:00.74
Please give thought
to how you can support us
00:14:00.77\00:14:03.61
at this critical time.
00:14:03.64\00:14:05.17
You can go to our
website at childimpact.org
00:14:05.21\00:14:08.21
That's childimpact.org
00:14:08.24\00:14:10.65
I'm thankful for the Lord's
blessing and for your support.
00:14:10.68\00:14:14.12
May God bless you.
00:14:14.15\00:14:15.48