Watch the video above for a special announcement from Meritt about the Congo Clinic Initiative! Thank you to Bayside Church in Granite Bay for their hospitality and for filming this special day.
Today we celebrate a miraculous reality. Because of you, the 108 hospitals have been sponsored!!!! We are in awe of what God has done through the collective effort - you! - to provide financial support of the Covenant Medical system in Congo. Indeed 151 sponsors, that is 113 churches, 7 foundations, 31 families, and one hospital, have agreed to sponsor 108 clinics and hospitals over the next five years. Nineteen of the sponsors we call "Clinic Clusters” where multiple churches and families came together to make a clinic sponsorship possible. These Clinic Clusters range from two to ten churches or churches and families coming together to support a clinic.
The inception of the Clinic Initiative is miraculous in and of itself. The timely juncture of the CEUM request for clinic upgrades and the IMA World Health solar panel research and availability sparked the idea of a solar-based project. This coincided with planning the 50th commemoration of Paul Carlson’s martyrdom. It was an opportunity I could not resist. But once the project was launched I was petrified. Scared silly. What had we done? I was so sure we had launched an ambitious project that we would never realize. But God showed up as God always does. So many of you responded to God’s nudge to provide the needed preventative health measures, solar energy and clean water, that will increase the standard of healthcare.
My “dream team” of Doug Morton, Keith Carpenter, Krieg Gammelgard, and Chuck Wysong were the enthusiastic leaders so committed to this project. And the $100,000 Matching Grant was an essential impetus for smaller churches to become involved. We give thanks for the two anonymous donors that made this possible. Together, we crossed the finish line!
Even with all of the generous support pledged, our mission, to develop a knowledgeable heart for Congo, remains at the center of this Initiative. We are on this journey together, and we can't thank you enough for joining us!
Meritt Lohr Sawyer
Executive Director
Paul Carlson Partnership
