Stranger in a Strange Land » take action

Beating foreclosure

Jonathan D. Blundell — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:16:29 +0000

We’re so close to reaching our goal!

Over $4000 raised in just over a month!

Take a look at this map – it shows every city represented by at least one donation.

Awesome!

But we’re still not there yet. As of this morning we still need $450 to reach our goal.

We just need 45 more people to give $10 each, 90 people to give $5 each, or 10 people to give $45 each .

Donate online

Either way, I need your help.

I need you to E-mail this message, Tweet it, share it on Facebook, share it on Myspace. Send them to this page, or the original explanation page.

Get the word out so we can reach our goal and help a family avoid losing their homes.

Donate online

If you don’t think this is a real problem, take a few minutes and visit invisiblepeople.tv or watch these videos:

Click here to view the embedded video.

We can do this — together!

Helping our friends beat foreclosure – update

Jonathan D. Blundell — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:00:10 +0000

It’s been two and a half weeks since I put out a plea to all my blog readers, Twitter friends and Facebook peeps to help our friends beat foreclosure.

The plea was simple — can we get 450 people to donate $10 by Nov 1 to help them keep their house.

Donate online

The family is actually $9,000 behind on their mortgage after the economy fell into the crapper and the husband had to close his business.
Heâ€™s now working for a couple different fire departments while the wife is finishing nursing school and working nights two or three times a week at a local hospital. They have three young kids.
Theyâ€™re pretty certain they can get $4,500 together by the first of November, but theyâ€™ll need to sell their car and pull money from their retirement fund for any hopes to get the rest.

I thought I’d give an update on a few things… as you can see by our sidebar, we’re nearing the $1450 mark (as of 4:07 pm 10/08/09). But we still have a ways to go.

We’ve received donations from numerous people, including folks that have no clue who our friends are. They’ve just seen a need and wanted to help. That blesses my heart tremendously. I love seeing people become the hands and feet of Jesus — rather they realize (or accept) that or not.

It’s also been a big encouragement to our friends to see the donations as well.

Also, they’ve received some good news over the last week or so, the bank has agreed to work with them and has pushed the deadline back to Jan. 1. That 60 day extension is a huge relief.

And our friend received word today that she has a job waiting for her upon graduation!

Now we just need to find 305 more people, willing to donate $10 a piece and we’ll reach our goal! Are you in?

Donate online

If you’d like to post a badge on your blog, Myspace page or website, please copy the code below ::

(photo via inman_news)

Helping our friends beat foreclosure – update

With a little help for our friends

Jonathan D. Blundell — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:54:47 +0000

I was looking over the totals that have come in to help our friends beat foreclosure this week.

It’s encouraging to see.

Folks from 2 different countries, 5 different states, people that have never met my friends, are all pitching in to help in a time of need.

To help illustrate this, I put together a quick map highlighting the cities represented thus far.

It’s not easy to admit you have a need. It’s not easy to say you need someone else. We’re independent folks – especially here in our Western society.

But this map proves to me that there are still many, many people out there that don’t care about your past — and are only interested in helping improve your future.

The greater the struggle â€“ the greater the triumphâ€¦
and God is all about making beauty from ashes.

If you’re interested in helping our friends, you can still donate. With only 5 days in, we’re nearing the $1000 mark. That leaves us a little over a month to raise the remaining $3500 or so.

Donate online:

Or e-mail me for where to mail a donation.

And a HUGE thanks to all those have pitched in so far!

We’re all in this together. We GET to carry each other. And we’ll get by with a little help from our friends…

Click here to view the embedded video.

With a little help for our friends

Help the Joneses

Jonathan D. Blundell — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:54:09 +0000

A friend of our podcast, Andrew Jones, has put out a call for help and I hope you’ll take a couple minutes to read and respond.

Just a little bit of background in case you haven’t listened to his chat on our podcast yet…

The Jones family is traveling the world in their truck, exploring the world that God loves and seeking to bring real transformation and change. They have just visited 12 countries, hosting leadership training events, encouraging social enterprises, and supporting missional entrepreneurs in a sustainable and effective way.

Its been an incredible time but the financial crunch has caused a number of funders to drop out and now the funds are depleted, just as they head south and east towards the next 25 countries.

The Joneses need to raise $30,000 by the end of the year but the urgent need is $5000 for visas, diesel, ferry and plane tickets that are needed immediately. Can you help them by supporting them financially or by spreading the word?

Andrew Jones video via Bill Kinnon:

Click here to view the embedded video.

From his blog…

Urgent Appeal: 5 Ways To Help the Jones Family
Thanks everyone for your suggestions on getting supported and on our way to the next 25 countries. So much opportunity. . . so little funds. You know how it is, especially in this financial crunch when things have dried up. We have just lost a huge amount of support and need to make it up really quickly. In fact, we really need a chunk this week for visas, ferry tickets and diesel so that we can continue.
Special thanks to Shannon Hopkins of Matryoshka Haus, who has generously allowed us to use her 501c3 account at Givezooks. We have launched a campaign called “Friends of the Jones Family” which we think will be a good short term solution.

5 WAYS YOU CAN HELP

1. Put a widget on your blog. Clicking on the widget will take people to our special campaign.

Widget code:

2. Tell your church. They might have a mission fund that is looking for more opportunities. They can contact me directly about having me speak at their church to share what God is doing around Europe and beyond.

3. Join our email list and receive the top secret updates on our journey, adventures, prayer requests, and updates. Request it and I will put you on the list. This is the best way to see exactly what we are up to and where your funds are going.

4. Give. Yeah! You can use Givezooks or send me an email if you would like to support us directly or in a different way. tallskinnykiwi [at] gmail [dot] com

I hope you’ll consider doing what you can to help the Jones family continue on their mission. Thanks!

Help the Joneses

Help a friend beat foreclosure

Jonathan D. Blundell — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:43:40 +0000

UPDATE: I’ve updated the links to Paypal to help track the money coming in easier.

This morning, I sent out a cry for help via Twitter and Facebook ::

Close friend found out home will be foreclosed on Nov 1. Wonder if 450 peeps would donate $10 to cover their deficit…

Need 450 peeps to donate $10 to help friends from losing their house :: http://bit.ly/55Ilf // Please RT

Several people jumped right on board and made donations, others wanted a little more information (which is understandable).

The family we’re hoping to help is involved in our small group. They told me about their deficit simply as a prayer request, not asking for financial help –

But the thing is, we GET to carry each other and we’re ALL in this together.

So, while prayer is great (and I strongly encourage it) I hope that folks can take a step of action and give up a couple Mochas from St. Arbucks this week, or maybe a fast food lunch or two to help these dear friends out.

Donate online

The family is actually $9,000 behind on their mortgage after the economy fell into the crapper and the husband had to close his business.

He’s now working for a couple different fire departments while the wife is finishing nursing school and working nights two or three times a week at a local hospital. They have three young kids.

They’re pretty certain they can get $4,500 together by the first of November, but they’ll need to sell their car and pull money from their retirement fund for any hopes to get the rest.

So I’m hoping you can pitch in and join with us to help this family. $4,500 seems like a lot but $10 is nothing.

If you can help out, please visit: http://bit.ly/55Ilf to donate online, or drop me an e-mail if you’d prefer to donate via check.

We’re ALL in this TOGETHER. I hope you’ll seriously consider what you can do to help out.

Thanks!

Donate online

UPDATE: You can track the progress on the front page of my blog. As of 7:30 p.m. Sept. 23, we’ve had $800 come in!

UPDATE: Read the latest (Oct 9, 2009)
(photo from notionscapital)

Help a friend beat foreclosure

GOOD :: clean water

Jonathan D. Blundell — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:21:19 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Get involved.

Help.

Take action.

living water international
charity:water

GOOD :: clean water

Helping a neighbor

Jonathan D. Blundell — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:26:24 +0000

I’m amazed at the growing number of stories I continue hearing about people hurting financially. Recession or not, people are struggling. I’m not always able to help, like I want but I want to do more to share their stories and to find ways to help those who are able to help – to help.

Sometimes their needs might be financial, sometimes it might be warm clothes or a hot meal but I want to do what I can to share their stories when I can. Other times, it may be folks doing God’s amazing work around the world that can use a helping hand.

You’ll notice on the top of the sidebar a new “feature” that will highlight the latest way you can help others.

As Clive Parnell will mention on this week’s podcast, “We become so very isolated. As Christians we need to be about others. We need to be finding ways to reach out to others” (loosely quoted).

Today I got a text message and voice mail about a family living in Waxahachie in a mobile home. A family of seven (parents and five children) are living in a single-wide home with no electricity, no water and about to get behind on their rent. My friend took them three boxes of groceries today and found out they’re $930 behind on their bills.

So far my friend has been able to get $600 for them! God’s working quickly! I’m hoping folks will be able to help out and raise the remaining $330 in the next day or so and then we can go to work helping the family even further.

Let me know if you’re interested in helping.

Matthew 25:31-40
“When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was meâ€”you did it to me.’”

Helping a neighbor

5/365

Jonathan D. Blundell — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:52:50 +0000

5/365
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

its awfully cold today in North Texas. maybe not as cold as other places, but following a weekend of 80 degrees, 30 degrees feels super cold.

we’re lucky. even in my garage its not that cold. i had a nice hot shower and settled down with a cold beer before remembering i needed to take this photo. then i put on a nice warm beanie and my extra warm new coat and took this photo. i even have some nice warm gloves in my pocket that i could have put on.

yet tonight around north texas and elsewhere who knows how many men, women and children are trying to stay warm outside.

this weekend my friends Josh and Jeff spent 29 hours on the street in waco, living as though they were homeless. Josh said he realized fairly quickly that it was a lot harder than he imagined. just 29 hours. yet folks do it 24/7.

thanks to folks like invisiblepeople.tv who help remind us that these are real people with real stories. i hope to tell Josh and Jeff’s story soon on the podcast and hopefully Mark (from
invisiblepeople.tv) as well.

until then, chew on this and then check out the website ::

On the street I saw a small girl cold and shivering in a thin dress, with little hope of a decent meal. I became angry and said to God; â€œWhy did you permit this? Why donâ€™t you do something about it?â€ For a while God said nothing. That night he replied, quite suddenly:

â€œI certainly did something about it. I made you.â€

invisiblepeople.tv

also – read my first night homeless

5/365

end poverty!

Jonathan D. Blundell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:17:36 +0000

Today is Blog Action Day 08 – focused on ending poverty. I caught on to this a little late. Sorry about that. But if you’ve read my blog for any length of time I think you’ll know how frustrated I get to see people living in poverty.

I think you know it rattles me crazy when folks refuse to help a brother or sister in need.

I think you know I think our reaction to the poor and to the hurting around our world is a direct indication of how we view God (and yes that can be taken multiple ways).

I don’t if I have amazing words of wisdom to share today, but thought I’d share some visual media with you to help us each reflect on the issue of poverty in the world around us.

All the media is from real people, whom I’ve had the honor and privilege of meeting and sharing life with in some way shape or form. I wish I could do more and God willing — I will. Most of the pictures are from Nigeria. The videos are from Waxahachie, Nigeria and Dallas. The point? — There are hurting people, living in poverty everywhere — all around us.

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.

Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone.
I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hillâ€¦ I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuffâ€¦ maybe, maybe notâ€¦ But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.
God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play houseâ€¦ God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their livesâ€¦ God is in the cries heard under the rubble of warâ€¦ God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.

end poverty!

Put your computer to work

Jonathan D. Blundell — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:20:43 +0000

I know sometimes it’s easy to get bogged down with a schedule and while you’re really wanting to do something good in your community or for those around you, you just can’t seem to fit much time into your schedule for volunteering (granted I know this isn’t the case for most of the folks at encounter).
But if you’re interested in doing more for those around you, here’s a few interesting ideas that you can do at work or at home while you’re surfing the web:

Breast Cancer Site – you click and advertisers give to help sponsor women who need mamograms
GoodSearch – a search engine like any other, except 50% of the revenue from this site goes to charity
FirstGiving – offers organizations an easy online way to raise funds through a variety of means

Maybe you’d like to help financially…

Kiva – puts you in contact with small businesses in third world countries that need a loan to help their business grow
One Laptop Per Child – lets you buy a specially designed laptop for children around the world (and for your own children if you’re so inclined)
Nabuur – connects you directly to people online in Asia, Africa, and Latin America; they tell you about their challenges and you work together (with a facilitator) to help solve problems

After all this “hard work” you may feel really inclined to get out in person and do some good in the community, if so you can do your own search in your area with these sites:

Visit Lifehacker for more information on these sites or other comparable sites.
And if you’ve got any other sites that you’ve found helpful? Let us know.

Put your computer to work

Stranger in a Strange Land » take action

Beating foreclosure

Donate online

Donate online

Donate online

other posts you may enjoy ::

Helping our friends beat foreclosure – update

Donate online

Donate online

Donate online

other posts you may enjoy ::

With a little help for our friends

other posts you may enjoy ::

Help the Joneses

other posts you may enjoy ::

Help a friend beat foreclosure

Donate online

Donate online

other posts you may enjoy ::

GOOD :: clean water

other posts you may enjoy ::

Helping a neighbor

other posts you may enjoy ::

5/365

other posts you may enjoy ::

end poverty!

other posts you may enjoy ::

Put your computer to work

other posts you may enjoy ::