I was driving to port a few months ago with my friend Benson in the car. It’s a treat to get 3 hours of talk time with him, because basically he is brilliant, he is really honest with me and occasionally he is funny. But a few miles down the road he got quiet, and then asked me a very pointed question, “ MK do you know the best way to keep poor people poor?” Without taking my eyes off the road, i said, “ No. Tell me.”
“Give them everything and ask them to do nothing for it. That way they never develop the God given capacity they have to work and create and build for themselves, they are ever dependent on the next charity to come to their aid.”
He reminded me of the first time we met, five years earlier in Jubilee, where he grew up. He said, we are a poor community and you could have just offered to give us food or clothes but instead you paid me to teach a class to people in the community and from that, we started a business. If you had given me things then, i would have never known i could create a workshop, hire people in my community and develop business skills. Benson is not a charity case, he is an entrepreneur with a growing enterprise in Jubilee.
Market Place Gonaives is a way to take our experience with Benson and blow it up 100 times.
MPG is a HUGE project ! But, for us, this is the calling we have to this land. When we ask ourselves the question, what if the tables were turned, and what if this was our town in south Georgia that had need of aid. And foreigners came in to offer help. What would we want them to do? Keep “taking care” of us, making us and our children completely dependent on them? Or ask them to help us rebuild our economy so that we can develop our own business ideas and get ourselves back up on our feet? The Market Place Gonaives is what this looks like.
Core Values:
Thugs become Sons when you decide they are and call them that and see them through that truth.
Poor become rich when they realize they can give birth to ideas and create beautiful useful things in this world.
Ending cycles of poverty takes time and energy and thoughtful processes, not a quick fix, but a committed, day after day transformation.
Kids are best raised in families. There is a legitimate need for orphanages for children who have lost their parents and have no extended family to care for them. But a large number of the children in orphanages are there because their parents simply don’t have good jobs. We can do something about that. It is so much better if families can stay together. And parents can feed their kids and kids respect and bond to their own parents as their providers. We want that.
SO how do you eat an elephant?
This is a million dollar endeavor. $ 1,000,000. Six zeros. Wisdom showed us to break that into pieces...One bite at a time.
2014 400,000 was raised for MPG
300,000 paid the first payment (total price 500,000) on the property and gave us possession so we could start.
100,000 is in the project now, being used in the renovation process. (see notes and more pics on the Much Ministries Facebook Page to follow the progress!)
2015 250,000 is the next bite.
We have a Contributor that will match everything that comes in up to 100,000!
So every dollar that comes in (up to 100,000) becomes two !!!
This $250,000 will allow the work to be done so that our anchor tenant, a full size grocery store, will be able to move in and be open for business in fall of 2016. And at this point the project itself will begin to generate the funds that will help complete the final phase!
As Beaver explains it “the vision has turned into boots on the ground! We have two contractors at work now. Ravel Norgaisse is responsible for engineering and constructing the security walls and renovating the existing warehouse. Brian Smith is renovating the office/apartment building on the front of the property. These two guys are such God-sent friends and professionals. Both have years of experience and are super committed to MPG and all it means”
Our next major step is the construction of the second floor in the warehouse. You might remember that the current roof is 20 + feet from floor level. We will double our floor space with the addition of the second floor.
This giving campaign is from now to December 31st,
Allowing all giving to be a tax deductible gift for 2015.
WANT TO GIVE MORE? If you know you are committed to walk this out with us and have put aside a larger contribution to participate in this project, Thank You! We understand the depth of planning and sacrifice on your part to live life this way. We are deeply humbled by such friendships.
Checks can be mailed to
MUCH po box 24599 , St Simons Island , GA 31522
WANT TO GIVE $10? For other donors, here’s an idea. There are many inspired ideas that we all want to give toward. We may not be able to write a $1,000 check, but we can give $10. So what if we had 10 people to give $10 AND ask them to ask 10 people to give $10 dollars and those 10 asked 10 more. This cycle only has to happen a few times to have a huge impact. !
It could happen easily and quickly and we can get the next phase of work underway!
Here is the link! Share on FB, tweet, pin, like, up vote or whatever you do! If you want to post it on your wall and explain to your friends why you gave $10 and why you are asking them to join you. ...that is a quick and easy way. But you can also share it in an email or write it in a blog post. Whatever you feel works for your best reach.
We know some of you have taken us on as a prayer assignment. We feel that. Everyday that we are not shaking in our boots, we feel your prayers. Thank you so very deeply. There is absolutely no way we would persevere without the grace of heaven. thank you.
Beaver and Kathy