Bringing Hope to Those Living in Poverty
Empowering and uplifting people to help them have a better life
Lighting the Path is approaching poverty differently.
We are serving and empowering people by meeting their needs and giving them the skills to change their own lives while showing them the love of Christ.
Will you join us in this effort
to make a difference in the world?
Together with the help of people like you we are changing communities, giving dignity and making a better future for generations to come. Lighting the Path is approaching poverty differently by including empowerment. Meeting the needs of food, water, medical care, shelter and education are the necessary starting points. We then include empowerment with education, skills, small business training and supplies to start a small enterprise and earn an income. Every person wants to feel valuable and competent and, if given a chance, will work hard to have a good life. Our vision is to empower people to provide for themselves and their family and to see them flourish and live out their full, God-given potential. To accomplish this vision, we engage and challenge societal norms. We work to alleviate suffering through action oriented work while respecting cultural and personal differences, along with caring for physical and emotional needs.
We have directly empowered over 565 women with skills to start a small enterprise and the knowledge to train others to do the same. The “ripple effect” has been huge and we are seeing more and more women taking their skills and using them to help their family thrive.
We have formed and empowered over 24 women’s associations to work as a combined team of different strengths to make a product and run a sustainable enterprise.
In our newest Giving Hope Project, we have taught over 24 refugee women to sew and make products to start their own small business or gain employment.
The Girls for Girls project provides washable and reusable feminine hygiene kits to girls who have no supplies to deal with her monthly menstrual cycle. We have sent over 650 hygiene kits to schools, clinics and organizations in Zimbabwe, the Congo, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Malawi, Cameroon and Ghana.
We have built and opened a residential technical school for young women which allows them to live in a safe environment and learn skills to run a successful and sustainable small business that will allow them to take care of themselves and have a brighter future. Our first class has been amazingly successful and we have already expanded our enrollment with the completion of a housing building.
Empowerment Project
the giving hope project
Serving Girls in need
the school for girls project
meeting health needs
The Girls for Girls Project
Lighting the Path was awarded the 2016 Billion Acts of Peace Hero Award for their humanitarian work ending poverty and empowering women. The award was chosen by a panel of 13 Nobel Peace Laureates and presented in Monte Carlo, Monaco by Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberto Manchu.
Lighting the Path was awarded the 2016 Hero Award for their work ending Poverty and empowering women. The award was chosen by a panel of 13 Nobel Peace Laureates and presented in Monte Carlo, Monaco by Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberto Manchu.
A Different Philosophy
- What people want most is a good life. We work to meet the needs which are present when people are living in poverty including food, water, healthcare, shelter and education while showing them love.
- People want a hand up, not a handout. We always strive to provide education and skills for someone’s betterment and work with kindness and respect to insure the dignity of those we are trying to serve.
- People generally know what will work best for them to be successful. We research the facts, ask and listen to insure we are appropriately meeting the needs of those we are trying to serve in a way they will be able to sustain.
- We fight for those being treated unfairly or neglected. We stand up for and support those who are being denied their rights or being ignored and we encourage with sharing God’s Word.
- We support those who are looked down upon or are foreigners in a new land trying to find their way. We work for better community relations which do not allow anyone to be discriminated against due to gender, race, religion, ability or any other reason.
- We hope for a world where we will see all people loved, respected and valued for who they are and given equal opportunities for building a life
- We work to see all people given the freedom to practice their religion of choice with no persecution and those unreached groups be given God’s word if they so desire.
- We strive to utilize all our resources with integrity and transparency for the good of those we are trying to serve