Manna for Malawi 2021
The Johnny Holm Band will perform at this year’s Manna for Malawi benefit fund raiser on Sunday, August 15th at the Bridge Tavern north of Crosby, Minnesota. The regional band has been attracting audiences for nearly 40 years in the United States, primarily in the five-state area. Holm began his musical journey just down the road from Cuyuna in Brainerd. Manna for Malawi 2021 runs from 2:00pm to 6:00pm. In addition to music, those who attend get to eat pulled pork sandwiches, beans, coleslaw and chips while they’re checking out the raffle ticket and silent auction items. Charge for the event is a free will offering.
Pastor Paul Mattson said his heart was touched when he saw first hand what Manna for Malawi has done and continues to do, helping to feed and educate the orphans. Malawi is in southeastern Africa, one of the poorest nations in the world. Average income is less than $2 a day.
“When we were invited to help the mission which began 14 years ago, volunteers fed nearly 400 hundred children, once a week. Currently, feeding takes place six days a week and up to a thousand African orphans get their only meal of the day,” Mattson added. Last year’s virtual event without band and food raised more than $28,000 to help feed and educate orphans. This year, with food and music should be better. Money raised this year will go for the feeding program, farm equipment, and education for orphan children.
Manna for Malawi 2020
Manna for Malawi 2020 will look different this year.
The Johnny Holm Band was still willing, the volunteers were ready and eager, the orphans are still hungry, but finally, the decision to keep people safe convinced the event committee to cancel the concert and meal for this year. The amazing and spectacular Manna for Malawi Raffle will still be held and you can buy tickets within an hour of the drawing on August 23rd. The fantastic prizes include a 50 inch TCL Roku TV, a $400 Paddle Board, a kayak with paddle, a Ruttger’s golf package for two 18-hole rounds of golf and cash prizes of $100, $200, and $300. Tickets to the raffle are $5. Watch for MFM volunteers where you sample your adult beverages, contact Immanuel Lutheran Church in Crosby, or pick up as many as you like from 5:00-6:00 pm the night of the drawing, August 23 at the Woodtick in Cuyuna. Who knows? Johnny Holm may show up to buy a ticket! Next year’s event will tentatively be on Sunday, June 27, 2021 and the Johnny Holm Band said they would be there.
Pastor Paul Mattson said he is saddened by the need to cancel this year’s performance but in person and online donations have continued with great results. “People realize that whether or not we have a great time dancing to the music of the Johnny Holm Band, enjoy Maucieri’s Italian food and beverages from Crosby’s Kava House, the orphans in Malawi are still hungry. A hugely successful raffle will insure they still eat and go to school.” The landlocked nation is in southeastern Africa and is one of the poorest nations in the world. Average income there is less than $2 a day.
“We have supported the mission in Malawi for 14 years. Its grown from volunteers feeding around 400 hundred children, once a week, to up to a thousand African orphans eating six days a week. For many of them, this is their only meal of the day,” Mattson added. Last year’s event raised more than $45,000. The money raised by the organization in the past has helped to buy a tractor and truck for the Malawi Orphan Care Project farm . Money raised this year will go for the feeding program and education for orphan children.
For more information about Manna for Malawi:
Call: Pastor Paul Mattson
(218)546-6010
15 Years at Kanyenyeva Ministries
The future of the children of Kanyenyeva is bright because of you. The children in this picture were not born when Kanyenyeva Ministries began 15 years ago but they are benefiting from what you have helped build. They are able to receive food and an education because of your donations and prayers.
Kanyenyeva Ministries and Malawi Orphan Care Project pray that in the next 15 years Malawi will be able to rise out of its extreme poverty and be able to care for all of its citizens.
Five years ago we wrote about the first 10 years of Kanyenyeva Ministries. You can read about that here.
Since then, Kanyenyeva Ministries continues to help improve the lives of the children and adults in their community. The leadership at the orphan project makes sure each child attends school. Because of this focus, more students are graduating from high school. One student, Precious, scored so high on his high school exit exams that he was eligible to attend college. Thanks to a generous donor who is paying his school fees, Precious is studying computer science at UNICAF in Lilongwe. You can read more about Precious here.
With the help of your donations, they have begun 2 new businesses: a 137 acre farm and Kanyenyeva Wala which is a Days for Girls Enterprise where women make and sell reusable sanitary products.
A Skills Center has been built where Kanyenyeva Wala is housed and high schoolers can meet in the evening to study together. Kanyenyeva Ministries is exploring other businesses to start which will also be housed in the skills center. They are looking into starting a sandal business, a furniture business, or a mat making business.
Kanyenyeva Ministries continues to feed the children, share Jesus’ love with them, and provide school supplies. Your donations to Malawi Orphan Care Project truly are changing lives. Thank you!!
The Hungry Season 2020
In Malawi, the Hungry Season of 2020 has been compounded by the current Coronovirus Pandemic.
Most of the vulnerable children who are fed at the project are orphans. Being orphans, they live with families other than their parents and are usually a drain on already scarce resources. Most of the families in the Kanyenyeva area are subsistence farmers, growing only enough food for themselves and their family. It is a means of survival but does not produce income. Subsistence farmers are impacted greatly by variations in weather.
In January, 2020, UN’s World Food Program warned about food insecurity in Malawi and other southern African countries.
“An unprecedented number of people in 16 countries across southern Africa are gravely food insecure as climate change wreaks havoc on the region.”
“This hunger crisis is on a scale we’ve not seen before and the evidence shows it’s going to get worse,” the WFP’s Regional Director for Southern Africa, Lola Castro, said in a statement.
The crisis is impacting 45 million people — many of whom are women and children. The region has been hit hard by repeated droughts, widespread flooding and economic hardship.
Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe are among the hardest-hit.
Many families across the region are already skipping meals, taking children out of school and falling into debt to stave off agricultural losses, the WFP said.” (Source: https://www.dw.com/en/un-warns-hunger-crisis-in-southern-africa-on-scale-weve-not-seen-before/a-52029274)
According to USAID “Recurring droughts afflict Malawi’s agriculture sector, threatening the livelihoods of Malawi’s smallholder farmers, who constitute 80 percent of Malawi’s population. Thirty-eight percent of Malawians live below the poverty line, and 47 percent of children are stunted.”
Malawians are currently experiencing the hungriest time of the year. It is the time while they are growing and harvesting their crops for the year ahead. They have eaten their harvest from 2019 and have nothing until they can eat from their harvest of 2020.
During this time of the year, the orphan project experiences a higher than normal number of children seeking a meal. Due to the Coronavirus in North America, several fundraisers which support the feeding program have been cancelled or postponed. With less income than expected, the leadership at the orphan project have been forced to reduce the number of meals they offer to the children in their community from 6 days a week to 3 days a week. For some children the meal they receive at the orphan project is the only meal they receive that day. Decreasing the number of days the children can have a meal can be devastating.
We know that many people around the world are experiencing a decrease if their own incomes, too, however; a meal for a child costs $.50. A donation of $10 will feed 20 children! No amount is too small. Please prayerfully consider donating to help the children in Malawi be fed. Click here to learn more about how to donate.
