JACOB'S FUND :: An open invitation to the farm

Jacob's Fund Director and one of the therapy horses

A Jacob's Fund volunteer staining wood

Can you feel the warmth of the sun?

Can you smell the fresh country air?

Can you hear the horses whinnying?

Are you ready to get your hands dirty?

If not, that time is coming!

The Red Thread team is taking the first mission trip of 2014 to McKenna Farms. We’ll be heading to Dallas, Georgia for a 4-day trip April 24 – 27. We’d like YOU to consider joining us. 

The Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail

The horse barn and temporary sleeping quarters upstairs

The Red Thread team will be spreading love to the kids, meeting the horses, working on the Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail, planting flowers, mulching, weeding and anything else that needs doing. We’ll have the opportunity to meet some of the patients and their families, spend time with some of the therapists, and see the magnificent horses that help provide this healing therapy.

The details

• McKenna Farms is located at 3044 Due West Road, Dallas, Georgia 30157
• Plan to arrive on Thursday, April 24 in the late afternoon or evening. 
• Volunteers will sleep in a combination of therapy buildings, in the farm house or above the barn. 
• Plan to bring your own sleeping bag or air mattress / sheets / blankets, bath towels and toiletries. 
• Meals will be provided all day Friday and all day Saturday. If you have dietary restrictions, just let us know and we’ll accommodate.
• Plan on cool nights and warm days. 
• Horses, hay, dirt, weeds, mulch, paint and wood stain are all part of the mix. Dress accordingly.
• Departure is after breakfast on Sunday, April 27.
• The cost is $100 per participant. 
• Space is limited.

How do I volunteer?
To request an application or learn more, please contact Jacob’s Fund Director, Glenna Fisher at 513.423.0108 or glenna@redthreadpromise.org.

Applications are due April 12, 2014.

We look forward to meeting you in Georgia!

Child receiving therapy

Volunteers bringing in the horses for the night

HAITI :: $12,000 goal reached!

$12,000 will provide 14,400 meals!

Your generous spirits have shone vibrantly since we told you about the food crisis at St. Vincent's Center for Handicapped Children in Port-au-Prince. Today we are ecstatic to share that we reached our goal of $12,000 to help feed the children! This will provide 14,400 meals and keep their stomachs full for quite some time. 

We are humbled by your amazing response and thrilled that so many of you shared the need with others to broaden our reach. In short, we couldn't have done this without you and we are so grateful.

TRTP Vice President guest lecturer at The Ohio State University

Mendenhall Laboratory, The Ohio State University

TUESDAY, March 18 :: Honored to be invited as a guest lecturer at The Ohio State University, TRTP Vice President Sonya Yencer spoke with students at the John Glen School of Public Affairs in a non-profit management class. 

She shared her experience in marketing a 501(c)(3) from the ground up with little to no budget, focussing on how social media plays a huge part in that strategy. Students watched TRTP videos from Tell Collective and Physicians For Peace and surfed through TRTP's online presence as part of the presentation. She talked about the challenges of growing the organization without a paid staff, fundraising and cultivating volunteers. Students asked great questions and sparked some new ideas for The Red Thread's outreach team.

What a great opportunity to share real world experience with the young adults interested in the non-profit world! Thank you Kim Ratcliff and The Ohio State University / John Glen School of Public Affairs for allowing us to be a part of the class for a night.

HAITI :: $5 million dollar donation for St. Vincent's

(left) Father Sadoni, Director of St. Vincent's
(center) Mary White
(right) Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
photo credit: Mary Frances Schjonberg

We are tickled pink to share that St. Vincent's recently received a $5,000,000 gift from a donor in New York. This gift will allow the center to begin it's rebuilding efforts more than 4 years after the devastating earthquake.

Who is this benefactor and why a gift so large to St. Vincent's? 

Mary White is a physician and member of St. James Episcopal Church in Manhattan. Ms. White remarked that at St. Vincent's "the needs are in sync with who I am. These are children, many of whom have been abandoned by their parents. I'm an adoptive mom; I'm a physician and it's a place where a lot of medical care is given." 

Her gift is by far the largest donation she has ever made. “For me as an individual I have never done anything like this; not even close,” she said. “I felt euphoric afterwards,” she said. “I felt that God meant this to be.”*

It all goes back to connections, the foundation on which The Red Thread Promise is built. 

Who do you feel connected to today? 
And what are you going to do about it?

*See the full article