Low on cash? Or just want to get more "hand-on" with supporting your favorite ITMI partners?
Here are 3 non-monetary ways to bless our faithful servants and fuel their mission.
1. Pray
Our partners consistently entreat us to partner with them in prayer. They face personal challenges and battles on top of ministry obstacles and stresses. They need a constant hedge of prayer to do what they do!
We believe in the power of prayer, and it is not second-best to monetary support. It's absolutely crucial.
Some practical ideas?
Pray for our Daily Prayer Prompts on Facebook. Go to ITMI's Facebook page. Send us a message and you'll be offered the opportunity to receive our daily prayer prompts.
Pray Daily for the prayer requests in ITMI Monthly. Tuck a copy of ITMI Monthly in your purse, briefcase or backpack and pray through the prayer requests on page 4 on breaks or while driving.
Need to print the latest one out? You can do that here.
Email a partner you feel connected to and ask for more personal or specific prayer requests.
Get photos printed of several ITMI nationals and keep them in a box or stack near your table. Let the kids pick one picture per meal and pray for them before or during the meal. There's many pictures on this site or our Facebook page.
2. Help with Travel
Whether they are Americans living abroad or nationals who travel to learn and spread awareness of the people they serve and champion, ITMI partners often find themselves needing to travel on small budgets.
Helping out with travel could take as many different forms as you can think of, but here's some ideas.
- Help them schedule a presentation or sharing opportunity in your area
- Host them in your home
- Donate frequent flier miles
- Gift travel upgrades or additional tickets
- Provide an extra vehicle during a furlough
If this is something you'd like to do, call our office to work out the details.
3. Advocate
Advocating can mean lots of things, but you can help spread the word about your favorite project or partner. Here's some possibilities to get you thinking:
Organize a fundraiser. Bake sales and lemonade stands are great projects for kids to get involved in.
Many restaurants offer to partner with fundraising events for nonprofits. You spread the word and they gift a percentage of the profits they get from people who come on a certain day and present that flier.
Kids raise money for kids in Africa with a lemonade stand.
Turn Your Birthday into a Benefit. Have your guests give to your favorite project in lieu of gifts. You didn't really want another picture frame anyway, did you? A pair of young boys did this and raised a chunk of money for ITMI's Bread of Life.
Share their stories. ITMI posts a couple new stories each week. When you read one you like, click the button for the social media venue of your choice and share it with your friends. Say a few words about why you like the story or the project.
If you see a story you like on Facebook you can also like or share it right from Facebook, which lets more people see it!
You have the option to share your favorite posts on several social networks at the bottom of every post on ITMI's new website.
Ok, ITMI family. It's your turn. What other ideas for non-monetary ways to bless these faithful partners have you thought of?
Summer Kelley is a writer living in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and three kids. She’s had the honor and privilege of telling ITMI’s stories since 2006. She’s a homeschooling mom and a T-shirt and jeans aficionado who likes all things simple. When she’s not writing or homeschooling, you can find her honing her skills as what some might call a "suburban survivalist" as she learns to thrive in the suburbs with 3 kids. As a productivity and organizing enthusiast, she may or may not spend hours attempting to use technology to "save time.” Summer loves reading, the outdoors and Coca-Cola Classic from the fountain.
