Friends,

I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with those you love. Thanksgiving puts such a spotlight on the harvest of food and gives us pause to count our blessings for having enough, or more than enough at times.

The harvest season also draws attention to what a fragile difference there is between too much, just enough and too little water during growing season. My thoughts and prayers are with Western Canadian farming families who have made difficult decisions in the wake of extreme drought.

I also have grave concern for the many areas of the world where ERDO, the humanitarian agency of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, serves. At the September board meeting, David Adcock presented alarming information about increasing global hunger. Together, we’ve developed the hunger fact sheet (link below) that you can dedicate to prayer and raising awareness of how severe the issue is at this time.

While October 16^th marked World Food Day, chronic hunger is with many children and families every day of the year. ERDO, together with trusted partners including PAOC global workers, have hope against hope that churches and ministries like yours will continue assisting with life-sustaining, hope-filled work that puts our faith into action:

• Delivering food to the hungry in Yemen, one of the worst humanitarian crisis countries in the world.
• Launching an emergency food assistance program in the Democratic Republic of Congo, providing monthly food packages.
• Feeding school children in Zimbabwe with a daily meal of fortified cereal.

There is always a light in the darkness if we follow Christ and join Him in fulfilling Isaiah 1:17 - “Do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Plead for the widow.”

Rather than highlighting any one program, we invite churches and ministries like yours to join ERDO in this mission with the financial support needed, entrusting ERDO with the task of spreading the harvest where needed most in their children- and family-focused food programs. To provide your gift of food, you can give online at www.erdo.ca/donate  or mark your donation to ERDO with October Food Crises as the designation. Each of the food projects listed above are matched 4:1 by our membership in The Canadian Foodgrains Bank, and through the Government of Canada.

On behalf of ERDO and the PAOC, please hear my thanksgiving,

David Wells
General Superintendent – The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada

P.S. Please read the attached report and see why food relief is mission critical at this time. Click here.