As I sit in Haiti to write this 2020 year-end letter, I can’t help but reflect on the past 12 months. Deep crisis brings about deep reflection, as our beliefs are tested in new and different ways. Coming into the 2020 year, the one-word God revealed to us was steadfast, meaning resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering. Without a doubt, I am so proud of our team in how they were steadfast throughout this past year, standing firm to transform lives, to be love in action, in our broken world. Let me share with you the tangible ways this steadfastness to the vision manifested itself in 2020:

• Added 40 families to our First 1,000 Days program, bringing the total enrollment to 211 families
• Performed over 350 wellness health-checks on children under two years old
• Served an estimated 225,000 plates of food to pregnant women, young children, and families
• Added a 2nd-grade class to the School of Light, bringing total enrollment to 100 students
• Provided tuition for an additional 119 students
• Walked with 33 people who gave their life to Christ and 29 who recommitted
• Opened an audio recording studio
• Married 20 couples, bringing the total number of marriages to 102
• Distributed over 200 audio Bibles
• Gifted 63 pregnant goats, giving birth to an estimated 77 kids, for a total of 140 goats
• Performed over 600 goat health-checks
• Planted over 1,000 trees on the campus in the community
• Built six homes
• Installed 20 cement floors
• Distributed 29 PET carts and replaced seven
• Employed 66 Haitian staff and 44 U.S. staff
• Hosted 135 people on IMPACT trips
• Opened a new 27,000 sq. ft. thrift store in Clive, IA
• Recycled and repurposed over 900,000 items
• Blessed other Iowa-based non-profits with over $25,000 worth of resources

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! We didn’t retreat in 2020. Instead, with faith and courage, we charged forward into the crisis to bring light to the darkness for some of the most vulnerable people in our world. God was steadfast to us and we in turn were steadfast to our brothers and sisters in need. Bless God!

As we turn to look forward to 2021, the one-word God is giving us is generosity. God is the most generous giver. He models generosity, from the creation story to giving His one and only son. In John 3:16, from a heart of love, God gave His only son. This incredible generosity demonstrated His great love for us, leading us to faith and ultimately, life-eternal with our Heavenly Father. The action that started it all was generosity.

Jesus is the most generous giver that has ever lived, as He “was rich, yet for your sake He became poor” (2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV). Throughout His life, Jesus freely gave to bless people and to demonstrate God’s unwavering love for us. Generosity points to the Father’s heart.

We desire to ignite Generosity Engines all around us, to bless people in the name of Jesus, and to demonstrate through action God’s unwavering love. We are motivated by God who has already been generous towards us, and we are then vessels of this same generosity to be shown towards others. Once a heart has been broken to be generous, this generosity spills over to all aspects of life – one’s time, talent, treasure, and influence in our families, our communities, our countries, and our world.

When Christians are cheerfully and sacrificially generous, it is a compelling testimony to a watching world. Generosity is the fuel that turns the engine of transformation in our broken world. We invite you to be generous with us in 2021. The world is hurting right now, and we have the opportunity to speak the Truth into the lives through our generous actions.

We have a big, hairy, audacious vision for the next decade of ministry, and 2020 has strengthened this resolve in our ministry. We have work to do, as we transform together to be love in action, and we generously grow impact in our broken world.

Be blessed,

Tim J. Brand
Founder & CEO, Many Hands