Packed and Ready To Go!

Sports Outreach Institute

Sportsbridge Ministry

International Headquarters: P.O. Box 11855, Lynchburg, Virginia 24503

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Phone: 434.528.2516 www.SportsOutreach.net Info@SportsOutreach.net
ports Outreach has a wonderful, and at the same time, a tough calling - providing care for those
in desperate need. Sportsbridge is the highly valued arm of our ministry that collects, sorts,
SPORTS OUTREACH INSTITUTE seeks to:
packs and ships tens of thousands of pounds of desperately needed new and gently used sporting
equipment, medical supplies, educational materials, shoes, clothing and household articles. All the HONOR GOD, I n all that we do. Matthew 22:36-38; PURSUE EXCELLENCE, Because God creates all things with excellence
items are transported in shipping containers, and while every single article sent brings instant joy and we therefore will do no less. Colossians 3:17; DEVELOP PEOPLE, Both physically and spiritually. 2 Timothy 2:2;
and satisfaction to those it receives – it comes with a cost. During the last part of 2008, the economic BE GOOD STEWARDS, All things are gif ts from God, on loan to us to help those in need. 1 Peter 4:10; BE PRAC TICAL,
situation in the USA forced us to hold back on shipping these containers. The New Year has brought Meeting people where they are with usable, friendly and appropriate strategies. James 2:15-17; BE BURDEN-LIFTING,
a welcome reduction in the overall shipping cost– that’s the good news. Thanks to the generosity of Sharing the Gospel and improving the daily life of those we ser ve. Galatians 6:2; BE SUSTAINABLE, Equipping people
you and others we now have two containers loaded and ready to go in Virginia, one container in Santa and communities with abilities and means that enable them to become self-sustaining and suppor ting. Psalm 55:22
Barbara, California and another in Oregon. That’s four containers ready to ship! Many businesses,
churches and individuals have opened their hearts as well as their warehouses, closets and garages to
The fundamental purpose of Sports Outreach Institute,
donate needed material and supplies for those we serve in Uganda and Kenya. Each container, filled
with over $500,000 worth of estimated valued will cost just an estimated $11,000 to ship and deliver. Inc. is to identify and train committed Christian leadership
in the effective use and understanding of sports ministry
F act: For most non-profits the average cost of collecting, sorting, boxing and sending one container
is $35,000.00 – but by God’s grace our cost is about a third of that amount as the bulk of SOI’s work
is done by volunteers and a partnering ministry Gleaning For the World (see below).
to spread the Gospel and alleviate human suffering ….

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GOOD NEWS
an You Help? Would you prayerfully consider making a donation to Sportsbridge to help send these
containers? If you are able, please check the appropraite box on the encolsed response card. No February 2009
donation is too small to help send the items, which have been so freely given with compassion and
love, to our friends in the slums, villages and refugee camps of Uganda and Kenya.

“Feed My Sheep”
Meet Our Ministry Partner

Gleaning for the World

From Rev. Ron Davidson, Founder of Gleaning for the World:
In 1992, I met the homeless for the first time. I had seen the ghostly figures walking
the streets, but had not taken the time to meet them personally. One night, I sat and
talked with a group of homeless people who had lost their jobs, their homes, and
their futures. As we talked, I realized they had the same dreams for their lives and
their children as I did for mine. As I delved deeper into the challenge of poverty and
homelessness, I saw that, while local organizations were doing all they could to help these individuals, they
lacked many simple, essential supplies. After that encounter, my heart was burdened to help and my life was
changed forever.
By 1998, my desire to help the poor was so great that I stepped down from my position as pastor of a
1,200-member church. My wife and I moved from a four-bedroom parsonage to a basement apartment and
used my mother’s basement to start Gleaning For The World. We were determined to make a difference in
people’s lives by providing charitable organizations with the supplies they needed to help the poor.
In just six years, GFTW moved from its basement office to an 18,000-square-foot office and warehouse facility
in Concord, Virginia. By 2006, we had shipped more than $300 million in supplies to people in desperate need
-- both here in the U.S. and around the world.
No matter who, no matter where -- whenever human beings are suffering -- GleaningSportsFor Outreach Institute
The World will do
whatever it takes to provide the supplies -- the hope -- they so desperately need. This is why we exist. And
International
why we need your help. Headquarters: P.O. Box 11855, Lynchburg, Virginia 24503
Phone: 434.528.2516 Fax: 434.528.2517 www.SportsOutreach.net Info@SportsOutreach.net

Now, tell me again…how does this work?
“Come, all of you who are thirsty; come to the waters.” Isaiah 55:1
Executive Director
Dear Friends,
From the
As you know, the Bible is filled with seeming paradoxes. The Bible teaches that the last
will be first, we must die to live and we must give to receive.
Isaiah 55:1 suggests another, as God invites those “who have no money’ to “come, buy
and eat.” Can anyone buy without money?
There’s a hint in verses 8 and 9.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.”
For example, anyone might think that the combination of a global economic downturn,
the political instability of Eastern Africa and the long term drought in Kenya would
slow down our efforts to minister to the poorest of the poor in Africa.
Yet God wants us to accomplish more, not less! He is using so many of you to support
the efforts of Sports Outreach with monetary gifts; some of you with donated new and
used sports equipment, clothing and shoes through our Sportsbridge ministry; others
of you have been called to travel to Africa and assist out national staffs and all of us are
encouraged to pray for those we are called to serve.
God is using each of you to help this ministry do more today than yesterday! What a
blessing; to see the Good News Community Center in Gulu emerge from the dust; to
see the feeding and vocational training programs expand in Kampala and to celebrate
with the staff in Nairobi as the ministry to women with HIV/AIDS expands.
God continues to use us to help the staff in Uganda and Kenya feed, clothe, educate
and assist the poor and needy with micro-finance loans. The very tasks that seem
impossible to accomplish - God is using you and the staff of SOI to complete. And all of
this is a big answer to prayer.
But I trust that all of us have learned that whether in our shared ministry or in
our personal lives, we need to remember that the God who made water gush
out of rocks and fed 5,000 with a few loaves and fishes is the same yesterday
and today and forever. And while we may be unable to think of a way out of
our difficulties or into His will, God has already made it.
Blessings,
Rodney Suddith, executive director
Mexico Football Crusade
Mexico Football Crusade Update
The 2009 Mexico Football Crusade originally scheduled for January 8-15 has been postponed until June 1-8.
Sports Outreach will be teaming up with Missionary Athletes International’s Los Angeles Sea Horses professional
Soccer Club. Russ Carr, SOI Founder, will be coordinating the Mexico Football Crusade that will include four
matches with local teams in Mexico as well as many ministry and outreach opportunities.
Please go to www.sportsoutreach.net for more information on the crusade.
Jesus Asks,
“…do you love me?...feed my lambs…take care of my sheep…feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17)
Feeding Program
One morning last summer during staff devotion in Kampala we were joined by three young adults from America. One
asked; “What do you gain by going into the slums and feeding the poor every day?” Robert Katende, responded, “I go
because it humbles me and it is an authentic expression of love, to feed a stranger.” Robert, like the rest of the SOI staff
know that to become more Christ-like, requires that one humbles himself. Yes, it is humbling to feed one of ‘the least of
these’…the poor, the homeless, the lonely, the sick and the rejected. Robert was helping me to understand the same
thing that Peter was learning and that is that the path towards humility has been marked by Christ. That is astonishing!
SOI is fortunate to have a staff of African men and women that pursue humility like others pursue personal wealth; who
spend as much emotional energy and time serving others as others spend ‘hanging on’ to their worldly possessions.
In that same devotion Robert also told the American visitors that he and the rest of the SOI staff believed that God has
something that He wants each of us to do – not to sit back and watch Him do or passively wait for Him to do, but a calling
that God waits for each of us to embrace, pursue, and fulfill. God chooses to entrust His most sacred work to people like
Robert, like you and like me. Later that day Robert shared that it was such a privilege to serve others, and that God had
called him personally to serve them. He knew God could feed the poor without him, but that God had called him, and
the rest of the SOI staff to feed His sheep. SOI does have a calling to provide for the poorest of the poor, and that includes
feeding.
The number involved in the SOI feeding programs grew by over 20% last year. That growth enables us to provide more
individuals with a daily meal and it allows our staff increased opportunity to share the love of Christ. Can you help SOI
meet the financial demands of this growth? The box of facts shows how many are fed in the three major areas and how
far our staff can stretch every dollar that is donated. I think you will agree that the feeding program is efficient, economical
and life-changing. Simply check the enclosed Response Card if you can help with a one time gift or if you are able to
commit to a monthly pledge.
Sports Outreach East Africa Feeding Program
K a m p a l a - Cost: $2,500.00/month
;; Five locations provide one meal a day for approximately 650 individuals.
;; Meals are also provided for an additional 140 who live in homes where the mother is HIV Positive.
G u l u - Cost: $1,000.00/month
;; Three locations provide one meal a day for approximately 425 individuals.
;; Assistance is also provided for 28 HIV positive mothers and their children (total of 95 individuals).
;; Seventy-five children are fed twice a day at the Koro Day Care Center.
;; Approximately 45 meals are provided daily for individuals involved in vocational training program as well as volunteers
working on the farm.
;; A growing percentage of the food used in this program is produced on the SOI farm.
N a i r o b i - Cost: $1,000.00/month
;; One location feeds approximately 300 people daily.
;; Food assistance is also provided for 74 HIV positive mothers and their children (total of 212 individuals).
;; The 14 classroom teachers and assistants at the school are also provided a daily meal.
To t a l – Over 1,800 are provided a daily meal for $4,500.00 per month! That is a cost of $2.50 per person per month (about
ten cents a meal)! With your support we can expand the program to includemore from the slums, villages, Internally
Displaced Person camps and children of HIV positive mothers who suffer from hunger and malnutrition everyday.