Convoy of Hope

Convoy of Hope is a faith-based nonprofit organization founded in 1994 and known for its international programs of feeding and otherwise helping poor people. Based in Springfield, Missouri, it also helps in disaster-relief work and has recently begun a science education program in the United States and elsewhere.

Founding

The organization was founded in 1994 to aid in humanitarian relief. It began by serving Mid-America but has now expanded to other areas.^[1] Hal Donaldson, a co-founder and chief executive officer, recalled in 2014 that the group was founded in California but moved to Missouri some two years later because of its importance to truck transportation. He chose Springfield because he and his wife had attended Evangel College there.^[2]

The Convoy had beginnings in a Christian tradition.^[1] Hal Donaldson, who later became a journalist and author, said he and his two brothers, Steve and Dave, and a sister founded the organization a quarter century after their father was killed by a drunk driver and their mother was hospitalized. The siblings, Hal being age 12 at the time, were taken in by neighbors and that response, he said, impelled him to take steps when he grew up to alleviate other people's needs.^[2][3][3]

Scope of services

Convoy of Hope is noted for its disaster-relief work.^[4] In the United States thousands of volunteers were organized into programs that provided, among other things, groceries, résumé advice and dental screenings.^[1]

Projects

Domestic

Each year Convoy of Hope sponsors events to provide free groceries, job and health fairs and activities for children.^[4] Some of the events:

• Some million dollars in goods and services were handed out in September 2014 at the Convention Center in Sioux City, Iowa, There were also bounce castles, face painting and balloon animals. Children were given free pairs of tennis shoes.^[5]

• in 2013, a day-long event was held in the French Hill area of Marlborough, Massachusetts, attracting some thousand people. There was a social services tent and a prayer tent as well.^[6]

• In 2011, some 5,300 people gathered in Memorial Park of Rapid City, South Dakota, for a Convoy event featuring blood-pressure and blood-sugar tests as well as physical exams for children. Six thousand bags of food were distributed in a grocery tent. The activity stemmed from "previous local community outreach activity by local faith-based and secular groups."^[7]

• Similar events have been held in Leesburg, Virginia,^[8] Memphis, Tennessee,^[9][10] and elsewhere.

Overseas

• In 2010 Convoy of Hope received a federal grant to establish a women's micro-enterprise program in developing nations, beginning with a 10-week endeavor to help women in Ethiopia with basic financial training. More than eleven hundred women were celebrated with a cap and gown ceremony, and the program has been expanded to Tanzania and El Salvador.^[11]

• With a regional headquarters in Lucena, Philippines, Convoy of Hope has established a business program for local people and has developed three aquaponics systems for production of tilapia, which provide not only food but also waste products to nourish vegetable and other plants above ground.^[12]

Disaster relief

• The organization sent out several tractor-trailers of relief supplies to flood-damaged areas in Longmont, Evans, Boulder and other counties in Colorado in September 2013.^[13]

• In 2012, Convoy of Hope distributed food, water, flood buckets and other relief supplies in Slidell, Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Isaac.^[14] In the same year the group had already staged a fleet of tractor-trailers in Pennsylvania when Hurricane Sandy struck the northeast shore of the United States, and "more than $3 million in aid" was brought to victims in New York and New Jersey.^[1]

Evangel University

Convoy of Hope and Evangel University, both based in Springfield, have signed an agreement to "increase and improve 'applied science expertise' " in the United States and in Africa, Central America and South Africa.^[15] Brittni Woods is the project coordinator.^[16]

National tours

Convoy of Hope staged a tour across the United States beginning June 16, 2012 in Swope Park, Kansas City, Missouri, where tents were set up and volunteers distributed food, gave haircuts and made job referrals.^[17] A similar tour was held in September 2013.^[4]

Rating

For eleven years in a row, Convoy of Hope has earned a four-star rating, the highest, from Charity Navigator, an organization that evaluates charities in the United States.^[18]

Notable supporters

• Paul Kevin Jonas II, Joseph Adam Jonas and Nicholas Jerry Jonas of the singing group Jonas Brothers have been affiliated with Convoy of Hope since 2009. The brothers' Change for the Children Foundation has made grants to the organization.^[19]

References

External links

• Day of Hope in Bangor, Maine, WABI television report, September 3, 2014
• "'Convoy of Hope' Reaches Out to Americans Below Poverty Line," Fox News television report, July 14, 2012