The Coronavirus situation has become an undeniable crisis for Brazil with the current confirmed cases of COVID-19 exceeding the number in Italy! The healthcare system has collapsed and with death tolls surpassing 500 daily and over 16,000 nationwide, the nation has resorted to mass graves. We’re told that at this point, they are now deciding who lives and who dies! The worst part is that this situation hits the hardest for those who are already vulnerable; the poor, at-risk, and exploited. People are already desperate and now, the situation is worsening! The poor simply don’t have access to, or the financial means to get the treatment to fight the virus.
Please pray for all of the children who are trapped at home with their abusers and the children who will resort to selling their little bodies or drugs simply to be able to eat! The need was already so great in Brazil and now, that need is only growing! Please be praying for things to open back up so we can move forward with our efforts to prevent, rescue, and bring healing to the precious children of Brazil! In spite of everything, our Brazilian team is still moving forward, working to provide food for the most at-risk communities, being a part of local outreaches, and our prevention project is still underway!
Read more about the situation in Brazil:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/30/brazil-manaus-coronavirus-mass-graves
100 Families Received Food!
In spite of the difficulties Brazil is facing, good things are happening! Just recently, one of our local Brazilian partners donated supplies to fill 100 food baskets to take to some of the communities that were hit the hardest. Our team, along with one of our local leaders, Pastor John, assembled each of the baskets filled with rice, beans, salt, sugar, oil, and a few local items, and then headed out to distribute them. God truly showed up to help some of Brazil’s most vulnerable! We are so thankful to Him, our generous partner, and our incredible local team!
Ministry Ambassadors Meet a Need!
Things have truly gone from bad to worse in Brazil, especially in poorer communities in the north. In one of the communities we are working in, the people are unable to work and because of it, they don’t have money to buy food to feed their families! The initial 100 food baskets we were able to distribute were a huge blessing to the families that received them, but it simply wasn’t enough to meet the need.
In addition to that, one of the local safe homes we have partnered with was in a terrible situation. Due to COVID-19 ‘s effect on the economy, donations had decreased and they were running out of money! They were also in desperate need of repairs to their existing roof!
The need was so great for so many people. We knew we had to do more to help! Our goal was to start fundraising and see if we could really meet more of the needs within these communities. Before we could really begin our efforts, two of our ministry ambassadors, Amanda Rodrigues and Marcos Freire stepped up to fundraise on behalf of Life Impact! Each of these incredible people put on live streaming concerts on Youtube to raise money to help meet the needs of the vulnerable in Brazil! (See below to view their concerts.)
So far, close to 5,000 reais ($900 USD) has come in! This portion of the donations received was given to our partner safe home to help with their roof repairs and general expenses during this pandemic! Because of the faithfulness of God and the generosity of so many, we were able to help provide a safe, dry place for some of Brazil’s most at-risk children and ensure they will have their basics needs met during this time!
As donations continue to come in, we plan to purchase supplies to fill additional baskets with food and distribute them to at least 200 additional families. Times are very tough for the nation of Brazil right now, but we believe, now more than ever, that God has positioned us for such a time as this!
Thank you for standing with us as we take ground in the nation of Brazil! Please continue to pray for these communities that have been hit so hard, the precious children that are at-risk of or being exploited even now, and for our national team and ambassadors that are working so faithfully to impact Brazil!
If you would like to help reach and rescue the most vulnerable in Brazil during the COVID-19 crisis, you can make a donation below.
