January is Poverty Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness for and supporting solutions to combat poverty.
The United Nations defines poverty as a “lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods.” The organization further explains that “its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion, and the lack of participation in decision-making.”
While poverty has historically been measured by income, it involves a multitude of factors, including limited access to food, water, clothing, shelter, education, healthcare, and legal or political challenges. As a form of deprivation, poverty is discernible physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually.
For those experiencing poverty, hope for a brighter future and greater aspirations for success may feel impossible as they face a daily struggle to make ends meet.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a psychological theory that argues that basic needs must be met before more advanced needs can be fulfilled. According to this theory, physiological needs and safety and security needs must be met before emotional, relational, and spiritual well-being can be achieved.
One More Child’s trauma-informed and evidence-based programs are set up to address the bottom three levels of needs: physiological needs, safety and security needs, and love and belonging needs.
Physiological Needs
Many of the people One More Child serves are in physiological need, including need of food, water, shelter, clothing, and sleep.
Single moms and struggling families everywhere are fighting to provide for and lead their families with dignity. Our goal is to come alongside these strong individuals and work with them to ensure their families’ essential needs are met.
No child should go to bed hungry. No mother should have to decide between buying diapers or paying rent. No family should live in a state of constant struggle to meet their most basic needs.
One More Child is at the forefront of combating physical poverty in nearly every aspect of our ministry. One notable and clear example of this is our Compassion Ministry.
One More Child Compassion Centers are hubs where volunteers, businesses, and individual donors collaborate to make a life-changing impact through tangible support. At Compassion Centers, children and families can access vital resources including food, water, diapers, and clothing, as well as receive services such as counseling and professional or personal guidance. Take a tour of one of our Compassion Centers here!
We also heavily prioritize meeting physiological needs in our Global programs, specifically Child Sponsorship. By sponsoring a child, you can change the life of one more child in a developing nation.
Child Sponsorship provides food and clean water, meets medical needs, offers educational opportunities, and shares the Gospel. One More Child also prioritizes building relationships with sponsored children in our program, not just with our ministry partners around the world, but also with families who choose to sponsor! On One More Child mission trips, you could have the opportunity to meet your sponsored child, spend time with their family, and visit their home.
One More Child believes in the dignity and inherent value of all people—for we are all made in the image of God—and believes no one should live in physical poverty.
Safety and Security Needs
Safety and security needs include health, employment, property, and family. Those who find themselves in this level of need desire order, predictability, and control in their own lives.
With these needs in mind, One More Child offers housing to single moms and foster families, employment services such as resume building, mental health counseling, parenting classes, and more. We don’t simply want children and families in our care to survive day by day. Instead, we desire for them to thrive and ultimately become self-sufficient—and we provide resources and support to accomplish this.
Our Single Moms residential program is a prime example. In the 12-month experience, eligible moms receive housing in a safe environment and secure location, assistance in continuing or completing education, life-skills classes including cooking and budgeting, connections to local churches, and community support from other single moms and Godly mentors. This program intends to set up single moms on a path of self-sufficiency and security.
Our goal for all the clients we serve is to help them move on from consistently living in a state of physical poverty, so they can lead their families to a place of flourishing and fulfillment.
Love and Belonging Needs
Love and belonging needs include friendship, family, acceptance, and a sense of connection. As a faith-based organization, addressing this need is a vital part of One More Child’s mission.
As Christians, we are called to care for the vulnerable and needy, as commanded in Deuteronomy 15:11b (ESV), “You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.”
But we also know that without the good news of Jesus, everything we have is meaningless, as Philippians 3:8a (ESV) says, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
With our mandate to meet needs and provide tangible support, we are equally dedicated to share the hope of Jesus in everything we do. With Jesus comes love, belonging, friendship, family, and so much more.
In every program and with every interaction, we seek to illustrate love, lead with humility, and welcome everyone with kindness.
Living with Awareness
To the hurting, the needy, the lost, the broken-hearted, the vulnerable, One More Child is here, offering tangible support and eternal hope through Jesus. We dream of a day when poverty no longer exists on this earth, but until that is ultimately fulfilled through God’s power, we must continue our important work—and to do this, we need your help.
We want to reach every hungry child, foster child, trafficked child, single mom, and struggling family—but we cannot accomplish this without people who support our mission. We need volunteers, donors, and people to spread the word about our services.
In recognition of Poverty Awareness Month, we are issuing a two-part challenge:
- Learn to see the vulnerable.
So often in One More Child’s ministry, we’ve encountered children and individuals who were hurt, abused, or neglected and said to us, “Surely someone saw me.”
While it is easy and common to focus on our own lives, if this is all we do, we neglect the mission of God. We need to train our eyes to see the vulnerable.
- Spread the word… There is hope!
People need to know! There is hope! One More Child exists to serve vulnerable children and struggling families, and we love connecting with new clients. We invite you to refer us to anyone who may benefit from our services. View our email directory here to direct any questions or referrals to the appropriate department.
However, more than what One More Child can provide, there is hope in the name of Jesus Christ. He offers us a life of freedom and joy if we put our trust in Him. It is the greatest news, and we must share it!
