IHCF: African Christian Hospitals

My family has had a long relationship with IHCF: African Christian Hospitals. Their director, Tom Carr, was my mom’s boss at the Tennessee Children’s Home for ten years, and the Carr family has been dear to our hearts for decades. When Tom moved to Searcy, Arkansas, to work with IHCF, we became fast financial supporters.

When our first son turned one, we looked around our condo and felt there was no need for new clothes or toys or anything else. Between my obsession with buying him presents and the generosity of friends and family, Jack had so much! We wanted someone else to benefit from our celebration of Jack’s first year of life, and after I asked Tom Carr for suggestions, we decided donations of children’s vitamins to African Christian Hospitals would be the perfect request to make of loved ones coming to Jack’s first birthday party. Though he had no idea, being so young, he was missing out on presents—or that he was helping others—Jack’s compassionate spirit is more and more obvious through the years, and I continue to pray we can parent him, and his brother Jonas and soon-to-be-here sister June, towards giving and humility.

I knew I wanted to work with IHCF: Africa Christian Hospitals on some project with Live the Blessing in 2014, and Tom Carr once again sent me a list of needs. Though I had no idea exactly what these items were, the $1,500 for new blood pressure kits and otoscopes for each of the seven hospitals and clinics stood out to me. Because African Christian Hospitals had a deadline of needing these items by summer, I focused on financing this project first. At the book release party for Live the Blessing, the illustrators (who donated their work to support these wonderful causes) and I raised the final amount needed. In September 2014, The Hilliard Institute will formally hand over the final check to Tom Carr before he makes a trip to Africa with the new equipment! 

You can also learn more about the works of IHCF: African Christian Hospitals on their website.