Bethel aids Helping Children Worldwide with shortfall

CHARLESTON—For more than a decade, Bethel United Methodist Church, Charleston, has partnered in mission with Helping Children Worldwide, a nongovernmental U.S. organization affiliated with the UMC dedicated to supporting the Child Reintegration Centre and Mercy UMC Hospital in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

The Child Reintegration Centre is dedicated to reuniting children in kinship care and strengthening vulnerable families. Mercy Hospital is the heartbeat of the mission, providing critical care for families and pre-and postnatal care for young mothers. Working together with HCW, these organizations are making a demonstrative difference in Africa, particularly in the lives of young children. 

With the recent withdrawal of U.S. foreign aid and the realignment of UMCs supporting HCW, Mercy Hospital faced a $50,000 budget shortfall. Bethel, Charleston, used Lent and Easter and second-mile giving to collect nearly $45,000 of that shortfall to send to Mercy Hospital. 

Unlike other hospitals in Sierra Leone, Mercy’s mission is to care for patients despite their ability to pay.

Without these essential funds, many people in medical need will be turned away, with nowhere else to turn. Mercy Hospital’s village outreach clinics offer prenatal care to pregnant women, babies and children younger than the age of five who receive malnourishment supplements, vaccinations and malaria medications. Without these services, the situation is life-threatening. 

Dr. Laura Horvath from HCW presented a program during the Sunday school hour explaining how Bethel’s funds are helping. Then she was presented with a check on behalf of Bethel UMC by the Rev. Susan Leonard, senior pastor.

A follow-up check for remaining gifts will be sent in May, and a second-mile gift from Lenten contributions will be sent to Africa University.