Today we are happy to reflect on this past year and share with you what we've achieved together— 2023 has been a year of growth and success, while we've also continued to battle many challenges abroad due to political instabilities.
We were especially happy to welcome so many new friends into our community of support this year: we saw 536 donors in 2023 vs. 414 in 2022, an almost 30% increase.
We are grateful that our Executive Director, Kirby Trapolino, was able to make visits to many of our program sites, enabling him to bring you first-hand reports on our progress.
What follows is your 2023 Year-End Impact Report. We are sure you'll agree it's nothing short of a miracle what you've helped us accomplish this year at Peace Gospel and She Has Hope.
We're so thankful for you and for God's grace which has sustained our field staff, volunteers, and the more than 1,500 women and children who depend on our programs for their security, rehabilitation, nutrition, and education.
FUNDING. Year-to-date, over $775,000 has been raised in support of orphans, trafficking survivors and child labor victims at 22 project locations. This was multiplied further in our small business and farmland efforts as cited later in this report.
MEALS. Approximately 1.1 MILLION fresh meals (about 3,000/day) were served to children and staff in need thanks to your generosity and the multiplying effect of our farms and gardens.
ORPHAN CARE. 547 orphans were provided a loving home environment, education, and nutrition consistently throughout the year.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE. Several medical emergencies for children in our programs were immediately covered without the need for special fundraisers thanks to your generous support of our 2022 year-end campaign.
MULTIPLICATION. Your "seed" funding was multiplied to produce a record-breaking 53.6 tons of food on our farmlands, fisheries, and hen houses, providing operating income and fresh ingredients for our children's meals.
GIRL GRADUATES. In our human trafficking response programs, 74 girls received their high school diplomas, 34 received college or trade school diplomas, and 3 were commissioned into small business ownership!
EDUCATION. You helped us see a record-breaking 1,461 scholarships provided in 2023, saving children from hazardous child labor or trafficking at our 9 resident homes, 6 Hope Centers, and 2 schools, and a further 85 scholarships provided for students at our 5 trade schools.
IMPROVEMENTS. Wow! We saw many major improvements in 2023 thanks to your support:
1️⃣ Our Uganda primary school is enjoying their newly-completed second school building as a direct result of last year's year-end campaign (seen below).
2️⃣ Our main Myanmar campus has a new 2,300-foot perimeter security wall almost fully completed— a major necessity during such tense times in the country.
3️⃣ Our Philippines girls home continues its substantial expansion and renovation project, with a new kitchen underway as well. The project is about 80% complete!
4️⃣ We were able to buy the 0.75-acre land on which our Uganda girls home sits (previously a rental), adjacent to our primary school campus.
SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISERS. Our annual gala, "A Taste of Hope" raised over $100,000 for our programs in one night. Other inaugural fundraisers in Austin, Dallas, and Sonoma raised over $90,000 in total as our parent organization celebrated its 30-year anniversary.
Thanks to your support, our Founder Kirby Trapolino's "24 Hour Photo Project" in NYC raised over $12,000 along with awareness among tens of thousands who saw his photos and live videos talking about She Has Hope.
TRAFFICKING RESPONSE. We saw many breakthroughs in our human trafficking response programs such as 28 girls enrolled in our rehabilitation home and trade school in Nepal, and an all-new trade school launched in India with 15 women enrolled! 57 women were enrolled in our Uganda trade school, and 9 women were enrolled in our Philippines trade school. Hundreds of girls across all of our program locations were trained in trafficking avoidance workshops.
MAJOR RECOGNITIONS. For the 13th year in a row, we have been awarded Platinum level status (their highest level) by Candid, the premier source for nonprofit information and transparency. We were again rated a 5-star charity at Great Non-Profits this year.
2023 YEAR-END CAMPAIGN. If we can reach our year-end goal, we'll be able to more than double the size of our Uganda rural boarding high school campus and farmland, make major improvements to their facilities, install computer labs at both of our Uganda schools, replenish our emergency fund, and achieve other objectives outlined in our campaign.
Here's the artist's visualization of the proposed expansion of our Uganda boarding high school campus and farmland!
We are so thankful for your friendship and support in 2023— we truly could not have done this without you.
TAKE ACTION: give hope and donate to our 2023 year-end goal
