A month ago, Chris and I attended a Rural Philanthropy Days Conference held in Crested Butte, Colorado. The goal of this conference is to help match non-profits needing grant money with Colorado Foundations looking to give money away. They are very focused on social networking and giving non-profits tools they need to be successful organizations. Chris and I both learned a lot. Although we will not be in a position to receive grant money until we achieve 501(c)3 status, we felt that we gained valuable insights for setting up Hope’s Journey Int’l.

On June 27th we had a prayer and information meeting. It was a great meeting with lots of encouragement and good insight. The notes from that meeting will soon be posted on our website.

Two weeks ago, Chris and I spent a couple days in Colorado Springs where we had several other good meetings. This included meeting with another burn survivor who is better classified as an overcomer. She is a successful, confident individual with a great sense of humor. She had great questions and good advice. We also met with a board member of Compassion Int’l and got great counsel from him and his wife, especially in the area of handling finances. We feel that it is important to learn from others that are working with successful, above-board, Christ-centered non-profits and we have enjoyed meeting people from various ministries.

We will continue to have monthly prayer meetings. The next one is this Saturday, July 25th, 6:30pm at my house.