Poverty is not the measure of a person

What a tremendous year it has been for the more than one million people HOPE International Development Agency donors have helped through their generous giving.

Each of the projects our donors supported was specifically developed to meet the most pressing and basic needs of families living in abject poverty in the countries we were privileged to work in this past year.

Every story of transformation, every life rescued from hunger, disease and suffering, was made possible through people like you who chose to make the poor a part of their own life story.

What does it mean to make the poor part of your own life story? In my experience, having spoken with thousands of donors over the past 36 years, we make the poor part of our life story by including them in our thoughts, prayers and giving.

Poverty is a measure of the suffering that will continue unless we intervene.

When we think about the poor, we see the real nature of their need and the lasting transformation we can provide.

When we pray for the poor, we invoke their needs and our responsibility to help.

When we give, we act on our belief that being poor has nothing to do with a person's value in God's eyes. It is, however, a measure of the suffering that will continue unless we intervene.

In Ethiopia, for example, donors make it possible for Frehiwot Alebachew, an thiopian woman of great courage and compassion, to expand her life-saving work of rescuing orphans from a life of suffering in the back alleys of Addis Ababa.

In places emerging from years of conflict, like the Democratic Republic of Congo, southern Sudan, and northern Afghanistan, donors are helping the people who have suffered through decades of conflict rebuild their lives, homes and livelihoods.

In times of disaster or emergency, donors are saving lives through their generous support.

Throughout the world, wherever families are hurting and suffering, we are able to help because of the compassion of people just like you.

Friend, as you read our 2007 annual report, think about the poor, pray for the poor, and rejoice in the positive and life-long transformation your giving brought to some of the poorest families on earth.