“I recently saw a post on Facebook entitled “10 Signs You Know You’re Doing Well in Life.” If you have a roof over your head, clean water to drink, ate a meal today, have breath in your lungs, clean clothes to wear, etc… you are doing well. To this list of ten signs, I am adding “knowing Jesus.”
By contrast, those who are the recipients of Self Denial grants can often say these things are not true for them. Self Denial grants help fund missionaries or mission trips that serve a variety of needs. The Order’s goal is to fund thirty missions this fiscal year.
Daughters have received grants for mission trips to spread the Gospel to girls, some of whom are Junior Daughters in Honduras. Daughters in Spain minister to the elderly and unemployed by delivering food supplied by the government. Others provide Vacation Bible School to young people in the summer. Grant funds are used to purchase Bibles for those who cannot afford them. Some go on mission trips to build wells that provide fresh water or to provide medical care that has been subsidized. Most recently, special grants were made to International Daughters whose communities were more fearful of dying from hunger than from COVID-19.
Instead of having a Starbucks coffee every day, deny yourself a cup one day each week and save those funds. Thinking about a new shirt? Throw those dollars in a savings cup. Buy a used book instead of a new one online – clink, clink. Your acts of self denial will help The Order provide grants so that our sisters and brothers in Christ throughout the world can also do well in life.” Make a donation to the Self Denial Fund >
– Krisita Jackson, National President
The Self Denial Fund in 2020
In September 1922, at National Convention in Portland Oregon, a resolution was adopted setting February 2, as a special day for the ingathering of the Self Denial Fund. This is significant because February 2, forty days after the birth of our Lord and Savior, is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.
Throughout the year, Daughters set aside funds that might otherwise be used for something else. After prayer, the funds are donated to the Self Denial Fund. Some chapters collect “denial funds” each month that are then forwarded to the national office. These funds are used to support missionaries and missions around the world for both senior and Junior Daughters.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to travel, so many missions that involved traveling out of the country were postponed. The Order, through the Self Denial Fund supported missions both in the United States and our International Daughters chapters. As COVID-19 began to impact our country, it did so throughout the world as well. In the United States, we have organizations established to help in emergencies. In many countries, organized support does not exist. Subsequently, we learned from our Sisters that many people were suffering from food insecurity and did not have access to Personal Protection Devices (PPD). The Executive Board of The Order decided to support our sister chapters. Requests for funding came from Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Malawi, Mexico, Panama, Spain, and Uganda. Each Chapter received $1,000 to purchase food and staples.
Many thanks to members of the International Committee: Lindy Kirk, Pam Runyon, Emily Thrasher, Grace Sears, and our very capable national office staff including Lynn Kimbrell, Michelle Sabbato, and Ronda Albright, who worked feverishly to help get the funds out quickly.
The Self Denial Fund in the United States
Two missions in the United States that are funded by the Self Denial Fund are WHEEL POWER Christian Cyclists and Mission-Three-Sixteens.
“The purpose of the Wheel Power Christian cyclists ministry is to spread the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to people the team meets along the roads, in the towns and wherever the Lord provides those Divine Appointments.”
In October 2020, the WHEEL POWER trip started in Lynchburg, Virginia and traveled to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, a distance of 2,800 miles round trip. At each destination, the cyclist team would bicycle around, stop and talk to people about Jesus. Despite COVID-19, they rode their bicycles in very populated areas and on some rural trails in Redding, Pennsylvania; Springfield, Missouri; Springdale, Arkansas; and Tulsa, Oklahoma, ministering to the people they encountered along the way. A support vehicle accompanied the cyclist to assist with repairs, carry large supplies, and drive the cyclists to their starting point.
Mission-Three-Sixteens is a youth relief ministry which provides a Christian response to the critical needs of youth and families in local communities and around the globe. It was created in August 2017, after hurricane Irma destroyed the Caribbean Island of Barbuda. Since then, Mission-Three-Sixteens has been helping children and families bridge the social-emotional, educational, and economical barriers that can have a negative impact on students’ academic achievement. The group’s key goal is to provide spiritual guidance and support, very often accomplished through music.
Since the pandemic, Mission-Three-Sixteens has live-streamed youth-led church services for fellow youths. Because so many Churches remain closed due to COVID-19, the weekly service has become the “spiritual fueling station” for many young people. “The Youth Ministers ‘meet the young people where they are’ and have been instrumental in leading many young people to God.” One of the wonderful rainbows of this pandemic.
We know that the pandemic has triggered the birth of many new ideas, including missions at no or low cost. If you are aware of groups or individuals that are working to spread the Gospel that might benefit from additional financial support, please encourage them to apply. Applications, including criteria and instructions, can be found on our website. The Self Denial Fund committee, comprised of myself, Helen Bhagwandin, Monica Burden, and Nancy Severin, review all applications to ensure the criteria are met.
– Katherine Marshall-Polite, Self Denial Fund Chair
