Big gift by small church makes global impact

A $120,000 gift to Buckner International from Memorial Baptist Church in Taylor has made a big difference for children in two countries.

Through the gift, Memorial has changed the face of care for children in La Loba, a Mexico City-area colonia, and in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The largest portion of the gift will be used to build a community center that will focus on feeding children in La Loba, an impoverished area near a landfill. The remainder was targeted to support the Babies Home in Ethiopia.

It’s an unusually sized gift that Albert Reyes, president of Buckner Children and Family Services, says will make an unusually big difference to the affected children.

“Through Memorial’s giving, we will be able to construct this feeding center, which already is feeding more than 140 children five times a week in an open-air space between two buildings. We’ll now be able to provide additional programs in the safety of a center and hope to increase our ability to feed 250 children a week,” Reyes said.

“This gift also will allow us to bring additional support to the Babies Home, giving us the ability to care for more small children needing care and waiting for adoption. This is a blessing from God.”

Pastor Dudley Marx said the direction Memorial Baptist church took reflected its desire to help impoverished children.

“We do not have very many young children in this church, and when we brought in ideas, the children really hit home. They recognized the direction this world is taking and children need help,” Marx said. “Jesus helped everyone, but the poor were attracted to him. We want to be like that, to do like Jesus does.”