Poverty is a vicious cycle and it crosses all continental borders. Around the world over five hundred million workers struggle to make a mere $1 USD a day. (International Labor Organization) That is not enough to provide food, shelter, clothing and education for a single person let alone a family. In the desperate struggle to survive children are maimed and sent out to beg; women are forced into prostitution by their husbands; men leave home for months at a time to travel the countryside in search of hard labor jobs to put bread on the table. Others fortunate enough to have a parcel of land scratch out a meager existence against the odds of foul weather, scattered internal armed conflicts, and other unforeseen problems that arise. Many of these families are abandoning their land and migrating to the big cities in hope of work. Most often they end up in squatter shanties with hundred or thousands of others just like them. Some pick through garbage dumps for anything they can turn into cash or eat. Some are abused by unscrupulous city folk. Some die, leaving their children in the same situation.

The cycle of poverty claims casualties even in the United States where over twelve percent of the population lives below the poverty line. In tight labor markets the unemployed have a difficult time gaining and then keeping even entry-level jobs. This is sometimes due to the lack of basic life, relational and decision-making skills to succeed in the workforce. Without work and shrinking welfare rolls many families find it impossible to make ends meet. They have to make painful choices: heat or food; medicine or clothes. Thousands live on the constant verge of eviction and homelessness. Breaking out of the cycle is almost impossible unless someone helps.

Through Hope Works, Operation Blessing steps in to give men and women needing adequate employment foundational skills and tools get on the road to economic freedom. You can give a hungry man a fish but tomorrow he will be hungry again. If you teach him how and where to fish he has a better chance of surviving. When you also help him with fishing equipment he can probably take care of himself, his family, and many others who come his way. The cycle is broken.

Operation Blessing committed itself to serve more struggling people when significant changes came to the United States' welfare policy in 1997. In the United States we partner with locally based agencies to provide life skill training and a support network for unemployed and underemployed Americans looking for a better life. Many of these people have never had a stable job and don't have knowledge of what it takes to get and keep a job let alone excel there so advancement is possible. Hope Works teaches how to balance personal demands with work requirements; helps them discover their gifts, talents and personality so they can find a good employment fit; and passes on the importance of integrity, reliability and good character. Our students also learn practical things like how to present themselves in a job interview. Once students complete a life skill training class, they are given help finding solid employment.

In developing countries Hope Works takes a different approach. Students can't be prepared for jobs that don't exist. So, we look at a community's needs and create employment opportunities. For example, micro-credit loans have been given to women's cooperatives in several countries so that they can start up profitable businesses such as sausage making or raising chickens. A successful well drilling company created numerous jobs and is still being supported. Numerous micro-enterprise sewing programs have also trained hundreds of men and women sewing and machinery skills. The opportunities are endless!

Regardless of where someone lives, it is critical that they receive the tools needed to become financially independent. Through Hope Works, Operation Blessing is making a positive impact in the lives and families of thousands of people around the world -- changes that should last for generations to come. In South Africa hundreds of once unemployed men and women are now seamstresses and mechanics supporting their families through Sewing Cooperatives we helped establish in their townships. Not only can they now buy food for their children, they can also provide required school supplies and uniforms as well.

All year round, all over the world Operation Blessing is helping people get back on their feet through Hope Works job programs. Whether it is training men and women right here in the United States essential skills for life and work, or providing families in Guatemala with livestock for diary farming, we are offering a hand up out of poverty. You can join us in breaking the cycle of poverty. A gift of $100 can help sponsor a fellow countryman for a Life Skills training program that can transform his life and family. A donation of $5000 could establish a fully equipped sewing cooperative in Africa or Asia employing 10 or more desperate men or women. In fact an investment of any amount can go toward changing the life and future of families around the world by helping start small businesses, train in the poor with marketable skills, help a family start profitable farming ventures, and many other technically and culturally appropriate work projects.