From Rev. Ron Davidson, president and founder
of Gleaning For The World:

In 1992, I met the homeless for the first time. I had seen the ghostly figures walking the streets, but had not taken the time to meet them personally. One night, I sat and talked with a group of homeless people who had lost their jobs, their homes, and their futures. As we talked, I realized they had the same dreams for their lives and their children as I did for mine. As I delved deeper into the challenge of poverty and homelessness, I saw that, while local organizations were doing all they could to help these individuals, they lacked many simple, essential supplies. After that encounter, my heart was burdened to help and my life was changed forever.

By 1998, my desire to help the poor was so great that I stepped down from my position as pastor of a 1,200-member church. My wife and I moved from a four-bedroom parsonage to a basement apartment and used my mother’s basement to start Gleaning For The World. We were determined to make a difference in people’s lives by providing charitable organizations with the supplies they needed to help the poor.

During a visit to a ministry in Guatemala, I was introduced to people who worked 12-hour days in 110-degree heat to grow melons for us to eat in the U.S. These workers and their children slept in the dirt, under plastic sheets draped across four poles. Like me, they had dreams for their children — dreams that were not likely to come true. The ministry worked hard to provide assistance, but supplies were scarce.

In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, I visited an orphanage of mentally-disabled children. These innocent, precious children wanted nothing more than to be loved. The orphanage was doing all it could to help, but they needed food, supplies, and toys that could be used for physical therapy. My heart was touched and the future course of Gleaning For The World was set.

In just six years, GFTW moved from its basement office to an 18,000-square-foot office and warehouse facility in Concord, Virginia. By 2006, we had shipped more than $300 million in supplies to people in desperate need -- both here in the U.S. and around the world. For every $1 in donations, Gleaning For The World can provide $100 worth of critical, life-saving supplies where they are needed most. We are committed to this mission.

No matter who, no matter where — whenever human beings are suffering — Gleaning For The World will do whatever it takes to provide the supplies — the hope — they so desperately need. This is why we exist. And why we need your help.

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