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Threads_of_Hope
‘God’s in charge of sales’
Threads of Hope bracelets provide jobs, demonstration of Gospel
By Called and Sent Staff PHOTOS
PUERTO GALERA, Philippines—Alex and Chris Kuhlow could tell just by looking at Alona that something was not right.
The Kuhlows, dormitory parents from Faith Academy in Manila, had known Alona, a 21-year-old beach vendor, for several years. Alona sold bottled water, souvenirs and brightly colored, woven bracelets that she and her family made. Always cheerful, always the soft-sell, Alona had endeared herself to Alex and Chris the first time they met in this popular beach resort town south of Manila. But that day, Alona looked troubled.
It didn’t take much prying from Alex and Chris for Alona to say why: Several of her friends, desperate for money, had begun selling themselves to make what they couldn’t make by selling bracelets and baskets on the beach.
Not knowing exactly what to do—but not wanting Alona to make the same decision as her friends—Alex gave her $100 for as many bracelets as she could give him. The bracelets sold for about 10 cents apiece, and Alona didn’t have nearly a hundred dollars’ worth. Alex said it was no problem--just to get him as many bracelets as she could the next time they came down.
Alex and Chris didn’t know (and really didn’t care) if they’d see any bracelets in return. But their next time down, Alona showed up with 1,200 bracelets. That little transaction would prove the start of something much bigger than a bundle of bracelets.
“We thought, ‘Wow, what do we do with twelve hundred bracelets?’” Chris recalls. “So we brought them home, and we just shared the story with friends and family at church.”
They also told the story to friends at Crescent Lake Bible Camp near Rhinelander, Wis., where the Kuhlow family camped during their annual six-week hiatus from Manila. Alona’s story spread. Bracelets sold—a dollar apiece or buy five, get one free.
Within six weeks, the Kuhlows had about $1,000 and no more bracelets.
When they returned to the Philippines, they traveled to Puerto Galera and gave Alona the thousand dollars. However, it still wasn’t clear that they had a ministry in the making. Just becoming missionaries in the first place was a shock to the Kuhlows: Alex was a machinist, Chris a homemaker caring for two children when they felt God’s call to become dorm parents at Faith Academy. Neither had any experience starting a business or their own ministry.
“It’s all amazing to us when we recount the story,” Chris says. “We have no gifting for anything that’s been needed so far.”
However, when Alona turned that $1,000 into 12,000 bracelets that her family and friends had woven, things began to clarify themselves.
“We just realized, if we can keep selling these bracelets and keep bringing the money back, then maybe even more people will have enough money for food and whatever else,” Chris says. “It really began as a humanitarian project. We didn’t have a plan.”
The Kuhlows named the new business Threads of Hope. Other missionaries at Faith Academy heard about the bracelets and began selling them to their friends. As missionaries went home on furlough, they would take a few hundred or a few thousand bracelets with them, spreading sales to Australia and South Korea, among other countries.
Using Alona as their main contact, the Kuhlows began ordering 20,000 bracelets per month. Today Alona runs the business using every bit of her fifth-grade education, contracting one family to make 500 bracelets, another 200, whatever they can do to help fill the order.
As Alona has spread the work among extended family and friends in Puerto Galera, she has emerged as a sort of mini-tycoon: Today Threads of Hope is an official U.S. nonprofit organization that pumps $2,000 a month into the community—enough to provide a living for 50 local families. Alex and Chris oversee the organization, but they leave details up to the workers and God.
“When we say we need 20,000 bracelets, she knows who has the greatest needs,” Alex says of Alona. “She just keeps track of it all.
“I always say, ‘The Lord’s in charge of sales.’ We’ll just continue to put the money back in and keep as many people employed as possible.”
Alex picks up thread for the bracelets from a wholesale market in Manila. Workers in the Threads of Hope’s co-op can make about 12 bracelets per hour and receive 10 cents per bracelet. If the sum sounds paltry, it does to Alex, too. He once offered Alona 20 cents per bracelet, but she turned him down: Increasing the rate would decrease the potential number of families in the co-op, she said.
Alona’s generosity toward her neighbors hasn’t been lost on them. Because Threads of Hope provides some of the steadiest work around in the resort town—rainy season can all but dry up a local family’s income—workers stick together.
Chris says they feared for Alona’s safety at first as people learned that she was handling $2,000 cash each month (this in a country where $7 a day is considered a good wage). That isn’t much of a problem anymore.
“The people who are making the bracelets are almost like bodyguards for her,” Alex says. “She’s the point person, she’s got the money, and part of that belongs to them.”
Though some of Alona’s neighbors might be jealous of her, as they see that Alona is helping as many families as she can with the business, Alex and Chris think her peers view her more favorably than before.
“I think over time, the people have come to understand we’re helping as many people as we can, and we’re going to keep trying to help more and more,” Chris says.
That help is spreading beyond the material into the spiritual. Last year, Alex brought a pastor friend from Manila to share the Gospel with local people in their own language. His visit resulted in Alona accepting Jesus as her savior, along with her mother and grandmother. The pastor was so encourage by their receptiveness in Puerto Galera that he has moved his whole family there permanently—just after completing a new building for the church he was leading at the time in Manila.
Today Alona and her family are core members of a new church in Puerto Galera (Alona is now being trained to be a Sunday School teacher). Bracelet sales have been strong enough to keep $2,000 per month flowing into the business, with enough left over to pay the new pastor and start a building fund for the new church.
“A lot of missions do that now—they start businesses to employ people to provide for them, and then down the road, they will share the Gospel because they’ll be ready,” Chris says. “We didn’t know that’s how you do it. It was God’s plan, and it’s exactly what happened.”
Threads of Hope bracelets provide jobs, demonstration of Gospel
By Called and Sent Staff PHOTOS
 | |
|
Alona (middle) with her mother and grandmother, all of whom have come to faith in Christ through Threads of Hope.
|
PUERTO GALERA, Philippines—Alex and Chris Kuhlow could tell just by looking at Alona that something was not right.
The Kuhlows, dormitory parents from Faith Academy in Manila, had known Alona, a 21-year-old beach vendor, for several years. Alona sold bottled water, souvenirs and brightly colored, woven bracelets that she and her family made. Always cheerful, always the soft-sell, Alona had endeared herself to Alex and Chris the first time they met in this popular beach resort town south of Manila. But that day, Alona looked troubled.
It didn’t take much prying from Alex and Chris for Alona to say why: Several of her friends, desperate for money, had begun selling themselves to make what they couldn’t make by selling bracelets and baskets on the beach.
Not knowing exactly what to do—but not wanting Alona to make the same decision as her friends—Alex gave her $100 for as many bracelets as she could give him. The bracelets sold for about 10 cents apiece, and Alona didn’t have nearly a hundred dollars’ worth. Alex said it was no problem--just to get him as many bracelets as she could the next time they came down.
Alex and Chris didn’t know (and really didn’t care) if they’d see any bracelets in return. But their next time down, Alona showed up with 1,200 bracelets. That little transaction would prove the start of something much bigger than a bundle of bracelets.
“We thought, ‘Wow, what do we do with twelve hundred bracelets?’” Chris recalls. “So we brought them home, and we just shared the story with friends and family at church.”
They also told the story to friends at Crescent Lake Bible Camp near Rhinelander, Wis., where the Kuhlow family camped during their annual six-week hiatus from Manila. Alona’s story spread. Bracelets sold—a dollar apiece or buy five, get one free.
Within six weeks, the Kuhlows had about $1,000 and no more bracelets.
When they returned to the Philippines, they traveled to Puerto Galera and gave Alona the thousand dollars. However, it still wasn’t clear that they had a ministry in the making. Just becoming missionaries in the first place was a shock to the Kuhlows: Alex was a machinist, Chris a homemaker caring for two children when they felt God’s call to become dorm parents at Faith Academy. Neither had any experience starting a business or their own ministry.
“It’s all amazing to us when we recount the story,” Chris says. “We have no gifting for anything that’s been needed so far.”
However, when Alona turned that $1,000 into 12,000 bracelets that her family and friends had woven, things began to clarify themselves.
“We just realized, if we can keep selling these bracelets and keep bringing the money back, then maybe even more people will have enough money for food and whatever else,” Chris says. “It really began as a humanitarian project. We didn’t have a plan.”
The Kuhlows named the new business Threads of Hope. Other missionaries at Faith Academy heard about the bracelets and began selling them to their friends. As missionaries went home on furlough, they would take a few hundred or a few thousand bracelets with them, spreading sales to Australia and South Korea, among other countries.
Using Alona as their main contact, the Kuhlows began ordering 20,000 bracelets per month. Today Alona runs the business using every bit of her fifth-grade education, contracting one family to make 500 bracelets, another 200, whatever they can do to help fill the order.
As Alona has spread the work among extended family and friends in Puerto Galera, she has emerged as a sort of mini-tycoon: Today Threads of Hope is an official U.S. nonprofit organization that pumps $2,000 a month into the community—enough to provide a living for 50 local families. Alex and Chris oversee the organization, but they leave details up to the workers and God.
“When we say we need 20,000 bracelets, she knows who has the greatest needs,” Alex says of Alona. “She just keeps track of it all.
“I always say, ‘The Lord’s in charge of sales.’ We’ll just continue to put the money back in and keep as many people employed as possible.”
Alex picks up thread for the bracelets from a wholesale market in Manila. Workers in the Threads of Hope’s co-op can make about 12 bracelets per hour and receive 10 cents per bracelet. If the sum sounds paltry, it does to Alex, too. He once offered Alona 20 cents per bracelet, but she turned him down: Increasing the rate would decrease the potential number of families in the co-op, she said.
Alona’s generosity toward her neighbors hasn’t been lost on them. Because Threads of Hope provides some of the steadiest work around in the resort town—rainy season can all but dry up a local family’s income—workers stick together.
Chris says they feared for Alona’s safety at first as people learned that she was handling $2,000 cash each month (this in a country where $7 a day is considered a good wage). That isn’t much of a problem anymore.
“The people who are making the bracelets are almost like bodyguards for her,” Alex says. “She’s the point person, she’s got the money, and part of that belongs to them.”
Though some of Alona’s neighbors might be jealous of her, as they see that Alona is helping as many families as she can with the business, Alex and Chris think her peers view her more favorably than before.
“I think over time, the people have come to understand we’re helping as many people as we can, and we’re going to keep trying to help more and more,” Chris says.
That help is spreading beyond the material into the spiritual. Last year, Alex brought a pastor friend from Manila to share the Gospel with local people in their own language. His visit resulted in Alona accepting Jesus as her savior, along with her mother and grandmother. The pastor was so encourage by their receptiveness in Puerto Galera that he has moved his whole family there permanently—just after completing a new building for the church he was leading at the time in Manila.
Today Alona and her family are core members of a new church in Puerto Galera (Alona is now being trained to be a Sunday School teacher). Bracelet sales have been strong enough to keep $2,000 per month flowing into the business, with enough left over to pay the new pastor and start a building fund for the new church.
“A lot of missions do that now—they start businesses to employ people to provide for them, and then down the road, they will share the Gospel because they’ll be ready,” Chris says. “We didn’t know that’s how you do it. It was God’s plan, and it’s exactly what happened.”
© 2008 Called and Sent Magazine. All rights reserved.