I received an email today with the subject line "FINAL REMINDER."

You know you've missed something important when that pops up, in all caps.

“Order your 2026-2027 school supplies!”

School supplies? My daughters are just starting their full third week of summer vacation! I haven't even bought s'mores supplies for the Fourth of July yet!

Being a bargain shopper, I prefer to wait for the end-of-summer sales to stock up on what my girls need for the new academic year.

It felt good to hit “delete” and turn my attention back to the coming holiday weekend.

At the same time, it was a good reminder that LPGM’s students around the world are in school now, and their needs are real and ongoing.

Many students, such as in India, are from families that don’t have the resources to purchase school supplies. In Guatemala, paying for transportation to school beyond the village school, which only goes through the sixth grade, is a great challenge. In Tanzania, many girls desire to stay in school rather than being forced into early marriage and into having children against their will. They literally escape and find refuge with our partner who takes on the expenses of these young survivors. In the Central African Republic, women who never had the opportunity to attend school are learning to read and write for the first time!

For these students, especially young girls, education is a lifeline – allowing them to dream beyond their circumstances and opening a world of possibilities.

Keily, a young Q’eqchi Maya woman in Guatemala, recently shared, “The WALC program [run by LPGM partner, CCFC] has sincerely helped me, because when I came [for the first time], I was in a phase where I saw the world as totally closed and where there weren't opportunities. But when I returned home, I saw a lot of things differently, like new opportunities.”

Students like Keily are breaking cycles of poverty, becoming leaders in their communities, and seeing a future filled with possibilities. Education gives them choices. That’s true freedom.

Thanks to God and to our supporters like you, our partners are able to care for these young people, providing what they need to heal, survive, and thrive as they pursue an education.

It is friends like you who, for 30+ years, have provided what students at the margins need to access quality education through LPGM. From Guatemala to the Central African Republic and India to Tanzania, these young people are able not only to attend school, but also to lead healthier, happier lives while experiencing the love of God! 

These children and young women require many of the same basic needs that our own do – school clothes or uniforms, shoes, health exams, paper, writing utensils, backpacks, and activities fees. For some students, especially those without families who support them, they even need tuition, room, and board.

Unlike the email I received, there is never a “FINAL REMINDER!”

Every day is a good day to help a child in need.

Every season of the year, our partners are at work to provide what these young people need to survive and to thrive. You are invited and encouraged to walk alongside them, and us, as we work to fulfill our mission.  

Thank you for your generous support, friends. For those who celebrate, Happy Independence Day! May we celebrate faith, freedom, family, and the sacrifices that brought us here.

Bethany Krepela joined LPGM as development director in 2020. She typically enjoys the Fourth of July "Up North" with her husband, daughters, and dog. No eyebrows or fingers were singed in the celebration captured in the photo above.