Project Update (09/19/23): The Debt Jubilee Project: For the Healing of the World has officially DOUBLED our initial goal, raising over $100,000 toward the forgiveness of medical debt here in the United States and in Ahuas, Honduras. Jubilee!
Thanks to your generosity, we will be sending about $25,000 (25% of the total raised) to Ahuas, Honduras. All remaining funds (75% of our total) will support debt relief in the United States. We are currently working with RIP Medical Debt to allocate these funds so that our project can have the greatest impact possible, while also reaching as wide a geographic area as possible, based on where debt is available to them at this time.
Project Update: We’ve reached over $90,000, and gifts continue to arrive every day! Jubilee! We are in awe of how this community has come together to give so generously in an effort to relieve medical debt in the United States and in Ahuas, Honduras. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Contributing to this project, not knowing exactly whose debt will be forgiven or what their circumstances might be, is a tremendous act of grace and hope.
The Debt Jubilee Project: For the Healing of the World is a collaborative effort of the Board of World Mission, the Commission on Congregational Development, the Moravian Ministries Foundation in America and the Interprovincial Board of Communication. Based on our biblical call to care for the sick and our belief that healthcare is a fundamental human right, this project will work to offer grace and hope through the forgiveness of medical debt. Because our call is to our siblings in Christ here in North America and throughout the world, this project will forgive medical debt in the United States as well as at the Moravian medical ministry of the Clínica Evangélica Morava in Ahuas, Honduras.
Through this effort, we hope to build on the energy and witness of the recent work of Moravian congregations such as Trinity in Winston-Salem, which raised about $15,000 earlier this year to forgive over $3,000,000 in medical debt. The Debt Jubilee Project; For the Healing of the World aims to provide an opportunity for more Moravians to join in this freeing and life-changing initiative. Our goal is to raise $50,000 in 50 days with the project concluding on August 13th.
75% of your gift will support the elimination of medical debt in the U.S. through a partnership with RIP Medical Debt, an organization that purchases medical debt for pennies on the dollar and erases that debt, which would otherwise have been sold to for-profit debt collectors. RIP Medical Debt only abolishes debt for those earning less than 4x the federal poverty level and/or hold debts of 5% or more of their annual income. The Debt Jubilee Project: For the Healing of the World will specifically forgive debts for those living in U.S. counties with a Moravian presence (through a congregation or ministry). The individuals and families who owe the medical debt purchased will receive a letter informing them that their debt is forgiven. Jubilee!
25% of your gift will buy debt owed by patients of the Clínica Evangélica Morava, a Moravian medical ministry in Ahuas, Honduras, that has been serving the remote area of La Mosquitia for over 75 years. Medical debt held in this area is a burden on the indebted patients, the clinic, and the community as a whole. The individuals and families who owe the medical debt purchased will receive notice informing them that their debt is forgiven. Jubilee!
To learn more about this project, read the FAQ sheet or contact Laura Watson at the Moravian Ministries Foundation in America ([email protected]). Congregations can share more information about this project with this bulletin insert.
Donate online at https://www.mmfa.com/debt-jubilee-project/ or mail a check to Moravian Ministries Foundation, 119 Brookstown Avenue, Suite 305, Winston-Salem, NC 27101. Checks may be made out to “Moravian Ministries Foundation.” Please include “Debt Jubilee Project” in the memo line.
To learn more about the origins of this project, check out the recent interview the CCD conducted with Rev. John Jackman of Trinity Moravian Church on their Debt Jubilee Project.
