By Emilee Shake
Washington Times-Herald
ODON —
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
That old Chinese proverb explains one aspect of the multifaceted organization called The Center for Global Impact.
At least that’s the goal, according to The Center for Global Impact, or CGI, founder Chris Alexander.
After serving with his wife Donna on the mission field for 15 years, 10 in Zambia and five in Ukraine, Chris, his wife and three kids moved to back to the states. He accepted a position as a minister of missions with one of their supporting churches in Indianapolis.
For various reasons, he decided to start a nonprofit organization. Soon after starting the 501c(3) organization, the leaders of the church felt things could get sticky with Chris starting the nonprofit and being a minister at the church, so Chris decided to fully commit to forming The Center for Global Impact, with the church being supporters of the organization.
“CGI is a faith-based relief and development organization,” Chris said. “Our purpose is to connect people to people through projects in the hopes that it will open up a door for the Gospel. We are definitely a Christian organization, but we focus on serving people and connecting people who, in many cases, don’t realize they have something to offer.”
Though they resided in Indianapolis, Chris and Donna call Odon their hometown, both being graduates of North Daviess High School. When Chris’ father was overseas in the military, his family always found their way back to the area, and Donna grew up in the northern Daviess County town. The couple was married at Odon Christian Church, and Chris was ordained there.
CGI is designed to help individuals or groups—Sunday School classes, elementary school classes, small groups, etc.—first take inventory of their resources and what they have to offer and then “try to find a way to help those people connect globally,” Chris said.
“We look at what people have to offer and we think how we can use that, how we can create ministry opportunities and help the poor,” he said.
That is done through a number of ways, including lots of micro-enterprising initiatives. Here are a few examples of how CGI is using people to help other people.
byTavi
On a group trip, Chris met Kantea, a woman married and with 10 kids. Kantea lives in a Cambodian slum called “The Alley.” She said her husband has tuberculosis, which probably means he has AIDS, Chris said.
“In that culture and that environment, if the sick need a hospital and if they have no other resources, the teens are at the greatest risk,” he said, explaining the possibility of the teens getting taken into the sex trade.
One group member had the idea of getting a sewing machine and helping Kantea learn to sew. Someone in the group bought a sewing machine, and when Kantea said it would get stolen staying at her place in The Alley, even though Kantea wasn’t a Christian they found a pastor who set it up on his front porch, which is a safe area.
“We left enough funds to help her get started in learning how to sew,” Chris said, adding a few other ladies joined the sewing group. “I said, ‘If you can make some pillow covers, I can take them to the states and try to sell them.’”
The group of women interested in sewing began to grow, and CGI realized they had the potential to help more than just those four ladies.
Kantea, a Buddhist, in Buddhist tradition, had a spirit house attached to her house. The third time Chris visited, he noticed it was gone.
“By taking the time to get to know them, understand their situations, legitimately help them and empower them...through the relationship that’s built, that opens up the door to share the Gospel,” Chris said.
Tavi is another woman who joined the group of seamstresses, which is now up to 12. The goal is for each woman to earn between $80 and $100 per month. To make large tote bags, the women get paid $2, and they can usually make about two per day, Chris said. Four dollars, he said, is about 300 times the daily wage in Cambodia.
“We’re trying to get to the point where they can make three to four every day. If they can get that $4 a day, they can supply enough to meet their needs and take care of their families,” Chris said.
The goal is to “help the poor take one step out of poverty,” he said.
The byTavi bags and scarves are available in Washington at Cherry Ghost Coffee House, Touch of Heaven and the gift shop in the Daviess Community Hospital or at www.bytavi.com.
Culinary Training Center
Paul is a member of the church Chris and his family attend. One day they were talking in the church foyer and Chris asked Paul if he was interested in going on a mission trip. Paul’s response was he has nothing to offer. He said he’s not a good carpenter. Chris asked him what his profession was. Paul is a chef.
In Cambodia, there is an organization that rescues females from sex trafficking. The girls stay in a safe place and receive an education. However, it’s hard for them to reenter society after having been in the sex trade. Men will not marry them, and they are not trained to get a job, thus leaving them to live on the streets in poverty.
Chris formed an idea: What if we created a Culinary Training Center to train these girls to cook really well then help them get jobs with hotels and restaurants in the capital city?
By evaluating what Paul had to offer, CGI was able to put him in a position to meet the needs of the girls in Phnom Penh.
“This man, Paul, is helping get the right curriculum to teach these girls and he’s recruiting others to train,” Chris said.
Paul has been active in connecting with restaurant and hotel owners in the capital city, meeting and networking with them so the girls will have jobs after the program.
“This allows them to reintegrate into society and gives them hope for the future,” Chris said.
Chris is currently in Phnom Penh and will be working on the already-purchased Culinary Training Center.
Orphanage in Guatemala
In October of this year, 26 people from the states will be traveling to an orphanage in Guatemala. CGI is going to help develop the property where the orphanage is located.
Currently the orphanage is struggling. CGI is going to help the orphanage plan a bakery, not just for those living there, but also to sell. They will help establish a vegetable garden, not just for the orphanage, but to sell as well. There will also be a carpentry workshop set up to help create the opportunity to move forward in carpentry training.
“It’s about helping the organization become self-sufficient, but also building relationships,” Chris said. “We recognize that famine exists in Africa, AIDS, and trafficking. We keep all of those major problems in our periphery. Who we look at is the person in front of us. We try to see how that particular family or that particular group, how they can use that to impact the issue that is impacting the group.”
The Purpose
“We’re creating bona fide opportunities for them to break the cycle of poverty,” Chris said.
For more information on CGI, visit the website at www.centerforglobalimpact.org.
“We’re not trying to help people become wealthy, although that would be awesome,” he said. “We’re just trying to help people move beyond where they are and secure themselves.”
