Written by Dustin Tang (Donor Services Officer)
As of September 2024, I have served in CEDAR Fund for ten years. Looking back, apart from changes in roles and tasks, God’s grace has always been with me.
Ten years ago, I was introduced to CEDAR by a sister from my church. Initially, I participated as a volunteer and took part in administrative support work, such as contacting and inviting churches to participate in our activities, inputting participant information, preparing event materials, etc. Later, I became a part-time staff member and transitioned to a full-time role. My role and work have changed from being ‘behind the scenes’ to being ‘in front of the scenes’, sharing and leading experiential activities in churches and schools. I am grateful that every time I share, I find guidance from the Lord, giving me the confidence and courage to complete the task.
However, His grace is certainly not limited to this! Serving in CEDAR not only enhanced my understanding of poverty issues, such as human trafficking, peace and reconciliation, refugees etc; but also strengthened my faith in the Lord. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, CEDAR launched ‘Love in the Time of COVID-19’, a mask donation campaign that called on citizens to donate masks and pandemic prevention items. These items were then distributed to groups in need by Christians Concern for the Homeless Association. At that time, most local citizens, including myself had a severe shortage of masks, so I initially doubted how effective this campaign could become. As time passed, however, many supporters of CEDAR and local citizens donated thousands of masks. This reminded me that I must have faith in the Lord, for His power is beyond what I can fathom.
During the ten years that I have been in CEDAR, I have experienced illness and death in my family. My coworkers were very concerned, and they prayed for my family and me. In addition, He (God) reminded me that besides caring for my coworkers and the poor community, I should also care about our supporters. We have sent condolence cards to the families of our deceased supporters and prayed for them. It turns out that our relationship can go beyond ‘supporters’ and ‘recipient organisation’, we have become neighbours and families.
I hope the concern of CEDAR for its supporters, as well as its care for the communities in poverty would remain the same; I hope more people will get to know about CEDAR through our sharing and articles, and they would support the communities living in poverty in the long run.
If you’re interested in inviting us to speak on various poverty-related topics—such as combating human trafficking, aiding refugees, climate justice, peace and reconciliation—at worship services, seminars, Bible studies, prayer meetings, or to organise experiential activities for people of all ages, please click here to invite us to your church, school, company, or group to share.
If the inviting party has specific goals or themes in mind, we can discuss and design the content or make special arrangements to ensure participants receive God’s message in a way that resonates with them and understand how to support and walk alongside those living in poverty.
