Challenges in 2025

 Happy summer 2025! 
This has already been an exciting year for H2H. We celebrated our 25th year of ministry with a banquet on Thursday, April 24th. The actual anniversary date we opened our doors is June 1. The banquet was held in the beautiful fellowship hall at Christ Community Church, in Gridley, IL. There were approximately 85, I lost count, family and friends of H2H in attendance. We had wonderful food from Dave’s Supermarket in Fairbury and a beautiful cake from Janet’s Cakes in Bloomington. Piano music was provided by Pam Neal. A client also shared about her experience receiving support services at H2H. Our H2H board president, John Trewartha served at emcee for the evening and the board and staff kept the food stocked on the buffet table. They all worked together like a well-oiled machine! It was wonderful! My husband Rob and all of my kids were in attendance. 
My oldest son, Jacob, surprised me by getting up and sharing some thoughts at the end of the evening. I have to admit that I wasn’t quite sure what he would say because my kids were in jr. high and high school when I was called to start H2H and we have never really talked about how my involvement in H2H in those early years impacted them. As you can imagine, I was pretty focused on the ministry at that time and I’m very sure that it did impact all of my family in one way or another. Thankfully, Jacob had sweet and loving things to say about me and expressed great appreciation for the ministry of H2H. There was not a dry eye in the crowd. I couldn’t cry, even though I wanted to, because I didn’t want to rattle him while he spoke but his words touched my heart deeply. I am so thankful to have the loving and supportive family that God has blessed me with. 
It was a fantastic evening of celebrating God’s faithfulness providing for, working in and through H2H. I couldn’t have asked for any better celebration. I am continuing to desire to step into retirement sometime soon but have made the decision to surrender my retirement plans to the Lord and have committed to Him to stay at H2H for as long as He needs/wants me to be here. My plan, with the board’s approval is to continue to be involved on the board and to do volunteer work in the office even after the new director is identified and I step away from my current responsibilities. Since taking this step of surrender, I have felt a great sense of peace in the waiting. Please join with us in beseeching the Lord to lead His next appointed leader to H2H in His perfect way and time. A new perspective that has developed at H2H is that the missionaries are now receiving a modest salary and are considered, in the business world, to be “independent contractors” which simply means that we are responsible for paying our own federal and state income tax liability. The board’s rationale for this change was that being able to offer a set income will benefit the current missionaries by having a steady income rather than having their income fluctuate depending on what designated donations were received in their name each month. It is anticipated that this change will also make it more feasible for someone to be able to step into the role of executive director. We know that especially young people coming out of school will have financial obligations that will require the assurance of having a steady income. All this being said, it is now even more important that H2H receives regular financial gifts from our supporters so that we can compensate our staff adequately. 
Please be in prayer for H2H to be blessed with the financial resources to accommodate this new way of taking care of our missionaries. Finally, please be in prayer with us for God to lead another counselor to help serve our clients. We currently have a waiting list with about 8 names on it and the calls for help continue to come in almost daily. I hate making people wait to receive help when I know that it took great courage for them to make the call to reach out for help when they did. The sooner we are able to initiate services, the better. Thank you in advance for your prayer support! 
God Bless, 
Sandy Egle