By Board Member Max Armes
My first contact with Remember the Children came in 2012 during their annual drive to provide Christmas shoe boxes to orphaned children in Romania. To make a very long story short, within a three month period I went from knowing nothing about the plight of these orphans to actually having the opportunity to distribute these Boxes of Hope in Romania. This was the beginning of many dear relationships with numerous children, their families, church leaders, and communities in that part of the world.
When speaking to people about the mission of RtC in Romania and Tanzania, I’m often asked why we would spend so much time, effort and money there when we have so many needs right here in our own cities and country. This could be a very long answer, however two basic reasons stand out to me. First, many other countries have little to no government nor private programs to assist the poor and under-resourced. Many, even small children, are left to fend for themselves, to live in poverty, and to fight each day however they can just to stay alive. Basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and education are virtually nonexistent. The poor and under-resourced have many different personal stories, but all have the basic need for love and the hope of breaking their seemingly endless cycle of poverty. Opportunities to break this cycle just are not available in many areas of the world. Secondly, while these needs exist in all parts of the world and even here in our own county, each of us, as Christ-followers, are given different gifts and talents. We are called to use these gifts and serve in different capacities, each to his own. Not all are called to serve overseas, nor are all called to serve in their own country. The correct place to be is where God calls us to be.
Psalms 82:3 says for us all to “defend the weak and fatherless and uphold the cause of the poor and oppressed.” It has been my privilege to be a small part of the mission of RtC to assist in the transformation of lives and communities in Romania and Tanzania.
Meet Max
Max Armes serves faithfully on RtC's Board of Directors. He currently lives in Baltimore with his wife, Donna.
To read Max's bio, click here!