Readers select Vietnam ministry as 2018 grand prize winner
The overall winner of WORLD’s 2018 Hope Awards for Effective Compassion is the Aquila Rehab Center in Hanoi, Vietnam, the first international ministry to capture the top honor. Aquila received 35 percent of the votes cast by WORLD readers and will gain $10,000, which will go a long way in Vietnam. All of the ministries considered are worthy, and regional winners receive $2,000 each, plus lots of publicity and increased credibility that they use in their own areas to multiply those dollars.
Nominate ministries for the 2019 Hope Awards
Please email Charissa Crotts with your nomination of an existing Christian poverty-fighting group in your area that offers challenging, personal, and spiritual help and does not depend on government financing. Please include a brief description of why it impresses you and its address and website. We’ll consider your nominations for next year’s awards.
Go and do likewise
If you’re looking for ideas about a ministry you could start, please see our listing of the 100-plus organizations we profiled from 2006 to 2017, with their major focuses: addiction, babies (unborn), community, disabilities, education, family, gardening, homelessness, immigration, jobs, legal needs, medical, prison, repair work, sex (anti-prostitution), transportation, and youth. The listing also shows what it takes to start a poverty-fighting ministry: a license, a specific skill (such as auto repair), experience (such as that a mother gains), or neighborliness (a simple desire to invest time in helping others).
Directory of Hope Awards finalists since 2006
Regional winners
Southwest
Colorado Burma Roundtable Network in Denver, Colo.
‘They’re like birds’
Colorado group helps Burmese refugees who often arrive with nothing and ‘just need a little help, and they fly on their own’
by Sophia Lee
Listen to WORLD Radio’s profile
Northeast
Jericho Partnership in Danbury, Conn.
‘A bias for action’
Starting with four men mentoring four teenagers, Jericho Partnership now energizes a slew of local ministries
by Emily Belz
Listen to WORLD Radio’s profile
Southeast
Jump Start in Spartanburg, S.C.
‘A man has to have a purpose’
A South Carolina prison ministry finds success following inmates from the cellblock to the workbench
by Jamie Dean
Listen to WORLD Radio’s profile
Northwest
Windswept Academy in Eagle Butte, S.D.
Lakota lessons
Christian school brings the gospel—and respect for Lakota culture—to Cheyenne River Indian Reservation
by Sarah Schweinsberg
Listen to WORLD Radio’s profile
International
Aquila Rehab Center in Hanoi, Vietnam
The power of the Word
A Christian drug rehab center in Vietnam is helping addicts get clean—and the government is noticing
by June Cheng
Listen to WORLD Radio’s profile
Directory of Hope Awards Finalists