A $25,000 Matching Grant for Black Staff Flourishing
ÂÌñÒùÆÞ alumni Eddie and Kristen Yoon will match $25,000 of gifts to a special fund for Black Staff Flourishing. These funds will help Black staff for whom raising funds for ministry is an extra challenge due to historic inequities. Below, Eddie and Kristen share their heart.
Like many others, we are grieving the heinous death of George Floyd, and the oppression and despair our Black brothers and sisters face and endure in our country. We are embarrassed by our own ignorance at the full extent of racism towards Black Americans, both implicit and explicit, personal and systemic, national as well as local, as Sandra Bland lived 10 minutes away from where we raise our family.
We have supported ÂÌñÒùÆÞ for decades. And yet even in our giving, we realized our implicit bias. The majority of our giving goes to Asian American staff. My wife and I both came out of Asian American chapters at ÂÌñÒùÆÞ and we believe wholeheartedly in that ministry. But we're realizing that the Lord is calling us to reflect on the unique role that Asian Americans can play in standing by and supporting Black Americans.
We started giving to ÂÌñÒùÆÞ's a few years ago, once we better understood the fundraising disadvantages that many of ÂÌñÒùÆÞ's Black staff face. We are meaningfully increasing our giving to Black Staff Flourishing and we want to encourage you to join us and learn more about why this is important.
As we pray and work towards a comprehensive plan to address racism, there is no doubt that a thriving group of Black staff who can focus on bringing the gospel to campus with less worries about funding would be a wonderful way to advance the Kingdom of God, as we all anticipate worshiping in heaven next to every tribe and in every tongue.
