Offer Help and Hope to Marginalized communities

Friends, Family and Community,

Have you ever had a dream of making a difference in the world? Have you ever dreamed of offering unconditional love to people just because they exist? Have you dreamed your whole life of helping teenagers and young adults find a safe space to live, work and find purpose in their lives? Have you ever thought about what the world would look like if equality actually existed? Have you ever been given an unbelievable opportunity to actually pursue your passion while making a difference in the world? That is what this fundraiser is about and why Amy and I are asking for your support.

Many of you know our story, but for those of you who do not, I'll share a brief history of our past lives and a little about our hope for the future.

I was married to my husband for 23 years and had three children who are all adults now. Surprisingly, to many, I was also a minister in a Baptist church for 23 years. I was a youth minister, college minister, family minister, christian education minister, Associate Pastor and Church planter. Because of my childhood and how God created me, my greatest passion has always been helping people find their way in life, giving encouragement and doing my best to provide support wherever needed. I have always loved working with the homeless population, troubled kids and those that just need help. For the 23 years I was in church ministry I did my best to reach people where they were and help them move onward and upward with their life and passions. After the divorce from my husband, my position in ministry and the community was attacked. Then I met Amy, who is now my wife. The smartest, kindest, most compassionate person I had ever met. It was as if the Divine Creator knew exactly who I needed to journey through life with. We shared the same life experiences, the same values and the same dreams. I fell in love with her. She is my soulmate. I mean that in every sense of the word. After that, everything in my life changed for me.

Being a woman minister in the Baptist church is unusual, being a divorced woman minister is impossible and being a Gay Woman minister is an abomination to God and the church.

I lost it all...or should I say I gave it all up? All meaning my position in the church and community as a Pastor, leader, mentor, teacher and friend. For many, I went from saint to sinner, hero to zero, and Heaven to Hell. For me, I went from helping the marginalized to being the marginalized. I was essentially kicked out of the church Kingdom, and handed my scarlet letter.

It has been seven years since Amy and I began a new journey together. Five of those years, I spent working in a completely different industry, in a spiritual desert and searching for purpose in my life again. The past two years have been about regaining my confidence, expanding my understanding of God as Divine Creator, experiencing unconditional love, finding a new community of people and focusing on my life's call to serve the marginalized communities of the world. Today, Amy and I have a whole new world of opportunity to change lives in front of us and we are asking for your help in making it happen.

As for Amy, she has her own story. She was also married to her husband for over 20 years and has three awesome kids who are all adults now, too. Both healing individually from our own separations for wholly separate reasons, you can imagine Amy's surprise when I told her I was in love with her! After all, I had been a Pastor, her Pastor. She admitted that she was also in love with me, but didn't know how to express it until I opened up about my feelings. Her life was changed forever as well. Amy grew up in Mississippi with loving and proudly conservative parents. Being Gay was never considered where she was from. Amy grew up a strong student, driven towards occupational and financial success. She climbed the corporate ladder quickly and became the best of the best at her work with a big company. She juggled all her roles as VP of HR, wife, mom and community leader. Successful in her career but unhappy with her life, Amy's heart's desire was to love and help people. Her career created conflict between what was in her heart and the vision of the company she worked for. To save her own life, she left her high-paying career, ultimately ended her marriage and began a new life with her kids. Over time, she created a life of constantly giving of herself for the betterment of others. Amy has spent the last seven years loving others, learning to live as a marginalized person in the LGBTQ community, and forming a deep passion for helping such communities.

That brings me to tell you about our new incredible opportunity to both live fully as ourselves, which for us means spending our days helping others overcome their adversities so that they may do the same. Amy has been offered the Director of Human Resources for HHHRC (Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center) in Honolulu which she has accepted gratefully. I hope to also serve as an Outreach Navigator with their teen homeless population. My role will be to help with emergency needs, food, employment, health care, housing, education and more.

HHHRC's mission is to provide harm reduction-focused services to marginalized populations in Hawaii including people living with or affected by HIV, hepatitis, substance use, homelessness and the transgender, LGBTQ, and Native Hawaiian communities. HHHRC fosters health, wellness, and systemic change in Hawaii through outreach, care services, advocacy, training, prevention, education and capacity building. Amy will get to provide training and leadership to the staff of HHHRC while I will be working with the agency's clients. We will both have the opportunity to be on the front lines to stand for those who need our help the most. For more information about HHHRC and their amazing work, please visit their FB, Instagram and Website pages.

This is truly a dream come true for both of us, and we will get to work on the same team for amazing causes we are both so passionate about. We are asking for your help in making this dream a reality. Amy is to begin work July 17th and I hope to begin the week following. This opportunity found us and reached out. We have been honored, humbled and ecstatic about the offer. We have also been trying to figure out how to make it work, especially financially. Closing up shop here, finding a place to live there, getting our vehicles and animals shipped over plus the cost of our mainland obligations are a bit overwhelming in a short amount of time. So, we are asking you, our friends, family and marginalized community supporters to consider contributing to this opportunity.

It is incredibly difficult to find ministry opportunities when you are a part of a marginalized community. It is even more difficult when you live in a part of the country that oppresses marginalized people. We truly want to serve, love, give and be a light to the world. This opportunity makes all of that possible.

We ask that you join us in the mission of HHHRC by helping us get there to be a part of this great work. We are grateful for any amount you can contribute. Every penny helps.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Mahalo,

Rhonda and Amy Littledell