“I Don’t Have To Be Paid” – The Faithful Story of Raquel Chavez

I’ll never forget the day I sat down to interview Raquel Chavez for a video we were making to highlight her everyday work as the Director of our feeding program in Nicaragua. She told me many stories about growing up in the community where WEGO operates, like how she used to sneak out of her house as a teenager to attend church.

One story that stuck out to me and pierced my heart was from her first few years of serving with us on staff. It was around 2008 and she was working as a housekeeper for our orphanage. Unfortunately, this was also when the Great Recession was wreaking havoc on both the US economy and WEGO’s donations. Faced with uncertainty, the leaders of WEGO shared with the staff that there might not be enough money for the upcoming payroll. They were each given the chance to leave in order to find another way to provide for their families.

Raquel went home and prayed. The next morning, she walked into work and told them she was willing to serve without being paid. She was going to trust God. Sure enough, the Lord provided and payroll was met. Now twelve years later, Raquel has worked her way up the leadership ladder and now serves as the head of our feeding program, where she gets to be God’s daily provision to hundreds of kids in her community.

I’ve been thinking about this story a lot as the USA is once again teetering towards economic uncertainty. One of the beautiful parts of this story is that Raquel wasn’t the only one sacrificing. She was able to provide for her family that next month because a donor from the States stepped up and sacrificed, too. That, by definition, is WEGO.

If you are able to sacrifice during this season and offer needed relief, like that donor in 2008, know that your generosity will be received as a gift from God by those trusting Him for everything. You can visit our giving page right now to join in the sacrifice and be a relief giver.  Remember that 100% of all designated gifts go directly to that country so you won’t need to wonder how it’s being spent: