As a result, Restore Fest’s ambitions are twofold – To raise funds, and just as importantly, to raise wide-spread awareness of a community that is rebuilding, but far from rebuilt.

So picture this – Thousands of people jamming out to the best in Christian music while helping the residents of Joplin as they work towards reclaiming their lives. It doesn’t get better than that.

Start your countdowns. Restore Fest 2012 is almost here.

At the time of this post, more than 100,000 children are currently benefiting from Convoy of Hope’s feeding initiatives in El Salvador, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Kenya, Nicaragua and the Philippines. What’s that mean? Nutritious food, clean and safe drinking water, and much more for groups of people who otherwise wouldn’t have access to these resources.

And while a large focus of Convoy of Hope’s efforts are internationally based, the 2011 tornadoes in Joplin struck a chord, as the organization calls nearby Springfield its home – just 70 short miles from the epicenter of the disaster.

Convoy of Hope is a vehicle for delivering hope to those who may have lost it – no matter the location. And as the driving force behind Restore Fest, perhaps the greatest gift that Convoy of Hope can give to Joplin is in the event’s name – Hope.

“It’s organizations like this that give us reason to be optimistic — this is encouraging,” said Paul as he made his way through Convoy of Hope’s 300,000 square-foot warehouse in Springfield, Mo.

Looking to support Convoy of Hope?

Convoy of Hope president and co-founder Hal Donaldson gave the Texas Congressman a brief history of the organization and its mission to help people entrapped in poverty.  “Convoy of Hope is a testimony to the generosity of the American people,” Donaldson said.

“I’m grateful to Congressman Paul and his family for taking the time to visit Convoy of Hope,” says Donaldson. “We’re not a political organization — we don’t endorse candidates. But it’s always an honor to inform government officials, regardless of their party, of our efforts to improve the lives of families in need.”

May 12, in Dallas, the organization will launch The Convoy of Hope, a 50-state tour. As part of the tour more than $50 million in goods and services will be provided through local churches, civic organizations and agencies. This is an effort to encourage communities to offer immediate and long-term solutions to their neighbors in poverty. Public officials across the country have joined in this united act of compassion.

Learn more about The Convoy of Hope 50-state tour here.

“This is the best day of school ever,” said one student as he waited in line for a free pair of shoes from Convoy of Hope partner, Samaritan’s Feet.

Click here to give to Convoy of Hope.

On the playground dozens of students played catch with players who also manned inflatable play structures and spent time encouraging the children to stay in school.

“This outreach is a snapshot of one of our regular community outreach events,” says Michael Redmon, vice president of Global Initiatives for Convoy of Hope. “In partnership with the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation and the NFL players, our goal was to give all the students some much needed supplies and a little bit of hope.”

Hope is oftentimes a rare commodity for many of the children who call this community home. “Ninety-nine percent of the children in my school are on the free-lunch program,” said one teacher. “Many of the children represented here come to school just so they can get something to eat.”

The hunger problem is so dire that the director of the recreation center began a feeding program. “Each day we feed at least 50 children,” says Tracey Estep, the director. “Hunger is a big problem in this community.”

To help Estep’s work, Convoy of Hope left several pallets of food at the recreation center that Estep says will be, “instrumental to what we do because we hate to turn any hungry child away.”

As the day came to an end one mother — who could have been speaking for dozens of mothers — summed up the day’s activities best when she said, “If it wasn’t for all these organizations coming together, many of these children wouldn’t get a chance for a day like this … Everything is just so expensive now days.”

Click here to learn more about The Convoy of Hope 50-state tour.

“This is where I live with my brothers and sisters,” she says as she sits on the small bed in the corner of the room. “We are family.”

Esther has become a role model to the seventeen younger orphans she now calls her brothers and sisters. She cooks for them, washes their clothes and mentors them. The January 2010 Haiti earthquake forced Esther to grow up well beyond her years. Just 15 at the time, she was at school when the ground began to rumble and buildings began to fall.

“I ran so fast,” she says, describing the first chaotic moments after the earthquake. “I wanted to get to my home to find my family.”

Click here to support Convoy of Hope.

Esther arrived at her home to find it in ruins. Her mother and father were nowhere to be found and she hasn’t seen them since. Pastor Ellison, director of Haiti’s rural Turpin School, found Esther hopeless and living in the streets.

“When I saw how Esther was living, it brought tears to my eyes,” says Ellison. “I had to help her.”

Ellison took Esther in, providing a roof over her head, clothes on her back and food to eat. She began attending Turpin School and was fed daily through Convoy of Hope. With the help of individual donors to Convoy of Hope, Ellison was able to build the house for Esther and the other orphans he has since rescued off the street.

“My life has changed so now I want to help other kids have a good life,” says Esther with a wide, bright smile.

Esther is one of more than 100,000 children now enrolled in Convoy of Hope’s children’s feeding initiatives.

Click here to learn more about Convoy of Hope’s children’s feeding initiatives.

Ellison, principle of the school, wipes his brow and scans the courtyard, seemingly taking in the magnitude of the situation he finds himself in. “For many of these kids, this will be their only meal today,” he says.

“When Convoy of Hope began feeding the children of Turpin three years prior to the 2010 earthquake, the school’s attendance was 300,” says David Edson, Caribbean regional coordinator for Convoy of Hope. “It’s grown very quickly.”

Click here to support Convoy of Hope.

With the help of Convoy of Hope and its friends, Ellison is feeding more than 900 children a day at the school.

“I’m so thankful for Convoy of Hope,” says Ellison, “Because Convoy of Hope and its partners have helped feed these children when they needed it most.”

“Today is World Water Day but the reality is, here at Convoy of Hope, every day is water day,” says Kevin Rose, children’s feeding programs director at Convoy of Hope. “In Kenya, for example, we are working closely with the ancient Maasai tribe to help them build innovative water collection sites.”

A serious, reoccurring drought plagues the Maasai community living at the base of Kenya’s Mt. Suswa volcano. Women and children here sometimes are forced to walk up to five miles a day just to find water.

Click here to support Convoy of Hope.

The Maasai have been desperately searching for ways to overcome their lack of water when they discovered the answer lied within Mt. Suswa. They found that the lava flow running beneath them was heating existing ground water, turning it into steam and trapping it in the earth. They began harvesting the steam by inserting pipes in the ground and collecting it as it turns to distilled water.

“After years of relationship building among the Maasai elders, Convoy of Hope has been presented with an exciting opportunity to help this community develop an innovative solution to this life-threatening problem,” says Rose. “We’ve identified 12 crucial locations where this type of water source is needed and we will be funding the work at every one of those sites.”

Convoy of Hope also has distributed more than 9,000 Sawyer water filtration systems through its international programs and disaster response efforts.

Yellow daffodils bloom along the foundation of where Helen Owen’s house stood before being blown apart by a tornado, last May, in Joplin, Mo. The small signs of life are
harbingers of good things to come — one of the most important being a new home on the site in the near future.

“I just want to go home,” says Helen, as she stands on the foundation of the home she lived in since 1957. “Home is here. Memories are all I have left and I have plenty of them here.”

Helen’s new home will be one of a dozen homes being built by Convoy of Hope and partners Global Green Building, LLC, Project Safe Home, T.F. Concrete Forming Systems, Joyce Meyer Ministries — Hand of Hope and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“Partnering with these organizations to help bring new life to Joplin is an honor for us,” says Karen Benson, director of global disaster response for Convoy of Hope.

Joined by other homeowners and representatives from the project partners, Helen pushed a shiny gold shovel into her yard, signifying the official beginning of the project that will bring 12 new disaster-resistant and energy efficient homes to Joplin.

George Van Hoesen of Global Green Building, LLC, is contracting to build the homes. He hopes the homes will prove to be a model for the future.

“I want to thank Convoy of Hope for really going above and beyond and looking beyond the bottom dollar at how construction can be more resilient and more energy efficient,” says Van Hoesen.

The first six homes are scheduled to be completed by the end of May. That can’t come soon enough for Helen. “Convoy of Hope has been so helpful,” she says. “I appreciate all of the support from all who give to Convoy of Hope. Because of the support of others, I can move on with life and I’m ready!”