Greetings in the name of Christ!
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now”.
Does that greeting sound familiar? It a sentiment that the Apostle Paul included at the beginning of many letters he wrote to the early churches. While sometimes hard to understand Paul, this greeting is easily understood and aptly describes my heart for those who are a part of Saving Susan Ministry.
I am privileged to have joined the Saving Susan Ministry team as Executive Director in May after retiring from a 19-year career in Sales and Marketing with Coca-Cola. As I pondered retirement, I was praying for God to open a door for me to continue to live a “life of significance” after running the race of my secular career. I have been friends with our Saving Susan Founders, Jay and Tracy for 6 years. When they approached me about joining them in their ministry, my heart literally jumped in my chest at the answer to my prayer. Since that time, much has transpired in my first 100 days.
I have gotten better acquainted with the SSM team (Jay, Tracy, Sarah, Dawn) and now feel more like family than a work group. I have been blessed to be a part of our monthly prayer meetings led by Cathy Russo, one of the strongest prayer warriors I have ever met. I have met with Parent Partners, Financial Donors, Board Members and Key Ministry Partners
and understand the important role that each plays to make our ministry effective. But the most impactful experience in my first 100 days was joining the SSM team in partnership with Sanctuary church on an 8-day Mission Trip to Cambodia visiting our 2 Partner Orphanages and seeing in person the positive impact of Saving Susan Ministry and Parent Partners on these children. The children that have Godly and loving Parent Partner families are truly blessed and you can see the
difference on their faces and in their educational, social and spiritual growth.
On a very personal level, what the trip did for me was to move the knowledge of Saving Susan Ministry I had in my “brain” to a very deep heartfelt and spiritual understanding. Being there in person and seeing the vision that Jay and Tracy cast come to life in the eyes and hearts of the kids and orphanage leadership cannot be expressed in words. I relate it to the difference in seeing the Grand Canyon in a postcard vs being physically there and overwhelmed by its beauty as you
watch the sun rise and paint colors you have never seen before on the canyon walls.
So, let me close by explaining why Paul’s greeting aptly describes my heart for each of you. None of what we do is possible without your support. Because of your prayers, financial support and being an ambassador of our ministry with others, we currently have 24 children connected with Parent Partner families. But there is much to be done as we still have 34 waiting on a family to answer the call. So, I thank you for your support of the ministry and ask you to consider
what might be a next step in faith for you to help expand our vision of Connecting Children in need with loving and Godly Parent Partners.
Thank you for your support of our ministry and I can’t wait to report on what has been accomplished over the next 100 days!
Steve Malandro
Executive Director
Saving Susan Ministry
