Angels Among Us

Idaho housewife Heidi Frandsen is a mother of three children under the age of eight.  She is also a grassroots fundraiser for Operation Underground Railroad. No one asked her to do it; she just knew she had to. The following are excepts from an interview with this angel among us.

Families Raising Funds to Rescue Children

Question: How did you first become aware of O.U.R.?

Answer: I was driving my husband's truck (which never happens) and he had the radio tuned to Glen Beck ... and that's when I heard Tim Ballard talking about O.U.R. I listened for a few minutes on my drive home and then sat in the truck in our driveway to keep listening.  Once I finally turned it off, I went straight in the house and got on theblaze.com to find more information.  I ended up spending the next three hours reading everything I could about Tim Ballard and O.U.R., and signed up to be an Abolitionist.  I actually read the entire ourrescue.org website that night too.

Question: What is your motivation for organizing these fundraising events? Do you know someone whose child was abducted?

Answer: No. I have never personally known a child who has been abducted. Honestly, I feel like my motivation comes from promptings of the spirit to help O.U.R.  I have felt an overwhelming desire to help. Even after signing up for monthly donations, I felt like there was so much more I could and should be doing to help, I just didn't know how.  I was so sure I was supposed to be helping in some bigger way.

Question: What types of things have you done to help raise money for  O.U.R.?

Answer: My husband's company has created a group for the wives as a sort of moral support system, with monthly 'competitions' (all in fun), so one day I had the idea to incorporate fundraising for O.U.R. into our countrywide activities. I submitted the request to the company and they said they would create a 'service project activity' for June and I could 'recruit' whomever I wanted to help. So that's what I did!

We ended up getting the help of women in Texas, California, Washington, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Maryland and Idaho to help. Between all of us we printed thousands of pass-along cards which Doug Osmond* had emailed me for printing, distributed them in doctors' offices, at bake sales/fundraisers, apartment communities, and in parking lots on cars.

The girls in Texas also started the gofundme page so we could keep a record of some of the money we were able to raise as a whole. It is my understanding that they will leave the page up at least until the end of this month (July) before transferring the donations to the O.U.R. donation site.

Children Helping Children by Raising Money for Operation Underground Railroad

The kids are so great, so enthusiastic about making money to rescue these kids. Somehow it just feels like such the right thing to do to have kids helping other kids. It has been a great experience for us and will continue to be for a very long time.

I also have plans to do fundraisers at Walmarts and grocery stores around Indiana this summer and in Idaho where we live.  With these pass-along cards from Doug, it really makes it so easy to spread the word about O.U.R. anywhere and I have every intention of continuing to spread the word indefinitely.

Question: When did you first start and how much have your raised?

Answer: We started raising funds and distributing cards the last week of June.  So far we have raised almost $2000 on the gofundme.com/arrelc page and hopefully have had multiple pass-along card holders look up the website to donate as well, I think over time, it will be a huge success.

This has all affected me and my family profoundly. My children talk about 'the people who save the kids' often and I pray every day to know what else I should do to help. We also pray as a family for O.U.R. and especially the jump teams when they are in action.

I feel so so grateful to have been 'coincidentally' introduced to Operation Underground Railroad.  It has been a huge blessing in my life so far and I am so excited to see what the future holds. I always think about that story Tim Ballard tells about the first rescue he ever did, the brother and sister, and how the sister told him that she always knew that God would send someone to save them, 'eventually'  ... and God works through His children to help His children in need. So I feel like it is our duty, my duty, to do what I can, since I know how now.

Pass Along Card

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Where the Money Goes

Heidi Fransen is one of many grassroots fundraisers who is blessing the lives of children who are enslaved in the sex trade. Operation Underground Railroad is profoundly grateful for their efforts.  It is because of these angels among us that O.U.R. is now able, for the first time, to have four jump teams in the field at the same time. That means four times the amount of children rescued and four times as many people arrested and stopped from exploiting children.

Every dollar O.U.R. receives is considered sacred funds and is used as judiciously as possible. The below graph explains where this money is going and how it is being spent. We could not do this without your help.  Thank you!

Where Your Money Goes

For more information on how to raise money to rescue children please visit https://www.ourrescue.org/help/.

*Doug Osmond is in charge of fundraising for Operation Underground Railroad. You can contact him through the ourrescue.org web site.

Written by Cheryl L. Karr