A few weeks ago, Jeremy Courtney from Preemptive Love Coalition came and hang out with us at our Monday team meeting. This meeting was something we did not take lightly, as Jeremy is rarely in the states and we wanted to make sure we took full advantage of our time with him.

We sat around in a circle and asked him to start from the beginning. “How did PLC start?” What were you doing before? How did you meet your wife.. and so on. As the story goes, PLC was birthed out of a desperate need for one child to get a life saving heart surgery. It was through Jeremy’s persistence and determination to make this happen, that he discovered his passion for this cause specifically.

PLC began by performing life saving heart surgeries for children in Iraq. In fact, they have performed thousands of these surgeries and saved many lives. Amazing. This work came to a cross roads when they had to make a decision. They had to ask themselves, do we grow outside Iraq and expand our heart surgeries, or do we take a step back and see what we can do to help in a different way.

As this conversation was happening, so was the rise of ISIS. It was clear after the attacks started that there was a new pressing need for the people in Iraq – it was emergency aid. From here they have delivered and assisted in the feeding of thousands people, meeting medical needs, and delivering water. Desperation is overwhelming, and they are on the front lines.

PLC has slowly begun to move into Syria. As they start to rebuild, PLC is the first organization there helping. They are helping families repair their past and build a new future. It is because of you that this is possible. It is because of you that families are able to begin to build a new life for themselves.