This story originally appeared on Stream.org
On Easter Sunday, Covenant Church in Carrollton announced to its membership that it planned to donate $100,000 to the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt to eliminate medical debt for 4,229 families here in FWD.
RIP Medical Debt works to acquire medical debt at a greatly reduced rate and then forgives it. With the $100,000 donation from Covenant Church, it will be able to eliminate $10,551,618 total in medical debt for these families.
“While introducing ourselves as a local church to these families, we also showed them that we aren’t trying to get something from them — but rather give something to them,” said Pastor Stephen Hayes in a statement to The Stream.
Hayes’ personal experience with medical bills inspired him and church leadership to prioritize debt elimination as a community outreach of the church, the Stream reports. Hayes was hit by a car at the age of 17, which lead to a long recovery and medical bills, which at the time were covered in part by the church.
“My family has known the crushing weight that can come with medical debt,” Hayes told the Stream. “I felt strongly that the ability to buy it for just one penny on the dollar was not just a great opportunity, but also an act of good stewardship.”
Read the full story here.
ABOUT RIP MEDICAL DEBT
RIP Medical Debt locates, buys and forgives medical debt across America, the only industrialized nation on earth with personal medical debt. It works on behalf of individual donors, philanthropists and organizations who provide financial relief for people burdened by unpaid and unpayable medical bills. A special focus is forgiving the medical debt of U.S. veterans and military troops. Find out more on the organization’s website.
ABOUT COVENANT CHURCH
When we founded Covenant Church we dreamed of a church where we could worship God in Spirit and in truth—a place where we celebrate and share the message of God’s desire to be in relationship with us. Through vibrant worship and powerful messages from the Word of God we are pointing to Christ and power of His Spirit. We hope what you’ll find is a church where you can experience God in a fresh, new and unexpected way. Find out more on the organization’s website.
