Whilst entirely legal, they attract a tax of 1% of the principal due annually by the issuer plus the interest is not deductible.
In any case, Mr. Lapp seems to have enough time on his hands to give investment seminars; I assume he is busy soliciting more investors for his various investment schemes. It will be quite interesting to see exactly what the results of soliciting unregistered securities as bearer bonds is; whilst technically not illegal, there are some hoops that need to be jumped through in order to to this legally.
mike wrote: ↑Wed Jul 08, 2026 3:43 pm
With this auction date being three weeks away now, I wonder whether anything is happening to settle the matter, or whether the Leola location will actually be auctioned. Other than the Lancaster Online pieces, it has been basically crickets online about their problems.
If anyone would like to attend the auction, it will be on 29th July at 10 AM. As it appears that Blessings of Hope is currently operating out of that facility, I wonder what will happen when the new owner takes possession of it; I do have a hypothesis that the Lapp brothers will raise enough funds to bid on this facility via one of their other LLCs and thus maintain possession for practical purposes of the property.
That clip is a little bonkers. I'd like to see the whole.
From the comments of the video: "As a member of the Big Boy Club myself, it looks to me like he's at least guilty of gluttony one or two… thousand times. "
I don't know how to understand all the financial information in this thread but maybe fraud as well.
Whilst entirely legal, they attract a tax of 1% of the principal due annually by the issuer plus the interest is not deductible.
In any case, Mr. Lapp seems to have enough time on his hands to give investment seminars; I assume he is busy soliciting more investors for his various investment schemes. It will be quite interesting to see exactly what the results of soliciting unregistered securities as bearer bonds is; whilst technically not illegal, there are some hoops that need to be jumped through in order to to this legally.
They are an extremely risky investment. In fact, unregistered bearer bonds are so high risk, but an investment advisor is not generally permitted to recommend them to anything but a "extremely sophisticated investor." Back in the late 70s they became a mechanism for some churches to finance their building projects. I know a number of people who are badly burned by unregistered bearer bonds.
You know what that is, right? I don't think the United States even uses those anymore as it gets misused by organized crime. Could be wrong. I should look that up to be sure....
This type of bond was never a government bond, but were typically issued by corporations and other entities. What you get is a bond certificate, redeemable at the maturity date for the face value of the bond, and a bunch of coupons that could be redeemed for interest. These have largely passed out of use, and frankly, I would not recommend anybody getting anywhere near one of these things if they want their money back. They became a common method for churches to finance building projects back in the late 70s and early 80s when interest rates became sky high. It was not unusual to see 18 to 20% interest on mortgages. So this became an alternate means of finance.
Within certain strict limits, I understand that they are still legal, but once again I have not seen these things popping up since the late 70s.
mike wrote: ↑Wed Jul 08, 2026 3:43 pm
With this auction date being three weeks away now, I wonder whether anything is happening to settle the matter, or whether the Leola location will actually be auctioned. Other than the Lancaster Online pieces, it has been basically crickets online about their problems.
If anyone would like to attend the auction, it will be on 29th July at 10 AM. As it appears that Blessings of Hope is currently operating out of that facility, I wonder what will happen when the new owner takes possession of it; I do have a hypothesis that the Lapp brothers will raise enough funds to bid on this facility via one of their other LLCs and thus maintain possession for practical purposes of the property.
Leoloa looks like their main warehouse location. The East Petersburg location is listed as a food dehydration facility. Their other two locations in PA are ministry selection centers, or basically stores for ministries and volunteers to get food. I wonder whether they can continue to operate without their main warehouse. I agree that they will probably figure out a way. If not, who knows what will happen.
cooper wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 9:58 pm
Their 2023 Financial Statement shows $16 million in debt, with around $16 million in Fixed Assets. (Though ~$5 million in Vehicles and Building Improvements which may be overvalued.)
I wonder what the $595,881 for Tithes and Offerings expense goes to. Edit: "In accordance with the bylaws of the Organization, 60% of yearly tithe goes to Light of Hope Ministries, a related party as noted in Note 1. The amount owed to Light of Hope Ministries was $223,852 at September 30, 2023."
From that end of year 2023 statement:
BLESSINGS OF HOPE
Notes to Financial Statements
For the Year Ended September 30, 2023
NOTE 16 GOING CONCERN
Due to an unanticipated decision by Ephrata National Bank to demand payment on all its loans with
the Organization by July 2024, approximately $4.5 million of loans at September 30, 2023 are
presented as maturing within one year. The significance of this cash requirement regarding its loan
agreements creates uncertainty about the Organization’s ability to meet its ongoing obligations.
Management is in discussion with various banks and individual investors to refinance these
obligations. Furthermore, management of the Organization has evaluated these conditions and
determined that a reduction of liabilities would alleviate this uncertainty. As a result, management
has put into action a capital campaign, proceeds of which will be used to fund debt payments, among
other Organization needs. In addition, management is exploring the possibility of paying down the
debt through the sale of assets. Based on these efforts, management feels that sufficient working
capital will be available to fund operations through the year subsequent to the issuance of these
financial statements.
The capital campaign mentioned is presumably the Lapp brothers' investment pitch we have been discussing in this thread. If so, it must not have brought in enough investments over the past three years to stave off this foreclosure.
Seeing this kind of thing happen before among the Anabaptist community, I think someone is gonna pop up at the last minute and bail them out. In fact there most likely a plan in place for all we know.
0 x
Formerly know as steve-in-kville
Hippie Anabaptist, husband, father & grandfather (recently!)
Semi-professional philosopher & poet.
cooper wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 9:58 pm
Their 2023 Financial Statement shows $16 million in debt, with around $16 million in Fixed Assets. (Though ~$5 million in Vehicles and Building Improvements which may be overvalued.)
I wonder what the $595,881 for Tithes and Offerings expense goes to. Edit: "In accordance with the bylaws of the Organization, 60% of yearly tithe goes to Light of Hope Ministries, a related party as noted in Note 1. The amount owed to Light of Hope Ministries was $223,852 at September 30, 2023."
From that end of year 2023 statement:
BLESSINGS OF HOPE
Notes to Financial Statements
For the Year Ended September 30, 2023
NOTE 16 GOING CONCERN
Due to an unanticipated decision by Ephrata National Bank to demand payment on all its loans with
the Organization by July 2024, approximately $4.5 million of loans at September 30, 2023 are
presented as maturing within one year. The significance of this cash requirement regarding its loan
agreements creates uncertainty about the Organization’s ability to meet its ongoing obligations.
Management is in discussion with various banks and individual investors to refinance these
obligations. Furthermore, management of the Organization has evaluated these conditions and
determined that a reduction of liabilities would alleviate this uncertainty. As a result, management
has put into action a capital campaign, proceeds of which will be used to fund debt payments, among
other Organization needs. In addition, management is exploring the possibility of paying down the
debt through the sale of assets. Based on these efforts, management feels that sufficient working
capital will be available to fund operations through the year subsequent to the issuance of these
financial statements.
The capital campaign mentioned is presumably the Lapp brothers' investment pitch we have been discussing in this thread. If so, it must not have brought in enough investments over the past three years to stave off this foreclosure.
Very concerning, and speaks poorly of Lapp's character that they have allowed it to drag out for so long and taken advantage of so many.
One of the things I’ve noticed is BOH seems very determined to take their operation to a nationwide level. And I’ve wondered if some of their seemingly bad decisions are based on a belief that operating at a larger scale would open up federal money. 2020/Covid seemed to supercharge the ideas about going big and I also wonder if during that time they were able to access government funds and saw it as the ticket they wanted to cash in on. I have no idea if this is plausible so hoping wiser people than me know more.
