The Lapp Brothers, Light of Hope, Blessings of Hope

[Ernie]

A thread to discuss the theology, practices, and other matters related to the Lapp brothers, Light of Hope, Blessings of Hope and other associated endeavors.

https://www.lightofhopeministries.com/t ... -brothers/

https://www.lappbrothers.com/

Former threads: (moderators are free to add other ones here)

https://forum.mennonet.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6430

[Ernie]

Supporting the Jews.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/with-song ... port-jews/

[Ernie]

Blessings of Hope owes millions in debts but still plans to expand nationally.

Sorry that I cannot find information that is not behind a paywall.

https://lancasteronline.com/business/lo ... 3cfec.html

[mike]

Blessings of Hope owes millions in debts but still plans to expand nationally.

Sorry that I cannot find information that is not behind a paywall.

https://lancasteronline.com/business/lo ... 3cfec.html

This is stunning. I can't read the article. However from the summary it is clear there are some huge problems. At the top is the idea of a charity being indebted to that level. I assist in managing a nonprofit and that is a complete nonnegotiable. If the money is not there, we stop operating. No loans have ever been taken.

Maybe equally, or even more important is the organization's board of directors being disbanded by the charity's "owners." This tells you all you need to know about what sort of governance BOH has had. The board had no actual control over the organization. This does not inspire confidence as a way to set up a charity.

This has become a very large organization, and I am amazed that it is not on better footing. Their expansion has been fascinating to watch. They have high visibility and attract very large amounts of food donations from companies looking to dump product for a tax write-off. Large numbers of volunteers involved and many trucks on the road.

The BOH organization clearly has a very large advertising budget, as I learned after donating to them in the past. Marketing is professionally done by experienced marketing staff. I've always assumed this meant they were on good footing even if I was sometimes mildly annoyed by some of the gimmicks (If I remember correctly, they once sent a packet with a mini flyswatter and the slogan 'swat hunger' or something like it) and the phone call follow ups asking for repeat donations.

Apparently the unpaid loans are to individuals, and if that is the case, it is extremely irresponsible and suspect that they are soliciting more loans from individuals by way of their nonprofit that is seeking investments from wealthy people into Blessings of Hope expansion projects.

Red flags, red flags everywhere. I don't like the look of this at all. I have felt that the Lapp Brothers' theology and "Amish in Israel" tours and probably their counseling and self-help stuff were all a little suspect, but up till now I thought that their food ministry was quite well-done. Apparently, maybe not so much.

BOH has met a real need and I hope it can continue somehow. From what I've understood, they basically do logistics for the food donations they receive, and churches and ministries can receive and distribute these donations in exchange for a reasonable price to help cover BOH's costs, the balance of which are covered by donations directly to BOH. I thought of it as a sustainable model. Maybe not.

[mike]

I also understand that reporting can be wrong, colored by varied motivations, and all of that, and of course they never have all the facts. I'd really like to read the entirety of the hit piece by LancasterOnline.

[JohnH]

Here's a non-paywall version:

https://archive.is/sSqNG

I, too, am curious how they just churned the Board of Directors. Maybe it was just an advisory board (admittedly, I have set up things similarly with a Board of Directors for legal purposes and then an advisory board composed of members, donors, and so on who pretty much make most of the decisions and advise the actual Board of what to do). But a charity doesn't have any "owners", despite what Sam Altman might try to claim about OpenAI.

[joshuabgood]

The foreclosure is by Ephrata National Bank I believe and not an individual. The close relationship they have long had with Maga always raised questions for some as well as the costume of Amish while practicing other religious traditions nothing like the Amish.

[ken_sylvania]

The foreclosure is by Ephrata National Bank I believe and not an individual. The close relationship they have long had with Maga always raised questions for some as well as the costume of Amish while practicing other religious traditions nothing like the Amish.

The foreclosure is by ENB but according to the article Earl Weaver and also D.H. Funk & Sons have secured judgments against Blessings of Hope for unrepaid loans.

[mike]

The foreclosure is by Ephrata National Bank I believe and not an individual. The close relationship they have long had with Maga always raised questions for some as well as the costume of Amish while practicing other religious traditions nothing like the Amish.

OK, I see that now that I was able to read the article. From the information given, Ephrata National Bank is owed $3.4 million, and former board members Weaver and Funk respectively have judgments for $650K and $655K for a total of $4.7 million among these parties.

But the article states:

A push to expand, which started in earnest in 2019, has left the food processing and warehousing operation that serves community food banks in four states with $14.6 million in debt, up about $700,000 from the previous year, according to Blessings’ most recent independent financial review. That review for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2024, – which shows net assets of about $7 million – was the second in two years that included a warning of doubt about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern due to its debt.

Yikes. If it has a total of $14.6M in debt and $7M in assets there is no wonder about the charity's 'ability to continue as a going concern.' This makes it obvious things haven't been going well for awhile.

All the statements that the Lapps are making at this juncture about their 'sensing' it is God's will that they are to continue to expand into a national organization don't help the math (or the Christian testimony) to work any better.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Are these the "Glory Barn" people?