Join us in proclaiming God's Jubilee hope to Orange County's most vulnerable!
Your gift will help young adults at Homeless Intervention Services of Orange County achieve a better future via one-time grants and zero-interest loans.
About the Jubilee Fund
The Jubilee Fund is inspired by the Year of Jubilee, a biblical concept from Leviticus 25, in which God calls the Israelites to forgive all debt, return property to its original owners, and liberate their servants. These mechanisms free the poor from poverty’s shackles and beckon the Israelites to become a community marked by neighborly care and opportunity for all. In Luke 4, Jesus announces that he has been sent to the world to usher in “the year of the Lord’s favor,” a direct reference to the Year of Jubilee.
Jubilee is God’s firm challenge to the world’s social and economic inequality, which is marked by a chasm between those who live with abundance, cushion, and choice and those who live in poverty’s death grip. According to Pulitzer-Prize winning sociologist Matthew Desmond, “poverty is about money, of course, but it is also a relentless piling on of problems… Poverty is often material scarcity piled on chronic pain piled on incarceration piled on depression piled on addiction–on and on it goes.” This crushing pile of afflictions is nearly impossible to escape, as it is perpetuated by systems and hearts marked by fear and insatiable greed.
Jubilee offers a competing social vision–one where a divinely-ordained reset button is pressed, and suddenly, poverty’s compounding pile of suffering is lifted! This alternative vision offers all people new lives of possibility and freedom. In the practice of Jubilee, God calls us to a reimagined world that reflects God’s own generosity, compassion, and desire for all to flourish.
About Homeless Intervention Services of Orange County (HIS-OC)
Homeless Intervention Services of Orange County (“HIS-OC”) runs a Transitional Aged Youth (“TAY”) program dedicated to helping 18-24 year olds in Orange County achieve stable housing and a better future. Many of these young adults have come out of the foster care system, which puts them at high risk for homelessness, education barriers, unemployment, poor mental and physical health, incarceration, and limited support. HIS-OC TAY is a 12-24 month program, where these young adults live in a HIS-OC managed home and receive weekly case management support while they attend college, trade school, or GED programs.
FAQ
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Donate online by clicking the green button at the top of the page
Venmo @ChristKaleidoscope
Mail a check to Kaleidoscope Church
17 Silver Fern, Irvine, CA 92603
*Please specify “Jubilee Fund,” and include your email address to receive a year-end giving statement.
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Yes, Christ Kaleidoscope is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. You will receive a year-end giving statement that can be used to claim a tax deduction.
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Banks often exclude the marginalized from securing loans, which has laid the groundwork for exploitative cash checking outlets and payday loan stores. Those who use cash checking outlets to cash their checks are charged between 1-10 percent of the total. For payday loans, customers are charged a fee or percentage, and the APR on these loans can be exorbitant: a 2-week loan can reach an APR of 460 percent in California. Oftentimes, people struggle to pay back their loans, which results in additional fees, overdrawn bank accounts, and ruined credit. On and on, the cycle of debt spins.
God is firmly opposed to this model of exclusion and exploitation. In Levitus 25, God calls God’s people to give to those who fall into difficulty without taking interest. God recognizes how interest traps the poor in poverty, thereby opposing the Jubilee principles of freedom from debt, generosity, and empowering opportunity for all.
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TAY residents will apply for funding, and the case managers of HIS-OC will determine funding allotment.
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Instead of identifying specific numbers, we are suggesting certain sources of funding. These suggestions represent ways in which many of our society’s institutions benefit the haves while hurting the have-nots. Matthew Desmond writes, “Many features of our society are not broken, just bifurcated. For some, a home creates wealth; for others a home drains it. For some, access to credit extends financial power; for others, it destroys it.” For example, while traditional banks offer an opportunity for the financially stable to increase their wealth through interest earned from their accounts, they simultaneously charge minimum balance fees for the poor. In this absurd arrangement, if you have money, your bank rewards you with more money. If you don’t have money, your bank takes your money as a punishment for not having enough money!
In light of this, we invite you to consider giving:
Interest earned from savings/checking accounts
Cash back rewards earned from credit cards
Interest earned from investments (e.g. stocks, cryptocurrency, etc.)
Mortgage interest deduction
A day’s pay
*If the above doesn't apply and/or you’d like to give in a different way, feel free!