Of course there was one more bag

One of my friends sent me a message after reading that email. She told me she was going through a $10 car wash, drinking her $5 latte, when the email came through.

Those pictures broke her heart. Right then and there, she knew she needed to help, so she made a donation.

I totally understood.

A few days earlier, I had been sitting at my kitchen table eating lunch. I had more food on my plate than I could finish, so I walked over to the trash can and scraped the rest of it in.

Commence the tears.

I just started crying.

Not because I felt guilty. (Well, maybe a little.)

But because I realized how incredibly blessed I am, and I couldn’t get the pictures from Karamoja out of my mind.

They are so hard to look at. We haven’t even shared them all with you.

People are so weak. Their bodies are literally withering away from lack of food.

I remember standing there wishing I could somehow pack up my leftovers and send them straight over.

And then I thought…

We are.

And we can.

Because that’s exactly what happened.

Because you responded, because your heart was moved and you gave, we were able to send an additional 10,000 pounds of food north.

Our team is distributing it right now, and we’re hoping to send ANOTHER 10,000 pounds soon.

I just wanted you to know how incredibly grateful we are.

But there’s one story from the last distribution that keeps going through my mind.

Her Name Was Gift

An elderly woman wrapped in a striped blanket sits on the ground in Karamoja, Uganda.

Our team had just finished distributing food in the village and was packing up to leave when our staff member John saw her… an elderly woman lying on the ground.

Her name was Gift.

Gift had heard about the food being handed out, so she started making her way there.

But she was so weak from hunger that she couldn’t make it. 

 

By the time John found her, the food distribution was over.

And you have to understand, this isn’t a place where you can just run down to the store and grab something.

Food is scarce.

That’s the whole reason we’re there.

But John has such a tender heart. He couldn’t just leave her lying there.

So he frantically started asking, “Is there any more food left?”

He checked the vehicle. He asked around.

And guess what?

One bag of food remained.

Why?

I have no idea.

But John picked it up and brought it over to Gift.

When he told me what happened, all I could think was…

Of course there was one more bag of food.

It brought tears to my eyes all over again.

One woman lying on the side of a road in a remote part of northern Uganda, too weak to take another step.

And God saw her.

God saw Gift.

And as heartbreaking as all of this has been, that gives me such a sense of peace. God is in the midst of it. He sees these precious people.

And we get to be a part of showing them His love.

Thank you for your prayers and generosity. 

And most of all, thank you for helping us remind people like Gift that they haven’t been forgotten.

Thank you for caring enough to respond,

Lori

Two women help carry an elderly man out of a small thatched-roof home in Karamoja, Uganda.

P.S. The need in Karamoja is still enormous, and we’re expecting to send even more food in the days ahead. Please keep praying for the families in Karamoja. We’re asking God for rain, for provision, and for wisdom as we keep responding. If you’d like to help us send the next load of food, you can do that below.

Mike and Lori Salley
Founders

Help Reach More Families

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Grace's Story:

In 2004, when we began Show Mercy, we had no idea the depth and reach this journey would take. We simply said yes to helping 50 children. That’s it. No grand strategy. Just obedience.

And that’s when I met Grace—a quiet, wide-eyed little boy sitting in a church service. I invited him to sit on my lap, and from that moment on, he had a special place in my heart.

Grace’s story was painful. His father had died of AIDS, and by custom, he was sent to live with his grandparents. At just seven years old, Grace was forced to work in the fields from dawn to dusk, digging for food with his bare hands. He wasn’t allowed to go to school. He slept on the hard mud floor. His clothes were rags. He was in constant pain—his feet and hands raw and infected from living barefoot in the dirt.

When he was finally brought into our sponsorship program, everything changed.

A Heart Transformed

Grace was safe. He had a bed. A blanket. Shoes. Meals. Clean water. Medical care. An education. But more than all of that—he had love.He would run to carry my bags every time I visited. He started dreaming big, bold dreams. He told me with glistening eyes that one day he would be a pastor and evangelist for Jesus. And over and over again, he dreamed of fishing—casting nets—pulling in a catch.

One day, as he wept in my arms sharing the horrors of his early life, he suddenly lifted his head, smiled, and said something I will never forget:

“I now know what it means to be a King’s kid.”

Grace discovered who he truly was—not an orphan, not a slave—but a son of the King. That truth changed everything for him. And it became a cornerstone of this ministry’s calling.

The Final Goodbye

In 2008, we received the heartbreaking news that Grace had passed away. While being treated in the hospital for an injury, doctors discovered he had leukemia. It progressed quickly, and we didn’t even have time to say goodbye.

But then, something miraculous happened. My husband Mike had a dream. In it, Grace was sitting on Jesus’ lap—radiant, whole, joyful. He looked at Mike and said something like:

“Thank you… for showing me what a good Poppa is on the earth.”

He woke up in tears. It was as if Grace had come back one last time to say thank you—and to pass the baton.

Send your sponsored child a note!

Use this form to send a special note to your child in Uganda.
You can upload a few small photos as well.