If you follow ASJ on social media, through our emails, or in other ways, you likely saw the phrase “Keep Moving Forward,” a few times.

The phrase comes from a story that ASJ co-founder Carlos Hernandez shared about his son during a time when his family was facing death threats from those who were benefiting from the corruption that ASJ was confronting. 

At the dinner table, Carlos mentioned the idea of quitting his work for the safety of his family. His youngest son suddenly shot to his feet. “No!” his son shouted. “We won’t stop. We have to keep moving forward!”

Inspired by this story, ASJ’s executive director, Kyle Meyaard-Schaap, challenged you, our supporters, to keep moving forward for justice as Honduras and our partners on the ground continue to face danger in their work every day.

“We have to keep moving forward for each of the 10 million Hondurans who deserve to participate in a society that is safe, just, and whole,” Kyle shared. 

But Kyle wasn’t the only one issuing a challenge. A generous partner of ASJ, who wishes to remain anonymous, also sees the value in committing regularly to a more just society. The donor pledged $40,000 to match:

• Any new monthly pledge with an annualized amount (for example $120 for a $10/month pledge)
• Any increased pledges with an annualized amount (for example, a donor who was pledging $10 per month who raised that amount to $20 would have that $10 increase matched for 12 months). 

From May to June, we spread the word about this challenge and ASJ’s wonderful network of supporters decided that they, too, wanted to keep moving forward with Honduras!

Together, we raised:

• $3,101 in new monthly pledges from 59 Justice Partners (that’s $37,212 new dollars every year)
•  About $96,000 in additional one-time gifts

That’s about $133,000 new dollars that we can send to Honduras over the next 12 months! And, the great news is that one donor was so inspired by this idea of matching new or increased pledges, that they added another $10,000 to the overall matching amount. So there’s still money left in the match if you want to help us fully reach our goal. 

Among those who responded with a new Justice Partner pledge included:

• A donor who had been faithfully giving for nearly 20 years, but not through a monthly giving option
• Several donors who hadn’t given a gift for several years
• A first-time donor who made a $50 monthly pledge
• A donor who increased their pledge by more than $350 per month
• 19 new and increased Justice Partner pledges across two events that we hosted in June where we shared the matching gift challenge from the stage.
• A donor who recently lost their spouse, and as a result wanted to update their giving information. The donor decided to add $50 to their monthly pledge because of the match

These gifts represent a wide range of supporters who have now committed to a reliable form of giving to Honduras. Thank you, ASJ community, for moving forward with Honduras! 

If you’d still like to give a gift to our Keep Moving Forward campaign, you can set up monthly gifts or update your recurring donation.