Seniors Paul Lattimer and Micaela Shelton are spreading hope around campus through an organization called Threads of Hope.

TOH is an organization founded by a missionary in the Philippines to support at-risk families in the area. Local men, women and children who live in the impoverished areas of the Philippines make bracelets, necklaces and bookmarks, which founder Chris Kuhlow sells to raise money to help support them.

Lattimer and Shelton are selling the bracelets to raise money for their mission trip to Hong Kong this December. The bracelets cost $2 and half of the proceeds will go toward their trip while the other half goes to TOH.

The two heard about TOH through Ashland University alumna Carly Cronin, who used the bracelets to raise money for her own mission trip. While Lattimer had just thought the two of them were going to send out support letters for fundraising for their trip, Shelton brought forth the idea of contacting TOH to help them raise the money.

Shelton thought that selling bracelets to family, friends and fellow students would be a great way to reach others to get support for both TOH and their trip.

“Something as small as a bracelet gives them something to see what they paid for while still giving for a good cause,” Shelton said.

In the past two and a half weeks, the two have sold over $800 worth of bracelets, yielding about $400 to TOH. Only 1,200 bracelets sold can support one large family in the Philippines for an entire month. This gives the impoverished families a good source of income and keeps the risk low for families having to sell their children into prostitution to get by.

Students on campus find that contributing to the sales is rewarding in more than one way.

“Most of all, it helped multiple people out in the process: both the person selling them and the people making them,” Junior Sam Ryan said. “They are a good cause in both places.”

Not only do the proceeds from the bracelets make a great impact for TOH, but they impact Lattimer and Shelton’s ministry in Hong Kong.

“This isn’t just to sell bracelets,” Lattimer said. “It’s about what will be happening in Hong Kong and the prayers we need for it, too.”

Lattimer found the trip through an organization called Youth with a Mission. He was familiar with YWAM through the mystery mission trip he went on last year for Isaiah Project. Being so satisfied with the trip, he also spent the whole summer in Las Vegas ministering to the people there as a trainer instead of in the student position he was in on the first trip.

While he was in Vegas during the summer, he felt a push from God to do more missions work.

“I felt like God told me I need to go to China and serve the people there,” Lattimer said. “It is a three step process. First, God commanded me to go. Second, he gave me compassion for the people there and third, he made me feel compelled to share the gospel with them.”

While Lattimer felt compelled to go to China to spread God’s word, he then went to Shelton, his girlfriend, to discuss the idea of both of them going together.

Shelton had been on other trips through the Isaiah Project on campus and felt compelled to reach out to others too.

“Missions are big in my heart,” Shelton said. “I feel like he will make a difference through me in their lives.”

The trip will be a Christmas Outreach project from December 13-27. Here, the two will join a team with YWAM doing dramas, caroling, and dancing in plazas, on stages, and outside malls in Hong Kong.

Those who live in Hong Kong celebrate Christmas, but only the commercial aspect of it, according the Shelton. To them, it is not about Jesus, but it is more about buying and receiving gifts.

“Ninety-five percent of people there don’t know about Jesus,” Shelton said. “We’re going there to share a message with a mainly Atheist community. To them, there is no God. They have no idea.”

In Hong Kong, it is illegal to talk about God. When going through Chinese customs, Lattimer and Shelton cannot disclose that they are there for missions work. Instead, they have to tell them that they are there as tourists for their own safety.

Lattimer and Shelton are passionate about taking the risk because of their strong trust in God. This opportunity for missions has made those around them excited to support them and their ministry.

“I knew I would be supporting these amazing people that were brave enough to listen to God’s plan for them,” Senior Holly Parsley said. “God said ‘Go,’ so they are going. I wanted to support them in any way I could.”

TOH is a charity that keeps giving. Not only does it bring hope to the impoverished families in the Philippines, but it also brings hope by giving people the opportunity to spread God’s Word in China with the support of AU.