CURE’s Partnership with Word FM Makes Miracles Possible
News | 20 Jan 2023
What happens when faithful partners catch CURE’s vision to heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God?
In a word: miracles.
When children with disabilities and no hope of treatment receive the care they need at no cost, it changes everything. A baby in Manila born with a cleft palate can smile at his mom for the first time. A young girl in a remote Kenyan village excluded from community life because of a clubfoot can run and play with new friends.
When the stigma of disability lifts, children begin to live into their God-given potential.
Partnership with Word FM helps heal thousands
More than 2,200 of these miracles have been made possible through CURE’s partnership with the Pennsylvania-based Christian radio network, Word FM. During an annual campaign each year, Word FM shares with their listeners about the 14 million children living with treatable conditions in the countries where CURE serves—and about CURE’s mission to see each one healed.
Over the past 11 years, the response from Word FM listeners has been outrageously generous:
CURE & Word FM Impact at-a-Glance
- $3.4+ million raised to sponsor surgeries and share the love of Jesus with children
- 3,174 new supporters embracing CURE’s mission
- 2,200+ children who will now smile, walk, and run into a hopeful future
During the most recent campaign in December, CURE and Word FM raised more than $120,000—bringing life-changing surgical and ministry care to 80 children and families. For Word FM, partnering with CURE fits into their overall commitment to use their airwaves to connect as many people as possible to hope in Christ.
Billy Dunn, Word FM ministry leader, says, “We began our partnership with CURE [more than] ten years ago and it has been one of the most strategic decisions we have made. We believe that God has called us to be great stewards of Word FM, and CURE is an important part of this stewardship. We love knowing that kids experience physical healing from correctable disabilities, and they get to hear of the One who brings spiritual healing as well. We consider it an honor to be a radio partner with CURE and I can’t wait to see what God will do.”
How a small team has a big impact over the airwaves
For a week each year, Word FM devotes two full days of airtime to CURE’s advocate and favorite radio personality, Brant Hansen. Along with his producer and co-host, Sherri Lynn, he introduces Word FM’s more than 200,000 listeners to the vital work CURE does around the world. Brant has seen first-hand the difference this partnership makes.
He says, “Word FM started in a living room. They’re a small team, but they reach hundreds of thousands of people. And, they have a heart for CURE. The impact they’ve had almost makes me want to cry. They have some inkling of it; that’s what drives them to partner with CURE. But there’s no way they can get their heads around the ripple effects of all of those children healed, and all the families and villages affected.”
Brant says the generosity of Word FM and their listeners touches young lives like Elizabeth, a five-year-old he met recently at CURE’s hospital in Zambia. She was born with a clubfoot condition that, without treatment, would eventually prevent her from walking and could keep her from attending school. Worried for her future, Elizabeth’s parents sought help from a local clinic, a traditional healer, and a pastor, but nothing helped. When they heard that Elizabeth could receive treatment free of charge at CURE Zambia—they felt hope for the first time!
When Elizabeth was in the operating room, Brant asked her surgeon what happens if she doesn’t receive treatment?
“He told me, ‘She will be everyone’s victim,’” Brant recalls. “That says it all. Having played with her, twirled with her, and been with her while she’s giggling—it’s painful to imagine a lifetime of victimhood and abuse ahead for her. But treatment from CURE means that won’t be her story. That alone makes it worth investing in her surgery.”
Impact that extends beyond hospital walls
That investment means Elizabeth will receive more than just life-changing surgery that restores her ability to enjoy everyday things like playing with siblings, walking to school, and helping with family chores. At CURE, she and her family will receive meals and lodging, get needed therapies, and learn about and experience the love of Jesus so that she can enjoy a lifetime of walking with God. The impact goes far beyond a hospital operating room.
“Word FM listeners, like most of CURE’s donors, haven’t even seen the full effects of what they’ve done. Not really,” says Brant. “I have had the benefit of going to CURE’s hospitals and seeing transformation, so of course I give. Word FM listeners did that without seeing the benefit, and I think there’s something especially blessed about that. I think eventually they will understand what they’ve done, but it may not be in this lifetime.”
CURE is grateful for our faithful donors and partners like Word FM who make miracles for thousands of kids like Elizabeth possible!
Three ways you can learn more and partner with CURE
Here are three things you can do today to transform the lives of more kids like Elizabeth.
- Pray for CUREkids like Elizabeth. There are many children who are receiving treatment at one of our eight hospitals right now!
- Learn how CURE walks alongside patients during their hospital stay, healing their bodies and sharing the love of Jesus!
- Partner with CURE to provide life-changing surgeries to children with treatable disabilities.
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