Video Transcript:
I wanted to take a minute to equip you with a better understanding of our partnership with RIP Medical Debt so that you can not only have a better understanding for yourself, but also so that you are better equipped to answer any questions that might come up in your groups or other conversations.
Last year we began a partnership with RIP Medical Debt through which we purchased and forgave approximately $1.2M in Medical Debt. This year we are continuing that partnership. From Easter to Mother’s Day a portion of your giving will go to this initiative. But I wanted to clarify some things:
We did not write a check for $1.2M. The way this works is that we purchase medical debt from either debt collectors, hospitals or other medical providers through our partner RIP Medical Debt. Last year we allocated to this program around 5% of our Missions and Benevolence budget which is about ½ of a Percent of our total church budget. Then depending on the success in negotiations and market conditions we are able to purchase medical debt for pennies on the dollar. This way we are able to leverage a few thousand dollars to have an impact in our community in millions of dollars.
We are seeking to make an impact in our community in the lives of those most economically vulnerable. Therefore, we target families in Fort Bend County whose household income is below 2 times the Poverty Level. The Federal Poverty Level is identified through the Medicaid program. For 2021 this is set to $26,500 for a family of four. These families will receive a letter that explains what we’ve done and why we’ve done it and encourages them to visit Crossbridge.cc/forgiven where they’ll see a message directed at them and encounter opportunities to engage our church.
RIP Medical Debt identifies these families for us and keeps their personal information private. Therefore, I couldn’t tell you the name or medical condition of any specific family. Nor could we include someone for forgiveness in the event that you knew someone in poverty that held medical debt.
As you can understand, the purchasing process takes a bit of time. Months in fact. Therefore, let me walk you through the process for the debt we are forgiving this year. Back in January of this year we engaged with RIP Medical Debt and began the process to identify and purchase debt. This month we finalized our purchase so now like a debt collector we own this debt. But unlike a debt collector, on Mother’s Day we will officially forgive this debt and send these families debt forgiveness notifications via a letter. So, the number we will announce this Mother’s Day is debt that was purchased between January earlier this year and now and is funded from the dollars we raised during the initiative this time last year. What we raise this year will guide us as we make our purchase next year in January and will determine the size of the debt we forgive on Mother’s Day of next year.
As you can see, this is way too much information and nuance to try to communicate on a Sunday morning. On the Sundays leading up to Mother’s Day we are seeking to encourage everyone to participate in this initiative and then on Mother’s Day we are seeking to celebrate the impact that God has allowed us to have in the lives of so many in our community and join together in the prayer that through that impact they might hear and understand the Gospel. We tell them that Crossbridge is doing this because each of us had a debt that was forgiven by Christ on the cross and that is our hope for them.
If you encounter questions regarding this initiative feel free to answer with as much of this information as you think will be helpful. Feel free to forward this to anyone in your group or our church that has a question and you think might benefit from all of this detail.
If you have questions that I haven’t answered here, please just text me or email us at info@crossbridge.cc. Any questions I get I’ll make sure to answer directly but also include the question and answer on this page.
