In 2017, Peter and Meredith Chase awaited the birth of their 4th child, Andrew James, due at the end of September. But God had another plan. Andrew was born in July, 13 weeks early, and spent five days battling a severe brain bleed. On July 14, Andrew went to be with the Lord. Still grieving, Meredith accepted an invitation to go on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic with her friend Stacey Stanford. Before leaving, a woman in a prayer group handed Meredith some money with a specific request to help orphans or widows while she was there. Meredith just knew that she was on her way to care for orphans.
So, with a broken heart and $100, she headed off to the DR, but God didn’t lead her where she was expecting. Instead, He led her up a mountain to a 300-square-foot shack held together with sheet metal and banana leaves. Inside was an elderly widow named Silvetta, suffering from Parkinson’s disease while sitting alone in the sweltering heat. Something stirred in Meredith’s heart that day as she sat with Silvetta, offering this sweet lady what she could- cool water and loving hugs. Through tears, she said goodbye to Silvetta and headed further up the mountain. There, she would meet Gladys, another widow whose kind heart and generous spirit, in spite of her circumstances, further convinced Meredith that this is where she was supposed to use this money. The “$100 blessing” she was sent with was enough to provide a month’s worth of food for both of those precious ladies, and that’s what she did. That night she called Peter and told him, “We have to do something.”
A year later, Peter and Meredith were blessed with another pregnancy. But, sadly, Meredith suffered complications, and Charley, their “rainbow baby,” did not survive. Due to the circumstances, Peter substituted for Meredith on the return trip to the DR to visit with a group of widows, including Silvetta and Gladys, and determine the need for a dedicated program to serve the widows in the area. Like Meredith before him, Peter was struck by the incredible spirit of faith and love in the women he met but also by the circumstances they found themself in. He also saw the essential role these ladies played in their community and how serving them could act as a ripple effect to those around them.
The initial version of a widow’s ministry began after that trip through a partner organization and served 14 widows from 2018-2021, providing physical, emotional, and, most importantly, spiritual support. In 2022, Peter and Meredith felt called to branch out and start their own ministry to serve widows. After finding other like-minded people who wanted to be a part of what God was doing, For the Widow Ministries was started in October of 2022 and officially launched on June 23, 2023.
The mission of the ministry is to honor Jesus Christ and spread the Gospel through serving, providing for, and making disciples of widows in need and the communities they live in. For the Widow seeks to follow the biblical mandate of practicing true religion that is undefiled by caring for widows in their affliction (James 1:27).