Dillard Family Ministries Reveals ‘Empowering To Serve’ Program, Notes Where Some Nonprofit Funds Have Gone

Jill and Derick Dillard updated fans yesterday about a the Dillard Family Ministries’ “Empowering To Serve” program. The Dillards had previously informed fans that they were raising funds to send two of Jill’s Spanish teacher’s sons to English language classes. However, in a blog post yesterday, the Dillards seemed to hint that the English courses were part of a larger “program” being offered by Dillard Family Ministries. Taking from the name of their original blog post of “Empowering to Serve,” Jill and Derick are now referring to the classes as part of a “program.” It is unclear, like most aspects of the Dillard Family Ministries, if the Dillards plan to continue to fund English language courses for other children, or if the “program” is only designed to be used by the two original children the family outlined in the donation plea.

Jill and Derick Dillard posted a blog update about Jill’s Spanish teacher’s sons, Ignacio and Jose Pablo. The two boys, ages 10 and 8, informed Jill and Derick that they would like to learn English to increase their chances of better job prospects when they got older. In response, Jill says that Dillard Family Ministries wanted to fund the boys’ English language classes. The Dillards then pleaded with fans to donate money in Ignacio and Jose Pablo’s names, and that the funds would be distributed for their course work. It seems the Dillards were able to quickly secure the donations needed as Ignacio and Jose are already typing blog posts on the Dillard Family blog in English.

In the “Empowering To Serve” update, Ignacio and Pablo thanked fans for their donations to Dillard Family Ministries, noting that the classes will change their lives.

“I would love to thank you all for paying my english classes. I love to learn english and the classes are really fun. I am really gracious for the english classes and I hope to learn more every day. Learning english here will help me a lot in the future. Thank you so much.”

At the bottom of the blog post, Jill and Derick added a link to “learn more about the ‘Empowering to Serve’ program” and linked back to the original blog post about the two children from December. At the time of the post in December, there was no indication that the English language classes were part of any broader program but simply that Jill and Derick Dillard had planned to raise money to fund the children’s English courses. However, with Jill and Derick now calling it a “program,” it is unclear if the family plans to expand the program to other children in the area.

The Dillards do not specify the details of the “program” any further, but do request that fans make “a small donation” to Dillard Family Ministries to continue programs such as this.

While teaching the boys English will surely give them a leg-up in the job market, some are questioning why the boys needed formal English classes paid for by Dillard Family Ministries, as their mother was Jill’s Spanish teacher. This lead many to note that if Jill’s teacher could teach English-speaking Jill to speak Spanish, she could do the opposite and teach her boys English. Others pointed out that Jill already knows a moderate amount of Spanish and could have taught the boys herself, like she did her own siblings in earlier episodes of 19 Kids and Counting.

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What do you think about the latest Dillard Family Ministries update? Do you think Jill and Derick will start an English language program to support children in the area, or do you think their plans are limited to these two specific children? What do you think about the change in language from noting they would like to help Jill’s teacher by offering courses to her sons to calling it a “program?”

[Image via Facebook]