Freedom to Give Back
Primerica leader, Asaad Faraj, of Southfield, MI, caught the “charity bug” early on in his career as a business-builder.* He joined Primerica in 1991 and by 2006, Asaad and his wife, Lois, had built a very successful Primerica business and had developed the habit of using a portion of their income to support the ministries and charities close to their heart. Then, Asaad got an invitation he couldn’t refuse.
“About 10 years ago, my pastor’s son invited me to join him on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic,” Asaad says. “I wanted to say ‘no’ because I didn’t feel like the timing was right, but instead, I found myself saying ‘yes.’ What I saw during that trip changed my life. These people had nothing – they didn’t even have regular access to food – yet 20,000 of them came to this dusty field to hear the ministers speak. I remember looking out at them and seeing so much joy.”
Making an Impact
Since that first venture, Asaad has been on a total of 32 missions trips to places around the world and his wife, Lois, and their three children have joined him for many. “Every time we come back from one of these trips, we are even more committed than ever to growing our business so we can help more people,” Asaad says. “On one of our trips to India, we were giving these toys and backpacks to some kids. These are children who are so poor that they’ve never seen a toy before. In fact, they had never even seen a bed before. It was so heartbreaking to see how hesitant they were to pick the toys up, like they expected someone to smack their hand away. We came home from that trip with a much clearer goal of growing our business like never before.”
Travel with Purpose
Over the last decade, Asaad and Lois say they’ve gone to Haiti four times and India four times, as well as to locations in South and Central America. “We’ve seen the poorest of the poor, yet we’ve also seen the results of our impact on them,” says Asaad. “Our success with our Primerica business has allowed us to travel with purpose, to afford to be a blessing to people who truly have nothing, and to share the love of God with families around the world. To us, what we get to do with our income is worth everything it takes to build our business.”
*Primerica Representatives are independent contractors and are not employees of Primerica.
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Thank you for your story. I am a new rep and my dream or “why” is to be able to travel with a purpose. I have sponsored 2 children in the Dominican Republic thru Children International and would just love to be able to actually meet them and do some meaningful work there. I pray I can follow your footsteps and make a divinely related difference. Be blessed.
Your purpose is truly God inspired. I pray for the wisdom and inspiration to build my Primerica business in order to make a strong, positive for other families in my community and globally. God Bless you and your family for your steadfastness in Primerica, which has allowed you to be a blessing to so many.
This is very refreshing, enlighting, & very much some of what I would like to do! We all have dreams & being able to give with a Purpose is a Divine Blessing !??? Live In The Light!
This is very awesome that the people of the Dominican are being helped. Two years ago my husband and I spent Christmas in the Dominican Republic where we saw poverty and there is a need to help them and others in other parts of the world. However, there are many places in America where Americans need help also. I was raised in Detroit, Michigan in the 60’s when it was a place where the average person had their own homes and employment. I have lived in South Florida since the 80’s and have on occasion gone to Belle Glade and surrounding areas. Last week I went to Detroit to a funeral and was very saddened of how that city is not the one I was raised in. It looks like a war zone. I visited a very successful Veterans program and asked if they assisted female veterans and was told there was no program for women but there was a need for gender specific programs.
I am a newbie with Primerica and am Executive Director of a nonprofit organization, named Positive Images Enterprises, Inc. that has been around since 1997. We dress men and women for job interviews, provide transitional housing for homeless men and women. Yesterday when I went to church I was approached by two different individuals who know what we do with two different people who are homeless with nowhere to go. However, we don’t have the resources or room for another person. The grants never provide enough to assist these people properly. I started a support group for female veterans because these women have served their country and many of them, we don’t hear about, are homeless with children. They go from coach to coach of their friends and relatives homes or live on the streets because some of the shelters are not safe for their children. As far as I know there is no housing specifically for female veterans and their families. They are the forgotten because their numbers are much lower than the men. However, they have many barriers.
My three passions are helping the children of Detroit and the Belle Glade area and female veterans. The children in the Belle Glade and Detroit area need our help as well. My goal as I rise in Primerica is to be inclusive with these people. Any ideas anyone can give me would be appreciated.
Nice job God bless.