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SJTW and THEE Alliance make a real impact in people's lives!
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRITBarry Shay, director of discipleship and mission at St. Joseph the Worker
Since 2023, SJTW has been involved in a faith community alliance that helps individuals and families eliminate medical debt. Learn more about the impact of this ministry in Minnesota and beyond, and how you can help.Read the OSV story on UNDUE Medical Debt
Read the Catholic Spirit story on UNDUE Medical Debt -
St. Joseph the Worker has joined with 20 other Minnesota congregations of various faiths helping to reduce medical debit for those in need called THEE Alliance (see below). We are thrilled to be part of this new initiative that has abolished more than $46 million of medial debit for 47,000 families since 2020.
Message received from UNDUE Medical Debt, 2023:
Thank you so much for the generous donation from St. Joseph the Worker to relieve medical debt! Please find your Debt Fulfillment Report attached for review. Your donation of $5,000 was leveraged to abolish $574,194.73 for 1,109 people
To find out more about the THEE Alliance or testimony videos and articles, use the links below.
UNDUE Medical Debt
https://unduemedicaldebt.org/
Video Testimony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7Hijtpag8o
NPR Report (article/podcast)
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/08/15/1093769295/this-groups-wiped-out-6-7-billion-in-medical-debt-and-its-just-getting-started
St. Joseph the Worker is a founding member in a coalition of dozens of Midwest faith communities helping to erase medical debt for “our neighbors” facing financial hardship.
As THEE Alliance Forgiving Medical Debt, we purchase discounted hospital medical debt for pennies on the dollar through a non-profit organization called Undue Medical debt. Families are then notified their debt has been forgiven, tax free, thereby restoring their credit and ability to buy basics, which gives them hope for their future!
Since our formation three years ago, THEE Alliance has been able to purchase and forgive over $100 million of medical debt for more than 100,000 families in the Upper Midwest and across the country!
Please join us in our campaign raise $6,000 in the next 9 days. With your help we will be able to forgive more than a Half-Million Dollars of medical debt for our neighbors in need! Every dollar donated makes a difference and your generosity is multiplied; your $10 gift can help forgive up to $1,000 dollars of debt… $100 can wipe out as much as $10,000 of debt!
In this Jubilee Year of 2025, Pope Francis made debt forgiveness a central theme "The first to forgive debts is God, as we always ask him when we pray the Lord's Prayer, and the Jubilee asks us to translate this forgiveness on a social level, so that no person, no family, no population is crushed by debts.” As “Pilgrims of Hope” let us reflect God’s own justice – offering pardon and the forgiveness of debts (Deuteronomy 15 / Isaiah 61:1-2) by offering relief to individuals and families struggling with high medical bills.
THEE Alliance Forgiving Medical Debt is a coalition of 30 interfaith communities from Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin that purchases medical debt portfolios through Undue Medical Debt.
For more information visit us at THEEAlliance.org or email: theealliancefmd@gmail.com
Undue Medical Debt is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by former debt collectors. To date Undue has acquired — and abolished — over $15 billion of medical debt, helping almost 10 million families. Undue partners with hospitals, health systems and physician groups to acquire medical debt for abolishment. Undue then collaborates with individuals, corporations, foundations and faith-based organizations (like THEE Alliance) to purchase the debt - converting every dollar contributed into $100 of medical debt relief on average.
To learn more, visit: https://unduemedicaldebt.org/ -
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THEE Alliance
THEE Alliance is a coalition of more than 20 interfaith communities from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, who are committed to freeing families from the crushing burden of medical debt.
The mission of THEE Alliance is based on God’s Commandment to “Love our Neighbors”. Our vision is to help families who are facing financial hardship by purchasing and forgiving their medical debt through non-profit, UNDUE Medical Debt; to bring awareness of and creative solutions to the growing epidemic of medical debt; and to encourage other communities of faith to join our coalition to make a real impact in the lives of our brothers and sisters and children in need.
Through a partnership with UNDUE Medical Debt, our coalition - THEE Alliance, is able to purchase debt portfolios from hospitals and clinics for pennies on the dollar. We forgive the debt and contact the individuals and families that they no longer owe any amount on that outstanding debt… no cost to them, no tax implications, no negative impact on their credit!
Since its inception, in 2021 THEE Alliance has raised nearly $1 Million which has allowed us our little group to purchase AND FORGIVE more than $100 MILLION of medical debt for more than 100,000 families!
And thanks to the hard work of THEE Alliance members and with the help of UNDUE Medical, we are able to purchase medical debt in Minnesota! This is a game-changer for our neighbors weighed down by the burden and anxiety of debt.
St. Joseph the Worker is proud to be in partnership with the many dedicated and generous individuals and communities that make up the THEE Alliance.
To multiply your gift x 100! – Donate Online (select UNDUE Medical Debt from the dropdown Fund menu).
Learn More about THEE Alliance: https://www.theealliance.org/home