Bringing Hope

His smile says it all.
One of the children that received Christmas presents a few weeks ago during our visit to an orphanage
 in Columbo with the Hope Epidemic and one of the Pastors from Graystone Church in Georgia.

A couple of weeks ago we were in several orphanages promoting something that’s very exciting. I wasn’t able to say anything beforehand because, until the meetings took place, we weren’t really sure what the outcome was going to be. But we were in these orphanages (ones that we already have relationships with) trying to initiate something that’s never happened here before. An orphan hosting program.

My good friend, Jono Long with The Hope Epidemic, was here the entire week trying to find orphanages that were interested in allowing American families to host children (from their orphanages) for 4 weeks in the United States. The program is working in Europe, China and Africa but has yet to be developed here in Brazil. 

The way that it works is like this:

A christian family will be matched with a child that is currently in the orphanage. They (the family) will pay for the child to fly to the US and live with their family for 4 weeks (typically during the Christmas season). The child will not only be able to experience a whole new world, but they will also be able to experience what it’s like to be in a family. But here’s the amazing part... 80% of all the children that come to the US on one of these hosting trips becomes adopted. Either by the family hosting the child or by someone who meets the child during the hosting process! And that’s the main goal.

When we presented the program to the directors of the orphanages, they were excited. It was amazing to see how receptive they were and how anxious they were to get the program started. It’s in the planning stages right now and will need to be approved by the judges here in our state, but the goal is to have the program in place within the next few months so that hosting can begin next December! 

Please pray for this program and that it will be a blessing to the children of Brazil.

The other thing that we were doing was launching a child sponsorship program. The way that this works is that a church is matched-up with an orphanage. Then the members of the church adopt the orphanage as their own for a minimum of 2 years. Families within the church are matched with a child and sponsor the child by giving financially (usually $30-35 per month), corresponding by mail/e-mail and then by taking missions trips to the orphanage to see the sponsored child (if possible for the family sponsoring). 

Although the orphanages here in Brazil are well structured, they lack the funding to meet all of the children’s needs. So the financial support, which is minimal by American standards, goes a long way to improve the lives of each child it’s designated for.

And here’s the cool thing, we (Hope and Life Brazil) are here in Brazil and are partnered with The Hope Epidemic. So we’re able to act as a liaison (and accountability) for the children and the orphanages to make sure that the support does exactly what it’s suppose to do- ‘go to helping the children.’ We’re very excited about being able to be involved in this amazing partnership with The Hope Epidemic.

If you or your church has a heart for orphan ministry but don’t know where to start or if you’ve been afraid to invest in any type of orphan care because you weren’t sure that your support was actually going to make it to the children, then I’d recommend that you contact The Hope Epidemic by clicking HERE to find out how you can get involved!

Passionately Following Jesus,

Jim