Wars and Civil Unrest
Darfur, Somalia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan... the list is seemingly endless. So are the orphans. Fathers are almost two and a half times as likely to be killed as mothers. Women in most parts of the world are unable to earn as much money as their male spouse was previously earning. When the male bread-winner is lost, the family hits the tipping-point and is thrust into a position from which many are unable to recover.

Corruption
Many children live in countries run by rulers whose only concern is enriching themselves and staying in power. Local food-production may be conscripted to the army or sold to finance weapons purchases or an extravagant lifestyle. International aid is often badly misdirected or outright stolen before it ever has the chance to do any good.

Caste Systems
In some parts of the world, being born a girl is a death sentence. Girls in these cultures usually require a dowry that is transferred at marriage. Poor villagers often will simply abandon baby girls in the jungle, rather than face financial catastrophe when the time comes to marry. I was told of an aid worker in India who recently found an abandoned baby, laying on the dirt in a jungle, covered with biting ants. Despite attempts to bring her back to health, this little girl did not survive. The statistics bare it out, according to UNICEF, India alone has 31 million orphans. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_statistics.html

What can be done?
The numbers are overwhelming, and the causes are complex and varied. There is no magic-bullet cure, and in one sense, the problem seems insurmountable. Just as the causes are many and varied, so the solutions must be many and varied. No organization or government agency is large enough to tackle the problem effectively. The solution lies in everyone pitching in to help. No effort is too small. If one focuses on the scale of the crisis, paralysis sets in and the temptation arises to simply throw up your hands and avoid thinking about the issue. But think about it we must. To this end, our mission is to:

• Raise awareness of the many issues negatively affecting children
• Raise support for Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) and
  Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that are effectively addressing the problem.
• Raise funds for individual projects and programs that effectively aid orphans.

At Orphans NOW!, we feel called to several actions in support of orphans and suffering children.

1. Raise Awareness. We want to make sure that people are aware of the problem. Americans are among the most generous people in the world with their time and money. We believe that if people are made aware, and truly begin to understand the problem, they will step up to the plate and get involved.
2. Identify Effective FBO/NGOs. There are thousands of organizations engaged in orphan relief. We have been actively speaking with and visiting numerous FBO & NGOs to determine their specific mission and their quality of work. We are not attempting to assess every FBO/NGO or pass judgment on any particular groups, we are simply trying to identify a handful of groups, in our particular sphere, who we feel are engaged in programs or projects that are making a difference.
3. Matching People with Groups. Just as some people prefer the arts and others spend their time immersed in sports, so it is with the organizations engaged in child welfare. Some FBO/NGOs focus on providing physical relief, some on spiritual needs and others take a holistic approach. We want to match up volunteers and donors with a group that is near to the heart of the volunteer. And when people are ready to help, getting involved shouldn't be a chore.
4. Project Funding. We identify individual projects for orphan relief and then raise funds for those projects. Instead of raising money for a specific organization or charity, we prefer to identify individual projects so that 100% of the funds raised go directly to aid the children in a very specific manner. When you donate to one of the select projects we have identified, no money is withheld for administrative or other fees. You get the most bang for your buck.
5. Project Adoption. We have "adopted" the project of providing an outlet for the single mothers of Quito, Ecuador to sell some of the beautiful religious stoles they make. Through our web site www.churchproducts.com, we are selling these stoles. 100% of the proceeds go to the women who make these stoles and to the mission training organization SIFAT for further support of this region. You can read more here about our Stoles for Souls^TM program.

In short, we are trying to sound the alarm to people who might not be aware, trying to find ways to effectively plug them into the solution and raising money for the projects we love.

About Us

Who are we? Orphans NOW! is a community abandoned-child advocacy project of churchproducts.com. Since 1979, we have served churches in all 50 states and around the globe. In addition to helping churches fulfill their mission, we are dedicated to promoting the causes of orphan relief and child welfare. Orphans Now! was started in 2011 because we felt called to the cause of orphaned and abandoned children, both in the US and abroad. We believe that the world does not necessarily need another FBO/NGO running around duplicating the work of others and generating administrative costs that reduce the efficiency of the finite amount of relief dollars at work. We exist to promote the cause of abandoned children and to support other nonprofits engaged in child relief work.

We did not want to set up a nonprofit corporation and get caught up in the burden of bookkeeping or sidetracked by administrative costs and annual reports. Our interest is not in building a fashionable organization or raising money for self-interest. Our efforts towards orphan relief are entirely non-fiduciary. This means that we do not solicit any donations for our operations nor collect funds for ourselves in any way. In so doing, we avoid the temptation to lose track of why we are doing what we are doing. We take no salary or commissions WHATSOEVER from any of the organizations that we are supporting. We are entirely self-funded so we are not beholden to any particular donors or organizations. We operate in this manner so you can know that without a doubt, we have the best interest of the child at heart and the welfare of the child as our primary motivation.

Our orphan relief efforts are solely to raise awareness about the orphan and child welfare crisis and to support specific projects spearheaded by other FBO/NGOs. Our goal is to bring HOPE, and a better future to children who otherwise might not have any HOPE.

The Faith behind our HOPE. You could say that our motivating force can be found in the book of James vs. 1:27 which reads, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God our Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." For many people, religion carries a bad name. They are tired of hearing well-meaning people tell them how they are supposed to live, only to be found doing the exact things they speak against. Others look at the Church and see nothing but people who talk a good game, who often fail to put their words into action. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a picture of true Christianity is what people need to see. A picture of people helping and loving other people, without regard to politics, race, background or any of the other social separators we all encounter daily. I for one do not want to be known for what I say about my Faith, but rather for what I do because of my Faith. For if I speak about my faith, but don't follow it up with action, then I have become just another distraction, or perhaps even worse, a hypocrite. Our desire is to simply live our Faith and "Carry one another's burden, and thus fulfill the law of Christ." Galations 6:2