Both Hands Foundation's Founder to Speak at Northland

Lifesong For Orphans and Both Hands Foundation have partnered together to create a ministry that both assists orphans (adoptive families) AND helps widows.
 The Founder and Executive Director (J.T. Olson) is coming to Orlando on a family vacation and agreed to take time to come to Northland Church on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 7:00 PM to present an informational program.

Here is a video clip of Mr. Olson explaining how Both Hands works.

Orphan Care Groups Come Together to Help Haiti

An article from Yahoo news:
Disaster Response Experts Team With Orphan Care Organizations to Create Long-Term Solutions in Haiti
Unique team to deploy Valentine's Day

RALEIGH, N.C., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A volunteer team of U.S. disaster response experts and orphan care providers is coming together to provide strategic help to Haitian churches. The team will equip and train Haitian church leaders to provide local, long-term care for orphaned Haitian children in the aftermath of the January earthquake.

The Haiti Orphan Relief Team (HORT) is a cooperative volunteer effort of disaster response experts and orphan-care professionals from many U.S.-based ministries that have joined forces to respond to the crisis in Haiti. An initial HORT on-the-ground team will deploy for a two week period beginning on February 14, 2010. The team will work to identify churches in Haiti that can be paired with U.S. churches for ongoing partnerships in caring for orphaned children, so that local resources can sustain this effort beyond the HORT team's deployment.
"We know that this disaster is not going to be fixed overnight, but by putting in place key pieces of infrastructure, efforts can be sustained and strengthened long after the HORT team has returned to the United States," said John E. Roberts, past Director of the Federal Government's National Interagency Training Center, and Incident Command System (ICS) team commander for HORT. "We are looking to build a long-term solution to the immediate crisis."

Recognizing that many Haitian church facilities were destroyed, HORT will use advanced mapping techniques developed by the U.S. government to physically identify the church facilities that are best able to provide long-term solutions to children now and in the future.

"We are looking for churches that want to become part of the long-term solution to the orphan need in Haiti. Â We encourage U.S. churches to come alongside the churches of Haiti to address this catastrophe," said Paul Myhill, President, World Orphans, and a member of the deployment team.

A Valentine's Day fund-raising drive is under way to help HORT deploy. Donors can personalize an eCard with a Valentine message and for every eCard sent, the team will personally deliver a Valentine to a Haitian orphan.

"Outside help alone won't reach Haiti's deepest need. If we're serious about helping Haiti's orphans toward a bright future, it'll be absolutely vital to equip and support committed local Haitian churches to care for the orphans in their communities," said Jedd Medefind, President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans.
More about HORT can be found at: http://www.haitiorphanrelief.org/

Collaborators in this effort include:
Christian Alliance for Orphans, http://www.christianalliancefororphans.org/
Global Aid Network, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ International, http://www.gainusa.org/
Hope for Orphans, a ministry of FamilyLife, http://www.hopefororphans.org/
Lifesong for Orphans, http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/
Love Haiti, http://www.lovehaitimissions.com/
Loving Shepherd Ministries, http://www.loving-shepherd.org/
Sweet Sleep, http://www.sweetsleep.org/
Together for Adoption, http://www.togetherforadoption.org/
University of North Carolina, School of Public Health, http://www.sph.unc.edu/
World Orphans, http://www.worldorphans.org/


(http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20100209/pl_usnw/DC52297)

Retail Orphan Initiative Selects Charities

May 22, 2009

RetailROI (the Retail Orphan Initiative), the Nashville, Tenn.-based retail technology charitable group that aims to raise awareness of adoption issues and help provide lasting solutions for vulnerable children worldwide, has selected four organizations to receive its initial grants.“We are humbled to be able to make these first four gifts in such a short time, gifts that we know will save lives through the innovative work of these organizations,” said Greg Buzek, founder and president, IHL Group and co-founder of RetailROI. “There are 143 million orphans and 400 million vulnerable children in the world. With ongoing support from the retail community, RetailROI can continue giving funds to important organizations like these who are on the front lines in care for orphans and adoption. ”The organizations are 4 KIDS of South Florida, which provides licensed foster homes, family-style residences and adoption support for foster kids in Florida; LifeSong for Orphans, which offers no-interest loans and grants to couples who wish to adopt; Share the Blessings, which provides education and clean-water projects throughout Uganda; and Warm Blankets Orphan Care International, which restores the lives of orphans in partnership with churches, corporations, organizations and individuals who have a passion to help needy, parentless children.“As a retailer who is also privileged to be involved with Share the Blessings, I know these first donations will have a big impact,” said Ed Collupy, VP of information technology, at The Pantry, Inc. “I encourage others in the retail community to get behind the work of RetailROI. Working together, we can begin to make a huge difference.”RetailROI solicits donations from retailers, vendors and employees. Its long-term goal is to create programs such as “RoundUp for Orphans” at the point of sale, in which customers can round up their transactions to the nearest dollar to support the fund, or custom multiretailer gift cards that would dedicate a portion of the sales to RetailROI. For more information about how you can get involved, please visit www.retailROI.org

RetailROI is a charitable foundation established to help the 400 million orphaned and vulnerable children worldwide. Created under the umbrella of The Giving Back Fund, RetailROI provides grants to charities that provide hands-on efforts in such areas as orphan care, foster care and adoption support organizations, and child rescue from human trafficking. The initiative has grown out of the work that Paul Singer, former SVP and CIO of Supervalu, has done in support of orphans.

Find this article at: http://www.progressivegrocer.com/progressivegrocer/content_display/features/supermarket-technology/e3ib5e9d934e920f5490e59a01e198c792c

The Bell Family

Greg and Sheri Bell, foster parents and founders of CGC, are in the process of adopting two teen girls from Ukraine. This is a very expensive undertaking and they are seeking support. Here is their story:

January 3, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

“A father of the fatherless…God sets the solitary in families…” - Psalms 68:5,6

Some of you know we have felt called and directed by God to adopt two “fatherless” children into our family. We are adopting two teenage girls, Tonya, age 16, and Vika, age 14. As a family, we’ve been excitedly praying for them, and we can’t wait to finally bring them home!

Did you know it is estimated that less than 10% of all orphan children are adopted into evangelical Christian families? According to current estimates, if only 10% more Christians in America would adopt, it would be equivalent to providing homes for all the orphans in Eastern Europe (1.5 million), Latin America (400,000), and the US foster care system (150,000). Some of you are probably wondering what has prompted us to adopt. Well, primarily, we’ve felt so clearly directed by God to adopt that we want to obey Him, and we also desire to give these orphan girls a family that they probably won’t otherwise have. God desires for orphans of all nations to be loved, cared for and adopted into Christian families – ultimately so they can become saved, and be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ! There are so many things God has used to prick our hearts and move us to adopt, here are a few:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction… James 1:27

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will – Ephesians 1:5

When our son, Chris, wanted to go to Ukraine on a mission trip with our church in the summer of 2007, we were so excited for him. We knew it would change his life, and we prayed that God’s will be accomplished on that trip. Little did any of us know at that point just how much that trip would change not only Chris’s life, but that the trip ultimately was part of God’s plan for our entire family!

The biggest challenge for us is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be $30,000 - that’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. We are so grateful for the sacrificial giving of many of you who have already helped us! By God’s grace so far we have been able to pay $23,000! Honestly, it’s a little difficult (because of our pride), to make our needs known to the Body of Christ around us, but we also know it’s very Biblical to do so. We appreciate your friendship very much and would like you to pray & consider helping us in our adoption. There are two ways you can help:

1. Prayer – Please pray God would tenderly care for Tonya and Vika in Ukraine until we are able to bring them home, that God would prepare our boys for the upcoming changes to our family, and that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise Tonya and Vika to know Jesus Christ.

2. Financial support - Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $7,000 in adoption expenses, to bring Tonya and Vika home? Life Song for Orphans (http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/) has graciously given a Matching Grant of $4,000 to help pay the “ransom” to bring Tonya and Vika home. If you would like to be a part of God bringing Tonya and Vika to Himself through our family, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and February 4th to the address below. Life Song for Orphans is a trusted organization administering the funds on Tonya and Vika’s behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received.

1. Please make checks payable to: Life Song for Orphans. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “preference Tonya and Vika Bell Adoption #713 in the memo section of your check.(*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.)

2. Mail checks to:Life Song for Orphans Att: Tonya and Vika Bell Adoption #713PO Box 40/202 N. Ford Street Gridley, IL 61744.

Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances – it will be an investment with an eternal return! (Matt 6:20) We’ll give you an update with a picture of Tonya and Vika and details as we receive them. Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes!

In Christ,

Greg, Sheri, Steven, Chris, Billy, Jason and Joshua