Background & Overview:

Lifesong for Orphans – “bringing joy and purpose to orphans”!

Our name, Lifesong for Orphans, is inspired by Isaiah 61:1-3 where God says He wants to replace ashes with beauty, give joy where there is mourning, and instill hope where there is despair. In a beautiful and descriptive way Isaiah shares how God turns adversity and struggle into strength and victory! That’s really what we are about – helping to turn despair into strength, joy and victorious living! A “Lifesong” for the orphan & vulnerable children, if you will…

Lifesong for Orphans works to break cycles of hopelessness in orphans lives by creating in-country solutions for over 2,500 orphans to become strong Christian leaders in Ukraine, Ethiopia, Zambia, India, Liberia and Honduras through: Christian schools, feeding care points, transition homes, job-skill training, sustainable business and Christian mentors.

Lifesong also provides innovative tools to help remove the financial barriers to adoption – helping 2,000 children become adopted through matching grants & interest-free loans.

Maximum Impact: 100% of every donation goes directly to care for orphans! (All administrative & overhead

costs of Lifesong are funded by a ministry partner, TMG Foundation) Financial Integrity & Reporting – indigenous Lifesong Director/staff/employees on the

ground, monthly financial reporting & reconciling from each indigenous country director, member of ECFA (www.ecfa.org), annual independent audits, etc.

** add ECFA logo here

UKRAINE:Orphans will live in these orphanages & state dormitories, IF NO ONE HELPS...

70-80% of kids will turn to crime, drugs, prostitution or suicide (within 2 yrs of “aging-out” of orphanage):

Lifesong’s “Rooms of Hope & Trust” & Transition Homes

Proposed Project: Help 60 orphans become “launched” into successful living thru Transition Home Care

Help orphans "aging-out" to BREAK THE CYCLE (see 70-80% statistic above) by transitioning them to successful adult living – job skill training, Christian mentoring/discipleship, lasting relationships, doing life in community with indigenous church!

Ukraine overview video:  http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/orphanagesUkr.html Orphan Mentoring Camp video: http://vimeo.com/17609174

60 orphans will be giving a room and spot in the Transition Home, to cultivate and nurture Christian mentoring/discipleship, independent life skills training, college or university education to break the 70-80% statistic (see above) = $93,000 ($1500/per orphan)LIBERIA:

Proposed Project: Give orphans love, care, education, 3 meals a day, & the GOSPEL…in orphanage & school!...for 120 children in Liberia

Lifesong-Liberia orphanages in Rehab and Marshall are providing a loving and safe home to many destitute and abandoned children, some of whom are deaf. Bishop Emmanuel Jones and his wife, Ramona, are passionate about rescuing and caring for such children. They seek to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and are focused on the goal of raising up champions for the good of Liberia and glory of God.

Liberia is on the west coast of Africa, between Cote d’Ivorie and Sierra Leone

14 years of civil war have left the country’s infrastructure ravaged & destroyed Although a peace agreement was signed in 2003, significant issues remain, including

80% unemployment Recovery will take many years, and presents an opportunity for God’s people to

demonstrate His love in tangible ways.

Lifesong-Liberia in Marshall is both an orphanage and a Christian school. This desperately needed school is the ONLY school in the community of 25,000 people. As a result of Lifesong-Liberia beginning our orphan care work here; a church has recently been planted at the same location (orphanage & school)!

As a result of Passion & Do Something Now involvement 120 orphan children will have:

opportunity to learn about Jesus and receive biblical training loving and nurturing caregivers a place to call home, a bed of his own in a safe environment regular meals, clean drinking water, access to health care education in a Christian school

Lifesong serves 120 children through: orphanage care, school & daily feeding care point = $83,000 (120 orphans)

LS - Liberia video: http://vimeo.com/14862250LS – Overview page: http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/orphanagesLiberia.html

“Hut-2-Home” – Give Orphan a Family thru Adoption

***NEED “before & after” picture of orphan child & then same child w/ adoptive family

Idea: There are 143,000,000 orphaned & vulnerable children in our world today. Creatively help students walk through a physical & visual "experience" of an orphan’s life. The students could feel what it is like to live as an orphan (BEFORE - village hut or dark, cold orphanage room, institutional feel, etc.)…and THEN….follow a child’s path & transformation (pictures/tangibles highlighting moments of life, key milestones, etc) into a thriving family thru adoption (AFTER).

UN Convention on the Rights of a Child - In 1989 the world agreed! NO child should be without a family.

“…a child for the full and harmonious of his or her personality should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of love and understanding.”

Yet, millions of children are without a family. And without a family, EACH child is vulnerable to: abuse, neglect, sex trade, rape, dropout, exploitation, suicide, etc. When the orphan children see the Body of Christ actually show up and care for them in tangible ways, only then does it become believable that God is who He says He is – God! A Father to the fatherless. Provider. Savior. Friend. Even more, adoption of children into Christian families is a deep form of evangelism & discipleship at its very core. (Psalm 68:5,6, James 1:27)

The "basic human right of a child is a FAMILY.” It is basic enough human need that every student can resonate with it. We all are born with a deep sense of belonging, need for healthy, loving family -- especially when there has been some injustice or tragedy that prevents a child from knowing family, etc.

Unique Factor:What might be unique is that adoption brings permanent solutions to the orphan child - not just clean water, food, and schooling, sex trafficking prevention, etc. ALL of those critical issues are solved for a child when they become adopted into a loving, permanent family.

Funding Goal/Ask: Help 3 orphans receive a PERMANENT family through Adoption = $75,000

3 adoptive families/children X $25k each (full adoption cost) = $75,000 (Adoption Grant or Loan)

Selecting the families/children: Lifesong could present several pre-qualified families and Passion CHOOSES which to fund

http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/adGrantLoans.html)