You Can Help Orphans, By Leah Good

You Can Help Orphans

By Leah Good

You are skilled, trained, and gifted. Are you willing to use those resources for orphaned and vulnerable children?

~The Global Orphan Crisis, pg 275

These words grabbed my attention as I worked my way through The Global Orphan Crisis. You see, I recently started a website called Teen’s Interceding for Orphans (TIO). TIO operates on the premise that teens want to help orphans but often don’t know how.

Caring for orphaned and vulnerable children doesn’t seem to fit with our stage in life. We don’t have lots of money to donate, and we don’t usually have the ability to travel overseas to get involved in the hands on stuff.

Despite these roadblocks, we still have to face the fact that God calls us to help the orphaned and fatherless of our world. The Bible doesn’t say, “Wait until you’re old enough to make a difference and then help.” It just tells us to help. There’s no escaping it.

Which brings me back to the quote from The Global Orphan Crisis. God has given each of us special talents and gifts. You are skilled, trained, and gifted in some area, no matter how old you are. God has not left you without the resources to follow His calling.

So take a moment to step back from the overwhelming scope of organizations asking for money and volunteers and evaluate how God has equipped you.

Maybe you’ve been told you’re good at writing. You can use that talent to write encouraging notes to missionaries working with orphans. Or maybe you could find an orphanage willing to let you correspond with some of the kids.

Do you enjoy art? Draw or paint pictures to raise awareness for orphans in general or for a particular organization. Donate your work to a children’s home to brighten the walls. Or create a fundraiser by selling your work.

If you’re good at web design you could volunteer to help adopting families create an adoption blog or fundraising sight. If you like graphic design you could create blog headers, buttons and more. If you’re crafty, hosts of organizations accept handmade blankets, hats, scarves, mittens, and toys.

I could keep going, but you get the idea.

The idea of getting involved in something as big as 153 million orphaned children is overwhelming. I know. For years I thought I was too young to do anything besides learn about the subject.

But I wasn’t too young, I only lacked the right encouragement, the right tools, and the right perspective.

Whether you already have a heart for orphans or never gave it much thought till now, hit your Bible and find out what God says about our responsibility, and then get moving!

If you need more ideas (or have ideas to share!) come over and visit Teens Interceding for Orphans. And don’t worry if you’re not quite a teen or left your teens behind a few years ago. The needs and opportunities aren’t exclusive!

Editors note: Leah's site is based on 1 Timothy 4:12, which is very close to the heart of GGFG -

^"Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity."