Ghanaian Children’s Benefit Fund

(Brady) Luke 12:48 says “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” I want to say thanks to all of you who took this verse to heart.

For some reason, God chose to bless all of us with adequate material things, and enough money to support our needs and wants. I don’t care who you are, if you are reading this, you are so blessed! Not only are you blessed; you are generous! The donations we received will have a lasting impact in the lives of at least 30 children. Ultimately, your generosity will impact the lives of hundreds of children that come through the program.

I want to give you an update on the plan for all the money that has been donated. As you saw on yesterday’s post, we went ahead and bought food, household items and gas cookers for the orphanage. We are also planning to buy educational materials including a large chalk board, writing utensils, learning books, etc. for all the children. After all of this is said and done, we should still have well over $4000 left over.

Based on the larger than expected donations, we decided to establish the “Ghanaian Children’s Benefit Fund” through our adoption agency. This fund will be used to cover ongoing needs at the home including food, education, residential improvements, etc. This will allow the children’s needs to continue to be met long after we have left Ghana.

Let me give you some more insight into the working of the orphanage. The home is 100% funded by donations from the various adoptive families, and adoption agencies that get children from the orphanage. Most of the money comes from the families that pay $100-$200 a month once they begin the adoption process. They are able to feed, clothe and care for all 30+ children for about $1000 a month. That truly works out to be about a $1 a day per child! The workers at the orphanage are unpaid (although I imagine that the house parents are compensated somewhat), and truly view these children as their family!

The orphanage lacks basic necessities such as electricity and running water. We are looking into the possibility of using some of the money to provide electricity to the home. It would be a fairly costly venture, but it may be worth it to get them hot water and lights. However, the home is rented, not owned, so it may not be the most efficient use of funds if the orphanage moves. In addition, we want these children to be educated while they are in the orphanage. More than anything, we want to be sure that the children get adequate food and health care. Your donation will go a long way in assuring these kids are adequately cared for! I will continue to work with our agency to determine which needs to meet! Please pray that God will provide us the insight to use the money efficiently to glorify Him.

For those of you who like orphans and God /Jesus, you can still help out by contributing a one-time contribution or ongoing monthly contribution at this website: http://www.hopscotchadoptions.org/pages/donate.html please indicate the “Ghanaian Children’s Benefit Fund” in the donation designation blank.

Side note: You may be wondering we haven’t mentioned anything about Mom visiting us. She decided that it would be a better use of money to stay home and simply donate the cost of her trip to support the kids. How could I argue!!