Meet the Cornell's

Last week, I told you about a new project in Kenya. Now let me introduce you to our new leaders, Bill and Patricia Cornell. They brought the Shalom School in Kenya to Food for Orphan’s attention. We are so excited about this partnership.

Bill and Patricia Cornell began their journey by traveling with a small team from 2001 to 2004 to Kenya and Zambia, Africa. Here is their story as told by Patricia…

During those years, we fell in love with every facet of a missionary life from day one. There was nothing too rough or rugged…no task too big…and no vision unreachable for either me or my husband! Our hearts were no doubt chosen by God to serve Him in this capacity! That’s why it was effortless to sale out- lock, stock, and barrel and move to Kenya in 2008. We were launched by Messengers International with one way tickets to Africa and our meager retirements…thinking this would be a 3 year jaunt! However, three months into this adventure we realized this was our plot in life…for life!

After strong prompting from the Holy Spirit to teach Bible application classes…we built a bamboo hut that served as a classroom. Our first class was 12 students…all Pastors from seven different tribes…some from the bush, the desert or slums but none could afford to attend accredited schools. We started that class with four books and one work book. The students shared the four text books and we printed workbooks from the one original. They studied for two full years and celebrated our first big graduation! We have graduated 174 Pastors or leaders in the span of five years and will have 6 more classes graduating in August 2013. Our course of action is to train and send out…selecting our VFA teachers from those graduates.

Although our vision and focus is to train and send out leaders, we become very involved in the lives of those who sit in our classes. Their families quickly become our concern. This, of course, leads us to many projects such as providing food, medicine, education, bicycles or motorbikes for our teachers, and provision for orphans and widows. This is where “Food For Orphans” comes into our lives. Pastor Victor and his wife Joann have a school for 327 orphans that we help as much as we can but cannot meet the enormous need there. Although, this is a school these children have to be fed before they can stay awake to study their lessons. The meal FFO provides will be the only meal most of these kids will have for the day. This is a miracle for our organization to be involved in the distribution of food for these kids in behalf of FFO!

We are blessed…the children are blessed and the Lord is glorified! Thank you FFO!

Bill and Patricia Cornell
Vision For Africa Ministries

A Life-Saving Formula

"Kids Against Hunger" blessed the orphans of Food for Orphans last year by donating mover one-half million highly-nutritious meals.

The formulation of these meals was the result of the combined efforts of executives and researchers from Cargill, Pillsbury, General Mills, and Archer Daniels Midland. These scientists formulated a good that would meet all the nutritional requirements of severely malnourished children for physical growth and mental development.

The result was the creation of a balanced, high-nutrition food that can reverse the starvation process and restore a child's health and mental alertness.

The meal ingredients are formulated by food scientists to provide a rich source of easily digestible protein, carbohydrates and vitamins needed by an undernourished child's body and mind. The food is also acceptable to the broad diversity of ethnic tastes and religious differences around the world. The food offers all 9 of the essential amino acids required for complete nutrition; something that can't be said about other typical food relief sources such as rice or beans alone. it is also very simple to prepare: requiring only one cup of boiling water to make a complete meal.

Thanks to the generous gifts of several donors, we raised the money to ship the first container with 285,000 meals to the Central Africal Republic. As noted in a previous post, the African children loved the meals.

We recently shipped another container to our Dominican Republic orphanages. Recent hurricanes wreaked havoc on the island and it's people. Thankfully, our orphanages were not affected by the earthquake that leveled Port au Prince, Haiti.

Can we Count on You?

It takes 150 people, donating $150 each to ship one container of food. Each $150 gift will provide 1,900 healthy meals to orphans.

Will you become one of the "Special 150" and make a gift to ship this wonderful miracle of highly-nutritious food to the orphans who need it desperately?

Go to http://www.foodfororphans.org/ and make your donation now.

2009 ... What an Uphill Battle!

2009 has been a tough year for some of us. We are sad to report that Food for Orphans' donations are way down. And our hearts are broken that we had to reduce the amount of support for food we are providing to some of the orphans. Food for Orphans is definitely in a crisis ... but we believe that there are people that are wiling to "tighten-the-belt" just a little bit ... to save the live of ONE orphan.

We are trying to continue at the pace we started, but it's been difficult, even after cutting all of our expenses down-to-the-bone. Unfortunately, the orphans are very sad that there is not as much food. It is very difficult telling them that we had to make the reductions.

I truly believe that 2010 will begin on a happy and blessed note.

FACT: Over 1,000 orphans die every day from starvation.

But here is another fact ... ONE ORPHAN CAN STILL BE SAVED. That is ... if your family will make the commitment to feed ONE orphan (only $15 per month). All you have to do is log on to http://www.foodfororphans.org/ and fill out the donation form, checking the "monthly" box.

Please, begin the year by making the largest gift to the orphans that you possibly can. Help us get back on schedule with a feeding program for these orphans who deserve a better life.

Make it a Happy 2010 for the orphans by feeding ONE orphan and also making a gift to get the feeding program back on its feet.

Thanks, and Happy New Year.

Pray for Esmeralda

I'm asking you to pray right now for little Esmeralda, a 5-year-old orphan I met in Peru. Esmeralda was conceived as the result of a brutal rape. Her pregnant mother tried to abort her by drinking a bottle of aspirin. Born blind with only one-fourth of a brain, tiny Esmeralda was given no hope. The doctors gave up on her and her mother abandoned her. A feeding tube was inserted and the nurses waited for this innocent child to die.

Eventually she was sent to the orphanage where she was held, fed and loved. There she thrived.

Esmeralda learned to eat and loves to be held. For five years, she successfully fought for survival ... all because someone simply took the time to show her some love.

But now Esmeralda is in poor health. Over the past 6 month, her little body has deteriorated at an accelerated rate ... and again ... the doctors expect her to die.

Because of your donations, Esmeralda has experienced the loving touch of her caregivers, other orphans and the love of Christ.

Thank you for praying for this little girl and those who love her.

Another container of food is ready to ship.

It's not often a miracle happens multiple times. Food for Orphans was recently contacted and told that another container of this very nutritious food was going to be available to ship very soon. Now that is really a miracle!


Now we have a unique opportunity to ensure that more orphans will receive a life-saving meal every day. 285,000 meals are ready to go, but they have to just sit there until we can ship them.


If you would like to ship 1,000 of these meals to the orphans in the Dominican Republic, then make your donation for $75. This shipment is ready to go, it literally is waiting for shipment.

Be like Jesus ... Feed 5,000

If you make your donation for $375, we will be able to ship 5,000 of these pre-packaged meals to the orphans. Jesus fed 5,000, and now so can you.

We need your help now. So please log on to http://www.foodfororphans.org/ and make a sacrificial gift today.

GIVING BACK: Feeding orphans is couple’s mission

The darkness of cancer hasn't extinguished the light that impassions Gary and Renee VanDyke to feed hungry orphans. Although both were striken with cancer last year, donations to the nonprofit organization, Food for Orphans, grew 4,000 percent from 2007 to 2008.

"The desire to help orphans is universal. It's been phenomenal," Gary says.

Gary has witnessed first hand the realities of orphans who are barely surviving. In the Central African Republic orphanages are full and children living on the streets create human piles at night to keep warm while they sleep. AIDS is rampant in many countries. In Thailand, evidence of the flourishing child sex trade is obvious and seemingly unstoppable.

"There's a big difference seeing it on TV and walking into a village of poverty, seeing the need and feeling it under your feet and tasting it on your tongue," Gary says. "I found organizations were helping with education and health care, but no one was focusing on food for orphans."

A visit to Myanmar has already been made this year, where they found the orphanage they were supporting had burned to the ground in a kitchen accident. The children were distributed to other orphanages to live while they waited for the slow wheels of government beauracracy to turn in order to rebuild. Gary and Renee plan to visit South Africa and the Dominican Republic this year. Other countries where they support orphanages include Venezuela, Liberia and Peru. They also want to visit Haiti, Cambodia and China to see about starting projects in those countries.

"Children hear the Gospel,but they aren't required to become Christians or agree. We're talking about survival here!" Gary says.

Renee says, "It's rewarding to visit and see the difference in children from when they began the program. They no longer have lice; their hair is shiny. They are healthy looking. You can see the impact."

To Help: http://www.foodfororphans.org/ or call 719-591-7777.

He was hungry all the time ...

While visiting the orphans in Central African Republic, we met Stanislas, a brave little nine-year-old boy.

His aunt had been caring for him since his parents died, but a few nights ago his aunt also died.

Life has been tough for all of his nine years. Now he faces the challenge of finding food on his own.

As an orphan in the Central African Republic, Stanislas' home is made of mud and sticks. He is hungry all the time because finding food is very difficult. His body is weak and his bones are twisted from malnutrition.

But Food for Orphans promised Stanislas that we would make sure he had food to eat every day. Yesterday he enjoyed a rare lollipop.

Last night, brave little Stanislas died.

We wish we had found him sooner.

Help Food for Orphans find them sooner. Help us be there for more children like Stanislas. Help us make Stanislas' 9 short years mean something by helping to feed more orphans in the Central African Republic -- and elsewhere.

Simply donate the cost of ONE meal out -- a mere $15.00 US -- each month to feed ONE orphan every day for ONE month.

Make your own ONE MEAL MIRACLE.

Don't let another Stanislas die because you hesitated.

http://www.foodfororphans.org/

MAKE YOUR PLEDGE NOW.

Thinking about the orphans ...

Today there are more than 143 million orphans in the world; and every two seconds another child becomes an orphan.

42,000 new orphans every day
400,000 orphans die every year due to malnutrition
70% say that food is their greatest need
60 million orphans go to bed hungry
90 seconds, each time another orphan dies from malnutrition.

Sixty million orphans cry themselves to sleep every night with pain in their empty bellies ... alone, scared, and hungry. A lack of food is the orphan's biggest problem.

"The first three years of life are the most critical period of brain growth and development. Child hunger causes physical and mental impairment that may never be reversed. Child hunger also creates tremendous costs that are completely unavoidable. There is no better investment in a prosperous future than investing in ending childhood hunger." [John Cook, Ph.D., of the Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, a nationally-recognized expert on child hunger ... http://feedingamerica.org/newsroom/press-release-archive/child-food-insecurity.aspx]

The mission of Food for Orphans is to make sure that as many orphans as possible receive at least one nutritious meal per day. But we can't do it without you. Please help us feed these precious orphans.

Make a difference in the life of an orphaned child. Show them that someone cares. Become their Champion.

Go to http://www.foodfororphans.org/. and make your pledge.