Why Orphans?

There are more than 143 million orphans and 400 million vulnerable children in the world, according to UNICEF.  The most vulnerable in all of society..... 

By population, orphans would be the 8th largest country in the world!

Somewhere in the world, a child dies every 5.2 seconds due to malnutrition, disease, or neglect.

• 16,600 die every day
• Over 6 million kids will die this year alone!

Each day 38,493 children age out of orphanages or government protection programs.

• Over 14 million this year
• Most with little or no skills to survive
• More children age out in 1 WEEK than are adopted annually worldwide

In Russia, of those who age out of the orphanage system

• 10-15% commit suicide by age 18
• 60% of girls become prostitutes
• 70% of boys become hardened criminals

In the United States, there are 520,000+ kids in foster care

• 120,000 are immediately adoptable

In the New York foster system, 60% of the kids who age out end up homeless.

Yet Orphans Have Changed the World.... 

Those who get a chance…who are adopted or get good care, often change the world.

They tend to have giftings and a drive that others don’t have from having survived their orphan experience.

How many of you have been effected by these products or services:

• Flour
• Sugar
• Yeast
• Coffee
• Peanut Butter
• Cotton
• Mayonnaise
• iPod, MAC, or an iPad
• Oracle Software
• Supermarkets
• The Beatles

Maybe You Have Heard Of These Famous Orphans or Adoptees....

Each of the following lost one or more parents before they came to adulthood.  Many were double orphans, losing both parents.  Each, however, has dramatically changed the world in which we live.

Business, Science and Technology: 

• Steve Jobs
• Larry Ellison
• Tom Monaghan
• Dave Thomas
• Johannes Kepler
• John Audubon

Politics/Religion:

• Aristotle
• Julius Caesar
• Cyrus the Great
• Nelson Mandela
• John Hancoc
• Andrew Jackson
• Bill Clinton
• Gerald Ford
• Nancy Reagan
• Eleanor Roosevelt
• Malcolm  X
• Jesus Christ
• The Prophet Mohammed
• Moses

Arts/Entertainment/Sports:

• Babe Ruth
• John Lennon
• Marilyn Monroe
• Johann Sebastian Bach
• “Dr. Ruth”
• Nat King Cole
• Faith Hill
• Tim McGraw
• Halle Berry
• Louis Armstrong
• Ingrid Bergman
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Dante Culpepper
• Eric Dickerson
• Jim Palmer
• Greg Louganis
• Scott Hamilton

Literature:

• Edgar Allen Poe
• Leo Tolstoy
• John Keats
• Rudyard Kipling
• William Wordsworth
• James Michener
• Charles Dickens
• Luisa May Alcott