Orphaned. Disabled. No running water. Furnaces about to explode.
Water and heat. Are there more basic necessities than these?
I am a communicator; it’s what I do.
But I am stunned at how hard it is for me to explain to you what we found just a few miles from Stella’s House.
We found an orphanage for 124 mentally disabled children. They are housed in six buildings that, on the outside, look great.
But on the inside we found these children living without running water. The little water they do have access to is brought in by a truck at a cost of $2,000 a month! It is the single greatest cost they have.
Meanwhile, each of the heating units in the buildings is so old that they are on the verge of literally exploding. A disaster like that could leave helpless children dead in a flash, or worse, freezing to death in the coming winter.
I am not asking that you help me adopt this orphanage as we have others. I am asking for a one-time gift to give these children two things that they cannot live without:
Water and heat.
I realize this request comes at a time when I have been talking to you a lot about the need to open two more Stella’s Houses, to open more rooms at Providence House for orphans whose lives are at risk.
I wish I knew how to say “no.”
I take that back. I never want to say “no” when God shows me a need that He wants me to meet. I didn’t go looking for another home filled with children in need. But now that I have been there, seen these girls and boys, witnessed the pain of their loneliness, their fear of the coming winter, their need for water… how can I turn around, get back in my warm truck, and do nothing?
Alone, I can do nothing. But if God is speaking to your heart, will you send a special gift today to help us do more than care for those in our keeping? Will you help us reach out to these handicapped orphans?
Thank you for all you do for the weakest of the weak.
- Philip Cameron
