Pure, Undefiled Religion: Helping Orphans

Published Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 in World Events

Did you know that every two seconds, a child somewhere in the world is orphaned? Being the mother of a precious 12-year-old daughter, this tears at my heart. It tears at Jesus’ heart, too. The Bible says religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27).

Yet the pandemic of homeless and orphaned children is growing at an astonishing rate, leaving 145 million children orphaned or displaced globally. Now, there is a new effort underway to bring more awareness and recognition to the plight of orphans and displaced children around the world through World Orphans Day, observed on the second Monday in November.

“We encourage humanity to embrace the Power of One. If one person just gives hope through a loving act of kindness to a hurting child, if one civic or church group adopts an orphanage or school in an underdeveloped country, if one city adopts a village in Africa, if one nation could mobilize a grassroots effort to feed the hungry children, we could rise and soar as eagles together as a global community,” said Cheryl Clemmons, Founder, The Stars Foundation and World Orphans Day.

World Orphans Day 2009 is an initiative of The Stars Foundation, which works to create a better, safer, more secure environment for orphans both domestically and in the developing world.

This year, World Orphans Day will be celebrated through a variety of grassroots efforts led by students, churches and businesses that include prayer walks and vigils, prayer balloon lifts, candlelight vigils, concerts and more—all designed to encourage the public to bring food donations and celebrate local proclamations in honor of World Orphans Day.