The World Orphan Fund

06/20/2026

When we talk about caring for children, we often think about food first.

And for good reason. This year, through our partnership with Manna Ministries International, supporters of The World Orphan Fund are helping provide meals for more than 1,600 children in Kenya.

But children need more than food.

They need a safe place to belong. A place to learn. A place to play. And at the end of the day, they need a comfortable place to sleep.

Last week, Manna Ministries delivered new mattresses to Rock of Ages Children's Home in Marurui, replacing worn-out mattresses after years of use. They also shared a special meal with the children and spent the day serving alongside the home's caregivers.

It may seem like a simple gift.

But every child deserves a clean bed, comfortable bedding, and a place to rest without worry.

For the children at Rock of Ages, these mattresses provide exactly that.

A better night's sleep.

A little more comfort.

And one more reminder that they have not been forgotten.

Thank you to our donors for helping make moments like this possible.

06/12/2026

Semenivka sits just 12 kilometers from the Russian border.

The entire Semenivka district is classified as an active combat zone. Since 2022, residents have lived with the constant threat of artillery shelling, mortar fire, and drone strikes. For many, the war is not something they read about in headlines. It is the backdrop of everyday life.

For those who are elderly, disabled, or simply have nowhere else to go, leaving isn't an option.

And neither is shopping for groceries.

Many local stores have closed. Supply chains remain disrupted. Public transportation is limited. Getting food has become a daily problem.

Through a grant from the World Orphan Fund, our partners at Bird of Light Ukraine and Dobrobat recently delivered food packages to families in Semenivka and other frontline communities in northern Ukraine. Each box contained oils, grains, pasta, canned meats, and sweets, practical staples to carry a family through another couple of weeks.

The food was sourced from Ukrainian suppliers and distributed through trusted Ukrainian organizations working closest to the need. Dobrobat delivered 3,000 food kits across 16 communities in Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Donetsk oblasts.

This mission was made possible through our generous donor, Diamondback Energy of Midland, Texas.

05/29/2026

For months, the children at Emmanuel Children's Home in Kayole, Kenya, have been living without reliable water.

Their storage tank was damaged. Buying water became
increasingly expensive. Every day brought the same question: would there be enough?

Enough to cook. Enough to wash clothes. Enough for 67 children to bathe. Enough to keep a home clean and healthy.

This week, thanks to our World Orphan Fund donors, our partner Manna Ministries International delivered and installed a new 10,000-liter water tank.

That's the story. A water tank. Not a school. Not a dormitory. Not a dramatic construction project. Just a water tank.

A child washes up before school without wondering if the water will run out. A caregiver prepares a meal without rationing every bucket. Laundry gets done. Floors get cleaned. Toilets flush.

A children's home begins to function the way a home should.

In places like Kayole, clean water is not simply a utility. It is security. It is dignity. It is the foundation on which everything else is built.

The cost of the tank, delivery, and installation was just $1,300.

In a world full of complicated problems, this solution was remarkably simple.

A tank.

Thanks to all of you who made this possible

05/22/2026

A survivor from Berdyansk stood inside a small room in Luxembourg. She had lived under Russian occupation. She had made it out.

She sat down at the desk. She picked up the journal. And she wrote: "I left my room just like this. I dream to come back to my room in Berdyansk."

Then she wept.

The room is called Empty Beds — a life-sized replica of a Ukrainian child's bedroom, frozen at the moment of disappearance. A made bed. Scattered belongings. Windows taped against bomb blasts. It belongs to Artem, a composite 13-year-old built from the testimonies of children who cannot be named.

Officially, more than 20,570 children have been abducted by Russia since 2022. The actual number is more than 200,000. The vast majority were taken from orphanages, the population that the World Orphan Fund was created to serve.

They are held across more than 210 facilities, subjected to re-education to erase their language, their names, their identity. Many have already been illegally adopted into Russian families. At more than 20% of those facilities, children as young as eight undergo combat drills and weapons training.

Two World Orphan Fund donors helped sponsor Empty Beds to spotlight this crime and ensure these children are not left out of any peace settlement. Created by our partner Bird of Light Ukraine, the installation has traveled through Luxembourg and Brussels, reaching 38,000 visitors, 50 elected officials, and resulting in an EU resolution. It heads next to Rome, Strasbourg, and Paris

05/08/2026

She arrived carrying more than a baby.

Valerie* arrived at Victory Joy Children’s Home in Kenya, carrying trauma, grief, and fear no child should ever have to carry. After losing her mother, she was left in the care of her father, and instead of protection, she experienced abuse that left her pregnant while still a child herself.

Concerned neighbors stepped in and alerted authorities. That is how Valerie found her way to safety.

When she first arrived, the sadness in her was overwhelming. But slowly, through the love of caregivers and the kindness of the other children, she began to heal. The heaviness lifted. She started to smile again.

She came to the home with her baby, a child caring for a child. Here, they both found safety, love, and a place to belong.
This is why children’s homes matter. They are safe havens where broken stories begin to heal.

Last week, Victory Joy sent out an urgent request for food. When a team from our partner Manna Ministries arrived with emergency support, the shelves were empty. They did not know what they would eat that evening.

Because of your support, help arrived in time.

The visit was about more than food. There was prayer, encouragement, and fellowship as the Manna team spent time with the children and staff. We could feel joy returning.

*Name changed for privacy

05/01/2026

In March 2017, Dana Perino wrote something that stopped a lot of people mid-scroll.

After one of the most brutal election cycles in recent memory, she said she was suffocating from superficiality. That the noise had become so total, so relentless, that she could no longer find herself inside it.

So she and her husband, Peter, left.

They went to Benin, West Africa, to sail with Mercy Ships, a floating hospital that brings free surgeries to people who have no other option.

No green room. No cameras. No news cycle.

Just people in desperate need, and the quiet work of showing up.
She came home changed.

Last Friday night in Milwaukee, she sat across from Rebecca Kleefisch at our 15th Anniversary Gala, and that story was still alive in her.

But the night didn't belong to her.

It belonged to something she recognized.

A room of 170 people had just watched what that looks like in practice — in Ukraine, in Kenya, and in Guatemala.

Below is the Ukraine story they watched.

Children being reached by people with no special qualification except the willingness to go.

Not professionals. Just people who could not look away.

By the end of the night, the room had raised an additional $60,000. Four thousand therapy sessions at our Walker Center in Guatemala — paid for in one evening by people who chose to reach across the world for children who needed them.

1 like. "Ukraine: A Report from the Field | TWOF 15th Anniversary Gala"

04/17/2026

Before a child can heal, someone has to know how to help them.

Next week, The World Orphan Fund's clinical training program — developed by Dr. Bobbie Legg — begins five online sessions with camp staff and psychologists preparing to work with Ukrainian children this summer. Our partner is Voices of Children, one of Ukraine's most respected organizations serving kids displaced and traumatized by war.

Each session builds on the last. Staff learn how war trauma affects children — body and mind — and how to stay calm themselves so a frightened child feels safe. They learn to help children rediscover who they are and what they are capable of. Then the harder work: grief, loss, and painful memories. And finally, what to do when a child is angry and acting out, because anger is sometimes the only honest response to what they have survived.

Camp is where this happens — not in an office, but on a climbing frame, in an art session, in the moment a child finally lets themselves laugh again.

More than four years into a full-scale invasion, millions of Ukrainian children are still waiting for that moment.

This training is how we help make it possible.

04/04/2026

Thousands of boxes are being packed. Flour. Oil. Canned goods. The essential staples a family needs to get through the next two weeks.

Soon, they will be on the road to Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Donetsk — frontline communities where families continue to live under daily shelling.

More than 4,800 families will receive food in the days ahead, delivered in partnership with Добробат (Dobrobat) and longtime partner ГО "ВПО України" (VPO Ukraine).

Dobrobat — a Ukrainian volunteer battalion formed in 2022 — has mobilized over 52,000 volunteers from 28 countries. They go where the need is greatest. And right now, that means moving toward the front lines.

We’ve seen what these deliveries mean. When stores are empty. When power is out. When leaving isn’t an option.

A box of food becomes something more — stability, dignity, a reminder that they have not been forgotten.

The trucks are moving now.

We are so grateful to Diamondback Energy for funding this effort and to our partner, Bird of Light Ukraine, for coordinating the work on the ground.

03/27/2026

There is a truth about orphanages that often goes unspoken: the children are only as stable as the people caring for them.

Two weeks ago, our Walker Center co-director, Paola Picardo (pictured with co-director Luis Hurtado and Governor Scott and Tonette Walker), spent a day with the entire staff of one orphanage. What unfolded was quietly remarkable.

Caregivers are the invisible backbone of orphan care. Day after day, they pour themselves into children who have often experienced profound trauma before ever arriving at their door. They regulate emotions, teach life skills, and offer consistency to kids who have rarely known it. And yet, they are among the least celebrated people in the entire system.

Paola brought all 20 staff members into our Walker Center and, in that new space, created room for them to step away from their routines, breathe, and simply be. Through emotional regulation techniques and guided reflection, something began to shift. People who spend their days holding others found permission, maybe for the first time in a long time, to be held themselves.

Many of these caregivers carried their own unresolved trauma — and when that goes unaddressed, it passes through to the children in their care. What Paola created that day was a step toward breaking that cycle.

Please join us on April 24th at our Gala featuring Dana Perino, and help us continue to fund this life-changing work. Tickets are available at www.wisconsingala.com

03/20/2026

Diani (pseudonym) arrived at a children’s home at just six years old—alone, neglected, and fighting for her life. Her mother had passed away. Her father struggled with mental illness. With no one to care for her, she showed severe seizure-like symptoms, couldn’t eat properly, and often went days without basic hygiene. Those around her feared she wouldn’t survive.

Then one neighbor chose to act—and everything changed.

Diani was brought to Green Village Children’s Home, where she was finally seen, cared for, and loved. Medical evaluations revealed she was not epileptic. Doctors traced her symptoms to severe malnutrition in infancy—fed little more than black tea and porridge after losing her mother at three months old—which left lasting effects on her developing body and nervous system.
With consistent care and nourishment, Diani began to heal.

Today, she is thriving in junior secondary school—healthy, active, and full of life. She loves agriculture and spends time in the garden, growing what she once lacked: nourishment, stability, and hope.

Just days ago, our partners at Manna Ministries delivered emergency food supplies to Green Village—enough to sustain the children for several weeks—ensuring children like Diani have what they need to grow and thrive.

Please join us on April 24th at our Gala featuring Dana Perino, and help us continue to fund this life-changing work. Tickets are available at www.wisconsingala.com