“…will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one…?”
— Matthew 18:12
We are radically committed to the one. This is one of the core values of Legacy Refuge. As we grow, there are more and more kids coming into our programs. Yet we are committed to resisting the urge to ever view any child as a statistic or a number. We may be the only people willing to fight for them to know Jesus, to be loved, and to have a better future.
Each orphan is a child who deserves someone in their life
who will advocate and pursue their best.
Every year we host kids in America or in our Ukraine Orphan Hosting Camps. After spending anywhere from 4-8 weeks with these kids, inevitably we fall in love with them. Sending them back home is so painful, and there are always lots of tears! Each time, one of us says, “I don’t know if I can do this. It’s too hard to keep getting attached to these kids.” My response is always the same:
They deserve to have someone whose heart breaks for them.
They are worthy of someone to cry for them.
Because each of them matters. Individually. That kid, with that unique story and that special potential.
We are about the one.
In fact, the whole inspiration behind Filtered Hope, our new barista training program for aged-out orphans, is one boy: Olexy. (Watch a video of our time with Olexy)
Over the last few years, we have been spending time with Olexy and getting to know him better. He came to stay with us several times while our family was living in Ukraine. Each time we grew to love him more and began to see his incredible potential. He’s so funny and kind. He’s also a hard worker and wants to work. We see all that he is and all that he could be.
Unfortunately, we can also clearly see the direction his life could easily take without support. Without some clear pathways pointed out for him and help to pursue them, he is likely to turn to other orphans who have aged out of the system for survival. These other young men and women have had no one to guide them either, and all too often the blind lead the blind into the ditch.
But what if we could interrupt the cycle? What would happen if we all joined together
to give kids like Oleksey a sense of purpose and pathways to pursue that purpose?
We can give these kids a better, healthier future because at Legacy Refuge, we care about the one. Orphans aren’t problems to be solved. They aren’t statistics. They are children with names and an incredible God-given purpose ahead of them. We are so excited to be a part of helping guide and coach them to that future!
You can get involved by sponsoring orphans to participate in Filtered Hope, our barista training program for aged-out orphaned youth.
Ask yourself how you view the world’s ills. Is there just a massive orphan problem, an impossible human trafficking problem, an incurable poverty problem? Or can you see that each of these challenges is affecting a collection of individuals?
We may feel powerless in the face of huge societal problems, because we can’t help them all. But our lives will be radically changed when we realize that we can definitely help one. Together, as we all pursue the goal of impacting one, it adds up to monumental change.
At Legacy Refuge, we dream of every orphan adopted, every victim of human trafficking rescued. We dream of having all the resources and programs needed to reach each one… each Olexsey, each Sasha, each Vova.
This dream can become reality as we all do our part to impact the one.
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