Responding to the Cry of 143 Million Orphans

Cry of the Orphan Campaign Helps Unite more than 75 Ministries and Orphan-related Groups to Form the Christian Alliance for Orphans

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Oct. 15, 2007—"If we are together, nothing is impossible.  If we are divided all will fail."  -Winston Churchill 

The United Nations reports that the number of orphans around the world waiting for help is 143 million-that's more than the populations of Canada and Mexico combined.

Recognizing that the severity of today's orphan crisis is bigger than any one organization, FamilyLife, Focus on the Family, and Shaohannah's Hope (founded by award-winning musician Steven Curtis Chapman) launched the Cry of the Orphan campaign to help raise awareness and encourage Christians and churches to get actively involved in caring for the world's orphans. Their efforts continue to gain momentum and recently led to the creation of the Christian Alliance for Orphans-a formal coalition of more than 75 churches, ministries and orphan-related organizations working together to make a difference in the lives of orphans.

"I believe God is willing and planning to do even greater and mightier things through us corporately than He has done through all of us individually," said Kerry Marks-Hasenbalg, Christian Alliance for Orphans partner and former executive director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.

As part of that effort, the Cry of the Orphan campaign this year is again broadcasting across the country with a full week of radio programming devoted to raising awareness of the orphan crisis and sharing with millions of people the wide variety of ways they can help. 

Nov. 12-16: Popular radio hosts Dennis Rainey of FamilyLife Today, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Howard Dayton of Money Matters will work together-devoting their daily broadcasts and combining their organizations' resources to show people how they can respond to the orphan crisis.

"The number of children worldwide without families to love and care for them is overwhelming," said FamilyLife President Dennis Rainey. "It will take the collaborative effort of churches, ministries and individuals to reach the millions of orphans crying out for help."

To help provide additional information about the wide variety of rewarding and inspiring opportunities for people to make a difference in the lives of orphans, Cry of the Orphan is launching a new Web site. CryoftheOrphan.org is scheduled to go live on Oct. 17.

MEDIA NOTE: Programming details for Cry of the Orphan week on FamilyLife Today, Focus on the Family and Money Matters radio broadcasts are available on their Web sites.

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