Among the exhibitors at the 62nd General Conference Session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church are humanitarian agencies, both church-sponsored and independent, that show how Adventists are sharing their faith and improving the lives of others in the public square. Here are some of the major agencies making an impact in the community.                   

Child Impact International

Child Impact international was established in 1966 and was then known as Asian Aid. At the time its main goal was to sponsor children from poor families in India to obtain an Adventist education. The organization has since grown and works in more than twenty countries. It has expanded its activities to include combating child trafficking, forced marriage, baby abandonment, extreme poverty, and trauma and abuse. Currently, the organization sponsors more five thousand students. 

Christina Donesky, who is a sponsorship manager for Asian countries and who is herself a daughter of former missionaries Orville and Odil Donesky, is very passionate about serving children. She says that she developed the passion for mission from her early childhood due to her parents’ influence. Her main work is to find sponsors for the children in need and also identify and encourage people to donate to rescue. Christina’s mother, who helps her in the exhibitor booth, said that as a family they are happy to serve the Lord in this way as they seek to “make a difference in the lives of the vulnerable.”

Adventist Child India

Not too far from the booth for Child Impact International is Adventist Child India, another Adventist-run charity, whose activities are mainly in India. Willian and Nancy Mark have been working with Adventist Child India since 2013. They themselves are children of Adventist educators and missionaries, respectively, and are former businesspeople. Nancy says that she was inspired by her parents, who were missionaries in India, where she was born. 

Adventist Child India sponsors 1,463 students in 34 Adventist schools. Their focus is on vulnerable children from poor or single-parent Adventist families. Nancy says that through the children, she has also made friends with children who live in leprosy colonies and prays for them whenever she visits children in schools in that region. “I feel that God called me. So often when you love people, they love back.” Although they miss their own children and grandchildren, Bill and Nancy say they are happy to serve God in India, where He has sent them.

Maranatha Volunteers International

Maranatha Volunteers International is a community-centered organization that began its operations from a very humble beginning in 1969. John Freeman, a commercial photographer and father of five daughters, thought of ways he could engage his family in doing something for the less fortunate, especially during holidays. Freeman brought together some family and friends to volunteer in building projects, such as schools and churches. Gradually, more people donated to the cause while others joined in helping with construction projects. In the 1980s, the group grew into a formal volunteering organization that became what is now known as Maranatha Volunteers International.

Maranatha’s chief operations manager, Kenneth Weiss, has worked with the organization for more than 29 years. According to Weiss, the organization has spent US$1.2 billion over the decades for constructing wells, churches, schools, and hospitals, among other areas of need. Thousands of volunteers have paid their own way to help in the projects.

Maranatha’s first mega project, which took place in Costa Rica, has remained etched in the minds of people who participated in it. Another large project took place in the Dominican Republic in 1992 and saw volunteers build 25 churches in 70 days. Currently, more than 2,000 volunteers are working with Maranatha Volunteers International in 10 countries, including Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, India, Kenya, Paraguay, the United States, and Zambia. Asked what inspires him to keep serving through Maranatha, Weiss said, “It is the change that you see through the project as people join the kingdom. It is the kingdom business.” Weiss said that he knows it is the Holy Spirit who inspires people to make decisions as volunteers and donors, or give their lives to God through the project’s intervention. “It is these little decisions that each individual makes that demonstrate God’s intervention.”

ADRA

Since the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) was established in 1983, the humanitarian agency has spread its wings to offer service in 120 countries of the world. According to Jennifer Stymiest, the ADRA International communications specialist, their aim is to meet people where they are. Hence, ADRA focuses on providing help in education, health, emergency response, and in improving livelihoods. 

ADRA works through country offices whose officers identify respective community needs that are addressed once funding is secured. ADRA works with other donor agencies in order to secure funds for taking care of the established needs. Among recent humanitarian responses, ADRA provided help for Myanmar flood victims through a local aid agency, tornado victims in Missouri, and wildfire victims in California.

Woven Dignity

Woven Dignity is celebrating its fifth year of operation since its inception. Ruth Boyd, a nurse by profession and a former missionary in Indonesia, moved to Lebanon with her husband so they could serve as missionaries. Since it was difficult to continue with her nursing in Lebanon, Ruth felt the Lord calling her to do something else for Him. “I felt that God was calling me to do something for humanity,” she said.

Through her missionary friends working as global mission pioneers in the surrounding communities, Ruth discovered a need within the refugee community. She learned that women refugees were struggling with their new status. Ruth began to work with the global mission pioneers to identify a few of those women who were open to sharing their needs, and together they began to engage in card making. Currently they have in their group five women who represent 28 families. “It has been an amazing journey working with these women to give them dignity,” Ruth said. Through card making and donations from well-wishers, the organization takes care of the basic needs of the women refugees, providing funds for rent, food, tuition for their children, and medical help whenever it is needed.

The women in the Woven Dignity program meet weekly with the global mission pioneers for prayer and sharing, and monthly with Ruth. At the meetings they do a craft, read a Bible story, share food, and share their needs as well. For Ruth, it is not just enough to provide for daily needs. She prays that someday these women will come to know Christ. “But they cannot come to know Christ until their basic needs are met,” Ruth concludes.

Ruth’s passion to help the refugee women in Lebanon is reflected in the words that she has penned in the appeal brochure that reads, “These cards are hand-sewn by refugee women living in the country of Lebanon. Each woman’s story is unique and tragic at the same time. Most escaped from Iraq and Syria from situations beyond our imagination.… Our goal at Woven Dignity is to provide work for these women that will equal a fair and sustainable living.”

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