Orphan Sunday: Press Release

CONTACT: (your name here)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Phone: (your number here)

Email: (your email here)

LOCAL CHURCH UNITES WITH THE WORLD ON ORPHAN SUNDAY On Orphan Sunday, churches in 90 nations invite Christians to welcome children in need Since 2002, churches around the world have been uniting on one day with one voice and one purpose for vulnerable children. With 450,000 children in US foster care and 15 million worldwide who’ve lost both parents, thousands of churches will echo a united message across 90 nations on Orphan Sunday 2019. Spanning languages, cultures and time zones, on November 10, 2019 Christians worldwide will celebrate God’s special love for orphaned and vulnerable children – and what ordinary people can do to put that love into action.

Special events, prayers and activities on Orphan Sunday invite individuals to consider adoption, foster care, mentoring and/or support for orphaned children around the world. _______________________ (church, organization) is joining the global celebration by ____________________________________ (Include a few sentences describing your event and who it will benefit).

The Impact of Growing Up Without a Family Children aging out of the system without the support of a family are far more vulnerable to traffickers, prostitution, homelessness and a host of other ills. Globally, an estimated 15 million children have lost both parents, and countless others live in orphanages or on the

1

streets due to abandonment or abuse. Like foster youth, these children face dramatically increased risks of human trafficking, hunger, disease and other ills. Children in orphanages are ten times more likely to be trafficked than other children.

Seeking to change these numbers, faith communities across a wide range of Christian denominations globally unite on Orphan Sunday to challenge churches to be an answer for these children.

Thousands of events worldwide The national Orphan Sunday campaign, led by the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO), has helped grow this vision. The campaign shepherds thousands of events across America on the second weekend of November. A list of registered Orphan Sunday events is available here: https://cafo.org/orphansunday/check-in/ “The size of the need can feel paralyzing. But Orphan Sunday reminds us of the single statistic that matters more than any other,” said Jedd Medefind, President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans. “Whether through adoption, fostering or mentoring, just one caring person or family can change the life of a child forever.”

The website www.orphansunday.org serves as a hub for the campaign, offering event ideas, downloadable materials and ways individuals can partner with orphan-serving organizations to hold local events. The first Orphan Sunday was held in a small church in Zambia, Africa, where the local pastor urged his church to share what little they had with local children who had been orphaned by AIDS. The church responded with immense generosity, and some even removed their own shoes as gifts for orphans. In 2009, American churches began following Zambia’s example. The idea of helping orphans quickly spread around the country and eventually the globe.

For more information on Orphan Sunday, visit www.orphansunday.org.

For materials and event ideas specifically for children in foster care, visit www.standsunday.org.

2