LWB Celebrates 20 Years of Hope!

A very special anniversary is taking place this week. Twenty years ago, on January 19th, I visited my youngest daughter’s orphanage in China for the very first time. What I didn’t know then as I stepped into that eerily silent facility filled with hundreds of abandoned children is that my life would be forever changed.

20 Years of Hope…How It All Began

If you’re familiar with how Love Without Boundaries began, you know I was taken to the back corner of a baby room, past rows of tarnished metal cribs, to meet a 9-month-old infant named Kang. Bundled in a threadbare snowsuit, his little face was solemn and his lips were deep blue. The orphanage doctor pointed to the baby’s chest and then solemnly shook his head from side to side. It was the very first time I held a baby with a complex heart defect, and the first time I confronted the sobering truth that countless orphaned children around the world do not survive institutional care.

Kang’s life, however, was about to change dramatically. Thanks to an outpouring of love from people all over the world, enough funds were raised for Kang to undergo heart surgery. Soon after his successful operation, the idea of forming a children’s charity, dedicated to the belief that Every Child Counts, was born. It’s absolutely incredible to me to think two decades have now passed since Kang’s tiny heart was healed.

Over Christmas, I sat down with my dad to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”. I’m sure many of you did the same since it’s such a classic holiday movie. This year, however, I couldn’t keep my thoughts from wandering to just how different things would be if baby Kang and I had never met on that cold January day in China.

Kang is now a young adult, adored by his adoptive family, friends, and neighbors. He’s studied in Greece and has a passion for economics. Thanks to the kindness of strangers back in 2003, he has a whole wonderful future still ahead of him.

Saving Kang’s life launched an incredible movement that hasn’t faltered for the past 20 years. Through your kindness and the support of people around the globe, Love Without Boundaries has impacted the lives of almost 100,000 additional children… in Asia, Africa, and now Central America.

The growth of our community humbles me completely. Clarence the angel certainly got it right in that movie when he said that each life goes on to touch so many others.  I can’t think about LWB without visualizing a beautiful, ever-changing tapestry, with vibrant threads of love from all around the world.

Celebrating 20 Years of Hope in 2023

Throughout 2023, LWB will be celebrating 20 Years of Hope. It will be a year of real joy as we look back on the amazing things you’ve made possible. We’ll be sharing updates on some of the children who have inspired us greatly over the last two decades, as well as sharing the current good you are bringing to the world. If you haven’t already done so, you can subscribe to our blog to have these Stories of Hope delivered right to your inbox…because who doesn’t want more positivity in their lives? (I know I certainly do!)

Speaking of children’s stories,  The Heart of an Orphan, our first book about the beginnings of LWB, is available for FREE on Kindle until 1/19 as a thank you to our wonderful supporters. The children featured in the book continue to inspire me, and I hope they touch your heart as much as they do mine.

Personally, 2023 will be a year of great reflection. When I first began Love Without Boundaries, I was only in my 30s…a busy mom of young children who didn’t fully understand just how quickly time would pass. Now, 20 years later, as a grandmother who has experienced both profound joy and immense loss, I have a much deeper knowledge of just how precious each day on this earth truly is.

Thank You for 20 Years of Hope

I’m so grateful to you for partnering with us to make sure as many children as possible get to greet each new day knowing they are loved and protected. That’s a gift beyond measure.

From all of us at LWB, thank you for making this life-changing work a glorious, amazing reality. Today, tomorrow, and long into the future…you’ve shown that anything is possible when LOVE leads the way.

~Amy Eldridge, Chief Executive Officer

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