Worldwide Orphanage Relief Coalition

Using sustainable programs and vocational education to strengthen the core of vulnerable children's communities globally - access/resources

We care because these kids around the world have shown us the immense capacity we all carry have for joy and fearlessness. In their youthful and optimistic resilience, these children are rich in life, though poor in resources. They have changed our lives; we want to help their communities do the same for them!  

 

Mission: We serve one central purpose: To use sustainable and vocational programming as tools to strengthen the core of communities around the world where vulnerable children lack basic human services and comprehensive resources.

 

Vision: To promote a self-empowered world, enabled by the elevated prosperity of its brilliant, resilient youth – allowing kids to be kids.

 

Background: WORC is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable nonprofit entity under the tax code Q33: International Relief. We were founded in 2009 out of a dorm room in Chicago and granted 501(c)(3) in March of 2011. We work in six countries around the world, including the United States, Ghana, Honduras, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. Our current efforts include helping our partners in Ghana, Uganda, and Sierra Leone each erect a children's village.

 

Challenge: Each day, geography determines the prosperity (or lack thereof) for millions of children around the world. They are victims of broken communities – places that carry unbridled hope and creativity, but unequaled access and resources.

 

Response: We WORC to bring relief to communities inhibited by their barriers. At the intersection of vocational and sustainable programming, volunteerism, the provision of basic resources, and a concerted effort on vulnerable youth, our goal is to fill in communal gaps that deter progress. 

 

WORC “Orphans”: We recognize that children in contexts of poverty may have one or even both parents, but still live socially orphaned lives. Whether in a village in rural Ghana or the streets of urban Southside Chicago, it is about social context. All children WORC supports are in some way vulnerable, be they orphaned, given up by their parents, societally neglected, or simply poor.

 

The following are WORC’s 12 Core Values:

o Awareness: Our actions must be well informed, culturally aware, and environmentally sensitive.

o Community: “It takes a village…” Community is central. They must be the change they seek, and they must do it collectively. WORC merely wants to help, and only if they want us to.

o Education: Each of our programs has a vocational component – using education to strengthen future generations.

o Empowerment: No progress can be made unless hope is first present. Individuals and communities must find their own voice.

o Growth: WORC does not start new programs. We invest in promising, unique, and established ideas, providing the support necessary to bring those ideals to fruition.

o Listening: These communities are rich with stories, ideas, and frustrations. Our job, first and foremost, is to listen.

o Optimism: We are well aware of the realities; why not have some fun turning them around? There is much beauty to be seen, but only if we choose to see it.

o Patience: “It is not enough to do good, it must be done well.” These things take time; we will never compromise true justice for public image.

o Social Justice: To us this involves focusing on issues of access and resources. Charity and sustainability are incomplete and even unjust, if not rooted in core problems.

o Sustainability: It is about systems of longevity. We help implement changes that bring security and communally independent prosperity for generations to come.

o Trust: Our partner relations are established upon mutual trust. We are investing 6-7 years of WORC, and they are vulnerably opening their doors to foreign aid; without trust, neither party has any means to operate.

o Youth: Kids helping kids. We are youth led; we are youth focused. Youth are fearless and hopeful – their lives are not to be overlooked. Their ideas are not to be evaded.