It's been a great year at Asia’s Hope. We pray that you’ll be encouraged as you join us in celebrating God’s blessings on our staff and kids and our partners around the world.

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 From Executive Director John McCollum

Director’s letter  

Dear friends and supporters of Asia's Hope,

After a financially challenging 2015, I'm happy to report that Asia's Hope has ended 2016 in great financial shape, high spirits and unified purpose. 

As we enter 2017, our 15th year of ministry, we do so with deep gratitude to God and to his people, by whose generosity and courageous leadership we have achieved more than any of us had ever thought possible. 

I remember the very earliest days when there were only a few of us. We had visited Cambodia on short term mission trips, and simply wanted to raise some money to give to the amazing Christians we'd met on the ground. We had no idea what we'd become, how God would take our five tiny loaves of bread and two scrawny fishes and multiply them to feed the multitudes.

I recall vividly my meetings with with Dave Atkins, Asia's Hope's co-founder, at the McDonalds in Mansfield, Ohio. Like so many other makers, inventors and entrepreneurs, we sketched out our vision on the back of paper napkins. A lot has changed since then, but the values we articulated over french fries and sodas still hold true today. 

We knew from the very beginning that we wanted to build an organization that was "indigenous, grassroots and multi denominational." We had no idea that by 2016 we'd be running two schools and 32 orphan homes serving nearly 800 children and employing nearly 200 staff in three countries. But we were certain that, whatever the size and scope, we wanted to maintain those three values. And we have.

Today, 100% of our staff — from national directors to night watchmen — are indigenous, and are citizens of the countries in which they serve. Although we've grown, we are still a grassroots organization: we rely so heavily on the hard work of partnering churches, small businesses and individual supporters that we are able to maintain a large project portfolio with a tiny administrative staff and even tinier fundraising and marketing budget. And we enjoy a multi-denominational base of support that reflects the diverse beauty of the body of Christ.

As we look forward to our next 15 years of ministry, the principles — and the people — that brought us here will remain as a strong foundation for what I'm praying will be a period of significant growth in all areas of our ministry, growth that will allow us to care for more vulnerable children in more places, changing the world not only for Asia's Hope kids, but for orphaned and abandoned children worldwide who will benefit from the care and funding models we're innovating today.

I invite you to take some time to look over this report and join all of us in thankful prayers that God will continue to prosper Asia's Hope for his glory and for the good of the vulnerable children that he loves so deeply.

Warmly,

John McCollum, Executive Director