Orphan World Relief | Non-Profits of Columbus, Ohio

One orphan is one orphan too many…

By inspiring and connecting passionate people like you, we’re making a impact by working to meet the real needs of kids around the world. We do this through a variety of programs locally and abroad. With your help, together we can make a difference.

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What We Do

At Orphan World Relief, we build strong partnerships with churches, businesses, other nonprofit organizations, and people just like you to help:

Children in Crisis including those living as orphans and refugees Learn More
Kids entering foster care for the first time through our My Comfy Kits program Learn More
Older children in our program Foster to Adult that provides support for kids aging out of the foster care system Learn More
Families as they deal the stress and trauma with foster care and adoption through Children First Family Services Learn More

Together we can make a difference

Our Story

Orphan World Relief was founded in 2008 after President, Doug Riggle, experienced first-hand the needs of homeless and orphaned children in Ukraine. Upon returning to the states, further research shed light on the global crisis and the millions of orphaned and at-risk children around the world.

What started as an organization designed to help well-run programs in other countries financially has since blossomed into an organization that understands the needs of children in the U.S and around the globe while helping educate people on the needs these kids are dealing with everyday. #hopechangeseverything

Orphan World Relief | Columbus, Ohio Charities

Our Programs

By inspiring and connecting passionate people like you, we’re making a impact by working to meet the real needs of kids around the world. We do this through a variety of programs locally and abroad. With your help, together we can make a difference.

CFFS

At Children First Family Services (CFFS), we provide foster and adoption support services to strengthen childrens’ connections to family and community resources.

Learn More

My Comfy Kits

Entering foster care is a scary experience for children regardless of their age. We provide backpacks filled with age-appropriate items to help ease the pain of transition.

Learn More

Foster to Adult

Through no fault of their own, every year more than 20,000 young men and women turn 18 and age out of the foster care system. At Orphan World Relief we’re working to create a holistic program to help these young men and women have a better chance for success in life.

Learn More

Children in Crisis

In addition to providing financial support, we work with international programs supporting orphans and refugees to help them with the basic needs of good food, a safe place to live and an education.

Learn More

Foster Care Columbus, Ohio | Adoption Columbus, Ohio

Children First Family Services (CFFS)

CFFS provides foster and adoption support services by strengthening children’s connections to family and community resources.

Current Services…

Post adoption support

Future services…

Support groups
Training
Pregnancy counseling for expectant parents
Home study services
Match meetings
Post-placement visits/reports

Meet the team from Children First Family Services

Elizabeth | MSW & LSW

As the Director of Clinical Services, Elizabeth provides oversight for the administrative and clinical aspects of CFFS. Elizabeth is an adoptive mother of two and has worked in child welfare since 1997. She enjoys working alongside all members of the adoption triad to set the stage for a lifetime of growth and healing.

Mary Jo | MA

As the Director of Foster Support Services, Mary Jo provides training and administrative oversight for foster care support services. Mary Jo is a licensed foster parent and mother of five children. She is a strong advocate for children and families impacted by foster care and adoption.

Christine | LSW

As the Director of Adoption Services, Christine provides oversight and supervision for services provided to adoptive families. She has three children, one step-child, and three step-grandchildren. Christine correlates training with longterm success of families that are formed through foster care and adoption.

Contact Us

How to Help Kids in Foster Care

My Comfy Kits

Help us provide backpacks for kids entering foster care.

There are approximately 415,000 children in the foster system across the United States on any given day. More than 12,500 of those children are in Ohio.

Entering foster care is a scary experience for children regardless of their age.

We provide foster and adoption support services by strengthening children’s connections to family and community resources.

Orphan World Relief sees this as an opportunity to provide comfort, dignity and love to these kids. With your support, we provide backpacks – My Comfy Kits – filled with age-appropriate items to help ease the pain of transition.
- - In 2016: 133 kits made
  - In 2017: 593 kits made
  - In 2018: 884 kits made
  - In 2019: 1,080 kits made
  - In 2020: 462 kits made
  - In 2021: 281 kits made
  - In 2022: 180 kits made

How Can You Get Involved

Pray – for the children receiving these Comfy Kits that they may feel loved and cared for.
Advocate – tell your friends, family and other organizations about the mission of My Comfy Kits and host a donation drive for needed items, or volunteer to help stuff Comfy Kits.
Give – drop off needed items (see our list below) or make a financial donation.

If you have any questions or want to get involved, please contact Jonica Graves, the My Comfy Kits Program Director, at joni@orphanworldrelief.org.

Click here for a list of kit items

My Comfy Kits Near You!

My Comfy Kits currently operates in three areas. For more information, contact the program volunteer nearest to you:

Fayette County, Ohio – Melinda Underwood

Franklin County, Ohio – Jonica Graves
(also Program Manager for the My Comfy Kits Program in the United States)

Stark County, Ohio – Amy Reveal

Aging Out of Foster Care

Foster to Adult

Through no fault of their own, every year more than 20,000 young men and women turn 18 and age out of the foster care system.

Their prospects for a good life are slim. Look at some of the statistics:

Less than half were employed at age 23
More than two-thirds of the young women have children.
Nearly 60 percent of the males have been convicted of a crime.
Almost a quarter were homeless at some point after leaving foster care.

Our Response
At Orphan World Relief we’re working to create a holistic program to help these young men and women have a better chance for success in life including:

Career Support – with career counselors, help former foster kids learn how to apply for jobs, write resumes, keep a job and learn to grown into a career. We’re partnering with local businesses willing to take a chance on hiring them while also creating opportunities – our hope is to open a coffee shop staffed by young men and women from the foster care system.

Life Skills – to help them succeed as adults, life skills, including: budgeting, banking, shopping, cooking…etc. are essential for a successful life as an adult.
Family Mentoring – by partnering with families in local churches, we hope to find some special families to help teach these young men and women what a family is supposed to be – while not perfect – will help them stop the cycle that put them into the system.

To learn more about the program’s progress, contact Mary Jo, Director of Foster Support Services

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Helping Children Around the Globe

Children in Crisis

The majority of our effort is dedicated to providing financial support to orphans and at-risk children around the globe. Our current reach allows us to help children from five different countries and three continents.

In addition to providing financial support, we work with orphanages and other organizations to help them become more self-sufficient in consistently providing children with the basic needs of good (nutritional) food, a safe place to live and an education.

Casa Hogar Vida | Honduras

Born from a dream of wanting to help children affected and infected by HIV/AIDS, Casa Hogar Vida (CHV) has transformed into two fully operational family homes. Children that have been abandoned or have been orphaned due to AIDS find refuge here, where a team of people are ready to help in a family home setting. Currently we have 2 houses, a male and female house, where children live with an on sight caregiver, are enrolled in school and receive spiritual guidance from the team at CHV.

The Harbor | Russia

The Harbor helps orphaned teens build character and become contributing members of society. Its two-year program provides housing and trains orphans in the core areas of education, vocational training, and basic life skills while providing counseling and spiritual formation.

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Montaña de Luz | Honduras

When it was initially founded in 2001, there were no HIV meds available in Honduras and MdL opened its doors as a hospice to provide a comfortable place for young people to pass. After medication became available in 2003, MdL was able to transform into a loving home for youth living with HIV. Today, they provide family-based care to youth and families impacted by HIV, while focusing on decreasing HIV stigma and discrimination.

Relief Efforts for Refugees

The refugee crisis across the globe continues to increase and children are at the heart of our efforts. Currently support goes to help refugees in a refugee camp in Iraq. When it opens up, we’ll also be working to support refugees as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Jeremiah's Hope | Ukraine

Ukrainian orphans face many obstacles, including rejection, abandonment and abuse. Jeremiah’s Hope has a great mission – to share God’s hope and provide practical help with orphans and at-risk youth in Ukraine. It invests in each orphans spiritual, emotional and physical needs, while guiding them to become productive citizens in their home country.

Children's Development Center | Honduras

Children’s Development Center helps malnourished and at-risk children by providing one meal and snack a day, help with homework and most importantly spiritual guidance. Due to pandemic restrictions, children are not coming daily, so we check in with the families at least once a month in person, making sure contact info is up to date, weighing and measuring the children and giving out provisions that can last the family up to 15 days.

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