GO! Milestones
GO! Milestones
by Scott Nordstrom
September 5, 2023
As I consider what to communicate during our upcoming Beautiful Child Gala on September 24th, I have taken a look back to review the journey we have been on since 2005.
We have definitely covered much ground, traveled a great distance, and grown our reach over these eighteen years. The following are just a few notes and dates that I have uncovered recently:
We began the work of serving orphan children in 2005 when Despina and I experienced the loss of child, Faith Anastasia. As you might expect, this experience as traumatic for our family and a difficult time to navigate with our three remaining children: Sidney, Noah, and Trinity. After the passing of our Faith, everything changed when we attended an international adoption meeting in the summer of 2005. God spoke to our family clearly during this time, that He wanted our family to serve orphan children.
Our first opportunity to serve came through a partnership with Orphan’s Hope that year to provide Bibles and Blankets to orphan children in Myanmar. We also filed the necessary paperwork with the IRS in 2005 and received notification of our approved 501(c)(3) status in March 2006.
Over the years we have been honored to serve orphan children in DR Congo, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, South Sudan, Uganda, and Zambia. In December 2005, our family visited an orphanage in Juarez, Mexico, and blessed 20 children with Christmas. This was our first international mission effort with feet on the ground.
In February 2006, Rick Vigil and I deployed to Zambia to determine how we might serve children in this country. I have since returned eleven times to Zambia, leading many teams over the years. Also in 2006, we deployed our 3rd team to Mexico to serve orphans in Juarez.
Since 2005 we have deployed 29 Relief Teams; and 174 volunteers; delivered 7+ tons of supplies to DR Congo, India, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, South Sudan, Uganda, and Zambia.
First Home at House of Faith Orphanage in Mpampi, Zambia.
In 2007, in partnership with Noah Ministries, we began to develop the House of Faith Orphanage (HOFO) in Mpampi, Zambia.
In 2008, we deployed 2 mission teams to Zambia, with our November team numbering twelve members, received our first child at HOFO in March, and built the 2nd and 3rd homes at HOFO. What one of our team members share about their experience…
“Just a tick more than 8 years ago, about a dozen of us were speeding across the dark middle north Atlantic. Eons later (it seemed) the sun rose, and we approached the coast of Namibia. it's painful rays searing through a few cracked cabin window shades. After a few more hours, and a short hop, the South African plane touched down into the dark damp Lusaka evening. A day in the Zambian capital, an all-day van ride southwest, changing to a flatbed truck, we arrive in the dark, in Silembe.
About 20 orphan children, in two brick group homes, lived at the House of Faith that November. I had been introduced to Scott Nordstrom only a short time before we started the trip. I now watched as he hugged and interacted with the kids he had described. We spent a relative few days "in the Bush". One highlight for me was shooting video, as another vulnerable young boy began his new life at the HOF.
After these firsthand experiences, and my ongoing relationship with Scott and GO!, I have developed a deeper understanding, and concern for GO!'s projects in Zambia, and elsewhere. As I see it, this is due in no small part to Scott's dedication, and devotion to care for these needy young people. That responsibility is coupled with juggling a complex professional career, family, and other ministry opportunities. What started more than 10 years ago as an exploratory trip to Zambia, has now dramatically changed and affected many lives.
And for me, those experiences in Africa, (and a subsequent trip), and my ongoing relationship with the ministry, have changed and deepened my life in ways both profound and positive. I thank God to have played a small role in this work.” -Tom
In 2009, we visited DR Congo -a place that we would eventually work with Noah Ministries.
In 2010, we completed a site assessment for our 2nd project in Zambia; House of Hope Orphanage.
In 2011, we were now serving orphan children in Pakistan, Uganda, and Zambia.
2012 Heart of the King Mission Team
In 2012, we deployed a Men’s Team to Zambia to build the 6th and final home at House of Faith.
In 2013, we received our first child at House of Hope Orphanage in Sinazongwe, Zambia, after delaying a year as we waited for just the right housemom.
In 2014, the board of Global Orphan Relief came into agreement to build upon the capacity of the movement to serve 1,440 children monthly. At the time, GO! was serving just 90 orphan children in Pakistan and Zambia. We have grown aggressively since this time. In addition, we began to break-down the types of services that we provide to the foundational necessities required by children, home-based care, education, and nutrition.
Also in 2014, we introduced our foster care as an option within our Home-Based Care Initiative to children in Zambia. This allowed children to remain with extended family, while receiving assistance from our GO! partners in-country to facilitate this level of care.
In 2015, we began our Education Initiative in DR Congo and Zambia, allowing 232 orphan children to enroll in school.
We begin to feed children in South Sudan in 2016
In 2016, we initiated a Nutrition Initiative in South Sudan and Zambia to combat hunger experienced by orphan children. By early 2017, we were feeding 469 children that were in dire need of life-sustaining nutrition.
In 2017, I resigned my full-time position at a local company in Denver to spend more time in the ministry. This was scary stepping into the unknown, but exhilarating as I know God would show up in a powerful way.
In 2018, I led two mission teams abroad: to India and Zambia.
In 2019, Nordstrom leads mission to South Sudan to assess the situation there and to visit our ongoing projects. We concluded this mission abruptly with medivacking one of our team out of South Sudan to Nairobi, Kenya. We responded appropriately, with precision, and he was able to recover over several days in Nairobi. God would use this time in Kenya to reveal something new…
In the midst of COVID in 2020, our mission didn’t slow down. We exceeded aiding 1,440 children in one month in July. The Father then began to encourage us to consider Feeding the 5,000, which for us meant serving 5,000 orphan children in some way. I shared this vision with the GO! Board, Nayalife Church in Aurora, the River of Life Church in Shimla, India, and finally referenced the Feeding the 5,000 vision during our Un-Gala that year.
In 2021,I traveled solo to Kenya to test Great Commandment Workshop concept and to consider official launch of our Church Mobilization Initiative.
Embu (Kenya) ACK Great Commandment Workshop in 2022
In 2022, I again traveled to Kenya to lead the effort for our Church Mobilization Initiative launch with three workshops. Also in 2022, I lead an international team to Zambia to launch this new initiative.
In 2023, deployed with an international team to three cities in India to launch Church Mobilization Initiative. Later in 2023, we deployed a team to Western Kenya, Mombasa, and then Nairobi, Kenya, to co-host five Great Commandment Workshops as part of our Church Mobilization Initiative.
Today we impact 12,821 orphan children in Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Pakistan South Sudan, and Zambia, at an average monthly cost of $36,109 (last twelve months). Unfortunately, we have achieved this level of growth of our mission at an average monthly deficit of $2,640. This is no longer sustainable.
We accomplish this work in 16 distinct mission projects with 12 field partners in 6 countries across 4 initiatives.
Most of our funding comes from individuals though we have had churches and other philanthropy groups support us through the years. Our primary driver of support is through child sponsorship, or monthly initiative support provided by individual donors.
Our Care Initiatives today consist of Home-Based Care, Education, and Nutrition. Our fourth, and newest initiative, is Church Mobilization. To date we have deployed $3.1 million in aid to orphan children.
We have also managed this aggressive growth while minimizing our administrative and fundraising costs to 13% of total funds raised since our inception.
During our Beautiful Child Gala event, our objective is to bring light to our efforts to serve orphan children and to our ability to provide essential services to the most vulnerable among us. All our initiatives involve providing a level of aid needed for children to progress in life; physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Global Orphan Relief is a beautiful story and I am glad that you can be part of it in some way.
Global Orphan Relief (GO) has been serving orphaned children since 2005. We have accomplished this work through local partners in each country that provides oversight and distribution of care. As of July, we impacted 12,821 orphan children in Asia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Sudan, and Zambia within our Home-based Care, Scholarship, Nutrition, and Church Mobilization Initiatives.
Scott, Minister Isaiah, & Bishop Garang in Nairobi
Scott Nordstrom who leads GO! today and has done so since we launched in 2005. Scott has served with GO! for 18-years. Scott has been instrumental in deploying 174 volunteers on 29 teams to the mission field, and has personally served in DR Congo, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, South Sudan, and Zambia. Scott is a published author and speaks in the United States, as well as, internationally regarding child welfare and matters of faith, hope, and love.
You may send support or other correspondence to Global Orphan Relief, 16352 Prairie Farm Cir, Parker, CO 80134 or you may also give electronically to support orphan children at Global Orphan Relief.
Movement of FAITH | Voice of HOPE | Act of LOVE