Our Story

HCW and Floris UMC, Herndon, Virginia. Helping Children Worldwide is successor to a number of collaborative mission ventures and advisory groups that were managed by Floris UMC in Herndon, Northern Virginia from 1998 through 2007, until they came under the umbrella of the NGO. The hallmark of these ministries is that they were serving deeply vulnerable children in extreme circumstances and vulnerable communities. The intent expressed by the organizing documents and board minutes was that the NGO would operate as a non-church adjunct to the Floris ministries and raise funds for missions to vulnerable children that its own board would later initiate. It was very Floris-centric in the composition of its governance board and bylaws, and its office was located at Floris. The oversight activities for African orphanage and the co-located health ministry had already grown beyond mere fundraising support, and the fundraising for the orphanage exceeded the ability of the church to support it any longer. This was a major factor in forming an NGO to access grants that were not available to churches. Before the NGO was formed to assist, an appeal to other churches led to a partnership to support the orphan mission in Africa.

As soon as it was formed, HCW took over the work of raising funds for the two orphanages, along with the health services ministry located on the same campus as the orphanage in Sierra Leone, Africa. Management of the church partnership was consolidated under the corporation to eliminate duplication of administrative activities. The offices of the NGO were moved to clarify that HCW was not a church program of Floris UMC, but a fully autonomous nonprofit with its own mission directive. As HCW developed its own identity, Floris continued to develop new outreach ministries for vulnerable children, and to fund support for other missions which it did not transfer to the NGO to fund or manage.

HCW, Tom Berlin, and John Yambasu. It is impossible to write a history of HCW without telling the story of the friendship between Pastor John Yambasu and Pastor Tom Berlin. Both gentlemen later became Bishops of the United Methodist Church and recognized as great leaders in time of difficulty. HCW owes the foundation of our mission to Help Children Worldwide to the shared vision of Christian charity encapsulated in the scripture of John 1:27 to care for the Widow and the Orphan. These two pastors were deeply committed to an expression of faith that sees opportunity in challenge, and family, friends, and colleagues in every soul they encountered, seeing them as Jesus did, equals and allies with the ability to answer the call to help. They also both possessed the radical courage to ask people to do more, and to enlist more help to care for children. They embodied our core values.

History as a Faith-based NGO. HCW bylaws have been rewritten to intentionally increase representation by other organizations and constituencies, but HCW maintains a clear faith-based identity, close ties to the UMC, and an ongoing close relationship with the founding congregation.

There remain several reserved positions on the HCW board of directors for members who are affiliated with Church Partnership, which continues to exist as an advisory board and conduit between the mission and supporting congregations. There is a reserved position for a Pastor, and a tradition of having the Floris Senior Pastor serve on the board of directors. These traditions and rules for the governing board help to maintain the organization’s identity as a Christian faith-based NGO coming out of the Methodist tradition.(One board member during the early years was in fact Jewish, but he was married to a United Methodist, the interfaith couple attended Floris UMC together, and he was an active member of our founding congregation.) There is zero correlation between that identity and the identity of the people we serve, hire, collaborate, partner, or ally with – other than it is the right thing to do to help and include everybody without discrimination.