Friends of the Orphans
Encyclopedia
Friends of the Orphans founded in the United States in 1965, is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, Federal Tax ID# 65-1229309, dedicated to improving the lives of orphaned, abandoned and disadvantaged children through our support of the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos
/Nos Petits Freres et
Soeurs (NPH/NPFS, Spanish and French for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters”) network of orphanages in Latin America
and the Caribbean
. Founded by Father William B. Wasson in 1954, NPH has provided loving and stable homes to nearly 16,000 children. NPH currently cares for over 3,700 children in nine countries: Bolivia
, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador
, Guatemala
, Haiti
, Honduras
, Mexico
, Nicaragua
and Peru
. In 2010, NPH outreach programs assisted more than one million children and adults in Haiti alone. Friends of the Orphans helps provide NPH children with food, clothing, shelter, health care, an education, and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty, which was once their destiny.
of Phoenix, Arizona, refused to press charges and asked for custody of the boy. Within a few days, eight more boys found a home with Father Wasson. He gave them a safe home and a chance to turn their lives around. By year’s end, 32 boys were in his care and Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos was born.
Father Wasson’s devotion to the care of orphans inspired an outpouring of financial support and volunteer helpers for his humanitarian cause. Friends of the Orphans traces its roots to Father Wasson’s family and friends in Arizona, who showed their generosity and kindness by sending clothes, food and money. In 1965, Friends of Our Little Brothers was incorporated in Arizona as a nonprofit organization. Affiliated but separate nonprofit support groups called Friends of the Orphans were created in Minnesota (1986), Washington (1988) and Illinois (1999). An organization in Virginia, called Our Little Brothers and Sisters (OLB&S), helped start successful fundraising offices in Europe as well as Canada. On July 1, 2005, the offices in Arizona, Illinois, Minnesota, and Washington became regional offices of the national organization – Friends of the Orphans. In addition, new regional offices were formed in Florida, and Virginia. The new offices were made possible by the fundraising support of OLB&S.
Former pequeños are educators, doctors, accountants, carpenters, farmers, mechanics, artists, administrators and social workers. Some work for NPH. Having learned the NPH philosophies of sharing and giving back, others support Friends of the Orphans and NPH by sponsoring children, organizing fundraisers, or attending special events and serving as ambassadors for the organization.
All of the NPH homes strive to be self-sufficient and most operate their own schools, clinics, gardens and farms. For example, at NPH Honduras, all of the fixtures and furniture, as well as most of the clothes and shoes used by the children, are made by pequeños in vocational workshops, while NPH Mexico produces enough livestock, fish, fruits and vegetables to satisfy most of the children’s needs. What the homes are unable to provide internally is donated by caring friends worldwide.
2010 Haiti earthquake
As a result of the 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010, Friends of the Orphans and NPH/NPFS suffered the tragic loss of staff, volunteers and family members, and extensive damage to its facilities. Despite
these losses, thousands of victims received aid immediately and continue to be helped through various programs, including:
St. Hélène Orphanage for Children is a permanent home to 400 children. Over 200 external students from the community attend the on-site school. Children displaced by the earthquake are being integrated into the home.
St. Don Bosco supports roughly 250 children and youths from St. Hélène who now live with extended family or in group homes and attend secondary school, including professional or vocational school. The future site of the Don Bosco school and student dorms is located in Tabarre, near the hospital.
St. Damien Hospital served as a hub for trauma care for earthquake-related injuries, and even maternity care. It also became one of the premier orthopedic medical centers within Haiti. Teams of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals from all over the world arrived to help care for the wounded. Within the first three weeks, the hospital attended to over 10,000 adults and children. Teams also immediately began distributing emergency aid of food and water to the numerous tent cities.
St. Anne is a rented temporary home for up to 40 children age 6 and under. It was established in response to the thousands of children left homeless by the earthquake.
St. Louis is a temporary child protection camp for over 120 vulnerable and displaced children. The camp is constructed out of shipping containers and is located in Tabarre. Capacity of the camp will be 350.
Father Wasson Angels of Light, an emergency response program for children living in tent cities, is a day camp that provides educational activities and meals for 2,500 children. Youths who grew up at NPH/NPFS help coordinate the various programs. In October, the program hopes to open its first primary school for 700 students and offer about 60 jobs.
St. Germaine Rehabilitation Center provides physical therapy, a special needs school and a meal program. A prosthetics lab and physical therapy program for amputees began shortly after the earthquake.
The St. Luke Foundation, an affiliate of NPH/NPFS, developed and manages numerous outreach programs in the poorest areas surrounding Port-au-Prince. The newest program is an adult hospital that was opened right after the earthquake. Additional programs include schools, clinics, food and water distribution, and dignified burials.
St. Francisville produces a variety of goods, including cement block, cobblestones, bread and pasta. There are also workshops for automotive mechanics, sewing, and printing and digital production. The goods and services are used by NPFS and St. Luke, as well as external organizations. During the earthquake, bread production was accelerated to 5,000 rolls daily and the buildings were used as a warehouse distribution center.
National Board Chair: Fr. Rich Prendergast
Friends of the Orphans is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. In addition, each of the six regional offices has its own volunteer Board of Directors. Board members have diverse professional backgrounds and expertise, but each actively works to raise funds for and awareness of Friends of the Orphans.
The national office is located in Chicago.
Regional Offices:
In 2009, 14% of Friends of the Orphans’ revenue came from their child sponsorship program. Individuals, families, churches, schools and other groups sponsor individual children living at an NPH home. Sponsors contribute $30 per month or more to support the basic needs of all the children in NPH’s care and develop a relationship with their sponsored child through correspondence. They also have the opportunity to visit the child at the NPH home to get personally acquainted with him or her. This kind of personal contact is mutually beneficial and is unique to Friends of the Orphans. As of February 2011, there were over 5,600 sponsors in the United States, carrying more than 6,600 sponsorships.
The remaining 1% of Friends of the Orphans’ revenue for 2009 came from donations by sponsors to the sharing fund. NPH uses monies from the sharing fund to buy each child a personal gift for their birthday and Christmas, as well as for special excursions, such as trips to the zoo or water park, and to buy treats for all the children.
According to Friends of the Orphans’ 2009 Annual Donor Report, 87% of its funding was spent on programs, 4% on management and general expenses, and 9% on fundraising.
In 2009, Friends provided over $4.4 million in support of NPH’s budget, an additional $1.5 million for projects approved by our Board and another $9.9 million to NPH Homes in in-kind donations such as medicines and clothing.
(BBB) Wise Giving Alliance in February 2010 found that Friends of the Orphans met all BBB standards for charity accountability, including how they govern their organization, the ways they spend their money, the truthfulness of their representations, and their willingness to disclose basic information to the public.
Audited financial statements are available upon request and IRS Form 990s are posted on the Friends of the Orphans Web site (http://www.friendsoftheorphans.org).
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos , literally meaning Our little brothers and sisters, is an organization that has provided a home for thousands of orphans and abandoned children since 1954...
/Nos Petits Freres et
Soeurs (NPH/NPFS, Spanish and French for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters”) network of orphanages in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. Founded by Father William B. Wasson in 1954, NPH has provided loving and stable homes to nearly 16,000 children. NPH currently cares for over 3,700 children in nine countries: Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. In 2010, NPH outreach programs assisted more than one million children and adults in Haiti alone. Friends of the Orphans helps provide NPH children with food, clothing, shelter, health care, an education, and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty, which was once their destiny.
History
In 1954, a hungry, homeless boy was arrested for stealing from the poor box of a small church in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The church’s priest, Father William WassonWilliam Wasson
Father William B Wasson was an American priest. He was born in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, but moved to Mexico where he trained as a priest. In 1954, he founded Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, a charity for neglected and abandoned children, which today operates across Latin America...
of Phoenix, Arizona, refused to press charges and asked for custody of the boy. Within a few days, eight more boys found a home with Father Wasson. He gave them a safe home and a chance to turn their lives around. By year’s end, 32 boys were in his care and Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos was born.
Father Wasson’s devotion to the care of orphans inspired an outpouring of financial support and volunteer helpers for his humanitarian cause. Friends of the Orphans traces its roots to Father Wasson’s family and friends in Arizona, who showed their generosity and kindness by sending clothes, food and money. In 1965, Friends of Our Little Brothers was incorporated in Arizona as a nonprofit organization. Affiliated but separate nonprofit support groups called Friends of the Orphans were created in Minnesota (1986), Washington (1988) and Illinois (1999). An organization in Virginia, called Our Little Brothers and Sisters (OLB&S), helped start successful fundraising offices in Europe as well as Canada. On July 1, 2005, the offices in Arizona, Illinois, Minnesota, and Washington became regional offices of the national organization – Friends of the Orphans. In addition, new regional offices were formed in Florida, and Virginia. The new offices were made possible by the fundraising support of OLB&S.
Philosophy
Children at NPH homes – called pequeños – are not available for adoption; instead they form a part of a larger, stable family environment at the homes that gives them a chance to focus on education and personal growth, knowing that a loving support system will always be in place for them. They are taught the values of work, sharing and responsibility in a Christian environment. Each has the opportunity to finish a technical course or seek a university degree. All children are asked to give back a year or more of service to NPH. Through this act of gratitude, each graduate shares the responsibility of raising the family. Pequeños grow and learn in their culture and language with the goal of becoming contributing, self-sufficient and caring citizens in their own countries.Former pequeños are educators, doctors, accountants, carpenters, farmers, mechanics, artists, administrators and social workers. Some work for NPH. Having learned the NPH philosophies of sharing and giving back, others support Friends of the Orphans and NPH by sponsoring children, organizing fundraisers, or attending special events and serving as ambassadors for the organization.
All of the NPH homes strive to be self-sufficient and most operate their own schools, clinics, gardens and farms. For example, at NPH Honduras, all of the fixtures and furniture, as well as most of the clothes and shoes used by the children, are made by pequeños in vocational workshops, while NPH Mexico produces enough livestock, fish, fruits and vegetables to satisfy most of the children’s needs. What the homes are unable to provide internally is donated by caring friends worldwide.
2010 Haiti earthquake2010 Haiti earthquakeThe 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...
Relief
As a result of the 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010, Friends of the Orphans and NPH/NPFS suffered the tragic loss of staff, volunteers and family members, and extensive damage to its facilities. Despitethese losses, thousands of victims received aid immediately and continue to be helped through various programs, including:
St. Hélène Orphanage for Children is a permanent home to 400 children. Over 200 external students from the community attend the on-site school. Children displaced by the earthquake are being integrated into the home.
St. Don Bosco supports roughly 250 children and youths from St. Hélène who now live with extended family or in group homes and attend secondary school, including professional or vocational school. The future site of the Don Bosco school and student dorms is located in Tabarre, near the hospital.
St. Damien Hospital served as a hub for trauma care for earthquake-related injuries, and even maternity care. It also became one of the premier orthopedic medical centers within Haiti. Teams of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals from all over the world arrived to help care for the wounded. Within the first three weeks, the hospital attended to over 10,000 adults and children. Teams also immediately began distributing emergency aid of food and water to the numerous tent cities.
St. Anne is a rented temporary home for up to 40 children age 6 and under. It was established in response to the thousands of children left homeless by the earthquake.
St. Louis is a temporary child protection camp for over 120 vulnerable and displaced children. The camp is constructed out of shipping containers and is located in Tabarre. Capacity of the camp will be 350.
Father Wasson Angels of Light, an emergency response program for children living in tent cities, is a day camp that provides educational activities and meals for 2,500 children. Youths who grew up at NPH/NPFS help coordinate the various programs. In October, the program hopes to open its first primary school for 700 students and offer about 60 jobs.
St. Germaine Rehabilitation Center provides physical therapy, a special needs school and a meal program. A prosthetics lab and physical therapy program for amputees began shortly after the earthquake.
The St. Luke Foundation, an affiliate of NPH/NPFS, developed and manages numerous outreach programs in the poorest areas surrounding Port-au-Prince. The newest program is an adult hospital that was opened right after the earthquake. Additional programs include schools, clinics, food and water distribution, and dignified burials.
St. Francisville produces a variety of goods, including cement block, cobblestones, bread and pasta. There are also workshops for automotive mechanics, sewing, and printing and digital production. The goods and services are used by NPFS and St. Luke, as well as external organizations. During the earthquake, bread production was accelerated to 5,000 rolls daily and the buildings were used as a warehouse distribution center.
Organizational structure
President and Chief Executive Officer: Sharon SaxelbyNational Board Chair: Fr. Rich Prendergast
Friends of the Orphans is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. In addition, each of the six regional offices has its own volunteer Board of Directors. Board members have diverse professional backgrounds and expertise, but each actively works to raise funds for and awareness of Friends of the Orphans.
The national office is located in Chicago.
Regional Offices:
- Northwest (Bellevue, WA)
- Southwest (Scottsdale, AZ)
- Upper Midwest (Saint Paul, MN)
- Midwest (Chicago, IL)
- Mid-Atlantic/Northeast
- Southeast (Miami, FL)
Friends of the Orphans/NPH Relationship
There is close collaboration and cooperation between Friends of the Orphans and NPH. Friends of the Orphans is a fundraising organization whose primary function is to provide financial support to raise, nurture and educate children living at NPH homes. In the process, Friends of the Orphans staff meet on a regular basis with NPH leadership to review programs, approve budgets, plan tours to homes, arrange fundraising events, and support other NPH activities. Friends of the Orphans representatives visit the homes in order to experience NPH programs first-hand. Pequeños also make annual visits to the United States to perform at Friends of the Orphans-sponsored events where they bring the message of hope to a wider audience.Funding
According to Friends of the Orphans’ 2009 audited financial statements, 19% of their revenue came from general donations, 55% from in-kind donations, 8% from NPH designated donations, 1% from investment income and miscellaneous, and 2% from bequests.In 2009, 14% of Friends of the Orphans’ revenue came from their child sponsorship program. Individuals, families, churches, schools and other groups sponsor individual children living at an NPH home. Sponsors contribute $30 per month or more to support the basic needs of all the children in NPH’s care and develop a relationship with their sponsored child through correspondence. They also have the opportunity to visit the child at the NPH home to get personally acquainted with him or her. This kind of personal contact is mutually beneficial and is unique to Friends of the Orphans. As of February 2011, there were over 5,600 sponsors in the United States, carrying more than 6,600 sponsorships.
The remaining 1% of Friends of the Orphans’ revenue for 2009 came from donations by sponsors to the sharing fund. NPH uses monies from the sharing fund to buy each child a personal gift for their birthday and Christmas, as well as for special excursions, such as trips to the zoo or water park, and to buy treats for all the children.
According to Friends of the Orphans’ 2009 Annual Donor Report, 87% of its funding was spent on programs, 4% on management and general expenses, and 9% on fundraising.
In 2009, Friends provided over $4.4 million in support of NPH’s budget, an additional $1.5 million for projects approved by our Board and another $9.9 million to NPH Homes in in-kind donations such as medicines and clothing.
Accountability Standards
A report issued by the Better Business BureauBetter Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau , founded in 1912, is a corporation consisting of several private business franchises of local BBB organizations based in the United States and Canada, which work through their parent corporation, the Council of Better Business Bureaus .The Better Business Bureau, through...
(BBB) Wise Giving Alliance in February 2010 found that Friends of the Orphans met all BBB standards for charity accountability, including how they govern their organization, the ways they spend their money, the truthfulness of their representations, and their willingness to disclose basic information to the public.
Audited financial statements are available upon request and IRS Form 990s are posted on the Friends of the Orphans Web site (http://www.friendsoftheorphans.org).