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About Us
World Change for Children
"Make a Difference in Your Lifetime"
Organizational History:
In December 2001, a group of ten people traveled together to an area where Central, Eastern, and the Baltic areas of Europe meet, the country of Romania. The purpose of this team was to take Christmas to more than 2500 Romanian orphans in the central region of that country. Through a mutual passion and shared experiences on that trip, this group of individuals came back determined to try and make a difference in their lifetime to any child caught in the constricting bond of poverty and or homelessness. Seven of the ten individuals became founding board members of the organization.
The growth of this organization has been dramatic. There have been more than 30 teams sent overseas (primarily to Eastern Europe) since the formation of this effort in May 2002. These teams have consisted of professionals and lay people who have realized their own passion to make a difference. World Change for Children has given them an avenue to do so.
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Our beliefs, our approach, and the message that we teach any volunteer prior to joining a World Change for Children team is; "From an international standpoint, we aim to make the lightest American footprint we can make. We pay attention to the social priorities of the culture we are visiting. From both an international, and a domestic standpoint, we remain compassionate, with the highest levels of humility and equality regarding the peoples that we work along side...recognizing that humanitarian aid is a two way street."
William Phelps, President, World Change for Children.
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There is a myth about being a humanitarian and giving aid to others. The myth lies in the outlook that the person with more gives to another with less. We challenge that notion of being a humanitarian. We put forward humanitarian aid as an exchange from one to another, an equal exchange, valuable to each human participating in the relationship.
As humans we each approach relationships with deficits. In an exchange of humanitarian aid,
each walks away from that union filled up. Each gains knowledge of the other, a piece of language and culture, and recognition of being human. In the United States, we are in the capacity to give monetary aid throughout the world. How does humanitarian aid differ? Imagine walking among societies that because of deficient economic conditions, have learned to prioritize basic needs that are without monetary value, such as conversations, relationships, friendships and family. The humanitarian aid that our volunteers bring home is learning to see life through the eyes of a society that from the youngest to the oldest, appreciates everything in life, and complains literally about nothing.
~World Change for Children, Board Members~
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