(WNY News Now) – A Friendship-based missions group invites the community to hear how one organization is transforming lives of abandoned children in Kenya.
FRIENDSHIP, NY — The local U.S. director of a Kenyan missions group which provides a home for abandoned Kenyan children will be the featured speaker at a free luncheon next week in Friendship.
A newly formed missions group will hear about the Rehema Home in Nairobi and Bukura, Kenya, from Shea Reagan of Wellsville during the noon to 1:30PM Wednesday, November 20, session at the Mission House, site of the former St. Andrew’s Church rectory at 28 East Main Street.
Purpose of the local group is to acquaint area residents about positive efforts being made locally, regionally, nationally and worldwide in reaching out to people in need.
The Mission House property, which includes a church and offices, is being used by the What God is Doing in Friendship ny alliance of churches to provide new opportunities for area residents who have a variety of needs, including social, educational, and services.
Individuals, regardless of church affiliation, are invited to attend the free luncheon, with required registrations to help determine luncheon needs, being made at [email protected] or (585) 808-1300.
Last month, Casey Jones and Anita Baird of Allegany Hope, local outreach missionaries, described how anyone can “Become a Missionary in Minutes,” using free resources which are available to equip and use in efforts to meet the holistic health needs – physical, mental/emotional and spiritual – of family members, friends and others.
Reagan, who was named this year as executive director of the U.S. fundraising operation for Rehema Home, will talk about the 189 children who have been rescued from the streets of the two Kenyan cities during the past quarter century of mission operations.
The director and her family became involved with the Christian organization several years ago as a result of a trip to the home, which was started when missionaries Irvin and Ruth Schwandt took their first child, found abandoned on the side of a road, into their home.
The Schwandts started their mission initiative through the Elim Bible Institute and College in Lima, Livingston County..
Up to 100 children are cared for at the two locations at any one time, with some being discovered in landfills and other areas, including abandonment at hospitals, because destitute parents have the hope that someone will find them and provide a better life, while others have been abused and taken from their parents.
Some end up being adopted, while others are re-united with their families.