REACH International

How We Work

Where We Work

History

Our story starts in the summer of 1973, when my husband and I took a trip to India and Sri Lanka to acquaint our children, Cheryl and Mark, with their roots and to conduct workshops for the Southern Asia Conference. We traveled from workshop to workshop by train, bus, horse drawn carts, cycle-rickshaw, and taxi. This gave us a good opportunity to move among the the poor people of India. What we witnessed in those ten weeks we cannot forget. Our lives were changed forever.

As we traveled through the cities, towns, and villages of Southern Asia, we found His footprints everywhere: "We shall find His footprints beside the sickbed, in the hovels of poverty, in the crowded alleys of the great cities, and in every place where there are human hearts in need of consolation" Ministry of Healing, p. 106. We were appalled by the poverty, misery, sickness, starvation and death. We saw emaciated children dying slow, miserable deaths. Many children are born on the street, eke out an existence on the street, and finally die on the street never knowing the comfort of a home. Home to them is a spot on the sidewalk marked off by a rope or a chalk line or even a stone to indicate their space and to let others know it is taken. They feel lucky to have a piece of plastic to protect them from the rain. All their earthly belongings can be tied into a small bundle and carried in one hand. Were these our brothers? Did not Christ die for them too?

In silent horror, we watched as an emaciated mother cradled her naked, dying child to her shriveled breast and tried to squeeze out a drop of milk into his mouth. He did not have the strength even to suck, nor did she have any milk to give. Another mother, after having fed a few mouthfuls of rice to her hungry children, hunched by the roadside licking the empty pot to try to satiate her own hunger. One father of eight told us, "My one desire is to be able to feed my children at least one meal till they are full and satisfied." These images are still vivid in my memory. Even after thirty-plus years, I see them as if it were yesterday.

We saw children eating out of garbage cans, and when we gave them bananas, they ate the banana and then the peel. How hungry do you have to be to eat banana peels? We gave a sack lunch to a man lying on the filthy railway platform, too sick and weak even to move. He had been so long without food, he could not keep it down. In the midst of such poverty, misery, and hopelessness, we thought, "if not for the grace of God, we could be like them." What have we done to merit the good life? We had health, wealth and happiness. We had been materially blessed; they had nothing.

All this suffering made an indelible impression on our children and on us. Are they also children of God, our brothers and sisters? Do we have a responsibility to them? "We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the suffering and afflicted. We are to minister to the despairing, and to inspire hope in the hopeless" Ministry of Healing, p. 106.

When we did a workshop in Bangalore, India, we saw a group of elementary school children who looked healthy and happy. We learned that they were being cared for by an organization called The Christian Children’s Fund. The children were given school uniforms, books, tuition and meals. Our minds raced. We began to question. Why could not the Adventist Church do something similar, to help poor children, not only physically, mentally, but spiritually as well?

When we returned home we spoke to a few church leaders and did not get much encouragement. But we could not let it rest. We began to question: Who is the church? We are the church! We cannot expect the organized church to do everything. We must do something ourselves to help these poor children.

Someone has said, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." This is exactly what we did. We acted on our thoughts and called together some friends who had been to India and knew first hand the extent of human suffering in that country, or who were sympathetic to the needs of the poor children.

On October 14, 1973, this group met at our house on Meadow Lane, in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and we organized and selected a Governing Board. At the second meeting we chose the acronym REACH, Render Effective Aid to Children, International, for our name. We had no prior experience, yet within that first year God helped us to register the organization in Michigan, and we received our Federal tax-exempt status under 501(C)(3).

We had an organization, but how were we to reach the children? God had set the wheels in motion even before we got to that point. That summer in Bangalore, we had befriended Ron and Dorothy Watts. We had stayed with them in their home and were intrigued when we met their three adopted Indian street children. We were touched, inspired, and amazed at the love these people had for the children and the sacrifices they were willing to make. Soon after this, Pastor R. D. Watts, then president of South India Union, came to Andrews University for six months of studies. In order to repay his kindness to us, we invited him to our home for a meal of rice and curry. During the conversation, we told him about what we were planning to do. His face lit up as he said, "I cannot believe God is answering my prayer so quickly. On the plane I was praying for just something like this—a way to help more of the poor suffering children in India."

He readily offered to help us find the children who most needed help. God had solved our last problem, and we thanked Him for His guidance. Pastor Watts sent us sixty-eight children from a very poor village called Puliangudi. In this village, there was a dilapidated vacant school building that belonged to the church. A school was started there for these children. It took us all year to sponsor the sixty-eight children for $12.00 a month.

From this small beginning in 1973, REACH has grown and expanded into 23 countries with 8 branch offices. Nearly 24,000 children receive an education, live in safety and security, eat three meals a day and also learn about the Jesus who loves them. Many children who grow up in our schools accept Jesus as their personal Savior. Wherever we go, especially in India, we meet former REACH students in responsible positions in the work of God. They thank us, and you, the sponsors, for the help that made the difference for them and us. And what a difference that is! Only in Heaven will we know the full impact of God’s work.

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