For the past 27 years we have been sharing “Annual Reports” and for most of those years the report was very similar…..more play, more meals, more story and more children, what a blessing it has been! We have had the opportunity to meet more people, travel to more places and equip more leaders, God has been good.
But this year has been different. We launched Generation Hope, a new strategy to see a community transformed. As a leadership team we often wondered what it would look like if we implemented our three programs, Food, Play and Story, into one location. What kind of an impact would that leave on the children of this community? After several years of praying, planning and strategizing it was time!
We continue to resource organizations with playgrounds, packing and distributing nutritional meals and training and equipping with KIDStory….. We are grateful! And now we have added Generation Hope, providing Food, Play and Story on a weekly, ongoing basis, leading to transformation in kids, their families and their entire community.
We started GenHope along the coastline villages of Ecuador, beginning with StoryClubs where children hear stories of God’s love for them and how they can experience the truth of His Word, the Bible. We provide nutritious meals to the mothers, for them to cook, prepare and feed their children, engaging them. Then we top it off with a playground, creating a space where the community can gather together.
And then by God’s grace we do it all again, over and over. It started with 1, but now there are 32 Hope Zones! 17 Hope Zones in Ecuador, 8 in Dominican Republic and 7 in Uganda…more children learning of God’s Love.
Jim Rosene
President
2021 FINANCIALS
Kids Around the World is eager both to remain financially transparent as well as to strive for financial growth for the purpose of serving more children. We work to continue our efficiency in raising and spending money. We are proud to report that in 2021, the percentage of funds used directly for program services was 90%, while the percentage spent on administrative and fundraising expenses was 10%. We continually maximize our effectiveness as we deliver the gift of food, play, and story all over the world — thanks to donors and partners like you.
For more detailed information, go to www.katw.org/aboutus/#financials
Our Mission
Sharing God’s transforming hope with kids and their communities through food, play and story.
Our Vision
Empowering a generation to live a hope-filled, Christ-centered life.
Our Method
We create environments within local communities through feeding programs, playgrounds, and StoryClubs where kids will experience hope through a daily meal, a safe place to play, and stories from the Bible. This leads them to build relationships with Jesus Christ, their teachers, and the local church. Which will then multiply impact as we see kids sharing their faith at home, with their friends, and becoming young leaders raised up to repeat the cycle!
2021Highlights
AN UPDATE ON GENERATION HOPE
It is hard to believe that it was October of 2020 when Generation Hope began. At the time we launched three Hope Zones in Ecuador and were in the process of preparing four others. GenHope Uganda and GenHope Dominican Republic were only still a dream.
But 2021 was a year of tremendous growth. By the end of the year, in Ecuador, seventeen active HopeZones were hearing weekly Bible stories and receiving OneMeal while several more Hope Zones were in preparation to open. The Uganda team formed seven Hope Zones and the Dominican Republic team formed eight. Even as OneMeal shipments were delayed by the crisis, the children in those Hope Zones gathered weekly to hear God’s Word. The Good News of Hope and the gift of nutrition were also accompanied by play. Six playgrounds were installed in Hope Zones by some of the four vision trips, four global outreach teams, and four staff teams that visited GenHope communities in 2021.
Dozens of testimonies have come forth from the nearly 900 families who have children in GenHope Ecuador, about how OneMeal has been a lifeline. Communities have shared how they have dreamed and waited for years to have a playground. Best of all, there is a hunger for God’s Word. The majority of our Hope Zones did not have an active weekly proclamation of the gospel prior to GenHope’s arrival. Now the Gospel is thriving in these communities.
What a year!!
Transforming the next generation through Food. Play. Story.
FOOD
The Lord continues to provide a way for food and the Gospel to go hand-in-hand in bringing children and families to Christ. As we extend His love to meet physical needs, the doors of hearts are opened to meet spiritual needs as well!
Pastor Vicente, in the community of Las Chacras, Ecuador has been laboring to grow his church for the past 5 years. He has prayed daily, has gone door to door in his community, and has been faithfully serving the Lord out of obedience. In his efforts over those 5 years he grew his church to 6 families, and he is truly blessed to see those families growing in Christ. In December of 2021, we started a Hope Zone with Pastor Vicente in Las Chacras. As a part of the Food. Play. Story. Hope Zone model, we began distributing food weekly from Pastor Vicente’s church to children in need in the community. Now each week, 40 women and their 80 children come to his church to receive meals and hear Bible stories. The church has doubled in size in 3 months, with 12 families now attending regularly, and it continues to grow! The children are beginning to thrive physically from the daily nourishment. And now the neighboring community has invited the pastor to come visit and share Bible stories.
When you partner with us to pack meals this is the kind of impact that your food can have to physically and spiritually nourish kids, families and whole communities. We invite you to partner with us through our Food Program to pack meals that provide nutrition, hope and love.
PLAY
Play is a human instinct. Kids who have never even seen a playground before know exactly what to do when they are provided one.
Over the past two years, Kids Around the World began a new relationship with Little Tikes Commercial. For over four decades, Little Tikes Commercial, a division of PlayPower, Inc., has designed and manufactured innovative, commercial-grade playground equipment for children of all ages and abilities in parks, municipalities, schools, housing associations, childcare centers, and places of worship.
As a playground partner, Little Tikes Commercial offers a way for their customers to have an international impact also. Kids Around the World receives 5 percent of the list price for playgrounds within our partnership. Those funds help to provide play to impoverished communities across the globe.
In December 2021, staff from Little Tikes Commercial joined us to install a playground in the small, remote community of Punta Alta, Ecuador. The tight-knit community was incredibly welcoming to our team. The Little Tikes Commercial staff helped to finish the build of the playground as children watched with anticipation. After a dedication ceremony, the kids of Punta Alta were finally set free to play with their faces full of excitement and wonderment. You don’t have to teach a kid how to play on a playground, whether they’ve seen one or not. It’s an amazing sight and incredible feeling, one that you will never forget.
Thanks to our partnership with Little Tikes Commercial, Punta Alta now has a wonderful playground with a footprint that allows for dozens of kids to play at once.
STORY
Nepal, home to the Himalaya Mountains, is bordered by Tibet and China. 94% of the population are Hindu, Buddhist, or Islamic, and only 1% are Christian. Throughout the country, there lie villages where StoryClubs meet and children have the opportunity to be engaged in God’s Word. 11 year old Joseph lives in one of these villages. Joseph comes from a family that did not accept Jesus as the Son of God. His friends continually invited him to their StoryClub which Joseph started attending. After learning about God through His Word, Joseph soon surrendered his life to Jesus. Now he can not contain all that he is learning in his StoryClub. Each week he goes home and tells the Bible stories to his family. Joseph’s unbelieving father excitedly shares how Joseph is growing as a disciple of Christ. Now he, along with the rest of the family, look forward each week to learning more about Jesus from Joseph.
900 churches across Nepal are using KIDStory to reach +24,000 kids like Joseph weekly with the Gospel. KIDStory is now in 55 countries and being recognized by many ministries as the most effective way to reach and disciple children in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
How can YOU get involved in GENHOPE?
This movement doesn’t happen without people like YOU! Generation Hope is a community to community model, connecting groups and individuals in the US with communities around the world to serve and grow together. Friends in the US help their Hope Zones grow by being a part of the Food. Play. Story. approach.
As a partner in GenHope, your group can come together to pack meals for the kids in a Hope Zone community as you host a fun and meaningful service event in your own community.
Next you can provide a playground for the community. Building a playground in a Hope Zone provides a safe space for kids and families to gather and have fun as they build relationships together.
Most importantly, you can ensure that the kids continue to learn and grow in faith in their weekly StoryClub. Your partnership helps support our StoryClubs and their passionate leaders.
As a Hope Zone Partner, you’ll get to know and grow together with the kids and families in your community. Individuals and teams can visit your Hope Zone, roll up your sleeves and build a playground, help distribute the meals you’ve provided, visit with families in their homes, and take part in the StoryClub to get to know the kids you serve.