|
John
14:18 - "I
will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
What is Orphan
Grain Train?
 Orphan Grain Train is a volunteer network of Christians who share personal and material resources with needy people in America and around the world. Grain Train volunteers gather donations of clothing, medical supplies, food, Christian literature, and other items in response to the real needs of people around the world. The
Orphan Grain Train movement is a loving response to Jesus Christ's
example as a servant and His love for us.
The
ministry was founded by Rev.
Ray S. Wilke and Mr.
Clayton Andrews with the support of several other members
of Grace Lutheran Church in Norfolk, Neb., after Rev. Wilke
visited Riga, Latvia, in 1992, and saw the need for spiritual,
emotional, and humanitarian aid in countries of the former Soviet
Union. Since 1992, Orphan Grain Train has sent over 20,000,000
pounds of supplies to needy people in Eastern Europe and elsewhere
in the world and America--over 1,000 semi trailer truckloads
as of September 2005.
Click here to find out how Orphan Grain Train got its name.
How Does it Work?
  Volunteers
use their own cars, trucks, and vans and personal financial support
in 18 regional
divisions across the United States to "climb aboard" the Orphan Grain Train. They donate and ship clothing, food, and
materials to people in destitute situations around the world. Donated
materials are shipped from regional division warehouses to Eastern
Europe, Africa, Asia, Mexico, Central and South America as well
as to disasters and the destitute in America. Orphan Grain Train
managers and volunteers in partner organizations distribute the
goods to people in need through churches, hospitals, orphanages,
old people's homes, schools, and soup kitchens.
Orphan Grain Train works in partnership with
the International Lutheran Laymen's League (Lutheran Hour
Ministries) and church mission organizations to supply missionaries
with items they are not able to purchase after disasters occur,
or after governmental collapse. This enables missionaries to be
the "hands and feet of Jesus" when and where mercy is
most needed.
Relief Shipments
Since March 1993, more than 1,000 semi-trailer truckloads of clothes,
medical supplies and equipment, quilts, blankets, and Bible materials
have been sent to countries such as Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania,
Liberia, Sierra Leone, Panama, and Nicaragua. Relief shipments
were also sent to the victims of the North
Dakota floods in 1997, and several semi-trailer
loads of food to the food pantries of the New York City metro
area since Sept. 11, 2001. Relief shipments for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will continue as long as there is work to be done and cash donations are available to purchase supplies and pay for the cost of transporting them where most needed. One Small Miracle
The Polenev Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia,
requested help in obtaining hydrocephalic valve systems (shunts) for children with an illness that caused an accumulation of water
on the brain. When these children were diagnosed, the parents
were told to take the child home to die, as no treatment was available.
The doctor at the Institute, on receipt of the first shunts, said
with tears in his eyes, "Thank God, now we don't have to send
these babies home to die. Two hundred shunts, 200 babies saved.
It is a time for celebration!"
Orphan Grain Train has furnished over 1,700 of these shunts to
children's hospitals in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the country
of Panama.
One of Many Thank-you's Received:
"Regional Charitable Unit of Invalids
"Children of Chernobyl" expresses you our gratitude for your answer
to our request and that you gave charitable help to children who
suffered as a result of accident on Chernobyl Atomic Electrical
Station, and now live in St. Petersburg. "Our organization searches
for connections with voluntary and other structures who are not
indifferent to the fates of children who suffered radiation and
other ecological harmful influence. Children are our future and
we are adults are responsible what this future be! Hope for the
future cooperation." Signed: Belyaeva, V.
An Invitation to YOU
Much has been accomplished through Orphan Grain Train in the fourteen
years since 1992, but much remains to be done. Please consider
joining with us. Help us respond to the material and spiritual
needs of people around the world with your prayers, volunteer
time and cash
contributions.
Regional Divisions
There are eighteen Orphan Grain Train regional divisions. Most
shipments originate from Iowa,
Missouri-Illinois, Nebraska,
New
York, North
Dakota, Rocky Mountain, and Wisconsin.
If you are interested in joining us as a volunteer please be sure
to read the Ways
you Can Help and Current
Needs pages to get some ideas of how to "climb
aboard."
Orphan Grain Train's Mission Statement
In loving response to Christ, the Servant, the Orphan Grain Train movement encourages and enables God's people to share personal and material resources in bringing Christ's name and character to needy people both far and near. Sometimes that character expresses itself as a word well spoken, sometimes as a bandage well applied, and sometimes as a child well fed. |
