About Us
Families protect children. We protect families.
It requires a strong family to raise a child with a bright future.
Desperate families get stuck hurting their children. So many families even abandon their children to “orphanages” or traffickers, dooming them to a life of exploitation and abuse. They don’t have what they need to make their homes safe and loving. We strengthen desperate and hurting families, bringing them practical support in times of crisis, education that helps them to raise their children to become strong healthy adults, and financial tools to build a stable future together. The support continues with weekly visits to the family home, counseling,and emotional support for parents who are struggling. This equips families with the wisdom and courage to make their home the place where their children grow to be the heroes they were born to be. When you strengthen a family, their children’s future becomes bright. The Charis Project is a US 501(c)3 corporation.
The History
The Charis Project was founded by Aaron, Carrien and Wayland Blue. In the beginning it was a simple trip to bring training and teaching to hill tribe pastors in a remote area of North Western Thailand. However, seeing the great needs in the region and the number of children living in appalling conditions, we began fundraising to support those caring for these children in a children's home setting.
We quickly realized that simply raising funds to care for institutionalized children only treats a symptom of the problem without addressing the poverty and social disintegration that cause children to be at risk in the first place. Our efforts centered around the traditional children’s home model. We developed a vision to create a replicable orphan care model that would be financially self sustaining, and a resource to impoverished communities and families in crisis through education. This was a good step, but we were still focused on trying to fix institutional care.
We learned that institutional care is fundamentally flawed and that we needed to move away from the idea of an orphanage altogether to do what is best for the life and development of children. Most children in children’s homes are brought there by family members who are unable to provide for them for some reason, or that view living at the children’s home as a better chance for their children than life in the village. In order to change this, we now primarily work directly with families most at risk of being torn apart by poverty. The best way to protect and care for these children is to keep families together whenever possible.
Why We Do What We Do
The Charis Project is classified as a Christian 501c(3) corporation. Our actions as an organization are informed by our faith. At the foundation of our beliefs is the understanding that we have the privilege, and responsibility, of completing the work of creation in the chaotic world, and advancing the kingdom of heaven - "your kingdom come... on earth as it is in heaven". The vision the Bible paints of what that is like informs our work and our ultimate objectives as an organization.
In the kingdom of heaven families aren’t torn apart by poverty.
In the kingdom of heaven children don’t die of malnutrition.
In the kingdom of heaven children aren’t born disabled because their mothers didn’t have enough to eat.
In the kingdom of heaven children aren’t abused and commoditized.
In the kingdom of heaven people don’t live in fear of mistreatment and violence because of their race, or beliefs.
In the kingdom of heaven the lonely and abandoned are put into families.
In the kingdom of heaven all are loved, and all are welcome.
In the kingdom of heaven there is freedom, there is life, and there is light.