Across Central and Eastern Europe, thousands of children are abandoned or orphaned every year. Inadequate societal or governmental infrastructures provide minimal resources to care for these unwanted, lonely kids. Poor families sometimes have no choice but to yield control of children to mismanaged, dangerous, state-run facilities. 

For years Integra has come alongside these unwanted kids and sought to help, guide, and encourage them. Our Bulgarian team has offered counseling services, outings, life skills training, and most importantly spiritual guidance--all in an effort to see these young people move into a successful adulthood.

Unfortunately, upon graduation from high school, these orphans have few options open to them. Forced out of the state housing facilities, too often they drift into lives of addiction and prostitution. The absence of a reasonable family structure makes it especially difficult to transition into adulthood.

With a broad vision, Integra has shown a handful of these youngsters a different path. Through the support of donors, and the direction of Bulgarian Integra Ventures staff, a modest number of these young people have entered college or technical school, and are now on tracks to live productively. The staff mentors the kids and provides the kind of direction they need to make good decisions.

As good as this is, the story doesn't end there. As they complete their training, some of the orphans are being hired by existing Integra SME clients! This is just one practical example of our efforts to promote kingdom values in the workplace.

A futher exciting development is just around the corner: one of the students Integra has helped through college is graduating with a pharmacy degree. She dreams of owning her own business. When the timing is right and she's ready, Integra will explore partnering with her to make that dream a reality.

And by the way, it wouldn't surprise us if she hired an orphan or two along the way!

Learn about hopeless lives being turned around... [Read More]