Former New Milford pastor pledges to help orphans

Former New Milford resident the Rev. Wayne Lavender, Ph.D., is visiting Mozambique, Africa, as a guest speaker at the Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in Mozambique.

While there, he will also meet with leaders to further discuss how the non-profit organization he founded, the Foundation 4 Orphans, can further help transform the lives of orphans.

Upon his return home, F4O, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that raises awareness and resources to help orphans and vulnerable children in the United States and around the globe, will hold a special fundraising event Nov. 2 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Lounsbury House at 316 Main St. in Ridgefield.

The event will include music, hors d’oeuvres, a presentation by Lavender, and a special guest speaker from Africa. Lavender is a Ridgefield native, pastor of Faith United Methodist Church in North Haven and a past longtime pastor of the New Milford United Methodist Church.

The bishop of Mozambique has asked F4O if in the coming years it can help construct up to a dozen new community-based orphanages modeled after the Carolyn Belshe Orphanage in Cambine, Mozambique, built more than a decade ago under the leadership of Lavender and the New Milford United Methodist Church.

An estimated 150 million orphans are alive today, mostly in developing nations of the south. Approximately 16,000 children die daily from the effects of extreme poverty.

“We lift communities by serving orphans,” said Lavender, executive director of F4O. “We know that we lift both the donor community and those receiving the aid. We lift donor communities in that when we give, we receive more than we give, and when we help someone else, our own path is illuminated. And we help communities that receive aid where there are an abundance of orphans by providing jobs in building orphanages and in caring for these precious children.”

Lavender, who is also a professor at Quinnipiac University, has participated in four mission trips to Mozambique, as well as mission trips to Brazil, Iraq, Egypt and Vietnam, since 1998. In 2016, he took on a five-month journey running, walking and driving across the country to raise awareness about orphans and vulnerable children and funds for future projects around the world.

F4O recently celebrated the construction of an orphanage for nearly 50 children in Dondo, Mozambique. Plans are in the works to build additional orphanages in northern Mozambique and in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In addition to building orphanages, a chapter of F4O operates a mentoring program for orphans and vulnerable children in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, where Lavender served as a visiting professor at the University of Human Development from 2011-2013.

There is no admission for the Nov. 2 event. For more information or to make a donation to F4O, visit www.f4o.org or follow the organization on Facebook.