Love Without Boundaries Foundation

Overview

Love Without Boundaries began in the year 2003, after a group of adoptive parents came together to help save the life of one tiny boy in China. Following his successful heart surgery, they realized that people with a pure love for helping children can truly make a difference.

LWB incorporated as a 501(c)(3) charity in the state of Oklahoma, and our worldwide team of volunteers went to work. In just five short years, we have watched our foundation grow from providing a handful of surgeries and baby formula in 2003 to touching the lives of thousands of children today through foster care, medical, education, and nutrition programs. We work hard to maintain our overhead as low as possible in order to help the most children. In 2008, our overhead was less than 10%.

Mission

Love Without Boundaries Foundation is a worldwide group of volunteers dedicated to improving the lives of orphaned and impoverished children in China. We provide humanitarian aid in six key areas-medical, education, nutrition, special assistance, healing homes and foster care-enabling children to receive a family through adoption or to become self-sustaining members of their communities.

We provide the most loving and compassionate help possible to orphaned and impoverished children in China, to show the world that every child, regardless of their needs, deserves to experience love and be treated with dignity and care.

History

In 2003, Amy Eldridge, Executive Director of Love Without Boundaries, made her first visit to a Chinese orphanage, and what she experienced there changed her life forever. “I don’t think anyone can walk past rows and rows of baby cribs, filled with children who have lost their parents, and not have their heart be changed”.

In the far corner of one of the baby rooms she visited, she was shown a tiny baby boy who was so very blue. She remembers that day vividly, as she had never seen a child who was dying of heart disease before.

Amy returned to the U.S. and began fundraising to help Baby Kang receive the life saving operation he needed. The outpouring of support from the adoption community was incredible, and funds were raised not only to help Baby Kang, but many other children as well. When she returned to China to visit the children post surgery, she was presented with a flag from the local government which said, “Love Makes No Boundaries Between Countries”. Soon after, Love Without Boundaries was formed.

Program

We provide humanitarian aid in the following areas:

Medical

Education

Foster Care

Orphanage Assistance

Special Programs

Healing Homes

Impact

Some of our accomplishments in 2008 included:

* The opening of the Anhui Cleft Healing Home, our first outreach center in China dedicated exclusively to saving the lives of vulnerable orphaned children born with cleft lip and palate. Orphanages throughout China can now send their failure to thrive babies born with cleft to our home for healing.

* Providing over 400 life changing surgeries to children born with medical needs.

* Providing loving foster care to almost 400 children, removing them from institutional care and giving them the one on one attention they deserve.

* Providing education services to over 300 children from preschool to college.

* Providing physical therapy and special needs training to orphanage staff throughout China.

* Funding adoption assistance grants, enabling five children to find families of their very own.

* Launching our Unity Fund to assist poor, rural families whose children require major medical care.

* Our Mama’s Wish education program, for orphaned and impoverished children living on the Tibetan Plateau, saw 54 students graduate from high school in
2008. Of those, 37 passed the national college entrance exam, 32 of whom are now studying at a university.

* Facilitating relief efforts due to record-breaking
snow storms, a catastrophic earthquake, and a flood. Working with other relief organizations, LWB helped provide emergency nutrition, clothing, educational
materials, medical care, and emotional support for children impacted by the Sichuan earthquake.

In summary, 2008 was a year of hope and healing for the hundreds of children served by LWB. Hundreds more will be given these gifts through our programs in 2009.

Goals This Year

* Run five Believe In Me Schools inside of Chinese orphanages- These Montessori inspired schools serve children beginning at 18 months through school age—that are not eligible to attend public school. Most of these students have a medical special need.

* Mama’s Wish - serve 100 students in remote Tibetan minority areas with tuition sponsorship; primarily girls, orphans and impoverished rural students.

* Daily provide 650 children in eighteen orphanages throughout China with the nutrition they need to thrive.

* Facilitate life changing surgeries for children, including heart surgeries, cleft surgeries, neurosurgeries, and colon surgeries.

* Run Medical Exchanges between the US and China to help improve medical expertise and build relationships between doctors and hospitals.

* Provide loving pre/post-surgery care to the most vulnerable medical children at our Heartbridge Pediatric Healing Unit outside of Beijing.

* Run two Cleft Healing Homes in Henan and Anhui provinces to save the lives of over 75 children a year who are cleft affected.

* Provide loving foster care homes for 400 children in 15 cities throughout China.

* Furnish adoption assistance grants to four children with special needs who otherwise may not be chosen by adoptive families.

* Organize a special needs training seminar to help equip orphanage staff with the knowledge to best help children with medical needs grow, thrive, and have their best chance to receive families of their own.

Chief Executive

Amy Eldridge

Chief Executive Profile

Amy Eldridge states that her life was changed forever when she first visited her youngest daughter's orphanage in China. On her return to the States, she helped to organize a national donation drive to provide heart surgeries for four orphaned children in China. Following those successful operations, she helped found Love Without Boundaries, taking the name from a flag given to her from the Chinese government that said, "Love Makes No Boundaries Between Countries." Amy has met many times with national leaders in China to discuss orphan projects and adoption. She was honored by Congress with an Angel in Adoption Award for her humanitarian work in China. She is the mom to seven children and has made dozens of trips to China to check on the progress of children in LWB programs.

Board

Paul Duggan - Chairman of the Board
Joe Hampton - Secretary
Chris Ingoldsby - Treasurer
Amy Eldridge
Karen Maunu
Don White

Countries of Operation

China