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At least 30 people have died and thousands have been affected after wildfires swept through the Los Angeles, California, area, starting January 7, 2025. These are the most devastating winter wildfires in Southern California in more than four decades.

Firefighters worked tirelessly for weeks to contain the flames, while evacuation orders and hazardous conditions displaced entire communities. Authorities continue to investigate the cases of the fires.

California wildfires: Facts, FAQs, and how to help

• Fast facts: California wildfires
• What caused the fires in Los Angeles?
• What was destroyed by the California fires?
• How is World Vision responding to the Los Angeles fires?
• How can I help children and families affected by the fires?

Fast facts: California wildfires

• Fatalities: 30 confirmed dead, with more than a dozen people reported missing
• Evacuations: Up to 180,000 people at peak
• Containment: All seven California fires were fully contained as of February 3, 2025:
  • Palisades fire — More than 23,400 acres burned
  • Eaton fire —  Over 14,000 acres
  • Hurst fire — Nearly 800 acres
  • Lidia fire — 395 acres
  • Kenneth fire — 1,052 acres
  • Sunset fire — 43 acres
  • Auto fire —More than 60 acres
• Crews from California and nine other states and Mexico fought the flames with 1,400 fire engines and 84 aircraft.

BACK TO QUESTIONS

What caused the fires in Los Angeles?

Authorities are still investigating the specific causes, but a combination of extreme weather patterns over the past two years led to the conditions that exacerbated the current fires.

The southern California region experienced extreme wet weather from winter of 2023 into spring of 2024, allowing much new vegetation to grow quickly. Then the area more recently experienced prolonged dry weather, creating conditions for fires to break out Tuesday, January 7. The proliferation of dry, young vegetation combined with the higher-than-usual Santa Ana winds — as high as 100 mph at times — caused the fires to spread much faster than normal.

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What was destroyed by the California fires?

More than 17,000 homes, businesses, and other buildings were damaged or destroyed.

BACK TO QUESTIONS

How is World Vision responding to the Los Angeles fires?

World Vision has supported at least 45,000 people so far. In the initial phase of our response, our U.S. Programs team dispatched 40 truckloads of emergency response supplies to our partners. The supplies were delivered to church and community partners across the Los Angeles area for them to distribute to help people affected by the fires.

These supplies were shipped from our World Vision Storehouse, our national network of warehouses, including our locations in Fife, Washington, as well as Dallas, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and West Virginia.

We continue to assess the needs of impacted communities to guide potential rebuilding and recovery efforts.

The shipments include supplies such as:

• Water
• Protective gear, including face masks, goggles, gloves, respirators, and full-body suits
• Food
• Air beds
• Hygiene kits, including feminine hygiene products
• Sheets and blankets
• Coolers
• Shoes
• Socks
• Cleaning supplies
• Diapers
• Formula
• Tools
• Clothing
• Children’s toys

In total, we’ve worked with 21 different partners in Los Angeles to reach people affected by the fires. World Vision partnered with the Los Angeles Dream Center to distribute supplies from the initial shipments on Thursday, January 9, and Friday, January 10, to families affected by the wildfires.

 

“We’ve got ashes falling from the sky, but World Vision just shows up,” says Matthew Barnett, founder of the Los Angeles Dream Center. “That’s what you do — you show up for people. We at the Dream Center are so grateful. We love you. You guys are always the first ones to step up, always the first ones to bring a truck, always the first ones to provide support. … I love you guys, I thank God for you, and we couldn’t do this without you.”

We also distributed supplies from these shipments throughout the weekend through partnership with the Flintridge Center.

“We can’t do this work without partnership,” says Josh McCurry, executive director of the Flintridge Center. “We need every resource we can get right now.”

Hundreds of local volunteers showed up to help church and community members by unloading pallets, organizing supplies, and handing out those supplies to people affected by the fires.

“You have families here that houses have burned down, and they still came to volunteer and show their time,” says Brandon Lamar, a distribution organizer. “This is what community looks like. You have people from different beliefs, different walks of life, that just want to lend a hand.”

World Vision also distributed supplies in partnership with Adventist Health, California Worship Center, Calvary Baptist Church (Santa Monica), Calvary CME Pasadena Church, Cathedral Church at Highland Park, Center of Hope Church, CityServe Bakersfield, Do Right Church, Dream City Church, Faithful Central Church, Fearless Church LA, First Church of the Nazarene (Pasadena), Glendale Presbyterian Church, Mandarin Baptist Church, New Jericho Christian Church, New Story Church, Victory Bible Church, Vida Church, and Vintage Church Pasadena.

We also brought together World Vision’s staff from both the U.S. and around the world, Team World Vision volunteers, pastor partners, and other community volunteers to distribute essential supplies at the World Vision Global Center office in Monrovia, California, on Sunday, January 12.

Throughout the January weekend distributions, in addition to local volunteers, Pastor Jerry Haynes of Beaumont, Texas, greeted people as they arrived, asking if he could pray for them and passing out supplies. Pastor Jerry’s church was impacted by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. He’s now a Pastor Ambassador: World Vision connects pastors who have previously been through disasters to pastors currently experiencing a disaster to provide encouragement, prayer, and support to them. Pastors face unique challenges as they shepherd their congregations through traumatic events while also navigating the aftermath of a disaster themselves.

BACK TO QUESTIONS

World Vision president and CEO Edgar Sandoval Sr. also visited Los Angeles January 16, 2025, to meet with community members, pastor partners, volunteers, and church leaders.

He visited a distribution at the Los Angeles Dream Center and joined a relief distribution World Vision had in partnership First Church of the Nazarene and the USC men’s basketball team.

Edgar also toured a community in Altadena, which was devastated by the Eaton fire.

“It’s heartbreaking to see the destruction of homes, churches, communities — it’s really at a level and at a scale that is unimaginable,” Edgar said while in Los Angeles. “Many families have lost everything. The homes and communities they’ve worked hard to build over the years — or even generations — are gone. I have seen and felt God’s presence in some of the hardest, most heartbreaking places in the world, and I feel it here in the communities I have visited. Part of World Vision’s strength is our ability to respond immediately to disasters both here at home and around the world. … In the midst of this tragedy, I’m so grateful that World Vision is able to respond and provide supplies, support, [and] prayers.”

As the initial response slows, World Vision will now turn to long-term recovery and working with local partners to assist with rebuilding efforts.

BACK TO QUESTIONS

How can I help children and families affected by the fires?

• Pray: Join us in praying for people in the Los Angeles area who were impacted by these catastrophic fires — and people across the U.S. who are affected by disasters.
• Give: Your gift will help provide essential aid to families impacted by the wildfires in California and other disasters across the U.S.

BACK TO QUESTIONS

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When Christian recording artists Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham headed out on tour together, they had one goal: change lives.

Brandon, a Grammy and Dove Award-winning artist, joined forces with Phil, a Grammy-nominated and Dove Award-winning artist, for the Summer Worship Nights Tour, visiting 17 cities across this U.S. this past August.

At these concerts, the artists wanted to engage Christians and draw them closer to the heart of God through worship.

“These songs are catalysts for that unity in the church to happen in these rooms,” Phil says.

But they didn’t want concertgoers to be the only ones whose lives changed. Brandon has been partnering with World Vision since 2022, helping connect children in need with sponsors, and he got Phil on board this summer too. So at each of their tour stops, they put out a call for their audience to help vulnerable children as well.

“We want to make a lasting eternal kingdom impact with World Vision, and so we want to find the kids who have been waiting the longest for a sponsor,” Phil said at the onset of the tour. “We’ve heard that some kids have been waiting two, three, four years and they haven’t found a sponsor yet. We want to find those kids, bring them into the fold, and make an eternal difference in their lives.”

Concertgoers caught the vision, and because of World Vision’s community-focused solutions where for every child you help, four more benefit as well, the tour along with Brandon’s Tear Off the Roof Tour, helped impact more than 61,300 children’s lives around the world this year!

In addition to helping vulnerable children, as they moved from city to city, the two also opened up their lives to cameras, and later this month, a documentary about their tour called FOR THE ONE hits theaters for a one-weekend-only event October 27–29, 2024. Here are some thoughts from Brandon and Phil about the film, their tour, and partnering with World Vision.

On touring and what motivates them to tour:

Brandon: I want to see the church come alive. I think that’s what fuels me going on tour. It’s brutal on your body. It’s brutal on your emotions, you’re missing your family, but for me it’s worth it.

Phil: Touring is both the most beautiful moment but it’s also the most difficult, because touring usually means we’re away from our family.

How they hope this documentary about touring will impact fans:

Phil: Never in my life did I think I would be a part of telling a piece of my story in theaters. I hope the stories encountered through this movie show everyone watching how much they are loved by the One. I can’t wait to share this with the world, and I hope people are encouraged by it.

Brandon: My hope for this project is that it would not only show what it takes to go on tour, but why the music and touring mean so much to us. Countless lives have been changed, especially ours. Though we’ve had the opportunity to influence many, our focus remains for the One.

Why it was important to them to help children by partnering with World Vision:

Phil: Joining together in the presence of God is amazing. But one of our huge goals was to see these children who have been literally waiting years for sponsors to find a sponsor. [People] showed up in a huge way. We impacted so many children’s lives through World Vision and the sponsorship program. The cool thing through World Vision, as we sponsor a child, you don’t just help the child, which is more than enough, but you help their family and their community as well.

Brandon: Things like healthcare, healthy food, clean water, and the spiritual influence that World Vision is making on all these children’s lives and their families. … It’s been amazing for me and my family to get involved. Each one of my three boys sponsor a child, and it’s an amazing thing to know that with just giving a little bit, it can completely change a child’s life.

A message to their fans (other than “Go see FOR THE ONE”!):

Brandon: I [love] to sing songs with people and tear off the roof, but you guys are tearing off the roof for so many children around the world. … Thank you so much for partnering with me and World Vision.

Get tickets to see FOR THE ONE, in select theaters October 27–29, 2024, and it’s not too late to sponsor a child to help change lives with Brandon and Phil.

The post Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham talk film, tour, and sponsorship appeared first on World Vision.

When Felix was a teenager growing up in rural Kenya, he began experiencing flu-like symptoms. He didn’t initially seek medical care, and his illness continued to worsen. He finally visited a health facility, where he underwent HIV testing.

“I could not believe that the results were positive since I was a teenager, and my ways were upright,” he says. “I left the hospital disturbed and confused.”

Felix was about to start high school, and he initially lived in denial, refusing to take any medication. But the infection continued weakening his immune system to the point that the pain became unbearable. Felix, who is an orphan, shared his situation with his brother, and they went together to the hospital. The HIV diagnosis was confirmed, and Felix was urged to begin taking antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. He reluctantly started treatment, but he wasn’t taking the medicine consistently, and his symptoms persisted until he feared for his life.

World Vision encouraged him to enroll in a training that taught him about the importance of taking his ARV drugs. He finally saw how the medication could boost his immunity and help him fight infection, so he started taking it diligently. His health improved as he became a model patient, and he signed up to be a peer educator in his community to teach HIV prevention, help reduce stigma, and encourage others who were infected to take ARV drugs.

Education and medicine saved his life, but they also helped ensure that he didn’t pass the disease on to his wife after they got married and that she was able to give birth to an HIV-negative child. Felix and his family are part of the 25 million lives saved as a result of a U.S.-led program called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, better known as PEPFAR.

You can help ensure that millions more lives like Felix’s are saved. Here are the facts that you need to know about PEPFAR and how you can help.

What is the PEPFAR program?

PEPFAR is a bipartisan U.S. initiative aimed at leading the fight to eliminate HIV and AIDS as a global health threat by 2030. Congress created it, and President George W. Bush signed it in 2003.

For 20 years — across four administrations — it has had consistent bipartisan congressional support. Faith-based organizations like World Vision have been important partners in its creation, implementation, and impact. Today, PEPFAR programs are at work in more than 50 countries around the world.

PEPFAR legislation also authorizes The Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The Global Fund’s efforts have saved more than 50 million lives since it began in 2002.

Why was PEPFAR needed?

PEPFAR was initiated to save lives at a time when as many as 8,000 men, women, and children were dying every single day as a result of HIV and AIDS. In the early 2000s, the world had collectively turned a blind eye to the global suffering and alarmingly high death rate of people affected by HIV and AIDS.

There was such intense stigma around the disease that sick people refused to get tested, let alone treated. That meant that they often passed the disease on to their spouses and eventually died from the disease. Mothers were then unknowingly infecting their unborn children, who were born HIV-positive.

Because HIV is most often contracted through sexual activity, there were many in the Church at the time who showed little to no compassion and took the posture that it was the result of sinful behavior, so they weren’t obligated to help. Richard Stearns, then president of World Vision and now president emeritus, urged the Church to wake up and care for those in need. The issue became a key initiative of his tenure.

Has PEPFAR been successful?

The U.S. government has invested more than $100 billion in the global HIV and AIDS response, the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history. But it’s not just the largest investment. PEPFAR has also proven to be the most successful global health and development initiative by any nation in history. So far PEPFAR has:

• saved more than 25 million lives in countries most affected by the HIV and AIDS epidemic
• allowed 5.5 million babies to be born HIV-free
• reduced AIDS-related deaths by 50%
• helped train 340,000 healthcare workers to deliver and improve HIV care
• leveraged its services to help combat other global threats like Ebola and COVID-19
• reduced new HIV cases by 50% for women ages 15 to 24
• reduced new HIV cases by 65% for men ages 15 to 24
• reduced total new HIV infections in PEPFAR-supported countries by 50% between 2004 and 2020

In short, PEPFAR has changed the course of the HIV pandemic. It has allowed people to live full lives despite their HIV-positive status, and it’s helped ensure babies are born healthy, even when one or both parents are infected, thus giving children and families hope for a brighter future.

How has World Vision been involved in PEPFAR?

World Vision helped advocate for the initial proposal and creation of the program. And since then, we’ve worked alongside other faith-based organizations and Congress members in supporting and implementing the program.

World Vision also implemented the PEPFAR-backed DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, Safe) program in Uganda. The goal was to reduce risks of early marriage, pregnancy, gender-based violence, and HIV infection for girls and encourage them to stay in school.

The DREAMS program is one of the most successful PEPFAR programs. It succeeded in:

• enrolling 44,351 adolescent girls in the program
• keeping 99% of those girls in school
• reducing their vulnerability to HIV and gender-based violence
• engaging faith leaders and congregations in girls’ advocacy, school retention, and HIV prevention

Why is PEPFAR still needed?

The work that began 20 years ago is not finished. Even with all the progress that’s been made, HIV and AIDS still affects millions of people. The current reality is:

• 10 million people still don’t have access to the ARV drugs that they need to survive and thrive.
• An estimated 210,000 adolescent girls and young women acquired HIV in 2021 alone.
• Half of children living with HIV still don’t have access to treatment.
• Half of those children will likely die before their second birthday.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to disruptions in key HIV treatment and prevention services, so we need more resources to help regain any progress that was lost. PEPFAR is still greatly needed to continue caring for and supporting people affected by HIV and AIDS.

What can I do to help ensure PEPFAR continues?

We’re glad you asked! PEPFAR expired September 30, 2023. In March, Congress renewed it for one year, extending it until March 2025. While we welcome the one-year reauthorization of PEPFAR, we continue to call on our nation’s leaders to make their long-term commitment known by returning to the program’s traditional five-year reauthorization. An HIV-free world is within reach, but we must stay the course and continue to invest in the proven programs — like PEPFAR — that have brought us this far.

You can take a minute to send a pre-filled email to your leaders asking them to reauthorize PEPFAR and help save more lives. You can also take the additional step of calling your senators and representatives for even more impact. If you want to further amplify the voices of those affected by HIV and AIDS, you can also share about the importance of PEPFAR on your social media accounts, encouraging others to contact their leaders as well.

Irene Sinoya of World Vision’s Kenya office contributed to this article.

The post What you need to know about the PEPFAR program appeared first on World Vision.

When Kalpana was growing up, she and her family felt rejected by their community. “There was a time when people used to avoid my family members in fear if we ask[ed] any aid from them,” Kalpana says.

They lived in Bajua, a poor community about 23 miles outside of Khulna, Bangladesh’s third-largest city. Her father, Josheph, worked as a carpenter, but earned very little and struggled to provide for Kalpana and her three younger siblings. “We were in such financial crisis that three meals in a day were uncertain,” Kalpana says. “[Higher] education was far beyond thinking.”

When Kalpana started school, she had a lot stacked against her. Her mother, Nipali, explains that Kalpana was raised through hardship, and as the oldest child, she was responsible for helping her parents with chores and looking after her siblings. In Bangladesh, only 64% of children finish high school, and poverty often forces children — especially girls — to grow up early. By age 18, more than half of girls are married and nearly a quarter have children.

But Kalpana remembers when things started to change: When she was in first or second grade, World Vision began working in her community and enrolled children for sponsorship. “My mother introduced me with a field facilitator and enlisted my name,” she says. “I did not know much about it.”

She would soon find out, as she and other children in the community — sponsored and non-sponsored kids alike — began benefiting from World Vision programs made possible through sponsorship. Through the various opportunities she received, Kalpana was encouraged in her studies; learned values like kindness and honesty, and more about the Bible; and gained knowledge of public speaking, human rights, and the intrinsic value of each person. “The [World Vision staff] inspired and guided us, just like our parents,” she says. “I believe after my family members, if there is anybody [who] contributed in life, [it] is World Vision.”

World Vision also helped provide vital school supplies like notebooks, pencils, and backpacks to ensure children had not just access to education but also tools to succeed. Kalpana worked hard in school, became a tutor when she was in eighth grade, and took other jobs to help her family. And after high school, Kalpana did what was previously unimaginable: She attended college, earning three degrees, including a law degree.

Today she works as a lawyer in Khulna, and many of her cases focus on helping women and children who are victims of violence. Beyond the knowledge she provides, she also brings compassion and strives to keep the fees low, sometimes even offering her services pro bono, as she remembers what life was like for her family when she was a child.

Her family’s own financial struggles are now in the past. “Today, after suffering a lot, I have reached the stage where I can give full support to my family,” Kalpana explains. Her younger siblings also benefited from Kalpana’s sponsorship, as they were each also able to gain an education and are all doing well today.

Kalpana is also now the mother of a daughter who won’t face the same hardships she did. Kalpana says, “The needs, sufferings, and hunger I had in my life, no one in my family, [including] my child, has to face now. This is my achievement.” For her daughter, education won’t be a question mark. “I have a dream with her,” Kalpana shares. “The day the dream will be fulfilled, she will also [be able to serve] the vulnerable people of this society.”

Kalpana’s parents are incredibly proud of her and how hard she has worked. Josheph shares, “She is my pride, pride of our village and of this country. … We are thankful to God!”

Kalpana remembers her childhood and how people ridiculed and rejected her and her family. She is amazed by how their situation has changed. “Now when I go back home [on the] weekend, people wait at [the] roadside to meet me to share their problems and to take law-related advice,” she says. Reflecting on how she once felt marginalized, Kalpana expresses gratitude for the transformation in her life: “I give thanks to God and to World Vision!”

Suborno Chisim and Lipy Mary Rodrigues of World Vision’s staff in Bangladesh contributed to this story.

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Among the joys of the holiday season are finding the perfect gifts for loved ones and having your mailbox filled with Christmas cards, letters, and photos as friends and family reconnect during this special time of year. As Christmas approaches, don’t forget to also connect with your sponsored child, blessing them with the knowledge that you’re thinking about them. Here’s how!

Email a letter.

The simplest way to write your sponsored child is by emailing them a letter through My World Vision. We’ve made it even easier for you to connect with our new My World Vision app, which you can use anywhere you go. Write your sponsored child a letter right in the app, and for the first time ever, track your message to see where it’s at in the process of being delivered. You’ll also get more frequent updates about the different trainings and programs your sponsored child’s family participates in, making this a great way to stay connected year-round!

When Janvie, 27, was a sponsored child in the Philippines, letters from his sponsor meant so much. He says, “[Up to] last year, I was still reading that letter. I can still remember the first line she wrote: ‘I am sorry that it took me a while to send you a letter, but please keep in mind that you are in my heart.’” She also promised she was praying for him. “If not for her praying for me and supporting me through the sponsorship program, I couldn’t imagine the kind of life I’d have right now,” Janvie says. He now works as a consultant for the World Economic Forum and credits World Vision child sponsorship for where he is today — and he sponsors a child himself now too!

Mail a package.

If you want to go a step further, create a Christmas package for your sponsored child. Gifts must fit in a small envelope, no larger than 9 by 12 inches, so some great options to include are stickers, balloons, coloring books, colored pencils, postcards of your home region, and photos of you or your family. You can get the mailing address in your My World Vision account. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, be sure to check with the post office about any mail restrictions to your child’s country. If there are restrictions, remember that you can still send an email!

Sponsored child Odness, pictured here at age 9, opens a package with small gifts from her sponsor that World Vision staff member Princess Moyo has delivered. Odness regularly prays for her sponsor and says, “I would tell him that I’m very grateful for the support you have given me, even the love that you have for me.”

Send a Special Gift.

Want to make a big impact ? Your Special Gift (minimum $100) will help your sponsored child and their family how they need it most, with a portion of the gift supporting projects for their whole community. When you give your gift, you won’t know what the family will receive, but you can pray and know that God is working through our staff to identify what will make the biggest impact (maybe a bicycle to get to school, or supplies to repair their roof). And after the gift is purchased, you’ll get a letter and photo showing how your Special Gift was used. You can even send a Special Gift using the new My World Vision app!

Rome and his mother, Hellen, stand outside the new house they were able to build thanks to a Special Gift they received from Rome’s sponsor. Rome’s family struggled to keep up with repairs on their old house, which constantly leaked when it rained and lacked a toilet, forcing them to use the bushes behind their house. The Special Gift allowed them to build a sturdier house as well as install a toilet. Hellen says, “When I got the news, I danced … and sang. I hugged my son so tight. … The money reached us at our critical time. We thanked God so much and prayed for Rome’s sponsor for blessing.”

In the new My World Vision app, you can email your sponsored child, track the journey your letter travels to be delivered, and get notified when your child writes back — all at your fingertips, wherever you are. Download the new My World Vision app today!

The post 3 ways to bless your sponsored child appeared first on World Vision.

Throughout World Vision’s more than 70 years of work, our roots have run deep in helping where people are suffering, where poverty seems undefeatable, and where the needs are great. With God’s sustaining hand and faithful support from people like you, we were there in the wake of the Vietnam War with Operation Seasweep, sailing the South China Sea to pick up Vietnamese refugees that the world had turned its back on. We were there during the Ethiopian famine, feeding starving children and doing the much harder work of helping to establish long-lasting systems that have transformed lives and the region. We cried out for the church to respond when the AIDS crisis was creating orphans at an astonishing rate. We’ve been helping countless families since the Syrian civil war resulted in the largest refugee crisis of our day. And today, we’re responding to the crippling needs brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in every country we work in while our staff are all equally affected by this crisis.

In 2010, we embarked on a mission unlike any we’d ever undertaken. In the middle of a major economic crisis, we launched World Vision’s Campaign For Every Child (FEC). Our goal was to empower 20 million people worldwide with life-changing resources. We felt God calling us to make this bold move, and many of you felt the same call. Because God honored our joint efforts, this groundbreaking campaign had an incredible global impact. We exceeded our goals, reaching more than 25 million people — half of them children — in just five years.

Each of these challenges seemed insurmountable — the numbers too big, the need too great. But World Vision instead said “together, we can do this, because this vision is from God.” He is our confidence who has guided us and provided for us for over 70 years. And He has stirred in your hearts and inspired you to be part of His great work of empowering children and families to raise themselves out of poverty so they can have life, hope, and a future — even amid crises like a global pandemic.

And that’s why we’re not backing down, and instead we’re setting an even more audacious goal. At God’s prompting in late 2015, World Vision launched Every Last One (ELO) — a $1 billion capital campaign over eight years to reach more than 60 million people*. It’s over twice as large as FEC was, and it builds on our global child sponsorship foundation — accelerating development in places where sponsorship projects already have a firm footprint. In these communities, campaign projects — funded by private donors and philanthropists — help us make an even bigger impact even faster, meeting a family’s needs through three areas of focus:

• Life through clean water and mother and child health
• Hope through child protection, emergency response, and Christian discipleship
• Future through economic empowerment and education

Come with us on a journey to discover what’s been accomplished so far. See the lives that have been transformed — both those of people here in the U.S. who said yes to God’s call to help, and those of the children and families we serve around the world. And continue the journey by partnering with us to make life, hope, and a future possible for every last one during a time when all three of those ideas seem questionable. The needs today are even greater because of the pandemic, but by the grace of God and with your compassionate generosity, we’re committed to empowering millions of children and families to transform their lives.

*Includes the number of unique participants in each of our Signature Initiative programs. Because of World Vision’s multi-sector approach, some people will participate in more than one program.

Every human being deserves clean water and access to essential healthcare. Still, women and children in developing nations walk an average of 6 kilometers — 3.7 miles — each day to get bacteria-filled water. And a child under the age of 5 dies every seven seconds, mostly from preventable causes. That’s why World Vision is committed to reaching 25 million people with access to clean water and 2 million mothers and young children with health and nutrition services by 2023.

Water: From problems to prayers answered

Witness to transformation: A new purpose

Mother and child health: Changing lives in Zambia

Once people are healthy and have access to clean water, it opens up new possibilities and inspires hope. This is where World Vision builds on our work by integrating child protection initiatives and leading emergency response programs. When people are safe, it frees them from worry and creates space for spiritual nurture. Christian discipleship is the third component of our Hope work. Through these three initiatives, we’re aiming to reach 28 million people by 2023.

Child protection: From child marriage to freedom

Witness to transformation: A miraculous change

Child protection: Girls free to dream of brighter future

Child protection: Kenyan children embrace new tradition

Christian discipleship: Youth pray passionately for their country

Emergency response: Responding in one of the most remote places

Emergency response: Citizens of nowhere

Emergency response: Family sacrifices for boy

Child protection: Protecting girls in Armenia

Emergency response: Girl excels in school after working

As hope builds, people begin to dream of a brighter future. ELO’s Future work is centered around economic empowerment and education. World Vision’s award-winning Unlock Literacy program empowers parents and children to value education and its life-changing potential. And parents struggling to make ends meet gain the knowledge and tools to farm better, learn new skills, and gain access to financial services like loans and savings groups. Economic resilience is critical to helping families weather natural disasters and other emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, and it also helps them navigate unexpected expenses that life often brings without being financially devastated. Our aim through ELO is to brighten the futures of 5.4 million children and hardworking adults by 2023.

Economic Empowerment: From migrating to managing

Education: Rwandan woman advocates for children's education

Witness to transformation: Finding God's purpose to fulfill

You can help make life, hope, and a future possible for every last one.

Give Now

The post Called by God: The Every Last One campaign appeared first on World Vision.

When children suffer from hunger or don’t get proper nutrition, especially in the first 1,000 days of life, it causes long-lasting damage. India has one of the world’s highest child malnutrition rates — which combines the number of children who are stunted (short for their age), wasted (too thin for their height), and overweight. These can lead to children dying before their fifth birthday.

According to “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World,” across India:

• 34.7% of children under 5 are stunted.
• 17.3% of children under 5 are wasted.
• 1.6% of children under 5 are overweight.

To combat malnutrition and help children not only live but thrive, World Vision staff in India provide vegetable seeds and training to help people grow community gardens so healthy produce is readily available and also free, so it doesn’t cut into a household’s limited budget. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these gardens have been a lifeline for families in more remote areas who’ve had trouble accessing food and supplies.

World Vision also helps train mothers on how to create healthy, nutrient-rich food — such as vegetable pulao — for their families. Our staff in India hosted a cooking demonstration, and we wanted to share the video and recipe with you to try with your family.

Vegetable pulao ingredients:

• ½ cup green peas
• 1 potato, peeled
• 1 small bunch of green beans
• 1 carrot
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes
• 3 onions
• ½ cup mint, chopped
• ½ cup coriander leaves, chopped
• 2 to 3 green chile peppers (optional)
• 1 tablespoon of ginger–garlic paste (1 ½ teaspoons ginger and 1 ½ teaspoons garlic, mashed and combined)
• 1 cup coconut milk (optional)
• 3 tablespoons oil (sunflower, sesame, or olive is preferred)
• 1 tablespoon ghee (optional — if omitting, use another tablespoon of oil)
• 2 cardamom leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 ½ cups long-grain rice (or any kind you prefer)
• 2-3 cups water (Use 3 if not using the coconut milk)
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons plain yogurt (optional)
• 1 lemon for garnish (optional)
• ½ cup cashews (optional)
• Pickled fruit or vegetable for garnish (optional)

Recipe directions:

1. Chop all the vegetables into small sizes: potato, green beans, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and peas (if in pod still). If using the green chiles, slit the chiles in half lengthwise. If you’d like it to be spicier, you can add a third chile. Set the vegetables aside.
2. Rinse the rice, and then set aside.
3. In a large pot over medium, heat oil and ghee.
4. Add cashews and fry until golden brown. Set the nuts aside.
5. Add spices to taste to the oil mixture: cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and bay leaf.
6. As the spices start to burst, remove cinnamon stick pieces and add 2/3 of the chopped onions. Fry them until they are slightly translucent, but make sure to not over fry.
7. Add mint leaves to the mixture and fry until soft.
8. Add ginger–garlic paste to the mixture and fry. Continuously stir so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
9. Add tomatoes to the mixture and continue frying until they’re slightly mushy.
10. Add the green chiles and salt to taste.
11. Add 1 ½ cups of a mixture of the carrots, potatoes, peas, and green beans. Sauté for a few minutes. (Use any combination of the vegetables, but it should equal 1 ½ cups.) Close the lid to cook faster, but open frequently to stir so they don’t stick to the bottom.
12. Add salt to taste. Then add the uncooked rice to the pulao and lightly stir.
13. Add 2 cups of water to the rice and vegetable mixture. Continue cooking.
14. After a couple minutes, add coconut milk to the pulao (optional, or use 1 more cup of water). Cook on high for a few minutes and then reduce heat to low for eight minutes. Be sure to not overcook, or the dish will be mushy.
15. While the pulao cooks, add yogurt to the last bit of chopped onions and mix well. Just before serving, add a pinch of salt to the yogurt mixture.
16. Stir the pulao one more time, and then plate it. Add the yogurt salad to the side. Garnish with the lemon and cashews. In India, they also garnish with pickled mango, but you can garnish with any pickled fruit or vegetable.
17. Enjoy!

Read more recipes from around the world! Did you make any of these dishes? We want to see pictures! Send your photos to us at editor@worldvision.org or tag us @worldvisionusa on Instagram or Facebook.

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