Imagine a world where abandoned children don't grow up in orphanages but rather in loving homes with a mom, a dad, and ten to twelve brothers and sisters. This was the idea of former missionary Alycon Fleck, the founder of International Children's Care, whose dream is to help children all over the world.

As a missionary in Central America, Alcyon Fleck spent much of her life helping orphaned children while dreaming of a better life for them.

In 1976, as she was preparing to retire, a devastating earthquake hit Guatemala, killing 23,000 people. In the aftermath, Fleck was asked if she could help start an orphanage. After much thought, she said yes, but only if she could create a different kind of orphanage—one where children are raised in a family-type setting and surrounded by support.

Money was raised for the project, and her idea for a "Children's Village"—complete with a school, a chapel, and playing fields—was born. In each of the homes with ten to twelve children, there is a house mom, who stays home; a house father, who works but is home the rest of the time; and a house aunt, who helps with the cooking and cleaning.

Today, International Children's Care has homes in eighteen countries—including Congo, Nicaragua, Cambodia, and Romania—and helps more than 1,500 children.

But there are millions more they could be helping.

"Literally, we have two to three countries calling us each month, wanting us to start a project for orphans in their country," said Liana St. Clair, assistant development director. "We have to say no, though we want to be able to say yes."

International Children's Care, a faith-based ministry, has grown as their funding has allowed. They have a $2.5 million budget, of which 70% comes from individual donors and 30% from child sponsorships. They have a monthly newsletter, "Que Pasa (What's Happening)," that they send to 5,000 people, mostly donors, to keep them connected to the organization's work.

But the organization realized they needed to be doing something more to raise money, so they signed up a team for a Benevon 101 Workshop in April 2004.

They have unique challenges because they are based in a small city—Vancouver, Washington—but they have an international ministry with so much of their target audience in other parts of the world.

The team initially struggled to get people to come to their monthly introductory Point of Entry Events, but they persevered and started offering them by appointment and at other locations than their local office. At their May 2005 Ask Event^™, International Children's Care raised more than $90,000 in gifts and pledges from the 166 people in attendance. This was their first major fundraising event.

Not only did they raise money, but they now have the tools to tell their story anywhere in the world.

"For me personally, I think learning how to tell our story with 80% emotion and 20% fact was the biggest thing we learned," said St. Clair.

Today, the stories just flow. At their May Ask Event, St. Clair read a thank-you letter from a girl who was abandoned in Guatemala at age two and raised in one of ICC's homes. At the time of the event, the girl, Gricelda Lopez, had just graduated from a college in Costa Rica and sent photos from her graduation.

Lopez wrote, in part, "I am so thankful for the unconditional love that you gave me and all your other children in the world."