In the city of Jonava, Lithuania’s “Little Chicago,” drugs are cheaper than food.
Home to 30,000 people, Jonava is one of Lithuania’s spiritually darkest cities, corruption-laden and with few jobs.
A very large portion of Lithuania’s adult population is addicted to alcohol and drugs, and many Lithuanian children don’t see or hear from their parents for days or weeks on end.
For over 10 years, AGWM missionary Sharon McCammon has focused on reaching, discipling, and meeting the practical needs of these “forgotten children” of Lithuania.
Sharon has partnered with Lithuanian believers and Teen Challenge Lithuania to start children’s centers throughout Lithuania to create safe places where abandoned and unwanted children can come. These centers provide hot meals, homework assistance, showers, washers, and dryers—luxuries many children find only at these centers. Together, the centers take care of about 685 children, Monday through Friday.
The Jonava Home can provide for each child’s physical needs for just $25 per month, through gifts of generous sponsors like you.
When asked about her ministry’s greatest need, Sharon immediately responded, “The Jonava Home. The children of Jonava need a permanent safe place.”
“The reason we establish these centers is so children can experience the love of Jesus,” says Sharon. The centers are run by Christians—Sharon, Lithuanian adults, and Lithuanian teenagers who have been transformed through the centers as children. Each center has Bible clubs and weekly discipleship opportunities. Many children give their lives to Christ as a result of attending the Bible clubs.
We want to partner with Sharon to keep Lithuania’s children in this safe place. Will you consider providing for the needs of one child for $25? For many children, the Jonava Home is the only family they know.
This is true for Darius. Darius began coming to the home when he was 8 years old. He received his first Bible at the center and often stays after hours to read as much of the Bible as he can before going home. Darius, now 16, has committed his life to Jesus and is part of an evangelism and discipleship team, reaching children for Jesus!
When asked what the Jonava Home means to him, Darius told us, “It’s my second home. The center is my second family, and it’s the only spiritual family I have.”
Yet the existence of the center is threatened.
Because the Jonava Home does not own the building in which it operates, the local government has the power to terminate its lease on a whim—and has done so repeatedly since 2005, causing move after move. The Jonava Home is at constant risk of having to find a new base of operation because they have no permanent facility.
The existence of this place of stability is itself unstable— unless we help. Will you help us partner with the Jonava Home to ensure that it will not have to close its doors and relocate?
With each person giving generously, we can raise the remaining $45,000 needed to buy a permanent location for Jonava Home.
“We build people,” says Sharon. “Yes, we need a building, but this is a home for children without a safe place to go. Without the Jonava Home, many children don’t have a chance at life.”
Because the children have to leave the Jonava Home when they are 18, the Home provides a 2-year job training program that ends with a certification to work—ensuring that no children end up back on the streets.
Jonava Home recently celebrated its first university graduate, a young woman working in graphic design. “Street kids going to university—that’s unheard of!” exclaims Sharon.
“It’s amazing to see these kids grow up and contribute to society,” she continues. “They come in wanting to get help—and they leave wanting to give help.”
In a life riddled with instability, the Jonava Home is the only safe place that many Lithuanian children know. Will you help establish a place of permanence in this spiritually lost region of Lithuania? Every $25 enables a child to experience a safe haven and keeps the doors of the center open so more children can hear about Jesus.
Thank you for your faithful partnership in meeting spiritual and physical needs across Eurasia in areas where the Church does not yet exist. We are grateful for your prayers and provision which are bringing Christ to those in Eurasia without adequate access to the true message of the gospel—including the forgotten children of Lithuania.