Champions of the Family: Barry and Kathy Brewer
Family Leaves Comfort Zone Behind for Humanitarian Causes
By Annie Franklin
Ten years ago, Barry and Kathy Brewer took their five children out of their “comfort zone” and began visiting developing countries. In these far off places, the Brewers would find people in need and work to do all they could to help. They loved what these humanitarian experiences did for their family.
In 1999, after selling their company, the Brewer family decided to make humanitarian work the focus of their time and resources and they became involved with a humanitarian organization called O.S.S.O. Working with a group of volunteers, the family spent weeks in the orphanages of the mountain villages of Ecuador. Holding babies, taking care of hygiene needs, helping with the care of the sick are tasks that became their daily routines. They saw first hand, how loving service helps the recipients, but also how the service becomes a life-altering experience for the volunteers.
This spring, Kathy Brewer began serving as director of orphanages for the Reach The Children Foundation and daughter Britni accepted the position of co-director for The Stay Alive Program in Africa. Britni wrote the popular Stay Alive song, an effective tool for teaching children in Africa to make good choices, and bringing excitement to the program. These new challenges took several of the Brewers' family members on a month long working trek in Africa this summer. In addition to their orphanage work, they helped build a vocational school. They also guided families in finding sustainable solutions to their problems, such as securing micro-credit loans to start a business, growing a garden or raising chickens to provide ongoing sources of food.
In addition to her position with Reach the Children, Kathy Brewer has accepted the position of director of orphanages for United Families International and will coordinate our humanitarian work with orphans in Africa.
The Brewers recently received a happy email from Jane, a little orphan girl, who not too long ago was a street child in Uganda. She became an enthusiastic and talented helper for the Stay Alive program and is now attending a local university to become a teacher. Her success story, and other stories like hers, is a confirmation for the Brewer family that they can help make a difference. Indeed they already have made a difference for many families and orphans in Latin America and in Africa. The Brewers are true champions of the family.
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