LOUIS, MO – The theme of Crisis Aid International is “Helping the Helpless.” But what does that mean? Well, it means different things to different people. The St. Louis-based FBO defines it as saving lives, saving souls, and changing futures.

Founded in 2002 by Patrick Bradley, the organization offers a spectrum of programs that help the helpless in East Africa and in St. Louis.

Along with the help of ministry partners, those programs include emergency food for malnourished children and their families, Safe Homes for survivors of sex trafficking, health facilities, water wells, emergency disaster relief, vocational training, medical facilities, speed schools, and more.

In St. Louis

Wings of Love and Care ministers to families in St. Louis who are down and out through weekly food distribution, after-school children’s programs, community outreach programs, and counseling services. This Crisis Aid program includes working with one school in which all of the children enrolled come from families who live on incomes below the U.S. poverty line.

The U.S. Refuge Home, founded in 2012, was the very first holistic home and safe haven specifically for American female survivors of sex trafficking. Crisis Aid describes the home as a place where victims of sex trafficking are given not only the tools to survive but to thrive despite what they have had to endure.

In East Africa

Aid made available in 11 East African nations includes nutritional feeding programs, clean water wells, health services, child sponsorships, a children’s home, and a Refuge Home similar to the one in St. Louis, and the Mercy Chapel.

The Mercy Chapel is a former brothel that has been converted into a church, counseling center, and vocational training facility. Unskilled girls learn sustainable vocational skills, including hairdressing, silk screen printing, computers, sewing, leathercraft, and weaving.

Speed Schools guide children who have never been to school to reach third-grade graduation within 10 months. The schools have a 100% completion rate.

An Overview

The ministry results from the 2002 startup through the end of 2018 are truly amazing.

• 42 water wells completed at a cost of $13,000 each
• 32 orphans sheltered in children’s homes
• 1,100 sex trafficking victims rescued
• 506,948 recipients of medical care
• 16,170,059 lbs. of food distributed to families in need
• 82,679,059 complete meals delivered

If you were to ask the staff at Crisis Aid how they have been able to achieve these remarkable results, they would probably tell you that it was because some people will not sit idly by and “Refuse to do nothing.”

Let’s take an inventory of our own lives and the lives of the helpless. The truth is that none of us can afford to do nothing. Ask yourself today, “What should I do?”

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