Chapman's Adoption and Orphan Care Ministry Announces Maria's Big House of Hope

August 6, 2008

Shaohannah's Hope, the adoption and orphan care ministry founded by Steven and Mary Beth Chapman, has received over $635,000 in donations to Maria's Miracle Fund in loving memory of their five-year old daughter, Maria Sue Chapman.

Shaohannah's Hope has announced the official name of a special needs healing home located in Luoyang, China, as Maria's Big House of Hope. The home will care for orphans with medical impairments, such as cleft palate, clubbed feet, urological disorders, blindness, and neurological disorders.

The home is currently being built and is set to tentatively open doors this October. Funded by Shaohannah's Hope and managed by New Hope Foundation, upon completion, this healing home will stand to be a six-floor, 60,000-sq.-ft. facility and equipped with everything required to care for orphans with special needs. This will be the biggest of its kind, able to provide for more than 100 children at a time.

Luoyang, which has a population of around six million, is located within the Henan province of China and is one of the poorest provinces in the country. The state-run Luoyang orphanage currently takes care of nearly 700 children and tends to most of the special needs orphans from all around Henan. To care for the specific medical needs of these orphans, Maria's Big House of Hope will provide the much-needed surgeries and medical attention, as well as be a bridge to give them hope and the love they deserve. In turn, there is hope these children will then be adopted into forever families.

The Chapman family chose to build the healing home in Luoyang, China because of the area's desperate need for special needs orphan care as well as wanting to give back to the country that has given so much to them – three loving daughters: Shaohannah Hope, Stevey Joy and Maria Sue.

"We are not in the business of building orphanages, but rather building hope in the lives of orphans and vulnerable children in a way that honors God," states Scott Hasebalg, executive director, Shaohannah's Hope.

How you can help

Visit: showhope.org
Or by mail: Shaohannah's Hope, c/o Maria's Miracle Fund, P.O. Box 647, Franklin TN, 37065