“All he ever wanted was to be part of a family,” Tom Evans recalls. Andris was the youngest of two boys from Latvia whom Evans and his wife had adopted, but after an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant, 14-year-old Andris lost his life because of a second relapse of leukemia. “To know that we were able to fulfill that dream for him was very meaningful,” says Evans. “We just wish it had lasted longer.” During Andris’ time as part of the Evans family, he came to know Christ, and this enabled him to face death boldly and unafraid.
Evans tells another story of a boy from Bangladesh named Simeon, one of the children the Evans family currently sponsors. When Evans was first introduced to Simeon, the boy mentioned that he had two brothers. Naturally, Evans asked where they were. Both had passed away from disease, leaving Simeon alone. “If Simeon’s two brothers had been sponsored, their lives could have been very different,” Evans states. “All of a sudden it hit me that sponsoring could be a life-or-death situation.”
Evans is the CEO of Child Impact International, which not only provides an Adventist education to sponsored children but also food and medical care. “When our resources align with God’s calling for
us and the difference God is asking us to make in the world, that’s a powerful combination,” declares Evans. If you would like to help provide hope and the promise of a better future to one or more of the thousands of children around the world under Child Impact’s care, stop by their booth or visit childimpact.org.
—BENJAMIN LAWSON
photos by: Jessica Kovach and group photo contributed by Tom Evans