By Coleman Bailey

Serving Orphans Worldwide

Serving Orphans Worldwide will complete the final leg of a global bike tour as they travel across North America this summer. Beginning in Los Angeles, California and ending in Miami, Florida, this event aims to raise support and awareness about the global orphan crisis and promote adoption.

“I dream of a world without orphans” said Gennadiy Mokhnenko, leader of the bike team and founder of a children’s Home in Mariupol, Ukraine. “I believe it’s possible to end the orphan crisis in our lifetime, and we hope this bike tour will help accomplish that dream. Every child deserves to wake up in a family.”

In 2011, Gennadiy Mokhnenko and his team of former street children began a ride across Russia before the conflict with Ukraine began to dispel myths that prevent families from adopting children in need of forever families. Since their first ride, they have traveled thousands of miles, spanning Europe and Asia. Hundreds of children have been placed into forever families as a result of their efforts.

Serving Orphans Worldwide has a mission to rescue, train and sustain struggling children’s homes around the world. Currently, they support 53 projects in 27 countries. “If it weren’t for Serving Orphans Worldwide, Pilgrim Republic’s doors in Ukraine would have surely closed” said Mokhnenko. “We faced many hard times. We had no food, no money to pay bills and we faced a lot of opposition from drug dealers. There was a time I thought I had to tell the children to go back to the streets.”

Pilgrim Republic has been home to over 4,000 children who have been rescued from the streets. The team will ride approximately 2,600 miles across the United States with scheduled events in 19 cities and 10 states.

“There are so many opportunities for the community to get involved” said Anderson. “We are hosting several single day rides where people can join, and we’ll also have special events along the route for people to learn more about the orphan crisis and how they can help.”