Love Without Boundaries

How a Back Road Prayer Became a Global Mission

By Taylor Bollinger

In the summer of 2003, Amy Eldridge sent up a prayer from a parked car on an Oklahoma back road. “God, if it’s your will,” she prayed. “I will give my whole life to helping those who are orphaned.”

The answer came knocking on the door – literally – just days later. The woman on Amy’s doorstep shared a simple message that sparked a global mission: “God accepts.” Giving no room to doubt, Amy filed incorporation papers and Love Without Boundaries (LWB) began.

This marked the formal launch of LWB, but the story started long before. A mother of six, including one adoptive daughter from China, Amy was no stranger to the realities of orphaned children. But it wasn’t until her daughter Anna began asking questions about her early life that Amy began to truly understand the depth of need these children face. “I will never forget sitting by the side of the tub one evening when Anna was taking a bath,” Amy said, “She looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes and asked, ‘Do you think they loved me?’ I looked at her trusting face that night and knew as her mom, it was my obligation to try and help her get any answers we could.”

Just a few months later, Amy boarded a plane to China.

“I think when we look back over our lives, we will all see those ‘defining moments’ which changed the course of our existence forever,” Amy said. Walking into her daughter’s orphanage for the first time was Amy’s defining moment. The circumstances she encountered shattered all she thought she knew.

Among the countless needs she saw, she could not shake thoughts of the three little children in need of life-saving heart surgeries they could not afford. Stepping outside her comfort zone, Amy began to rally friends and family to raise funds to cover one child’s surgery.

Within three weeks, Amy had successfully funded not only one, but all three surgeries and she was just getting started. Since then, LWB has expanded to serve children in China,

Cambodia, Guatemala, India and Uganda. In 2021 alone, LWB provided 1,137 medical procedures, including 88 cleft surgeries and 142 life-saving heart operations. They also connected 196 children with loving, full-time foster care and trained over 600 foster parents, community leaders and officials on family-based care. In the same year, LWB gave water access to over 3,000 people and distributed 3,270 blankets to children in need. Last month, the organization launched its first mission to Guatemala. The trip was detailed on their blog at www. lovewithoutboundaries.com/blog, featuring each of the families whose lives were changed by cleft-repair last month. In each country, LWB looks to local experts to address the core needs of children in their community. “All the people running the programs and caring for the children are members of their community who understand local systems, government and cultural needs,” said board member Jennifer LaBahn, MD. LWB is otherwise staffed by remote volunteers and staff who aid with administrative tasks and ensure the highest standards of stewardship. “Every single dollar that is given is used very intentionally and ethically,” Jennifer said. “LWB Amy Eldridge at the has done such a good job of using Huainan orphanage funds in the most impactful way for children. I have no hesitation telling In 2021, LWB provided 1,137 medical procedures, including 88 cleft people that their donation is going exactly where we say it’s going.” Love Without Boundaries’ surgeries and 142 life-saving programs include education efforts, heart operations. foster care, healing homes, medical care, nutrition programs, child trafficking aid and family preservation. Each of their services is united under the belief that “every child counts”. A closer look at their in-depth services is available at www. lovewithoutboundaries.com, along with child sponsorship opportunities and other ways to join LWB in bringing hope and healing to vulnerable children. Continue to follow Love Without Boundaries’ trailblazing work on Instagram @lwb_foundation or Facebook @LWBKids. You can also read the organization’s inspiring origin story in Amy’s book, “The Heart of an Orphan”.