By Aju Varghese
Visiting an orphanage in my early adolescence was life-changing for me. It helped me recognize the gift God had given me in a safe home with loving parents and siblings and the support of relatives and friends. I had taken all of this for granted before that trip. As the years passed, I was often troubled by the thought of all those children in orphanages, so I decided to pray that God would show me how to help them, even if it was only one child in my lifetime. That prayer was the inception of Home LAEL (LAEL is Hebrew for “Belonging to God”).
Years passed. I moved to the U.S., began a career, got married, and started a family, but the desire to give to others what the Lord had given to me never left me. Many years later, I met Steve Finn, Founder of Chestnut Mountain Ranch, a community home that aims to reach the hearts of young men and restore broken families by providing a structured, loving community. Visiting the ranch was like laying the cornerstone, and God began to make clear to me what we needed to do. It was an answer to my prayer for guidance. I still remember the words Steve told me that day: I’ll walk with you in this journey. And since then, he has been a great mentor and a friend.
Some time passed as the vision took root in my heart, and in 2017, my family and I moved to Maine from New York to start the work of building Home LAEL. When we got here, we began to realize the enormity of the situation. It wasn’t the work of finding land and building the infrastructure necessary to house and care for the children; it was the overwhelming need we saw for this work. Working on a contract with the Department of Child Protective services, I began to realize the staggering number of children who are cared for by the department due to the instability in their homes. It was mind-boggling.
Finally, in 2018, through Divine Providence, we were able to purchase 237 acres of land in Winterport, Maine, and on May 25th, 2019 it was dedicated to the LORD to be fully utilized for the purpose of showing the love of God through caring for his children.
We are now in the early stages of planning, locating building sites, clearing land, and testing soil. There is a lot of work ahead, but we are witnessing God’s guidance in every step. We are grateful that you have found us and ask that you please keep us in your prayers. We welcome visits if you would like to see what the Lord is doing and learn more about His work here. Thank you for visiting our site!
We look forward to seeing what God has in store.