Full disclosure: Brighton Their World--one of our featured charities at Society B--is close to my heart. In fact, I’m Facebook friends with the founders of Brighton Their World, even though I’ve never met the Hoffmans in person. In 2013, my husband and I were adopting our daughter from Ethiopia. And as part of that process, we traveled to Ethiopia to meet our girl and attend court (where an Ethiopian judge approved the adoption). After court, I returned home to be with our biological son and continue working. My husband, Bob, stayed in Ethiopia with our daughter until the US government approved the adoption. During this two-month wait, he met several of the families who were adopting through our agency—including Tymm and Laura Hoffman.
At the time, the Hoffmans were adopting their 4th child, Zechariah. But their journey to Ethiopia in 2013 also included a special mission—continuing work for Brighton Their World. Read more here.
Brighton’s story is told best by Laura and Tymm. So here it is, in their words:
“Brighton Asher came into his parents' lives on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 11:31 AM. He came in through an email in their inbox and in retrospect - that one email forever changed the direction of their lives. It was their referral email - in the adoption world a "referral" is when you first receive information on your son or daughter.
They were pumped.
It was the week of Thanksgiving and they had plenty to be thankful for. They spent the next few weeks of the holiday season celebrating with family, getting their house ready and just generally being excited. Clothes were bought. Toys were organized. Gifts were received. And a lot of prayers were prayed.
Shortly after the New Year, his parents got news from their agency that Brighton had been pretty sick and had been rushed to the hospital. He was fighting pneumonia and diarrhea and a bunch of other symptoms. But he was doing better and had been released from the hospital and was back at the orphanage. Everybody that they knew was praying. It was all they could do.
A few days later - on January 9th, 2008 - around 1:15 PM, Brighton's dad got the phone call that changed everything for them. Brighton had gone home to be with his heavenly father. He had to call Brighton's mom at work and tell her that their son had passed away.
After two years of being silent, still and listening to God - Brighton's parents started this non-profit. Brighton Their World exists to be an orphan advocacy organization - dedicated to telling people about the crisis that exists and focusing on being the hands and feet for the voiceless and fatherless of the world.”
Sadly, Brighton’s story isn’t that unusual. Many orphans in developing countries are severely malnourished, which puts them at risk for developmental delays, dehydration, and a weakened immune system.
But through Brighton Their World, more orphans are getting the basic things they need, like life-saving baby formula. High-nutrient baby formula, like Nutramigen, is not available in developing countries. But Brighton Their World provides this “liquid gold” by sending it with other adoptive families who are traveling to orphanages. In this way, they can transport critical goods from the US to Africa while avoiding steep costs and a complicated shipping process. To date, Brighton Their World has provided 200,000 bottles of formula to orphanages in Africa.
When you select Brighton Their World at checkout on SocietyB.com, Society B will donate 10% of your purchase price to help Brighton Their World make the world a bit brighter for orphans. Please join us by spreading the word.
Learn more about Brighton Their World at http://www.brightontheirworld.org.
// Lindsay Byers-Hirth
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