Who And What We Are
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St. Stephen’s Charitable Fund (sscfus.org) is a 501(c)3 approved non-profit humanitarian aid organization based in Arkansas, USA. It was chartered by the State of Arkansas in 2005 with a mission to support projects in developing countries, as well as in the United States. It has worked primarily through agencies affiliated with the Catholic Church. A key strategy of SSCF is to search out established organizations with proven records in the communities served & partner with them. This strategy takes advantage of synergy, putting funds to work quickly and effectively and avoids duplication of effort. Work of SSCF Though relatively small, SSCF has managed to help people in a number of places: Haiti Honduras Nicaragua Sudan Ukraine Uganda History A small group of parishioners at St. John's Catholic Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas, organized a charity in 2001 to fund select humanitarian aid projects in undeveloped countries. We received necessary approvals from the State and IRS and formed a Board with a mission. Our first mission focused on orphans and street children around Lviv, Ukraine. Ukraine was a mess at that time, just emerging from the old Soviet Union. The first projects were to supply shoes for an orphanage and sponsor a summer camp for street children in Lviv. Later projects were added for dependent children and senior citizens. At that time, we partnered with Malteser Lviv, which is a worldwide agency of the Order of Malta. With their development assistance we funded many projects, including a senior center, playgrounds, classrooms, feeding stations, and new kitchens for orphanages. After completing numerous projects, it's no longer feasible to attempt further aid there due to the war in that country. Since then, our efforts have extended to many very poor nations, such as Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, South Sudan, and Uganda. |