One of my first and most powerful memories of Haiti was a little boy named Ronald living at an orphanage in Gressier. His family gone, Ronald looked up at me through prematurely wearied eyes and gave a smile, all the while cradling his battered and untreated right arm.

While his friends, also malnourished orphans, played with other missionaries, Ronald sat with me, communicating without words that in this moment, I was Dad.

Ronald’s story is one of millions of stories of orphaned children wondering who will love them. There are stories of abundant hope, unfailing love, and steadfast faith, but the harsh realities of malnutrition, neglect and death cannot be escaped. In the next 24 hours, 30,000 children worldwide will die from hunger and preventable diseases.

For as much hope as there is in Haiti, there is just as much despair. Witnessing firsthand the situation of the Haitians inspired 23 men and women from College Station to evaluate their lives. Our hope is for a radical, lasting change that shines like a light and reveals the great urgency of the need in Haiti.

The destruction still left from the earthquake is staggering. CNN reported as of July 13, 98 percent of the wreckage remains. Flattened buildings, burning trash heaps, and rubble line the drive from Port-au-Prince to Gressier. As we made the 2-hour, 15-mile drive, people sat, bathed, worked and begged all along the roads.

One of the most poignant scenes in Port-au-Prince was seeing two children wandering through a trash hill and searching for anything they could find. In a village in Carrefour, a town between Gressier and Port-au-Prince, children ran barefoot through sewage, glass and rubble playing with the only toys they have ‑— balloons made from condoms.

There is more than a lifetime of work to be done in Haiti, and needs that go beyond money. Haiti needs the physical presence of aid workers for rebuilding and spiritual support, and its people are grateful to anyone who helps.

But Haiti’s not the only country in need. Orphanages around the world are seeking people to volunteer time. Doing so blesses the organizations and the children in ways we cannot understand, and can truly be a life-changing experience for those who volunteer.

The hunger in the eyes of those precious children was for more than food. To tell an orphan, “I love you” and mean these words is to give a gift that fills the soul more than any physical offering could. Seeing their joy when they hear those words is a reward that cannot be measured.

As Russell D. Moore, dean of the school of theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary writes, “Foster care and orphan advocacy… are icons of the gospel’s eternal reality.”

Welcoming an orphan is a powerful picture of love beyond compare. It is a testimony of unity and family beyond skin color, ethnicity or language. Certainly, adoption is not for everyone, but caring for the marginalized is.

Visiting Haiti completely shatters illusions and expectations. Behind the destruction and despair, it is a nation of great hope. The people and the nation have captured the hearts of the team from Bryan-College Station in a way that we never expected. The pictures on the news, stories in the paper, and testimonies of those who have been can only say so much.

“You could have never told me about this,” said Brian Pauler, class of 2007, who traveled with Living Hope Baptist Church to Haiti. “I had to be here.”

For those who want to get involved and help, in Haiti or elsewhere, there are many resources available online and through the many mission organizations that come to College Station. During the fall semester, Breakaway hosts a missions conference, with many opportunities readily available for those who want to serve. The people of Haiti and other nations where orphans and the less fortunate struggle to survive need your help in any way possible. Whether it is a $5 donation or a week’s stay in an orphanage, any money or time you can spare will make a difference.