There will be a lot of excitement at this year’s Orange Conference, and we don’t want you to miss a minute of it. But with all the sites and sounds, it can be easy to overlook a few things. Our staff definitely wants you to stop by and see our social justice partners. They are doing a lot of great work both in the U.S. and around the world. We encourage you to take time to visit with them and find out if God is calling you to be their new partner.

Here’s a head’s up on who you’ll find:

• Rice Bowls – www.ricebowls.org – is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide food for orphans in the name of Christ. They use plastic rice bowl coin banks for donation collection since rice is a dietary staple for much of the world. This design reminds participants of those in need, around the world.

• Sweet Sleep – www.sweetsleep.org – is a faith-based nonprofit organization, which provides beds to the world’s orphaned and abandoned children, demonstrating God’s love for them and improving their quality of life.

• Gospel for Asia – www.gfa.org – is committed as a family of believers to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with lost men, women and children throughout Asia. They are also dedicated to improving the lives of impoverished souls through everything from Compassion Services to Bridge of Hope and literacy programs to medical care.

• The 410 Bridge, Inc. – www.410bridge.org – identifies, develops and partners with local indigenous community leadership. They learned quickly that they could only be as effective as the leaders they work with. They are careful not to do for Kenyan communities what Kenyans can do for themselves. This strategy extends through the deployment of the five impact areas for every community: water, education, health care, micro-enterprise and spiritual development.

• Plywood People – www.plywoodpeople.com – is an innovative community addressing social needs. They are always searching for social problems with the hope to match them with entrepreneurial creativity to organize, innovate and manage ideas that produce change.

• Gift Card Giver – www.giftcardgiver.com – is a new form of giving. The gift card industry has risen to be a 60 billion dollar industry. Between 10 to 15 percent of gift cards go unused. That means millions of dollars are sitting on gift cards, waiting to be used for good. Gift Card Giver collects and distributes gift cards to appropriate non-profit organizations that can use those cards to help others.

• Compassion International – www.compassion.com – is a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.

• L.E.A.D. Uganda – www.leaduganda.org – is an educational leadership program for children affected by AIDS, war and poverty. It exists because these children have talent but lack opportunity. They believe it is possible to end poverty in Africa and create a safer world by raising up today’s generation of forgotten African children to be leaders.

• Kidz Konnect 4 Jesus – www.kidzkonnect4jesus.org – is a dedicated ministry program under the direction and supervision of Coastal Christian Missions, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing Christ centered, biblically sound educational programs to the children of Belize.

• LUO – www.luo-setfree.org – is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting economic sustainability and improving quality of life. They do this through providing: nutrition, biblical curriculum, academic education and medical care.