When the Romanian revolution took place in December of 1989, the world began to discover one of the tragic and very painful parts of Ceausescu's oppressive dictatorship: thousands of children were living in an orphanage system that was overcrowded, understaffed, and unable to care for the number of children that were being abandoned to the system.

In February of 1991 Sue Jessen traveled to Romania with her daughter Cheri Walker to look at the possibility of adopting one of those children. Cheri and her husband John adopted Loredana when she was only five weeks old. They found her in the city of Arad on the western side of the country. Randy Jessen and Cheri traveled back to Romania in search of Loredana's older sister, Ana, in January of 1993. Cheri and John now have three full siblings who have been adopted from the Romanian orphanage system. Randy and Sue have adopted Ana into their family. The adoption of children has opened many doors for mission ministry. The Speranta Baptist Church in Arad, Romania has been a wonderful partner. Ministry projects have provided medical supplies for children, support for Christian nursing students, relief for the orphanage system, and evangelistic efforts in the western area. Since their first trips in 1991 and 1993, they have traveled extensively in the country and have led several mission teams from American churches.

Global Hope was founded in the Fall of 1996 when Randy and Sue gathered friends who had traveled to Romania as members of mission teams. The goal was to create a structure separate from the church that could serve as a mission agency for the growing mission ministry in Romania. Over the years they have lead teams that have represented seventeen different churches and included over one hundred different team members. 

Today, the ministry of Global Hope has expanded to include three Christian family homes in western Romania. The House of Hope, Ana's House and Steven's House are owned and operated by Global Hope. The homes provide a full time / life time home for children who have experienced the pain of abandonment. Children are brought out of the state orphanage system and raised in our homes. Our child care workers and house parents are all members of the Christian community in Romania. In addition, Global Hope has full time missionary support in Arad, Romania.

Global Hope is an official Advance Special project of the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Methodist Church, which includes Colorado, Utah and parts of Wyoming.  Advance Special status simply means that the Rocky Mountain Conference approved us for direct donations from churches.  We received that approval at the annual conference in June, 2003.  If you need a contact with the Rocky Mountain Conference to talk verify our Advance Special status, we can provide that: please send your request to info@globalhope.org .  There is also a worldwide Advance Special designation that Global Hope plans to apply for at the next General Conference.

Global Hope is not only affiliated with the Methodist church, though due to the fact that our founders were a Methodist minister and his wife, much of our support comes from members of Methodist churches around the country.  We do have support from many Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholics, several non-denominational churches, and several other denominations, too.  Also, while much of our support comes from our headquarters state of Colorado, that is beginning to change.  We now have supporters in Chicago, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, California, New Mexico, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Kentucky, and elsewhere.  We don't think that expanding the base of support will keep us from continuing to administer Global Hope here in the US with all-volunteer labor: we fully intend to keep every dollar possible going to Romania.  We plan to continue managing Global Hope so that at least 95% of every dollar contributed to Global Hope's general fund goes directly to Romania to fund our operations there.

Global Hope Inc. is a non profit organization and is recognized as such under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All gifts to Global Hope are fully tax deductible and are gratefully acknowledged. Send mail to info@globalhope.org to obtain more information about gifts to Global Hope.