About Us
What We Do
The PingYu Home of Hope is one of a very few foreign-run orphanages in China and the third orphanage started by the Next Towns Foundations Inc in China. Through a remarkable series of events we have been given the opportunity to love and care for the homeless children in PingYu China. Currently PingYu has 150 known orphans between new born and 8 year old children that need help.
Who we are
We are Ben and Michelle Godard. we have three sons, Jaxin, Eli and Tyler. We moved to Gongyi China in February 2007 volunteering with the Home of Hope orphanage for three years. 
We were at church 2 years prior to our move here, where a couple shared about there work with helping the orphans in China. Right then we knew that God wanted us to do the same work, “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalms 82:3-4).
We moved to Pingyu China on February 1st 2010 to finish the construction at our building so the children could arrive to a happy home full of love and joy. On March 1st we opened with 9 children ranging in age from 5 to 8 years old.
Our Facility
Currently we rent the first floor of a 5 story apartment building that has 16 rooms and a large front yard. This building is capable of housing 28 children, which we are hoping to be able to help as soon as possible. When we rented the building each room was empty, so we remodeled them to give the children suitable bedrooms, bathrooms, study hall, playroom, and dining hall. We turned some of the rooms into an office area, and a fully operational working kitchen to provide 3 meals a day for the children.
We also built a wall to close in the front walk way to make a safer hallway that connects all the bedrooms to each other.
The Future
We are presently working with the government officials and are trying to raise funding ($100,000) to build an extension to our existing facility. This extension will give us 4 more bedrooms and a bigger area to be used as a classroom and dining hall. We are using all 4 bedrooms in our current building and without expanding, we are limited in helping more children.
What does it cost?
Our estimated monthly cost of support for each child is approximately $100.00 US. This covers the following:
- House Rent/Mortgage
- Utilities
- Children’s Entertainment
- Food
- Child Allowances
- Medical Care
- Education Costs
- Clothes
- Personal Items (ie. toothbrushes, toothpaste etc.)
There are other needs that we know will develop on a continual basis; ie. maintenance costs, toys, recreational expenses, and lots more. There will also be special projects that will incur costs on a one-time or occasional basis.
Your Help Is Welcome!
We don’t want to make a big issue of asking for money on this website, but if you feel you would like to help us with a one-time donation, monthly sponsorship of a child, special project etc., please contact us.