30 Years

Sewing and Sowing Seeds of Hope

Serving Orphans, Widows, Others in Need

SOWN was founded as Caring for China's Orphans nearly 30 years ago to deliver basic needs to children in an orphanage in the Anhui province of China. In a long dreamed of expansion of the work, CFCO rebranded in 2023 to reflect ongoing support of families in Nigeria as well as support of widows and the elderly in Nashville.

Read more about our rebranding and the origins of "SOWN" on our About page.

What we do

We change lives. We do this through supplying basic needs to those we serve. Nutrition, education, clothing and medicine - these are basic needs all children, all humans, deserve to be able to access.

China

Through the years it has been the privilege of SOWN to provide care for orphans from birth to college. All too frequently those we supported have been vulnerable infants with special needs. These days we are rarely called to support vulnerable infants, but still support many of those we met as young children as they make their way through the Chinese education system and grow into humans making a difference in the world.

Read more about our success stories and educational support.

Nigeria

Working with a friend and Nigerian ministerial student, we have identified needs primarily of women and children in his community. Working with our Nashville volunteers, we are able to provide clothing that is both culturally and climate appropriate to the local children, supplemental foods aligned with their traditional diet, hand-sewn supplies to support the young women's menstrual cycle needs, and Biblical education materials requested by those in the community.

Two happy women sewing together in their fashion workshop.jpg

Nashville

There is an assumption in how those in need should appear. While needing support can often mean financial, it can also mean simply having a place to belong. SOWN is providing that belonging with our weekly Sew-n-Sew for widows and the eldery in our community. Through serving others together we can better identify those that have a deeper need of financial, nutrition or housing support. Together we will be in community, learn a valuable skill and work to better lives of those we serve.

Success Story

Meet David

David and his brother came to one of our partner orphanages when he was 8 years old and Jeannie had the privilege of not only watching him grow up with many trips to his orphanage, but be a guest at his wedding in 2016! David is pictured with Gidgette (on his left ), who at the time was a younger resident of the orphanage, along with Jeannie and two of the orphanage's youngest children. He is one of our kids who attended high school thanks to sponsorships and is now married and a father. This is one of the many success stories of our journey and is due to the generosity of our supporters. Thank you!

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms”