Founders Story
Thomas Ravi Mollhagen began life as Manda Ravi Babu, born into a family of the lowest cast in a village in East India. At the age of six and a half years old, he and his younger brother Raghu were turned over to a private orphanage. His parents were very poor, and they saw this as a chance to get the boys adopted into an American family. Shortly thereafter, the orphanage lost its license, and the boys were placed in to the state system. Thomas quickly grew to despise the conditions of and treatment given them there. At the age of ten he made a deal with the God he had heard about at the private orphanage: Get me out or I am going to run away. Within a couple of weeks, in November of 1992, Thomas and Raghu (Peter) were adopted to Betty Mollhagen of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Fast-forward to December of 2005. Thomas had finally obtained his USA citizenship, his brother Peter had made contact with their birth-family, and Thomas had come to a final brokenness and given his heart over to the Lord Jesus. He was now going to make a journey back to India to meet with his birth-family, and perhaps help out the private orphanage Thomas and Peter where he was first treated so kindly. (He later discovered that it no longer existed). While he was in India, Thomas would begin each morning with a simple prayer: "Good morning Jesus, this is your son Thomas reporting for duty. Who shall I meet today? Where shall I go? How shall I glorify you? Show me the way." On the train ride to his parents house, Thomas had an encounter with two very young children begging food. He discovered that their parents had died of AIDS and that the children were HIV positive and no relatives would take them in. Thomas fed them and promised the Lord he would go home, raise money, and come back some day to do something about it. He read his Bible as he traveled. He was reading James 2 when he heard the cry of a child coming from somewhere in the crowded car, "But mommy, Im hungry NOW!" The verse his eyes were on was James 2:14, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds." The children were hungry NOW. He would use his funds to feed children.
When he finally met his family, Thomas was delighted to discover that his entire birth-family had been converted to Christianity. The first thing his father asked was if Thomas would help build a church in the village. His father provided a small piece of land and Thomas provided a small fund. With prayer and many stories of divine intervention, the church was built. Meanwhile, Thomas also turned his attention to feeding the children. He bought staples in bulk supply and his family helped him put it into small parcels. Thomas would then go into the city to hand the parcels out to the hungry.
While on one of these outings, a woman came to Thomas, left her two children with him, and disappeared. Unsure of how to respond, Thomas took the children home to his parents. Word got out and by the end of the week they had seven more children from the same conditions. Knowing they were being called to care for these children, Thomas' father mortgaged his house and Thomas maxed out his credit card so they could rent a building and lay up supplies. By the end of the following week they had a total of 21 children to care for. Unfortunately, at that time Thomas had to return to the USA because his visa had expired. Upon arriving home he secured a job, worked hard to pay off his credit card debt, and continued to send money to India to care for the childrens home. Since that time many have come forward to partner in this remarkable mission. There are now about 50 beautiful kids in the childrens home. God has given Thomas a big vision for these little ones. There is still much to be done....
