Palatine man's nonprofit helps Third World orphans

Craig Muller of Palatine has just returned from a two-week trip to Africa, and it reinforced all over again why he has devoted his working life to restoring the lives of abandoned children.

Muller is the co-founder and CEO of Warm Blankets Orphan Care International. The nonprofit organization is based in Rolling Meadows and supports homes, clinics and rescue centers in 11 countries, including Kenya and Uganda.

What started 15 years ago as a desire to help restore the lives of orphans abandoned in Third World countries now consumes him full time, and drives him to seek out partnerships, donors, volunteers and medical supplies.

"I never imagined I'd be this involved," says Muller, who has led multiple companies and at one time also served as a Bible study leader at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington.

"But it became a faith step," he adds. "I became a believer, step by step. It became an adventure in faith, of doing what God wanted me to do."

Muller was the former CEO of CultureWorx in Barrington - which trains companies in leadership and culture change - when he and his wife, Barbara, and friends Bob and Marybeth Hoyler pooled their own money to begin helping orphans.

They began with projects in India, Cambodia and Central America, but as their numbers grew, they soon looked for partnerships with indigenous organizations.

"We wanted to change the traditional model, of remediated caregivers running homes and then leaving at the end of the day," Muller says. "We wanted to find widows who would move in, have a home and raise the orphans like family."

They looked for churches in those countries they could transform into "church orphan homes" - church on the ground floor, with residences above - where the surrounding "kinship community" would give them a feeling of love and security.

A Biblical foundation was promoted to give children a moral base, but Muller says the organization is nondenominational.

The model works, Muller says, mostly because of the partnerships they formed with local tribes, who help identify children and widows in need.

In 2003, about the time he left the corporate world to devote himself to the nonprofit mission, Warm Blankets won a Daily Points of Light Award from the Points of Light Foundation.

It continues to grow in numbers and services. At last count (in August) they were caring for more than 6,300 orphans.

"But that number changes, by the day," Muller says.

During his recent trip, Muller inspected some of their new construction projects, including two new clinics in Kenya and Uganda and a pair of newly built orphan homes and a training facility in Kenya, which also will be equipped as a music studio.

"We use music as a way to restore kids who have gone through severe trauma and violence," Muller adds.

He also firmed up speakers for a women's conference on Dec. 3 in Kampala, Uganda, where they will reach out to pastors' wives, as well as spouses of some of the tribal leaders and other community leaders.

"It's through the women where we have the biggest impact," Muller says.

The conference will offer leadership training as well as teach the women about how to spot signs of Ebola and other diseases that plague the area, including AIDS/HIV and malaria.

All of these initiatives depend on donations, which is why Muller went from investing his own money into forming a charitable trust foundation, Warm Blankets Care International.

• Find out more about Warm Blankets outreach by visiting www.warmblankets.org.