Who is the Good Samaritan Orphanage Charity?

Good Samaritan was created by a partnership of Episcopal clergy and lay people here and in East Africa, but we are non-denominational in those we seek to assist, and we would like new members to join us. We hope our beginnings are like the Mustard Seed parable Jesus talks about in Mark 4:30-32, that starts tiny and grows large, through God's help.

How did Good Samaritan Orphanage Charity get started?

That's a great story in its own right. In 1982, the Rev. Robert Mbinda, a young Anglican priest from Manyoni, Tanzania, won a scholarship to the Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, outside Pittsburgh. Robert made friends with his fellow theological students, four of whom sit on our Board of Directors and have involved their Churches in helping Robert. Bill Innes taught there as part-time faculty member in Church History. Bill, Robert, and his friends corresponded over the years.

Robert went home and taught in seminary, worked in development with WorldVision, served a number of rural and urban parishes, and, with his wife Mariam, raised six children (now 16-30).

In 1996, Robert and Mariam (a nurse) took eight AIDS orphans into their home and prayed what to do about the dozens of children living on the streets without family or institutions to care for them. The following year they took their savings and bought a building with 21 rooms that is now home to 52 children.

In 2001, Robert came to the U.S. and visited his friends. Deeply touched by Robert's personal witness to these children, Bill and some other concerned people decided to start a charity to support Robert and others like him in Africa who were parenting and ministering to these parentless children.

Through some personal interconnections, they were soon assisted by the Gittis Center, the Small Business Clinic of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Led by a faculty member and two student interns, Penn Law helped Bill and the Board create a 501(C)(3) non-profit to assist Rev. Mbinda and others in Africa. Our Incorporation Charter states we exist to:

"provide assistance to AIDS orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, educating the public to prevent the disease, and educating the U.S. population to the problem."

Good Samaritan is incorporated as a non-profit in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Should you require additional information about our mission, legal status, financial statements, donor policy, grant-making criteria or anything else, please email us or write to us. We welcome your support and your inquiries.