Miracle Mission: Meet the flight attendant who's helping children around the world
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Houston man is getting a Foti High Five at 13,000 feet above sea level for the work he's doing to help children in 20 countries around the world.
Ken Bridges is a United Airlines flight attendant and the founder of a nonprofit group called IR68. The group works with other organizations in foreign countries to provide assistance to the most needy people in the community.
"I'm answering the call of my life 50 years ago," said Bridges. "I heard God say I need your help. I want you."
Bridges said he received that call from God during a church service abroad when he was 11 years old. He said being a flight attendant has helped him to access parts of the world he may otherwise have not been able to.
Last month, Bridges traveled to Rwanda, Africa where he started a mission to help children of the genocide.
"I saw with my own eyes the torment that this country went through," said Bridges. "It's horrifying what the people actually live through. I have a project that I will do there, groundbreaking that I can help for the next seven years."
Bridges said he wants to build a school for the people in the villages he visited. His charity work is also seen in Guatemala. He and his wife help to run an orphanage.
"They've stopped the process of adopting outside of Guatemala. There's so many children, they need love," said Bridges.
Bridges and his team bring tutus for the little girls and games for the boys. They also help nurse babies who are abandoned in the middle of the night by their mothers. Volunteers from Houston and around the country make blankets for the orphans. He delivers them with love.
Bridges invited our ABC13 crew to Ecuador last week to see the work being done there to help a group of indigenous former slaves high in the mountains. IR68 has built homes, greenhouses and community centers for the people in several villages near Riobamba, about three hours south of Quito, Ecuador.
Many of the children there have never had a bath and are living in squalor. Bridges and his team of Houston volunteers bring in supplies and materials to help the villagers become more self-sustainable. Bridges said for years, the villagers have been forgotten. It was only recently, during a military exercise that their villages were discovered. A non-profit group in Ecuador reached out to Bridges for help. He responded with his team.
"There's purpose in my life because I'm making a difference for people. Otherwise, what are you doing? If you don't find joy in what you are doing, then maybe you should look at that," said Bridges.
Visit the Isaiah's Response 6:8 website if you want to help.
Celebrate more great Houston-area individuals and groups: Foti High Five
