About us
Our nonprofit organization is focused on being the pivot point for change for children burdened by poverty and child debt slavery — providing education, nutrition, healthcare, and other life-altering services to support these children's families.
Steve Olds is the founder of The Lifting Up Children Fund. Guided by faith, gratitude, and a belief in human potential, he sees helping others as a responsibility that comes with being greatly blessed. A teacher once helped him recognize his own abilities and taught him a belief he still holds today: no problem is too big to fix if you're willing to be the one who takes it on. That experience shaped his conviction that encouragement, a bold vision, and a little irrational belief can change lives.
The Fund began after an unexpected encounter in Pakistan introduced Steve to a family ministering to people trapped in generational debt bondage at the region's brick kilns. What started as help buying a few books, curriculum, and notebooks grew into support for family-inclusive education, the repayment of qualifying families' debt contracts, and new lives built on the freedom to choose. Nearly half of the families assisted have since found outside work, increased their income several times over, and moved into modest homes with electricity and running water.
Steve's highest priorities are his faith, his children and grandchildren, and his friends. Calm and practical in difficult situations, he finds his greatest adventure now in helping others build freer, more hopeful lives. He seeks no recognition for the work — he simply hopes it will continue to change lives long after his name is forgotten.
Our team visits families directly at the kiln — building trust before any funds change hands.
Mahnoor Shahid grew up in Pakistan with painful memories of a childhood without parental care — left alone without proper food, shoes, clothes, or the chance to go to school. She felt lost and hopeless until, she says, God carried her through that season. She has never forgotten what it felt like to be a child without security or opportunity.
Today, she works with children who labor alongside their parents at brick kilns, waking before dawn to make bricks with small hands that should be holding books. When she looks at them, she sees herself. That conviction led her to found a free Christian Community School serving children from six brick-kiln communities, built on her belief that education is one of the most powerful tools against poverty.
A mentor who recognized her potential once called her his "starfish" — a person may not be able to save every starfish washed ashore, he told her, but saving even one still matters. She was that one starfish for him, and his belief in her became the reason she now works to become a savior of other starfish that she also finds needing help.
Mahnoor is now pursuing a bachelor's degree in business, building her skills in artificial intelligence, and hoping to study abroad — working toward a future where she can create greater opportunities for the children, women, and families of brick-kiln communities. Her past gave her compassion, her faith gave her purpose, and one person's belief in her gave her motivation. She may not be able to help every child, but she can start with the ones placed in front of her.
Pastor Shahid Naveed is a Christian pastor, evangelist, and humanitarian serving in Shorkot Cantt, Pakistan, where he has faithfully led a church and ministered to his community for 25 years.
In 2024, a visit to a brick-kiln community changed the direction of his ministry. He witnessed families trapped in generational debt bondage — parents and children locked into grueling labor with no way to repay what they owed, and almost no one visiting to preach the Gospel, offer support, or educate their children. Moved by what he saw, he began spending time with these families, listening to their struggles, and sharing his faith.
Today, Pastor Shahid serves families across six brick-kiln communities, meeting their spiritual, physical, and educational needs. Working alongside The Lifting Up Children Fund and other ministry partners, he has helped repay families' debts so they could leave kiln bondage and start independent lives, and helped establish the Shorkot Christian Community School so their children could finally go to school.
He believes God called him to bring hope, freedom, education, and the Gospel to communities the rest of the world has forgotten — and he prays for the day every brick-kiln family finds that same freedom.
The Lifting Up Children Fund is a nonprofit corporation registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission, filing its annual report in good standing.
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Questions about sponsoring a child, our accomplishments, or getting involved — reach out directly.
The Lifting Up Children Fund is a nonprofit corporation registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission.
