Founded in 2006, LA LOVES was born out of a discovery about children in East Africa suffering from a terrorist and his rebel army known as the LRA. The best way to support these children was not only raising support but awareness. This awareness came after watching a dateline segment on Sam Childers, who as an ex-hell’s angel-turned-pastor, was living in South Sudan and had founded an orphanage to rescue, restore these children.

In addition, Sam’s story was so inspiring and transforming that LA LOVES founder, Deborah Giarratana, used her artisan gift of filmmaking to produce a major motion picture about his life and work entitled MACHINE GUN PREACHER, starring Gerard Butler, directed by Marc Forster.

Deborah also packaged a book published by Thomas Nelson entitled ANOTHER MAN’S WAR to tell more details of Sam’s life and work.

To date, the movie and book has brought such awareness of Sam’s work that he not only continues to expand the existing orphanages, but has launched new educational/medical centers, and farming for self-sustainance, in Northern Uganda and South Sudan and now Ethiopia, and continues to help thousands of children and their families.

During the course of this journey of love for the children of East Africa, LA LOVES embraced these issues with passion, conviction & creativity, partnering with very talented artisans, aligned with amazing NGO’s and other non-profits co-producing multiple charity events to keep the public awareness of not only the modern-day slavery in Africa, but also the 27 million slaves all over the world today, most of them children.

LA LOVES continues to support our friends in other countries of Africa while working on a local level with organizations and independent artisans using their talents and reach to help restore the broken of humanity, providing a future for them and building a better world.