Tag Archives: children in need

Children Incorporated | November 24, 2024

As part of our monthly Impact Report, we want to share with you a letter from our volunteer coordinator, Ashley, at Blackwell Elementary School in Virginia. She wrote to thank all our sponsors for their endless support of children in need, which gives her peace of mind throughout the year.

“I sincerely appreciate the unwavering support provided by the Children Incorporated program. The transformative effect it has had on the lives of our students and their families is immeasurable.”

Ashley’s Letter

“I want to express my sincere gratitude for the incredible program you have spearheaded. The assistance provided by Children Incorporated funds has been instrumental in ensuring that enrolled children have access to essential resources, enabling them to embark on a successful academic journey. From school supplies to clothing and footwear, the support has been wonderful, alleviating the financial burden on families and allowing children to start the school year on the right foot. The impact has been profound, with parents expressing immense relief and gratitude for the assistance rendered.

The benefits of the Children Incorporated program extend beyond mere material support. Through initiatives such as special birthday gifts, spring break kits, and emergency grocery orders, children have experienced moments of joy, stability, and community connection.

Several Children Incorporated-enrolled children have made notable strides in attendance and social and emotional learning, owing in part to the nurturing environment and access to resources facilitated by the program. Whether it be a new book, school supplies, or a fresh outfit, these provisions have contributed to our students’ overall well-being and academic success. I sincerely appreciate the unwavering support provided by the Children Incorporated program. The transformative effect it has had on the lives of our students and their families is immeasurable.”

Sincerely,
Ashley

your impact through hope in action

Sponsorship is one of many ways you, our loyal supporters, help impoverished children every month. Additionally, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and donors who have made contributions to our Hope In Action Fund in the last month, we have been able to:

– Provide funding to purchase urgently needed warm clothing for students at Mabel Elementary School in North Carolina
– Provide funds to purchase school supplies for new students at Mabel Elementary School in North Carolina
– Provide funds to purchase nutritious meals for 30 students at the Dandora Center in Kenya for one month
– Provide funds to purchase daily meals for 100 students at the St. John’s Community Center in Kenya for one month
– Provide funds to purchase nutritious meals for 25 students at Kids’ Hope in Ethiopia for one month
– Provide funding to purchase nutritious meals for 25 students for one month at the Fortune Children’s Center in the Philippines
– Provide funds to support the construction of a new community building at the Visayans Center in the Philippines
– Provide funds to purchase beds and linens for students at Cannonsburg Elementary School in Kentucky
– Provide funds to purchase a stove for the family of two sponsored children at Sebastian Elementary School in Kentucky
– Provide funding to purchase uniforms for students at Arthur Ashe Charter School in Louisiana

…and so much more! Thank you to our supporters for all that you do! We couldn’t do our life-changing work without you.

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How do I sponsor a child with Children Incorporated?

You can sponsor a child in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Children Incorporated | November 24, 2024

Child sponsorship involves pairing a supporting donor with a child in need. The donor (who we refer to as the sponsor) donates monthly to support their sponsored children with basic needs such as food, clothing, hygiene items, and educational assistance such as tuition or school supplies.

When a family doesn’t have to worry about a child’s basic needs being met, they can concentrate on working towards improving their situation, which is essential to breaking the cycle of poverty.

Child sponsorship is one of the most effective ways to help end child poverty. For $35 a month, you not only meet the child’s most immediate basic needs but also provide them with an education that will allow them to pursue higher education or obtain employment in the future.

The sponsorship relationship enables a sponsor to help support an impoverished child through monthly contributions and the exchange of correspondence with the sponsored child if the sponsor so desires. A sponsor’s friendship and encouragement are priceless to a child in such circumstances. Indeed, many children value the relationships they establish with their sponsors as much as they appreciate the financial support they receive from them. There is also an opportunity to build a profound relationship between a sponsor and a child.

How sponsorship directly benefits children, families and communities

Sponsorship provides a child with basic and education-related necessities such as food, clothing, healthcare, school supplies, and tuition payments. This vital support allows children living in poverty to develop to their full potential — physically, emotionally, and socially. Our policy is to consider each sponsored child’s needs individually. Our volunteer coordinators personally shop for the children enrolled in our program and choose items based on each child’s personal circumstances and needs.

Additionally, because the support for the child is financial, families greatly benefit from the sponsorship of one of their children or multiple children. When a family doesn’t have to worry about a child’s basic needs being met, they can concentrate on working towards improving their situation, which is essential to breaking the cycle of poverty. Furthermore, child sponsorship helps children to grow into responsible, educated adults who are able to contribute to their own communities. Many of our sponsored children who grew up in the Children Incorporated program have become social workers, principals, teachers, doctors, and other professionals.

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How do I sponsor a child with Children Incorporated?

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | November 11, 2024

After a wonderful visit to Casa Santa Ines in Mexico City, I couldn’t wait for our President and CEO, Ron Carter, to visit our next affiliated site, Santa Julia, which is a four-hour bus ride away in San Miguel de Allende.

Ron, our International Programs Specialist Yefiny, and I arrived in San Miguel in the late afternoon. We planned to meet with Lily, who works in the administrative offices of Santa Julia, the day after. We were able to get a good night’s rest, and the following morning, Lily picked us up at the hotel in a van used to transport the children who live at the home to and from school.

We made the short drive to Santa Julia, hidden in a small neighborhood not far from the center of San Miguel de Allende, tucked away safely behind a large security door and tall concrete walls surrounding the property.

Learning about the girls

As we drove, Lily explained to Luis and Yefiny that the government chooses which children live at Santa Julia, and at most, they can host up to 30 girls, who may stay for as little as two days or for as long as until they reach 18 years of age and can legally live on their own. These girls are coming from the most unfortunate circumstances, said Lily, as they are forcibly removed from their parents due to abuse, drug use, or other criminal activity. Many of them won’t ever see their parents again. At the time of our visit, there were only 14 girls at the home, ages 4 to 17 years old, and a few of them had already been there for many years.

After entering through the large gates of the property, we saw a few girls sitting on a bench in the courtyard. Lily explained that because today was the Inauguration Day of the new president in Mexico, the children were not in school and, therefore, were available to visit with us all day! We greeted them warmly and then began to tour the vast facility of Santa Julia.

A tour of Santa Julia

First, Lily took us to see the dorms, separated by age, on each of the three floors of the building. We also saw the kitchen, dining room, art room, library, classrooms, laundry room, and the administrative offices of the staff that work at Santa Julia. All the girls in attendance go to local public schools that are only 10 minutes away by car, and after school and on the weekends, they enjoy activities such as gardening, horticulture, tennis, and classes in baking and cosmetology.

Lily expressed that the staff at Santa Juila felt it was important that the girls find skills they can be excited about early in their development because many of them will be on their own when they reach legal adult age. If they find hobbies they enjoy while growing up at the home, they might be able to use those skills, like cooking and gardening, to find employment later, which is something that will help them immensely with being independent once they leave Santa Julia. Lily explained that she worries about the older girls who don’t have anywhere to go once they leave the home, and she wants them to be as prepared as possible for living on their own and taking care of themselves.

It was a lot to let sink in thinking about how these girls don’t have a family to return to — but, thanks to the care they receive at Santa Julia and the support from their Children Incorporated sponsors, they don’t have anything to worry about while they are growing up. Surrounded by a loving staff and other children who are like sisters to one another, each of these girls can concentrate on learning and just being kids in a loving environment.

After our tour ended, the girls gathered together to say goodbye with a song and then happily got back to playing, reading, or doing homework around the property. We said our goodbyes to Lily as well, who thanked us and our sponsors profusely for everything we were able to do to help these otherwise vulnerable children have a safe upbringing.

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How do I sponsor a child with Children Incorporated?

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | November 4, 2024En Español

When I was told that I would accompany the President and CEO of Children Incorporated, Ron Carter, on his first visit to Mexico with our organization, I was beyond excited. It would be my third time seeing our affiliated sites in this magnificent country, but I knew that seeing it with Ron would be a whole new experience and one that I looked forward to immensely.

More specifically, the sites in Mexico are unique because these children otherwise don’t have stable homes for various reasons, and that is why the help our sites offer to children and families is so crucial.

In preparation for our trip, Ron and I spoke at length about what we might expect based on my last visit. As our departure date grew closer, so did my excitement for what Ron was going to see for the first time.

The uniqueness of Mexico

Although I have a fondness for so many of our affiliated sites that I have had the privilege of visiting, our Mexico sites stand out in a very special way. Each of them is run by representatives of the Catholic Church, which is common in Central and South America, as well as in India. Each site is also a home where children board during the week or year-round so they can receive the support they need. More specifically, the sites in Mexico are unique because these children otherwise don’t have stable homes for various reasons, and that is why the help they offer to children and families is so crucial, and it really pulls at my heartstrings.

After a long day of traveling from our office in Virginia to Mexico City, Ron and I, along with our International Programs Specialist, Yefiny, met bright and early with our volunteer coordinator, Beatrice, and her assistant, Monica, in the lobby of our hotel. Monica was newer to the home, and Beatrice had been there for a few years. They both cheerfully expressed how much they enjoyed their time at Santa Ines caring for the girls who lived there during the week.

Visiting Santa Ines

We made our way outside to a taxi, and just a short ten-minute drive later, we arrived at the neighborhood of Coyoacán, known in Mexico City as the home of the Frieda Kahlo Museum and our affiliated site.

The taxi stopped a few blocks short of the home, and we made our way down the cobblestone streets to the grand entrance of Santa Ines, a large wooden door with a smaller one inside of it, directly across the street from a lively church. Beatrice unlocked the small door, and we entered to find a few of the children and their mothers waiting for us already! As it was Sunday, it was typically the day the children returned to Santa Ines after being home on the weekends, and they weren’t usually scheduled to arrive until 5 p.m. Today was different because of our visit, and the girls came to Santa Ines earlier than usual to meet us.

After greeting the children, we took a tour of the facility, first seeing the kitchen and dining room. Monica told us that the girls’ breakfast starts at 6:30 a.m., and then the sisters walk them to the local public schools by 8 a.m., when classes begin.

Learning more about the home

The schools are only 5 minutes away, so, as Monica explained, the girls also come back to the home for lunch and then go back to school in the afternoons for sports and gardening lessons before their day ends at 6 p.m., and they once again return to Santa Ines for dinner at 6:30. Then, the girls work on their homework and bedtime is at 8:30 sharp.

Monica told us that even for the smaller girls, as young as 6 years old, the tight schedule was important to their development, and they all really enjoyed being busy, especially since it meant the girls all got to be together all day and through the night.

The girls seemed overjoyed to be back together after a weekend away with their mothers, and it was apparent they felt that the other girls at the home were like sisters to them.

Next, we visited the dorms where the girls slept and stored their belongings. Monica told us that the older girls, ages 10 to 12, have a separate dorm from the younger girls, and they were all expected to keep their rooms tidy as part of their daily chores. With a capacity to host 30 girls at a time, the home only had 18 girls at the moment, which Monica explained as being due to the fact that the Mexican government determines how many girls are in attendance.

The single mothers whose children stay at the home go through an interview process, and there are rules for qualification – the mothers need to be employed even though they are not expected to pay for the children to stay at Santa Ines – the government pays the fees – but it is required that the mothers prove they really need the help based on their incomes as well as need for childcare during the work week.

As we exited the dorms, we saw that many more of the children had started to arrive, and we had a chance to interact with them in the courtyard as they played games, rode bikes, and swung on the playset. The girls seemed overjoyed to be back together after a weekend away with their mothers, and it was apparent they felt like sisters to one another.

Getting to know the girls

As Monica, Yefiny, and Ron made their way to the administrative offices to have a meeting, I stayed behind to visit with the girls, and we quickly invented a game that I deemed “Como Se Dice?” which involved the girls pointing to objects around the courtyard and asking me how to say them in English. It was endless fun and made me feel quite smart that I could answer all of their questions and, therefore, win the game!

I already knew from my previous visits just how important our sponsorship program was to the girls at Santa Ines — with only limited support from the government, it was crucial that Monica and Beatrice received funds from our sponsors to purchase food, school supplies, clothing and hygiene items for the girls at the home. And for the girls, who might not otherwise receive these items from their mothers who are working hard to make ends meet, knowing Children Incorporated could fill in this gap for them is so incredibly important to their overall well-being. And in the end, it gives their mothers peace of mind that their children are being taken care of even when life is difficult for them.

Saying our goodbyes

When Yefiny and Ron stepped out of their meeting and once again joined me in the courtyard, I could tell Ron was overwhelmed with gratitude for what Santa Ines was doing for these young ladies. He thanked Monica and Beatrice profusely for their kindness towards us and their dedication to helping the children they serve. Before we left, the girls sang a song to thank us for visiting with them, and we also thanked the girls for being such a special part of the lives of our sponsors as well.

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How do I sponsor a child with Children Incorporated?

SPONSOR A CHILD

Children Incorporated | October 28, 2024

One of the best ways to express the importance of our work — all thanks to our sponsors and donors — is by sharing letters from our volunteer coordinators worldwide. Linda, at Highland-Turner Elementary School in Kentucky, recently wrote to us to express her sincere gratitude for you, our amazing sponsors:

“These children who are now adults will never forget the kindness of strangers who decided to become sponsors and then friends.”

Linda’s Letter

“Your support for the students enrolled in the Children Incorporated sponsorship program means their basic needs, such as clothing, shoes, undergarments, and hygiene essentials, are met. The Children Incorporated program is not just financial aid; it’s a personal connection. The children eagerly anticipate your letters and gifts, cherishing the thoughtfulness behind each one. Your role as sponsors is so significant that students often stop me in the hallway to ask if they have received any mail from you.”

“Not long ago, while on a shopping trip for sponsored students, an employee at a major retail chain asked me, after I informed him that I was shopping for a program at our school, if this was for Children Incorporated. He then explained to me that he, too, had been a recipient of the Children Incorporated program and what a difference it made in his life.”

These children who are now adults will never forget the kindness of strangers who decided to become sponsors and then friends. This is what Children Incorporated is all about — making a difference and changing lives. Your generosity and kindness are the backbone of the sponsorship program, and we could not do this without you. Thank you to all the sponsors for going above and beyond to ensure our students are cared for!”

Sincerely,

Linda

your impact through hope in action

– Provide over $25,000 in donations to support families in North Carolina who are recovering after Hurricane Helene
– Provide funds to purchase nutritious meals for 30 students at Santa Isabel Ana Seton in Guatemala for one month
– Provide funds to purchase nutritious meals for 30 students at the Dandora Center in Kenya for one month
– Provide funds to purchase daily meals for 100 students at the St. John’s Community Center in Kenya for one month
– Provide funds to purchase nutritious meals for 25 students at Kids’ Hope in Ethiopia for one month
– Provide funding to purchase nutritious meals for 25 students at the Fortune Children’s Center in the Philippines
– Provide funds to pilot a Bike Program for students who struggle with attendance due to transportation issues at the Kayenta Community School in Arizona
– Provide funds to purchase pajamas for students who live in the dorm at the Shonto Preparatory School in Arizona
– Provide funds to purchase water bottles for students to use at water filling stations at Page High School in Arizona
– Providing funding to purchase new shoes and socks for students at Breathitt Elementary School in Kentucky

…and so much more! Thank you to our supporters for all that you do! We couldn’t do our life-changing work without you.

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How do I sponsor a child with Children Incorporated?

SPONSOR A CHILD

Children Incorporated | October 22, 2024En Español

Thanks to our amazing donors, our Hurricane Helene Relief Fund raised over $25,000 to support families in North Carolina. We can’t thank you all enough for all your support during this critical time of need.

As the counties where we work start their recovery process, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, has been receiving updates from our volunteer coordinators on the ground to help us understand how we can best help children in our sponsorship program. We will continue to update you all as our coordinators let us know how your donations have helped families rebuild in the upcoming weeks and months.

“We are very grateful that three of our four affiliated counties are making substantial recoveries at this time.”

An upDATE from Renée

“At this time, we are very pleased to report that our affiliated sites in both Alleghany County and Swain County were mostly spared damage. All Alleghany and Swain County Schools are back in session. Power has been restored to all customers in the area. Our Watauga County Schools will be closed through October 18th and then reevaluated. All but 20 customers have had power restored.”

Along with information about the damage, our volunteer coordinators sent photos of cleanup efforts being made in their communities.

“The roads in Watauga County are another matter. The county administrators are working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation and will determine when it is safe to put buses on the roads. However, alternate arrangements are still being made for Valle Crucis Elementary School, whose building was badly flooded during the hurricane. A replacement building was already being constructed but is not expected to be completed until spring 2025.”

“Mitchell County Schools are still not in session; just 31.9% of customers have restored power as this county was hit harder by the hurricane than the others in which we work. Due to the more extensive damage occurring in Mitchell County, our relief efforts will be focused here. However, we fully anticipate our Watauga County coordinators submitting some funding requests, which we will also be prepared to support.”

“We are very grateful that three of our four affiliated counties are making substantial recoveries at this time. We will update our sponsors and donors as we hear more from our volunteer coordinators about how your donations are helping families during this critical time of recovery.”

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How do I sponsor a child with Children Incorporated?

SPONSOR A CHILD