Tag Archives: education

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Our affiliated project, Morgan County Middle School, is located in West Liberty, Kentucky, and serves 464 students in 6th through 8th grade — many of whom come from low-income households.

The school’s Family Resource Youth Services Center is run by Children Incorporated’s volunteer coordinator, Kim.

“Kim runs a lot of important programs for our kids, and she can always use help with them. Her favorites are the 8th grade career mentoring program, the weekend feeding program, and the Sweet Dreams bed program,” said Renée.

“Kim was previously at one of the elementary schools, Morgan Central, for many years, but she moved up to the middle school after its coordinator retired. Kim said it was a smooth transition, as many of the kids were her former elementary students,” explained our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube.

“However, the move did refine her awareness and sensitivity to this age group — middle school children are coping with the physical and emotional challenges of puberty, and many of them are also enduring poverty and family stress. These challenges make the Family Resource Center more important than ever.”

“When I last visited with Kim in late 2019, she told me that, due to the county’s high poverty rate, they were awarded district-wide free lunch. This has made it so much less embarrassing for the kids who don’t have lunch money. Now everyone is on the same level. Her school is also one of three schools in the county that is serving an early supper on select days, which really helps families in the community as well,” said Renée.

Kim’s Programs

Kim is pictured with one of the students in our sponsorship program at Morgan County Middle School.

“Kim runs a lot of important programs for our kids, and she can always use help with them. Her favorites are the 8th grade career mentoring program, the weekend feeding program, and the Sweet Dreams bed program. She is most proud of and excited about the Sweet Dreams bed program,” exclaimed Renée.

“Kim said all Morgan County Public Schools are eligible to participate in the Build A Bed Program operated by Morehead State University. However, only 200 beds are made per year, and with so many counties and schools eligible, not all children in need can be helped.”

“So, she and the other coordinators in Morgan County started their own program. The Eastern Kentucky Correctional Center is located in West Liberty. The prison builds the beds for free for the students at the school, and the school coordinators appeal to local businesses to buy the mattresses for the kids, some of which she has been able to secure. Kim said more assistance is always needed to purchase mattresses, sheets, blankets, pillows, and comforters,” said Renée.

“Because of our Beds and Linens Fund, and thanks to our sponsors, Children Incorporated has been able to help Kim and our sponsored children with those new items so that students from the middle school can sleep comfortably at home and be prepared for school each day rested and ready to learn!”

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How do I sponsor a child in Kentucky?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky 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 Kentucky that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Morgan County is located in the northeastern part of Kentucky amongst a terrain of rolling hillsides, with no true mountains. The Licking River, the main waterway in the county, runs through its eponymous valley, which houses the county seat, West Liberty. It is a truly beautiful county, although not an area of our country without its problems.

Children Incorporated is remembered fondly to the community of Morgan County for raising over $10,000 in disaster relief funds in 2012 from our sponsors and donors.

Morgan County was never a very active coal mining area, although it was — and continues to be — impacted by the decline of the coal mining industry across eastern Kentucky. Historically, most of the county’s coal mining camps were opened between 1907 and 1909, and most closed in the 1920s as larger, more lucrative coal deposits were discovered elsewhere. The last camp, in Cannel City, closed and laid off its 250 employees in 1933. Back then, that meant that miners who chose to reside in Morgan County would commute, usually by train, to more southern counties that had bigger operations and were more profitable for their owners.

Present-day Morgan County

Today, Morgan County’s economy is primarily farming — cattle and burley tobacco, as well as sorghum, a cereal grain that is primarily used as livestock feed, which is also turned into ethanol. Kentucky leads the nation in sweet sorghum production, with the plant being boiled down to become sorghum molasses.

Each September, Morgan County hosts a Sorghum Festival in West Liberty. Highlights of the weekend include the Morgan County Sorghum Bowl, which is a football game featuring Morgan County High School and a neighboring rival, and the crowing of the Sorghum Queen during halftime. The weekend also includes a busy arts and crafts fair, which includes demonstrations of the sorghum being boiled down into syrup.

A History of Helping in Morgan County

In 2012, devastating tornadoes swept through eastern Kentucky. Morgan County was one of the hardest hit, with a tornado causing a great deal of damage in West Liberty. Among other businesses destroyed by the tornado, the Morgan County Tree Nursery was lost. By 2014 it was rebuilt and had seedlings in production. Today, the county’s tree seedling operations help fuel the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s $12 billion-dollar timber industry.

Children Incorporated is remembered fondly to the community of Morgan County for raising over $10,000 in disaster relief funds in 2012 from our sponsors and donors. The first of this aid was personally delivered to Morgan County by our President and CEO, Ron Carter, during a visit to our affiliated projects after the tornado.

Morgan County High School

Our volunteer coordinator Alicia, is pictured with one of our sponsored children at Morgan County High School.

Morgan County High school educates about 611 teenagers — 71% which come from low income families.  In addition to the federal free breakfast and lunch program, the high school is one of three in the county to offer an early free supper on select days. Kids may stay after school from 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. and report to the cafeteria.

“During my last visit to the school in 2019, I was so pleased to see that there was a new building in place since the last time I had been in Morgan County in 2017,” explained our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube.

“The building was completed in the fall of 2018, with the students moving in after fall break. Over the summer of 2019, the old school building was demolished, and a parking lot was built in its place. The area looks totally different than my last visit — even the huge gym, which was housed in a separate building, is being refaced to match the look of the new building.”

A proud coordinator

“Over the years, our volunteer coordinator at Morgan High, Alicia, has really built up the programs that the Family Resource Center offers to students — from offering school supplies and clothes to students to offering support for parents — Alicia works so hard to ensure that kids and their families are getting the resources they need,” said Renée.

“Over the years, our volunteer coordinator at Morgan High, Alicia, has really built up the programs that the Family Resource Center offers to students.”

“One of the programs she is most proud of is the weekend feeding program. Because Alicia understands that receiving food to take home can be embarrassing for her students, she runs the program with a great deal of sensitivity, filling book bags that look just like all the other book bags in the school so kids don’t feel singled out or look different from their peers.”

“During my visit, Alicia said one of the biggest problems in the county is drugs. People get hooked for a variety of reasons, and they degenerate into thinking only of their next fix. She wants the students at her school to avoid the trap of hopelessness, and to see that their futures can be different and better,” explained Renée.

“In helping them, Alicia tries to get her students to take advantage of a great after-school program at the Area Technology Center in town, where trades such as welding or mechanics are taught so high school age students can see that they have career options once they graduate and don’t fall into the same despair as many adults around them have.”

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How do I sponsor a child in the United states?

You can sponsor a child in the United States 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 that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Throughout the year, our affiliated projects from around the world share special project proposals with us that will help improve the lives of not only the children that we support but their families as well. Thanks to our Hope In Action program, we are often able to support many of our projects so they can grow their programs and offer skills training and other important resources to impoverished communities in which we work.

A proposal from Bolivia

One such proposal we received in 2021 was from the Montero School in Bolivia, where our volunteer coordinator requested funds to construct an agriculture school on the same property as the existing school.

The new agricutural program at the Montero School will benefit both students and their parents.

“This area is mainly an agricultural area, and many children and adults have to go to nearby cities, even a few hours away to Santa Cruz to get better training,” explains our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet.

“With the support of this training institution, Children Incorporated is contributing to the whole community. The agricultural school will include a barn with cows, a pigpen, and a chicken coop in which students and their parents can learn how to take care of animals as well as grow food, skills they can then apply to their own lives to better their employment opportunities or gain income in the future!”

About the Montero School

The small, landlocked nation of Bolivia comprises rugged Andes Mountains and vast, high-altitude plateaus to the west (including a portion of Lake Titicaca, the largest high-altitude lake in the world) and lush, lowland plains of Amazon jungle to the east. Despite its wealth of natural beauty and resources, Bolivia bears the scars of centuries of conflict, beginning with the Spanish conquistadors and followed by almost 200 years of wars and internal military coups. Political and economic instability have brought about considerable poverty, resulting in widespread malnutrition, crime and disease.

Thanks to our Hope In Action program, we are often able to support many of our projects so they can grow their programs and offer skills training and other important resources to impoverished communities in which we work.

The remote town of Okinawa — settled in the 1950s by Japanese immigrant farmers — is no exception to these maladies. Here, in 1976, the Montero Home/School was founded as a girls’ home by local religious leaders to assist children of the Japanese settlers, as well as native Bolivians. Today, the school has expanded its mission, providing a safe refuge and learning center for impoverished girls and boys in the area. Some children who come to Montero Home/School have never experienced the comfort of a bed, a bath, or a nutritious meal – let alone an education. Here, children receive these basic needs, along with the opportunity to rise above the difficult socioeconomic circumstances from which they have come.

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How do I sponsor a child in Bolivia?

You can sponsor a child in Bolivia 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 Bolivia that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

 

Shelley Callahan | En Español

About half the students at our affiliated project, the Dzilth Community School in New Mexico, board at the school during the week, as the distance from their homes in the remote areas of the Navajo Nation make a daily commute impossible. Although this seems like it would make their lives more difficult, it is actually a blessing for them — due to widespread, debilitating unemployment in the area surrounding the school, families struggle to afford even the most basic necessities for their kids. As a result, very few of the students have ever eaten a balanced diet or known what it means to be properly cared before they began attending the school.

Additionally, thanks to our generous sponsors, children at the school also receive school supplies, clothes, and other items that help them to be comfortable and happy when at the school — and when they return home on the weekends and during holidays.

Administrators at the Dzilth Community School make sure that students receive three nutritious meals a day, as well as educational support — something these deserving Native American children need desperately. Additionally, thanks to our generous sponsors, children at the school also receive school supplies, clothes, and other items that help them to be comfortable and happy when at the school — and when they return home on the weekends and during holidays.

Visiting Dzilth Community School

“In late 2019, I visited our volunteer coordinators, Phyllis and Karen, at the Dzilth Community School. Phyllis and Karen run a flawless sponsorship program — they are great record keepers, and the sponsored students also create beautiful cards and letters for the sponsors almost once a month,” explained Renée Kube, Children Incorporated’s Director of U.S. Programs.

Phyllis and Karen pictured with two of our sponsored children

“Phyllis works in the main office and Karen is the school librarian. The first half of our meeting was in the library and included a nice chat with two 8th grade students in our sponsorship program, Norah and Lincoln*. Norah has been in the Children Incorporated program since 2015 and Lincoln since 2018. They were both very thankful for the program and wanted to know how we found their sponsors and where their sponsors live.”

After our chat with the students, we got to meet the parents of a sponsored child named Allison.* Allison’s parents were so thankful for the program. For a while her dad did not have a job, and money was very tight. They were so appreciative of the program and said it was so good to know that their child’s needs were cared for by their sponsors,” said Renée.

A nice home for Parker

“Next, I headed to a home visit; we visited a sponsored child named Parker’s* mom whom I had visited two years prior. During our visit in 2017, Parker and her mom lived in the grandmother’s small, isolated house down a muddy road about fifteen or twenty minutes from the school. Since then, Parker’s mom has qualified for Navajo Housing Authority (NHA) housing and is living closer to school in a new three-bedroom single-story home on a paved road lined with other NHA houses.”

“Parker’s mom was so thrilled to show off their home, and I was thrilled to see it. Parker has her own room and also has use of the third bedroom for her books and art supplies. She has a very generous sponsor who gives her large additional gifts. When Parker moved into her new home, she was able to go to the store and purchase new bedding, rugs, lighting, chairs, bathroom items and more — and it was apparent she was very comfortable both at her school and her home thanks to our sponsorship program.”

*Names changed to protect the children.

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How do I sponsor a child in the United States?

You can sponsor a child in the United States 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 the United States that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan |

We are happy to share with you our Fall 2021 Newsletter, highlighting our work around the world thanks to our sponsors and donors and their generosity and dedication in helping children in need. Enjoy!

Thanks to our sponsors and donors, we have been able to help them in their efforts to keep children and teachers safe and healthy.

Providing an Abundance of Support to our Projects in 2021

Around the world, our volunteer coordinators at nearly 300 affiliated projects continue to navigate how they can best support children in need through the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to our  sponsors and donors, we have been able to help them in their efforts to keep children and teachers safe and healthy while they work hard to provide impoverished students with a well-rounded education — whether at home or in the classroom.

Although the last school year has been like no other in Children Incorporated’s history, we have continued to provide children in our program with the resources they need to overcome the obstacles they face during the global pandemic. It is with a great deal of gratitude that we thank each and every one of our supporters for their role in these efforts.

Offering Hygiene Items to Girls in Kenya 

Our sponsors have provided thousands of children with school supplies this fall.

More recently, some of the most important items we have been able to offer to children in our program has been hygiene items — masks, soap and hand sanitizer – for them  to take home and use in their daily lives to help prevent illness and protect children and their families against all kinds of disease, most specifically COVID-19. Additionally, when we consider the needs of our sponsored children, we especially need to consider the particular needs of young girls who might not have access to feminine hygiene products — most likely because their families can’t afford them. When young ladies don’t have access to sanitary napkins, they often skip school to stay home which can be detrimental to their education.

This year, we have focused on providing three-month supplies of sanitary napkins to all girls at our affiliated project, the Dandora Community Centre in Kenya, on a continuous basis so that they may remain in attendance at school throughout the year.

Supplying Vitamins During COVID-19 in Guatemala 

Children in Guatemala are pictured with their vitamin supply

In the last months, thanks to a contribution by our partner, Altar’d State, to our COVID-19 Relief Fund, we were able to provide funds to the Juan Apostol School in Guatemala for a three-month supply of vitamins containing vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc for all 102 children enrolled in our program. And, because our volunteer coordinator was purchasing these items in bulk for the benefit of children, the local pharmacy provided a four-month supply of vitamins to our coordinator at the cost of just a three-month supply.

We are incredibly grateful for the support from Altar’d State, as well as for all contributions that donors have made to our COVID-19 Relief Fund.

 A Blessing During the Pandemic in Lebanon   

We recently received a letter from our volunteer coordinator at the Father Andeweg Institute for the Deaf (FAID):

“A blessing came out of COVID-19. Several lockdowns reduced our face to face teaching time severely. So, we needed to find another way to help our children and their parents develop their educational skills. Our staff made several videos each week. Each video had a particular topic. The video “OPPOSITES,” for example, explained all about up and down, in and out, high and low, etc. These videos, made for WhatsApp, were easy for parents to use.

COVID-19 helped parents in Lebanon become teachers of their deaf children. Increased parental involvement enhanced building family bonds, which stimulated the children’s development even more, and most of all, reduced the emotional trauma that exists in families having children with special needs.

Providing audiology support, hearing aid maintenance and batteries during COVID is very challenging. Again, because of the help we received from Children Incorporated donors, we could put in the safeguards and precautions to make it possible. Thank you for all of your support in helping children at FAID.”

Supporting Agriculture in Bolivia 

Throughout the year, our affiliated projects from around the world share with us proposals for special projects that will help improve the lives of not only the children that we support but their families as well. Thanks to our Hope In Action program, we are often able to support many of our projects so they can grow their programs and offer skills training and other important resources to impoverished communities in which we work.

We are incredibly grateful all contributions that donors have made to our COVID-19 Relief Fund.

One such proposal we received in 2021 was from the Montero School in Bolivia, in which our volunteer coordinator requested funds to construct an agriculture school on the same property as the existing school.

“This area is mainly an agricultural area, and many children and adults have to go to nearby cities, and even a few hours away to Santa Cruz to get better training,” explains our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet.

A sponsored child in Arizona poses with her new book bag thanks to our Back to School Program.

“With the support of this training institution that is being implemented, Children Incorporated is contributing to the whole community. The agricultural school will include a barn with cows, a pigpen, and a chicken coop in which students and their parents can learn how to take care of animals as well as grow food which they can then apply to their own lives to better their employment opportunities or income in the future!”

Time for Back to School Around the world

 At the end of the summer this year, students at some of our affiliated projects returned to in-person learning for the first time since the spring of 2020. As our volunteer coordinators work hard to re-connect with these children as they see them on a regular basis for the first time in over 16 months, we are especially grateful that our sponsors have remained consistent in their lives during the difficulties they faced while being out of school and adjusting to a new life-style.

Welcome back to all the students who have returned to the classroom! We wish you a wonderful 2021-2022 school year!

READ THE FULL NEWSLETTER

Shelley Callahan | En Español

The town of Bloomfield, where our affiliated project, the Hanaa Dli Community School/Dormitory, is located, is known as New Mexico’s “tableland” — a desert crisscrossed by gullies and washes in the United States’ Navajo Nation. Families in this community live in traditional Navajo hogans, made of logs and mud, in remote areas that make a daily commute for children to the closest schools not viable. Additionally, poverty, unemployment, and a sense of hopelessness pervade Navajo life. Were it not for Hanaa Dli Community School/ Dormitory, as well as the Children Incorporated sponsorship program, so many children living in poverty would not have the opportunity to receive an education — or have stability and consistency in their lives.

It was amazing to hear them talk about how important sponsorship was to them and see how much of a difference our sponsors make in their lives,” said Shelley.

Visiting Navajo Nation

“Our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, and I visited Hanaa Dli Community School and Dormitory together early in the late fall of 2019,” explained U.S. Project Specialist, Shelley Oxenham.

“We met with our then-new coordinator, Steven, for a brief meeting before visiting with all of the dorm students. Steven is the home’s living specialist in the dormitory. He said that many of the kids are dealing with a lot of trauma, and he believes our sponsorship program offers a form of stability to them.”

“He is hoping that the benefits of having a sponsor will influence the parents’ decision to keep the students at the dorm where they can get consistent care. Children Incorporated helps provide the students with school clothes, dorm supplies, and educational supplies,” said Shelley.

The entrance to the school decorated for the Fall season

“We asked if there are things needed above and beyond sponsorship, and he said they could use more computers, tablets, and art supplies for the dorm. Our Hope In Action Fund exists for just that reason, and we were happy to suggest he apply for funds so we could purchase these items for our sponsored children. Steven did just that, and since the visit, Children Incorporated has been able to provide Hope In Action funding to purchase computer tablets, hygiene items, school supplies and warm clothing for children at the dorm.”

“The dorm is for students in first through twelfth grade. The students in our program stay at the dorm during the school week and are bused to and from their schools each day — a short commute considering how far away they live from their schools and the dorm,” explained Shelley.

Getting to meet our sponsored children

“Most students attend school in nearby Bloomfield. That day, the staff decided to keep the students out of school for the morning so that they could be there for our visit. This was a nice change because, in past visits, the students have not been there because they are at school.”

“We sat with the girls who room in the girls’ dorm — they told us how much they love the new things they receive from their sponsors and how much it helped them. It was amazing to hear them talk about how important sponsorship was to them and see how much of a difference our sponsors make in their lives,” said Shelley.

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How do I sponsor a child in the United States?

You can sponsor a child in the United States 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 the United States that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD