As a part of our ongoing Stories of Hope blog series, we want to share with you our June 2023 Impact Report as a way to say “thank you” to all our supporters who make our work possible.
Beyond what you already provide to children through our sponsorship program, your donations to our Special Funds and Special Projects allow us to help families and communities as well, often in times of crisis.
Your impact on children around the world is profound — and we are so grateful for your continued support!
YOUR IMPACT AROUND THE WORLD
Just in this past month, our donors have:
– Provided funds to repair and paint a classroom used for afterschool studying for students who attend La Recoleccion in Nicaragua
– Provided funds to purchase new shoes for 80 students at Escuela Santa Luisa in El Salvador
– Provided funds to re-stock an emergency supply closet for students in need at Broad Rock Elementary School in Virginia
Children in Bolivia hold a sign that says “thank you for your support” to our sponsors!
– Provided funds to help an unhoused family with transportation costs so the mother of two sponsored children can get to and from work
– Provided funds to repair the refrigerator at La Luz Home in Mexico, which is essential for storing food for the students that board at the home
– Provided funds to purchase book bags and school supplies for students at Gouge Elementary School in North Carolina
– Provided funds for a sponsored child to receive heart surgery at the Pinagpala Center in the Philippines
– Provided funds for a Summer Arts & Fitness Camp at Belfry Middle School in Kentucky
– Provided funds to purchase meals for a month for 25 students at Kids Hope Ethiopia in Ethiopia
… all in addition to the support you already provide through sponsorship to children in our program. Thank you for everything you do for children in need!
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HOW do I MAKE A DONATION TO CHILDREN INCORPORATED?
You can donate to Children Incorporated in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at hello@children-inc.org and a staff member can assist you with making a donation; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and choose a particular fund in which to make a donation.
Each summer, as the time for a new school year approaches, businesses launch their latest “Back to School” sales pitches. They roll out the big promotions to encourage consumers to purchase everything from pencils and pens to backpacks, calculators, and laptop computers. Many states even have days when they suspend sales taxes to encourage greater spending on these school items. According to the National Retail Foundation, people in the United States spent an astounding $37 billion dollars on back to school supplies in 2022. That breaks down to roughly $864 per student, up from nearly $200 from just two years before.
The strong need for support
For families already living in poverty and struggling to just get by, back to school shopping is a huge burden; in fact, they often just cannot do it.
For families already living in poverty and struggling to just get by, back to school shopping is a huge burden; in fact, they often just cannot do it. When we visit with our voluneer coordinators at our affiliated site locations, many which are school-based, we often hear stories of how many children do not have the supplies they need to do their schoolwork. Though most schools now provide access to computers and laptops that students may use, many young learners still lack basic educational materials. These items are essential to students not only being prepared for class, but without them, they may feel ashamed or embarrassed to be lacking where their classmates are not.
With our help, children can start the school year off right, thanks to donations to our Back to School Fund.
Our volunteer coordinators do their best to maintain a supply of composition books, notebook paper, pencils, pens, rulers, glue sticks, staplers, and backpacks in their offices to meet the many needs of these children. They also maintain essential clothing such as pants, shirts, underwear, shoes, and socks for those children whose own wardrobes are worn, dirty, or ill-fitting. Snacks such as granola and protein bars and juice boxes are also badly needed as children return to school each year and throughout all of the months that follow. But sometimes, there is just not enough.This is where Children Incorporated comes in.
our Back to School Fund to the rescue
Money contributed to our affiliated school sites, all thanks to Children Incorporated donors, enables our coordinators to stock their shelves and supply closets at the beginning of the school year and beyond. This is why our Back to School Fund is an absolutely essential part of what we offer and why we are asking for your support of this essential fund.
If you can, please consider what you can afford to give in support of our Back to School Fund, and know that your dollars are contributing to the growth of future generations of leaders. When we help students start the school year off right, we set a path for them to stay confident for the entire year. Together, we can make a huge difference.
Thank you for your loyal support of children in need.
From the heart,
Ronald H. Carter
President and Chief Executive Officer
Children Incorporated
In 2017, I brought water filters with me to visit our affiliated sites in India and Sri Lanka, thanks to our partnership with the nonprofit organization, Wine to Water. Wine to Water is based out of Boone, North Carolina, and works to provide clean water solutions to some of the more than 2 billion people globally who lack access to a safe water drinking source. The water filters, which I distributed to our volunteer coordinators along with instructions for use, can last for up to 10 years when maintained properly.
The water filters, which I distributed to our volunteer coordinators along with instructions for use, can last for up to 10 years when maintained properly.
Supporting communities in crisis
I have since stayed in touch with Wine to Water, following their international relief efforts, as well as their work in the United States to help communities in crisis — more recently having sent teams to Ukraine and Jackson, Mississippi in 2022.
When I found out I would be visiting the Philippines in early 2023, I spoke with our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet, to see if he thought I should once again request filters from Wine to Water for my trip. He asked our volunteer coordinators on my behalf, and they all agreed that yes, they would love to have water filters at our affiliated sites for the children to use for drinking and handwashing. Knowing I could get everything I needed to set up the filters once I arrived in the Philippines, I didn’t ask many more questions of our coordinators as I otherwise prepared for my departure, adding 20 water filters to my packing list.
The water filter is attached to the container on the counter and the clean water flows down to the container on the ground.
Both Joy at the Fortune Center in Manila and Nilo at the Pinagpala Center in Tagaytay were very excited to receive the filters and learn how they worked — by simply attaching them to a bucket, the filter works on gravity alone, and can filter out 99.999% of bacteria and microbes from unfiltered water, making it safe to drink even from dirty rivers or contaminated water sources. I was delighted that they thought the technology was as interesting as I found it to be, and so easy to use, which made it ideal for distributing to anyone willing to keep the filter clean and away from anything that could damage it.
A need for new filters
When I traveled to Tacloban City to meet with our volunteer coordinator, WimWim, from the Visayans Center, or VFV, I mentioned to her that I had the water filters with me, and she suggested that I bring them to the Santo Nino Center in a few days for our scheduled visit. There, she explained, they had a water tank for collecting water, but the water filters they had been using were getting older, and she was ready to replace them as well as add some additional ones.
When we arrived at the Santo Nino Center to prepare for the daily feeding program, I walked into the small one room building, and my eye was immediately drawn to a water storage container sitting on the kitchen counter. Attached to the container was the same exact water filter that I had brought with me — water filters that WimWim had yet to see because they were still in my book bag that I was wearing.
10 years after Yolanda
I excitedly told WimWim that I thought it was so strange that they had the exact same water filter already — although not an obscure product, still one I was very surprised to see. WimWim casually looked over at the filter, and said, “We received those from Wine to Water in 2013 after the Typhoon when they were here helping with the recovery efforts.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I responded slowly, so as to make sure no detail would be missed. “WimWim, did you know that the water filters I brought are also from Wine to Water?” She looked at me and shook her head, and we both started to laugh. What an amazing coincidence, I thought to myself.
I started asking WimWim a million questions about their work with Wine to Water ten years ago — how did they find out about VFV? Wine to Water had reached out. How many people from Wine to Water came to Tacloban? Two people from the organization visited at two different times in a two-year period. How many years have they been using the water filters? Between 5 and 10 years, depending on the filter. Did Wine to Water help in any other way? Yes, they dug a well, built the rainwater collection tank at the Santo Nino Center and at the Cancumbang Center, and provided enough filters for all three of the VFV centers to have clean water for a decade.
After switching out some of the older water filters with the ones I brought with me, we went about our visit to the center, meeting the children and their parents. When we returned to the VFV office later that day, I noticed two water filters in the kitchen that I had noticed only the day before — the following day, I got to see more filters in use at the Cancumbang Center. Just as I was, WimWim was grateful for the serendipitous nature of what had occurred. Almost exactly 10 years after Wine to Water had been in Tacloban to bring filters to the community, I had returned with new filters without even knowing ahead of time just how much it was needed.
You can sponsor a child in the Philippines 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 Philippines that is available for sponsorship.
As a part of our ongoing Stories of Hope blog series, we want to share with you our May 2023 Impact Report as a way to say “thank you” to all our supporters who make our work possible.
Beyond what you already provide to children through our sponsorship program, your donations to our Special Funds and Special Projects allow us to help families and communities as well, often in times of crisis.
YOUR IMPACT AROUND THE WORLD
Just in this past month, our donors have:
Thanks to you, children and their families have received support this past month, often helping them in times of crisis.
– Provided funds for a month’s supply of menstrual hygiene items for 25 girls at the Santa Isabel Ana Seton School in Guatemala
– Provided funds for children at Sparta Elementary School in North Carolina to participate in a field trip to Letterland at Tweetsie Railroad
– Provided funds to purchase backpacks and school supplies for students at Belfry High School in Kentucky
– Provided funds to purchase nutritious meals for a month for 25 students at the Dandora Community Center in Kenya
– Provided funds to purchase classroom supplies and backpacks for students at Lake View/Desert View Elementary School in Arizona
– Provided funds to purchase meals for a month for 25 students at the Fortune’s Children Center in the Philippines
– Provided funds for eighth graders at Sparta Elementary School to participate in an educational field trip to the Outer Banks
– Provided funds to provide meals for a month for 200 students at the St. John’s Community Center in Kenya
– Provided funds to purchase meals for a month for students at Kids Hope Ethiopia in Ethiopia
… all in addition to the support you already provide through sponsorship to children in our program. Thank you for everything you do for children in need!
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HOW do I MAKE A DONATION TO CHILDREN INCORPORATED?
You can donate to Children Incorporated in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at hello@children-inc.org and a staff member can assist you with making a donation; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and choose a particular fund in which to make a donation.
It is hard to believe that 2023 is the 20th anniversary of my time at Children Incorporated – ten of which I have been blessed to lead the organization as our CEO and President.
I would love to ask that you consider helping me reach a goal of getting 20 children sponsored to celebrate 20 years of my time with Children Incorporated.
During my time with this incredible organization, I have been very blessed to work with some absolutely inspiring people and to be afforded many wonderful opportunities for personal growth. Children Incorporated has changed a lot over these last twenty years, and it continues to morph and rearrange as we adapt to the changing trends and interests of our wonderful and generous donors.
I am grateful beyond measure to work in a setting like Children Incorporated. I am surrounded by people whose passion is to change and better the lives of children and young adults, and I am personally seeing the good that we are able to do each and every day. I believe that we each have a responsibility to try and make our world a bit better.
To mark my time here, I would love to ask that you consider helping me reach a goal of getting 20 children sponsored to celebrate 20 years of my time with Children Incorporated.
As a part of our ongoing Stories of Hope blog series, we want to share with you our April 2023 Impact Report as a way to say “thank you” to all our supporters who make our work possible.
Beyond what you already provide to children through our sponsorship program, your donations to our Special Funds and Special Projects allow us to help families and communities as well, often in times of crisis.
YOUR IMPACT AROUND THE WORLD
Thanks to you, we were able to provide funds for emergency basic needs for three children at Cardinal Elementary School in Virginia after a house fire this month.
Just in this past month, our donors have:
– Provided Higher Education Funds for three students pursuing university degrees in Nicaragua who attend the Casa Betania Welfare Center
– Provided funds to purchase menstrual hygiene items for one month for 25 students at Santa Isabel Ana Seton in Guatemala
– Provided funds to purchase food and school supplies for a Kinder Camp for newly enrolled students in our sponsorship program at Bevins Elementary School in Kentucky
Donors in Virginia provided new clothes and hygiene items to our sponsored children at Huguenot High School in April.
– Provided funds to purchase cleaning supplies and hygiene items for families of students in our program at Phelps High School in Kentucky
– Provided funds to purchase food for a month for 25 students at the Dandora Center in Kenya
– Provided funds to stock a new library with books at the Dzilth Community School in New Mexico
– Provided funds to purchase clothes and shoes and to replace items lost in a house fire for a student in our program at Greyhills Academy in Arizona
– Provided funds to purchase a full-size refrigerator for the resource centers’ feeding program at May Valley Elementary School in Kentucky
– Provided funds for emergency basic needs for three children at Cardinal Elementary School in Virginia after a house fire
… all in addition to the support you already provide to children through our sponsorship program. Thank you for everything you do for children in need!
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HOW do I MAKE A DONATION TO CHILDREN INCORPORATED?
You can donate to Children Incorporated in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at hello@children-inc.org and a staff member can assist you with making a donation; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and choose a particular fund in which to make a donation.
– Provided funds to purchase classroom supplies and backpacks for students at Lake View/Desert View Elementary School in Arizona