Themes from Childhood: A Classic Concert for All Ages will feature Children Incorporated Board Member Theresa P. Steward along with special guests and will benefit our COVID-19 Response Fund.
We hear from Children Incorporated President and CEO, Ronald H. Carter, who discusses more about the event:
“Theresa P. Steward is a member of the Children Incorporated Board of Directors. She is a classically trained musician; she holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Theresa also serves as pianist and organist at Grace (American) Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, which is also the church that I attend.
Grace Baptist has been a loyal supporter of Children Incorporated for more than a decade, supporting our work each December with funds raised from their mission market. They have also partnered with us on our work to support families in need in Puerto Rico.
Theresa and various other musicians have staged four previous concerts at Grace Baptist for charitable purposes. Those concerts, which were held in person, have been great successes, raising thousands of dollars in support of various missions and ministries. Themes from Childhood is the first of these concerts to be held virtually, and Theresa has designated that all profits from it will be donated to Children Incorporated in support of our COVID-19 Response Fund.
I have had the pleasure of attending all of Theresa’s concerts at Grace Baptist Church, and I have been astounded by the talent she and the other musician’s display. I have been blown away by what Theresa shares. She chooses music that is familiar, fun, and uplifting, and her performances are warm and welcoming. I encourage all fans of good music, whatever their tastes may be, to tune in and share in this event.”
Please plan on tuning in on Saturday, September 12th at what will surely be an unforgettable event!
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How to attend the event
Please visit either the following Facebook or YouTube link on Saturday, September 12th to watch live:
People often ask me how the Children Incorporated sponsorship program works.
I love having the opportunity to share with them, for it’s my belief that our operation is one of the best. For more than half a century, we have been addressing the most basic and immediate needs of children in the United States and in numerous other countries.
I love having the opportunity to share with them, for it’s my belief that our operation is one of the best. For more than half a century, we have been addressing the most basic and immediate needs of children in the United States and in numerous other countries, and our work has been honored with superb ratings from all of the major charitable monitoring groups as a result.
One thing that I value is that, unlike other child sponsorship programs, Children Incorporated does not pay our coordinators who work directly with our sponsored children. We work with a network of caring individuals, already employed by the schools and centers with which we are affiliated, and they include our program in their targeted efforts to improve the lives of those in their communities. This allows us to keep the portion of funds that go directly to helping children as high as possible, and for nearly 55 years, due to our system of using volunteer coordinators, we have succeeded in this effort.
Without your help, unsponsored children go without life-changing basic needs.
Additionally, our volunteer coordinators know the children and families we serve, often on a personal basis. They usually live within the same communities, and in many instances, have known or been familiar with the children included in our sponsorship program for a number of years. Many of the communities remain small and either church- or school-centered, so our coordinators develop a keen awareness of the families’ struggles and observe these struggles on a first-hand basis. In many of our international programs, as well as at some of our Native American sites, the children attend boarding-type schools where they actually live with those who work as Children Incorporated volunteer coordinators. This personal knowledge adds a special layer of uniqueness to the type of services we provide, for rather than dolling out cookie-cutter benefits to the youngsters, Children Incorporated addresses the needs of each child individually.
When we connect with a school or child-care center, we ask the coordinators to identify a group of their most needy or most at-risk children for enrollment in our sponsorship program. The coordinators work with the children’s parents and guardians to get them added to our roster of children who become available for sponsorship, and we then begin seeking caring individuals and groups to meet the needs of the children and families. Sometimes it takes months or longer for us to find enough sponsors for each child, so we created the Shared Hope Fund so that all of the children begin receiving the assistance they need as quickly as possible. The Shared Hope Fund is now one of our most important funds because it allows us to provide for those children enrolled in our sponsorship program, though not yet linked to individual sponsors, as they wait. The dollars raised for Shared Hope make it possible for unsponsored children to receive the very same benefits as sponsored children, sometimes for months on end.
Will you please help us by supporting the Shared Hope Fund today? It truly makes a difference in the lives of children whose needs would be unmet without Children Incorporated’s assistance.
Every donation today changes the life of a child tomorrow. Please consider donating to our Shared Hope Fund.
From the heart,
Ronald H Carter
President and Chief Executive Officer
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How you can donate to our shared hope fund
We enroll new children in our program every day, and finding enough sponsors for all of them is one of our greatest challenges. The global need is so profound that some children wait months for a sponsor. Donations made to our Shared Hope Fund provide immediate assistance to children awaiting sponsorship.
Although much of the world is living in some type of isolation for the foreseeable future, the support from our sponsors helps our sponsored children and their families feel loved and taken care of in these uncertain times.
Our volunteer coordinator at our affiliated project, the Recanto Esperança Center in Brazil, writes to us about how the support of our donors is making an impact on children in need.
Although much of the world is still living in some type of isolation for the foreseeable future, the support from our sponsors helps our sponsored children and their families feel loved and taken care of in these uncertain times.
“We are fine, still in isolation. Thanks to you and the sponsors, we can buy food basket items and hygiene products for children. Many families are without income and are very grateful for this help.
Last week we launched a milk campaign, and we have already achieved a lot. We will continue to provide as much as we can for the families, as we probably need to help them for a long time to come.
Thank you so much for everything you are doing to help children in our program at this time.”
About Brazil
Brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world – both geographically and in terms of population. It is truly massive, sharing borders with every other country in South America except for Ecuador and Chile. The Amazon rain forest — recognized for having the greatest biological diversity on the planet — sprawls over the country’s northern half, with rugged mountains to the south. Despite its wealth of natural resources and beauty, Brazil suffers from staggering poverty, rising inflation, unemployment, and lack of social development.
About our affiliated projects
Recanto Esperança Curitiba-Paraná, Brazil
Located in the Urebaba District of Curitiba, where many families lack the resources to provide for their children’s education and basic needs, Recanto Esperança is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support children and their families to rise above the difficult socio-economic circumstances from which they come.
CARITAS-Novo Milênio Center Lages – Santa Catarina, Brazil
Thanks to donations to our COVID-19 Response Fund, sponsored children in Brazil are receiving food and hygiene items regularly.
In the city of Lages, located in the south of Brazil, many families are forced to live in urban developments like Novo Milênio, which lack electricity, drinking water, and even sewage service. Job opportunities here are extremely limited, and area public schools are ill-equipped to provide a quality education to the ever-increasing number of students. Children here roam the streets, sad, neglected, and vulnerable to the threats of crime, drug abuse, and worse. The plight of these children aroused the compassion of CARITAS, a non-profit organization run by the Catholic Church. As a result, the CARITAS Center in Novo Milênio was established to help these children and community members.
Casas Lares–ACRIDAS Curitiba, Brazil
Curitiba’s city slum neighborhoods inspired ACRIDAS (Christian Association of Social Assistance), a non-profit organization of business and civic leaders, to establish several orphanages to assist these deserving young ones. Many children are placed in Casas Lares–ACRIDAS by court order, to protect them from the threats of abuse, drugs, violence, and malnutrition. Casas Lares–ACRIDAS serves as a safe haven, offering underprivileged and vulnerable children the opportunity to live in a safe home environment.
Nossa Senhora Das Graças Lagas, Brazil
The plight of children living in Lagas aroused the compassion of a charitable civic organization called Nossa Senhora Das Graças (Our Lady of the Graces) who founded the Nossa Senhora Das Graças daycare center to provide assistance, support, and hope to the needy children in this region of Brazil.
CADI CENTER Fazenda Rio Grande – Curitiba, Brazil
In Fazenda Rio Grande, a town on the outskirts of Curitiba in southern Brazil, many families struggle to afford even the most basic of needs, let alone education-related expenses for their children. What began in 1994 as a soccer school to motivate and assist the children of these low-income families has now become CADI (Centro de Assistência e Desenvolvimento Integral) – a national nonprofit that maintains a center of holistic development in Fazenda Rio Grande. The CADI center’s mission is to motivate and equip these deserving children with an education and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty.
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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN BRAZIL?
You can sponsor a child in Brazil 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 donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in Brazil that is available for sponsorship.
It’s hard for people to ask for help in many situations — especially when it involves a person’s ability to care for their own family. But for families living in poverty, it is often a necessity for them, which is why our Hope In Action Fund exists to provide support when they need it the most.
Today we hear from our volunteer coordinator, Genevieve, at Sebastian Elementary School in Eastern Kentucky, about how Children Incorporated has been able to help families through our Hope In Action Fund thanks to our donors:
“As director of the Sebastian Elementary School Family Resource Center for the past fourteen years, let me say that no program does so much to help so many as Children Incorporated.
I am so thankful I work at a school Children Incorporated serves. It is a blessing, especially for the aging 61-year old grandmother struggling after surgery to raise her 6 and 7-year-old grandchildren, who attend my school. Children Incorporated stepped in and sent them money for laundry along with food boxes just to help out, blessing them with basic needs until the grandmother could get back to work. In the past, a home was devastated by fire in the dead of winter leaving seven of our students with nothing. Again, Children Incorporated stepped in and gave them clothes, shoes, and coats.
In the past, a home was devastated by fire in the dead of winter leaving seven of our students with nothing.Children Incorporated stepped in and gave them clothes, shoes, and coats.
Recently, a struggling mother asked for help, as she could not provide her daughter with an Ipad for educational support. Children Incorporated gave the blessing for that to be made possible. Thank you for helping her provide that need for her child. Her daughter was so happy as she looked at the Ipad and was absolutely jumping for joy!”
About Sebastian Elementary School
Located in rural and mountainous eastern Kentucky, Breathitt County is one of the 100 poorest counties in the United States. The economic prospects of Breathitt County are, at best, bleak. The coal mining industry that once dominated this area and provided employment for the majority of its population has been declining.
Today, there are few job opportunities for the area: three small factories, a community college, a grocery store, a department store, a small medical center, a juvenile detention center, and the county education system. Many families who once relied upon mining jobs for income now depend upon part-time employment at minimum wages and/or federal assistance such as welfare checks and food stamps. Tragically, drug and alcohol abuse are common, both stemming from and further contributing to these difficult socioeconomic circumstances. Children here, therefore, not only struggle with lack of basic needs, such as food, clothing, and school supplies; they are also often in dire need of encouragement and positive interaction with adults — positive role models who teach them how to maintain strong moral values and to be and have friends of good character and caliber.
For this reason, Sebastian Elementary School serves as a beacon of hope for the surrounding community. The school’s caring and dedicated staff is thrilled to partner with Children Incorporated sponsors to better equip students with the basic essentials, positive influence, and well-rounded education they need to break the cycle of poverty and rise above the difficult circumstances they face each day.
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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?
You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.
At the end of every school year, our volunteer coordinators from all over the United States write to us to let us know about the power of sponsorship and what it has done for children at their respective schools.
We hear from Lara at Genoa Elementary School in Wayne County, West Virginia about how our sponsors have changed the lives of their sponsored children.
We hear from Lara at Genoa Elementary School in Wayne County, West Virginia about how our sponsors have changed the lives of their sponsored children.
“Dear Children Incorporated,
I am writing in appreciation of your continued dedication and generous contributions to the students of Genoa Elementary School. This year more than ever, our students have needed support, attention, and love from their sponsors. Our little school faced closure (and won) this year. The students at Genoa Elementary love their school. It was a very hard time for them. The gifts from the sponsors during that time reassured the students that no matter what, they are loved and cared for.
Students at Genoa Elementary School love their school — and their sponsors!
The support from the sponsors is invaluable to the Genoa Elementary students. They love getting new clothes to wear to school. They cannot wait for a gift to come. In addition to the excitement of getting a gift from their sponsors, students look forward to writing thank you letters. They enjoy telling the sponsors what they have been doing at school or activities they do over breaks. This correspondence makes the students feel special. They like the extra attention, which many of them need.
My favorite time of the year with the students is Christmas. The gifts from the sponsors make the students so happy. The students come to my room at school to open their gifts from the sponsors. We gather around the Christmas tree to open presents. I love to see their expressions when a sponsor gets exactly what they wanted. They will look at me and ask, ‘How did they know?’ with bright eyes and a huge smile on their faces. There is such joy in the air! This truly is a blessing for me. It fills my heart to see the students so delighted.
I want to express my gratitude and appreciation to all of the wonderful Children Incorporated staff members and the life-changing sponsor heroes! The world is a better place for children because of people like you. Thank you!
With my utmost respect,
Lara”
About Wayne County, West Virginia
For this reason, Genoa Elementary School serves as a beacon of hope and a safe haven, one of the few places where children from impoverished families can count on support, encouragement, and a warm nutritious meal each day.
Wayne County lies nestled amid the vast natural beauty of the Allegheny Mountains, which still conceal deposits of the coal that once made this a rich and populous area of the Mountaineer State. Automation of the mines and the ecological stigmas attached to coal as a fuel source has seriously damaged Wayne County’s economy. With coal mining almost shut down, all businesses that once depended upon mining (and the buying power of the miners) have closed. Unemployment continues to rise, and industry development remains at a crawl. Like many small towns in this rural part of West Virginia, Genoa is remote, located far from any sizeable town or city. A few strip mines still produce coal, and there are some sawmills that cut lumber. Overall, however, Genoa’s economy is struggling, with high unemployment and a lack of industry development. Many residents in this region live well below the poverty line.
For this reason, Genoa Elementary School serves as a beacon of hope and a safe haven, one of the few places where children from impoverished families can count on support, encouragement, and a warm nutritious meal each day. The caring teachers at Genoa Elementary strive to improve each child’s self-esteem and wellbeing through a well-rounded education – the key to breaking the cycle of poverty.
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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN West Virginia?
You can sponsor a child in West Virginia in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.
We hear from our volunteer coordinator, Bisrat, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, about how they are using funds from Children Incorporated to support children in our program during this time.
Thank you to all of our sponsors and donors supporting children in our programs during the COVID-19 outbreak.
“During this COVID-19 time, we are required by law to close down the after-school programs, and schools also are closed.”
“However, we devised a remote tutoring and food distribution system. That is, we started a foodstuff distribution every month and tutorial handouts distribution every week. Our project staff is doing on-call and physical visits of the students with due care.”
Thank you to all of our sponsors and donors supporting children in our programs during the COVID-19 outbreak. Without you, we couldn’t provide this much-needed support to our affiliated projects around the world.
About Ethiopia
Bisrat prepares bags of grains for families to take home.
Located in the easternmost portion of Africa, Ethiopia is ecologically diverse, comprising desert steppes, highland plateaus, towering mountains, and tropical rainforest. Archeological evidence suggests that people have called this land home for tens of thousands of years. With one of the first known alphabet systems, Ethiopia is truly a cradle of civilization. Today, it is the world’s most populous landlocked nation. Its wealth of natural resources lends itself to Ethiopia’s primarily agriculture-based economy. Coffee is its primary export. However, in a land already susceptible to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and droughts, the turmoil brought about by political instability, lack of adequate medical services, and a general deficiency in human rights have plunged much of the nation into abject poverty. About 610,000 Ethiopians are living with HIV/AIDS (2017 est.), and diseases such as malaria, typhoid, and dengue fever are tragically common. Lack of education is both a result of and contributing factor to the widespread poverty plaguing Ethiopia.
Kids Hope Ethiopia Shashamane
The city of Shashamane, located about 150 miles south of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, is no exception to these maladies.
Nearby, Kids Hope Ethiopia serves as a beacon of hope. In this small, rural village, Kids Hope Ethiopia provides impoverished children with nutritious meals, medical care, educational assistance, counseling, and even accommodations for those considered at-risk. In a country where government regulations often hamper economic growth, Kids Hope offers these deserving children the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty through education.
Rainbow “Erdata” Center Addis Ababa
The Rainbow “Erdata” Center serves as a beacon of hope. Founded in 2000, the center’s mission is to provide much-needed assistance to children and their families living in two of the city’s most impoverished slum areas, where parents struggle to provide their children with even one or two meals a day. The Rainbow Center and Children Incorporated have joined together to provide children with not only these basic needs but also education – allowing these children to rise above the difficult socio-economic circumstances that they face.
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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN Ethiopia?
You can sponsor a child in Ethiopia 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 donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in Ethiopia that is available for sponsorship.
Theresa also serves as pianist and organist at Grace (American) Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, which is also the church that I attend.
