Tag Archives: help children

Shelley Callahan | En Español

The city of Marikina, considered part of metropolitan Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is home to the Fortune neighborhood. Within this community, most residents rent modest homes, which are typically little more than shacks constructed from scrap wood and sheets of corrugated metal. They usually have no indoor plumbing — or even beds — and are shared by eight to twelve family members. Tragically, hunger, malnutrition, health issues, and a lack of sufficient clothing often cause children living in this neighborhood to miss school — and sometimes even to drop out altogether.

Thankfully, the Fortune’s Children Center, or the Fortune Center, our affiliated site in this part of the Philippines, is able to support children and their families who are living in poverty. Established by the Damayan at Tiago Foundation, this center functions as both a school and daycare center, which offer community-building programs to assist teenagers and adults facing issues caused by poverty.

As a result of regular monthly funds being sent to the center, the children receive meals every day.

A busy place

On a recent visit to the Philippines, Children Incorporated’s Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet, found that the Fortune Center was bustling with activity. Over fifty children at the center are supported by our sponsorship program at the center. Upon his arrival, Luis was greeted not only by our sponsored and unsponsored kids, but by their parents as well.

The parents expressed to Luis their gratitude for the support their children receive from their sponsors. As a result of regular monthly funds being sent to the center, the children are receiving meals every day. Sponsorship support also provides tutoring for the children, and it supports all their educational needs, like uniforms, supplies, shoes, and clothing for school. Twice a year, a medical team goes to the center to set up a clinic for the children and their families who live in the surrounding community.

Luis found that since his last visit to the Philippines a few years ago, the children are continuing to thrive. Many of our sponsored children who have been in our program since they started school have graduated from high school — and some are now off to college. Luis was told by the Director of the Fortune Center, Polly, that two former sponsored children, Maria* and William*, have even graduated from college. Maria studied English in college, and is now a high school teacher. She has mentioned to Polly that she is interested in returning to the Fortune Center to help establish an English tutoring program, with support from Children Incorporated.

Hope for the future

Before leaving, Luis spoke with Polly about what she hoped for the future of the center. Polly mentioned that she would love to establish a water purification plant on the property, so that a few families could start small businesses. The plant would generate potable water at a low cost while also employing members of the community who could then sell the water to Marikina residents. At the same time, the children could learn about small business administration by observing community members at work.

Beyond establishing this new program at the center, Polly would also love to add twenty to thirty more children to our sponsorship program, as many more kids who live nearby could use the support of a caring sponsor, so that they may also have the opportunity to obtain an education and rise above the poverty in which they live.

*Names changed for individuals’ protection.

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HOW CAN I SPONSOR A CHILD IN THE PHILIPPINES?

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 donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in the Philippines that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan |

Mitchell County, nestled in the rugged western mountains of North Carolina, serves as a tourist destination for thousands who flock to the region each year to glimpse its spectacular vistas. The area’s breathtaking beauty and rich culture, however, belie a tragic truth: in this smallest and least populous county of all of North Carolina reside some of the nation’s poorest families.

We are incredibly proud that our sponsorship program not only provides weather-appropriate school clothing and supplies to kids on a regular basis, but it also promotes literacy and fosters a love of reading.

A community in need

Years ago, this region boasted a number of productive feldspar and mica mining operations. Today, those minerals no longer bring in the profits they once did; mines have closed, and many workers who earned their livelihood by mining are now jobless. With little in the county to attract industry – and inadequate highways to encourage development in the mountains – Mitchell County has few economic prospects.

Many families in this rural area live well below the federal poverty line, and the overwhelming poverty there has debilitating effects on the children of the region, negatively affecting their self-esteem, health, and overall well-being. For these reasons, Gouge Elementary School and its resource center, as well as our sponsorship program, are a great help to the surrounding community, providing students with a sound education, quality teachers, and the basic needs they would otherwise go without.

Helping children to read

Recently, thanks to their sponsors, children enrolled in our program at Gouge Elementary School were able to participate in the Spring Book Fair, during which they chose books to take home and keep. One of our organization’s core values is education, and many of our kids had never had books of their own until they were matched with sponsors. We are incredibly proud that our sponsorship program not only provides weather-appropriate school clothing and supplies to kids on a regular basis, but it also promotes literacy and fosters a love of reading.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN NORTH CAROLINA?

You can sponsor a child in North Carolina 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.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan |

When we received a very significant donation from our partner International Student Exchange (ISE) last year, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, wasted no time in working to ensure that the donated funds would make a positive impact on the lives of as many children as possible in the United States. Thanks to this important partnership with ISE and to Renee’s wonderful efforts in working with our domestic affiliated projects to support children in need, we were able to do the following:

– At the Hanaadli Community School Dormitory in New Mexico, eight laptop computers were purchased for the children there to check out and use. It is vital for youth on the remote Navajo Reservation to have access to technology and a window to our global community.

Students at the Pinon School work on the area where grapevines will be planted.

– At the Pinon Community School in New Mexico, funds went towards labor and materials for the installation of flooring in the new outdoor reading pergola, where native canyon grape vines were planted. Students use the fruits from those vines to make grape jelly. The school was also provided with supplies and materials to start up a student-run equestrian feed and supply store in collaboration with the agriculture and math teachers.

– At the St. Michaels Association for Special Education in Arizona, donations went towards labor and materials for a well that provides clean, good-tasting water for physically and mentally handicapped children. The water that comes out of all the taps there is usually either yellow, brown, or black, and it smells and tastes bad. Funds also went to hardscaping the area in compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, which included materials for that work, like concrete and wire mesh; and labor costs for installing a sidewalk from the main building to the playground for wheelchair-bound students. This outdoor access has heightened their spirits and increased their activity.

– At Warfield Elementary School in Kentucky, funds from ISE went towards the purchase of hand tools for the school garden, soil for the greenhouse, and plants and seeds for both.

At the Francis L. Cardozo Education Campus in Washington, D.C., funds went to providing nutritious food for the weekend backpack feeding program there. This school has a high percentage of impoverished students, many of whom are homeless.

– At Glade Creek Elementary School in North Carolina, funds paid half a semester’s worth of tuition for most children enrolled in our program — entire tuition costs for those whose parents couldn’t afford to pay half — for an after-school program put on by the Junior Appalachian Musicians. The program is run by recognized experts, and the children who participate in it take lessons in playing a traditional instrument, like the banjo, dulcimer, guitar, or mandolin; and they take a course in an area of Appalachian cultural enrichment as well.

– At Broad Rock Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia, funds went towards purchasing LEGO base plates and LEGOS for the library for the installation of a LEGO wall. The librarian and math teachers collaborate in using the wall for lessons on coding for classification purposes, logistical and higher-level thinking, artistic expression, and cross-curricular work.

– At the Francis L. Cardozo Education Campus in Washington, D.C., funds went to providing nutritious food for the weekend backpack feeding program there. This school has a high percentage of impoverished students, many of whom are homeless.

– At Charles Hart Middle School in Washington, D.C., donations from ISE went towards providing nutritious food for the weekend backpack feeding program there, and for fresh fruits and vegetables for the school’s monthly market. Ward 8, where Charles Hart Middle School is located, is a food desert, with mostly just convenience stores nearby, which sell junk food and a small selection of boxed and canned foods; there is only one full-service grocery store in close proximity. There are barriers to transportation there as well, so many children have very limited access to fresh produce otherwise.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD WITH CHILDREN INCORPORATED?

You can sponsor a child with 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 sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child who is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

The small landlocked nation of Bolivia comprises the 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. To the east are the lush lowland plains of the Amazon Jungle. 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 there, resulting in widespread malnutrition, crime, and disease.

Yotala, an agricultural suburb of Sucre, is no exception to these hardships. The area is prone to drought, which not only diminishes crop yield, but it also forces families to purchase water for drinking and bathing. Many people in this community are very poor; they rarely manage to grow enough food to feed their families, much less to sell at the market. The Santa Rosa School was founded to assist the children of Yotala’s subsistence farming families. The school teaches core academic subjects, and it has received recognition in Bolivia with high honors for its biology and geography classes.

Children need to attend school to succeed; but more critically, they must attend schools where they are being taught by trained professionals – which is just the case at the Santa Rosa School.

A great institution

Children need to attend school to succeed; but more critically, they must attend schools where they are being taught by trained professionals – which is just the case at the Santa Rosa School. There are sixteen professors at the school – a large number compared to many schools – which means that the children there are attending a great institution where they learn daily and are prepared for moving on to receive a higher education.

Not only is the Santa Rosa School acclaimed for its academics, but it also offers skills training in such areas as weaving, agronomy, dressmaking, carpentry, computer literacy, and hairdressing. The school encourages parental involvement. Since many parents of students there are illiterate or only speak Quechua, the school offers them educational courses, along with general courses on parenting skills and nutrition – all of which afford them the opportunity to obtain better jobs and earn a greater income, which is helpful for their entire families.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN BOLIVIA?

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

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan |

The small landlocked nation of Bolivia comprises the 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. The lush lowland plains of the Amazon Jungle are found 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 there, resulting in widespread malnutrition, crime, and disease. For these reasons, Children Incorporated supports hundreds of children in Bolivia each year, providing them with basic necessities so that they have the opportunity to go to school and succeed.

Facts about Bolivia

– Population: 10.1 million (UN, 2011)

– Capital: Sucre (official), La Paz (administrative)

– Largest city: Santa Cruz

– Area: 1.1 million square kilometers, or 424,164 square miles

Nearly 60% of Bolivians live below the poverty line. In rural areas, the numbers are even more dramatic. Three out of every four people living in these areas suffer from poverty.

– Major languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, Guarani

– Major religion: Christianity

– Life expectancy: 65 years for men, 69 years for women (UN)

– Monetary unit: the boliviano

– Main exports: soybeans, natural gas, zinc, gold, silver, lead, tin, antimony, wood, sugar

Facts about child poverty in Bolivia

 – It is estimated that 2.5 million children live in conditions of poverty. The causes of mortality in children under the age of 5, according to the Ministry of Health, are directly associated with poverty. An estimated 36% of these deaths occur as a result of diarrheal diseases, and an estimated 28%, as a result of malnutrition.

 – According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the poverty in Bolivia is among the worst in South America. Economic growth and opportunities to make a living are most commonly found in urban areas, making it difficult for indigenous farmers, inhabitants of more remote areas with fewer people, to market their products and provide for their families.

– Nearly 60% of Bolivians live below the poverty line. In rural areas, the numbers are even more dramatic. Three out of every four people living in these areas suffer from poverty.

– One reason for the extreme poverty lies in Bolivia’s geography: many of the country’s roads are undeveloped, so farmers have difficulty transporting their products to sell them in markets outside of town – which, in turn, negatively impacts their families and the communities in which they live.

– It is estimated that 70% of the rural population and 30% of the urban population are illiterate.

– The incomes of nearly two-thirds of households are too low to afford the minimum amount of food necessary for healthy living.

-Around 12% of school-age children in Bolivia are not attending school.

Where we work

In Bolivia, we affiliate with fourteen projects in three major cities and their surrounding areas: Santa Cruz, La Paz, and Sucre. Santa Cruz is Bolivia’s largest city. Sucre, Bolivia’s constitutional capital, retains much of the flavor of Spanish colonialism, including many buildings erected by the conquistadors, and the second-oldest university in Latin America. At 12,000 feet above sea level, La Paz is the highest capital city in the world.

How you can help in Bolivia

You can help a child living in poverty to receive an education in a few different ways. One way is through our child sponsorship program. Sponsorship provides an underprivileged child with basic and education-related necessities such as food, clothing, healthcare, school supplies, and school tuition payments. This vital support allows impoverished, vulnerable children to develop to their full potential – physically, emotionally, and socially. Sponsors positively impact the lives of the children they sponsor through the simple knowledge that someone cares about their well-being. This gives children in need hope, which is powerful.

Sponsorship provides an underprivileged child with basic and education-related necessities such as food, clothing, healthcare, school supplies, and school tuition payments.

Our policy has always been to consider the needs of each sponsored child on an individual basis. We work closely with our volunteer coordinators at our project sites, who are familiar with each individual circumstance and the needs of every child in their care. Sponsorship donations are sent to our projects – orphanages, homes, community centers, and schools – at the beginning of each month in the form of subsidy stipends. Our on-site volunteer coordinators use those funds to purchase items for children in our program, to ensure that they have what they need to do their very best and succeed in school.

You can also help children in Bolivia by donating to one of our special funds. Our special funds offer a variety of giving options for sponsors who wish to further their support, as well as for donors who wish to make a difference without making a commitment. In the past, thanks to donations to our Hope In Action Fund, we have been able to build classrooms, as well as homes for people living in poverty in Bolivia, greatly changing their lives for the better, and giving them the opportunity to become financially stable.

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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 donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in Bolivia that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

 References:

 https://www.unicef.org/bolivia/children_1540.htm

 https://borgenproject.org/poverty-in-bolivia/

 https://www.unicef.org/bolivia/children_1538.htm

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Located twenty minutes from downtown New Orleans, the city’s eastern 9th Ward is a tight-knit community of over 65,000 residents. “The East,” as most locals call it, started off in the 1960s as a suburban-style area within the city limits. Beginning in the mid-1980s, this region began to decline into a state of poverty. The city’s public schools system, notorious for being one of the worst in the country, only perpetuated the problem into the next generation. Then came the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In the storm’s wake, countless businesses – and even hospitals – opted not to re-open, leaving the residents of an already-troubled community severely underserviced. Recovery has been slow. In an area prone to crime and littered with abandoned buildings and homes, kids face significant barriers to their ability to succeed in school.

In addition to having difficulty concentrating in school, some of the children lost their homes for a second time in their young lives.

At the ReNEW Schaumburg Elementary School, staff work hard to help children overcome these obstacles. Founded in 1965, the school was originally part of the New Orleans public schools system. It became a ReNEW charter school in 2013; and today, it is the largest school in the city, with 875 children in grades kindergarten through eight. The dedicated faculty strives to innovatively prepare students for college and beyond, providing personalized attention to each student’s educational and non-academic needs. The ReNEW Schaumburg Elementary School also offers an advanced Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) lab and a world-class library.

When disaster strikes

In February of 2017, a tornado severely damaged the ReNEW Schaumburg Elementary School building and the surrounding New Orleans East community. School was in session and children were in the building when the tornado struck. The administration, faculty, and staff earned acclaim from city officials for keeping the children safe and maintaining order during the tornado, and no one was injured.

Renée with Erin and one of our sponsored children

After the storm was over, the school was vacated for repairs. As kids were shifted to a temporary facility, they found themselves in overcrowded classrooms that were cramped and uncomfortable. Some of the children suffered emotional trauma due to having experienced the tornado and the transition to a new school. Their test scores dropped as a result of these factors.

In addition to having difficulty concentrating in school, some of the children lost their homes for a second time in their young lives. Students who were in grades six and above had lived through Hurricane Katrina, and now they faced yet another natural disaster in their short lifetimes. Twenty-five homes were damaged, and most of the families did not have renter’s insurance. As families worked to rebuild their lives, they lived with other families, often sleeping on couches in tight quarters.

Excited to read

Erin is our volunteer coordinator at ReNEW Schaumburg Elementary School. On a recent trip to visit the school, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, met with Erin. Erin told Renée that she loves our sponsorship program. While Erin focuses on providing basic needs such as clothing and shoes to our sponsored and unsponsored children, she is also a big believer in supporting literacy and a true love of reading. She participates in the Lollipop Book Club, through which she orders books for kids, and they receive a wrapped book and lollipop. Erin can shop for books by reader age or search by theme, such as John Newbery Medal winners. She said that the kids get really excited about their books.

Erin also expressed to Renée that she appreciates when sponsors send additional gifts to their sponsored children, because they allow her to take time to really be thoughtful and personal about the items she chooses for sponsored children. She often spends the extra funds on hygiene and grooming items – something that she feels the children need very often, especially while living in transitional environments.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN NEW ORLEANS?

You can sponsor a child in New Orleans 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.

SPONSOR A CHILD