Tag Archives: kentucky

Shelley Callahan | En Español

“I don’t know who gave us these bikes, but tell her I love her!”

The boy’s words keep echoing in my mind as we make the eight-hour trek from Kentucky back to Richmond, Va. Over the course of the last several weeks, we’ve met with so many children I’ve nearly lost count, but their faces and words stand out in my memory.

Kentucky and Bolivia are worlds apart, but there are many similarities between the two.

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View from La Paz, Bolivia

Eastern Kentucky is one of the poorest regions in the United States. Unemployment is high and children grow up in run-down trailers, far from main roads and more importantly, social services and public facilities like libraries and community centers.

It’s not unlike the mountain towns of Bolivia, which have a much larger population but a similar situation for impoverished children who live in dilapidated homes on the outskirts of town with no transportation and no access to public services.

There are other parallels, including the songs,  hobbies and games children play. Separated by 4,000 miles, the children of Bolivia probably never realize that their counterparts in Kentucky are also playing soccer behind the school in the afternoon. Their cartoon-character t-shirts and tennis shoes, gifts from sponsors, are interchangeable — even their pets.

Cats and kittens

Three days ago, I met Allison in Jackson County, Kentucky. The 7-year-old lives down a logging road with her underemployed parents, her sisters and her cats. When her sponsor asked her what kind of gifts she’d like, her main request was for cat food.

Just like Efrain. The Bolivian fourth-grader lives in a one-bedroom home with his mother, two siblings and three kittens. Efrain politely answered our questions about his schoolwork, his home and his new donated shoes, but it was the kittens that he really wanted to talk about; he couldn’t wait to show us the spot where they sleep next to the bed he shares with his brother.

Kentucky and Bolivia are worlds apart, but there are many similarities between the two.

Constructing a better life

The construction projects aren’t that much different either. In Bolivia, Children Incorporated donated materials and volunteers helped renovate an entire school about 25 kilometers outside Montero. In Kentucky, we didn’t have to build the schools but we did build a ramp at the home of 11-year-old Dennis.

The fifth-grader and his two siblings live with their elderly great-grandparents, who are struggling to care for three children while their own health is failing. Gail, Dennis’ great-grandmother, couldn’t climb the front steps anymore so Children Incorporated donated building materials and the local high school vocational students all got together to build her a ramp.

Skipping a generation

That underprivileged children live with aging grandparents is another ubiquitous truth across nations. In Kentucky, it’s largely caused by the rampant drug use that has swept the region, leaving parents dead, incarcerated or incapable of raising children.

In Bolivia, parents often depart for other countries to find work, leaving children with their grandparents. Regardless of the reasons, this missing generation is especially hard on families as the already-impoverished elderly struggle to care for growing, hungry children.

And in both countries, Children Incorporated sponsors send in food, clothes, shoes and school supplies — and cat food.

Next stop: Kenya

As we near Richmond, it’s time to turn our attention to the next trip – it’s 8,000 miles to Kenya and we’ve got several days before we begin. I have no doubt that once we arrive, we’ll find that just like in Bolivia and Kentucky, the children there need clothes and food but love sports and cats.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD?

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

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Nothing is close in eastern Kentucky. Schools are an hour apart, and each one can easily be an hour away from the children who go there. Walmart – the only place to buy a bike in the entire region – is an even longer drive.

In a rented pickup truck, we trekked out to Walmart on a mission: to pick out and purchase bikes for underprivileged elementary and middle school children. The bikes would be a gift from Claudette Gurley of New Hampshire, who raised money for children’s bikes in honor of a cross-country cyclist friend who recently passed away. 

A surprise at school

DSCF7641Ten bikes were slated for elementary and middle school children in Wolfe County, Kentucky. Wolfe County has a population of about 7,300 and is ranked 14th on the list of Poorest Counties in the United States. The median income for an entire household is less than $26,000 here – about half the national figure.

Virtually every child in the region would qualify as “underprivileged” to outside observers, so schools are staffed with resource coordinators who help them get assistance from outside agencies and non-profits like Children Incorporated.

At Campton Elementary School, the resource coordinator is Susan Lacy, who helped pick out several children to receive bikes. She said that one of her biggest challenges is ensuring that the students have enough to eat when they’re at home. The kids get one healthy meal each school day through free or reduced lunch at Campton, but on weekends and holidays, many go hungry.

Getting after-school snacks is a big deal for these kids – getting a bike was going to be unfathomable.

Susan called in the two students at Campton who were receiving the bikes so they could be the first to see their new wheels. Their shy but appreciative faces said it all – they were overwhelmed by the new presents and were clearly eager for the school day to be over so they could try them out.

After they’d had a few minutes to absorb the news, we loaded the bikes back into the truck to deliver them directly to their homes.

Living conditions

“One of her biggest challenges is ensuring that the students have enough to eat when they’re at home.”

-Susan Lacy

The next stop was Rogers Elementary, also in Wolfe County. Susan is the coordinator here as well, although the two schools are about an hour apart.

At Rogers, a brother and sister came out to see their bikes, and their excitement made us glow the whole drive to their home for the drop-off. There, we met their mother, a single mom with five children in a dilapidated trailer, surrounded by other unoccupied and often burnt-out trailers far from the main road.

Susan said this was one of the poorest areas in eastern Kentucky and that the trailers face a continual threat from fire. Even without the ubiquitous cracked and broken windows, the trailers are hard to heat in the winter and families burn huge quantities of firewood in cramped conditions, leaving the trailers at risk for out-of-control fires.

We’re glad that the children’s mother let us come here. It is truly difficult for many of the families to let anyone see their living conditions, and often, they turn down donations if a drop-off is required because they’re embarrassed by their poverty.

But, in this case, the mother beams as the bikes are delivered to her happy children.

‘Tell her I love her!’

At Red River Valley Elementary, we gave bikes to two sets of brothers. The four boys were sweet and excited, and one of them exclaimed: “I don’t know who gave us these bikes, but tell her I love her!”

All of the Children Incorporated children know they have sponsors, but the youngest don’t always understand what that means. They understand that they receive food, clothes, and gifts, but they don’t always connect those items to a specific person who has sent them. Seeing this child understand that a stranger had purchased a bike just for him was one of my warmest memories of the trip.

At the boy’s home, we handed over the bikes to his mother, who has four children and suffers from periodic strokes. Her health keeps her from working or driving, so the children have nothing much to do in rural Kentucky all summer. The bikes are a blessing for the children, who were gifted with the freedom that comes from fast wheels and the wind in your hair on a hot 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 and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

Shelley Callahan | En Español

We arrived in Jackson, Kentucky on Wednesday and caught up with some of the kids at LBJ Elementary School.

The children here seem like typical kids. Some are shy, some are rambunctious, but each has faced incredible hardship in their short lives. Jackson is one of the poorest cities in the state. Several have lost one or both parents to the rampant drug epidemic in the region and live with a single parent, grandparents or other caretakers.

The children here seem like typical kids. Some are shy, some are rambunctious, but each has faced incredible hardship in their short lives.

Genevieve, the family resource director and our volunteer coordinator, is in charge here. She introduces us to a shy, smiling Allison.*

Genevieve remarked on the relationship between Allison and her sponsor, Carol Gaunce, who lives 500 miles away, back home in Richmond, Virginia.

The Fourth Child

Gaunce was retired with three adult sons when she decided to become Allison’s sponsor. In a way, she added a fourth child to the family. 

In addition to the food, clothes and school supplies she needs, Gaunce regularly sends gifts and letters to keep in touch.

“She’s just as cute as she can be. She’s a shy child, a first-grader,” Gaunce beams. “I write letters when I send her little things from time to time.”

Getting Started

Gaunce first got involved with Children Incorporated in 2014 because of her friendship with the organization’s president and CEO, Ron Carter.

“We heard a lot about what he was doing and we wanted to help,” she said. “My husband is from Kentucky and we knew that Jackson County is one of the poorest in the region.”

Gaunce and her husband Jimmie asked to sponsor a child in West Virginia or eastern Kentucky and they were assigned to Allison.

“We didn’t have any specifics,” she said. “We just wanted a child in need.”

A hard life in Appalachia

Allison is in better shape than many of the Children Incorporated kids, she said, because she has two parents and a stable home – the only thing lacking is money.

Allison, her two sisters and her parents live in a trailer up a logging road and her parents both work minimum wage jobs. That they can both find any work at all is a rare thing in the impoverished rural area, where the mining industry’s decline has left the entire region in dire straights.

“They are a loving family unit,” Gaunce said. “I would love to meet Allison and give her a hug but I don’t think she needs that – she has a good family.”

Gaunce provides support and encouragement in other ways. For example, Allison’s parents have a large garden where they grow most of their own food and Allison has a number of pet cats who live outdoors. One of the things she’s asked Gaunce for is food to help feed them, and she obliges.

“She’s very compassionate,” Gaunce smiles proudly.

Boots on the ground

Genevieve administers our program to 28 children at this school. She identifies students most in need and works with Children Incorporated to get them day-to-day essentials.

She also acts as a go-between for sponsors and children. Gaunce sends letters and gifts to Allison through Genevieve, who checks them over before delivering them to the 7-year-old.

“I think that’s a good thing because you don’t really know what people might be sending the child,” Gaunce said. “She can open it up and make sure they’re appropriate. I like that process.”

It’s one of the things that especially pleased her about Children Incorporated.

“They are a loving family unit. I would love to meet Allison and give her a hug but I don’t think she needs that – she has a good family.”

– Carol Gaunce, Sponsor

“Before you even sign up, you know what the program is like,” she said. “It’s very straightforward.”

Children Incorporated uses volunteer coordinators in each location to manage support efforts. The volunteers are locals – school resource counselors in Kentucky or nuns in Bolivia – and already know the children and their families well. That helps build trust among client families and ensures continuity so children can rely on continued physical and emotional support.

“It’s a wonderful program,” Gaunce said. “I have nothing but good things to say about it.”

‘Such great need’

For anyone considering helping children in need, Gaunce has only one piece of advice – go for it.

“There is such great need,” she said. “Don’t hold back. If it is in your heart to do it, do it.”

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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 and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

SPONSOR A CHILD