Tag Archives: opportunity

Shelley Callahan | June 20, 2018

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 | June 8, 2018En 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

Children Incorporated | June 4, 2018En Español

Seniors in high school have a lot to think about: leaving their school and friends behind following graduation, what their next step in life will be, and how they will make it on their own once they leave the comfort of their parents’ homes. For one small independent school in Virginia, giving back is also a part of senior class activities.

Each year, Brunswick Academy in Lawrenceville, Virginia celebrates their last year of high school by taking a trip to a destination of their choice. This year, they decided to go to the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. As each senior class there does, these young adults raised funds for their trip. They held six fundraisers this year, and were able to collect $1,500. This was more than they needed, so they decided to give one-third of their earnings to charity, true to the academy’s founding principle: “We believe it is our responsibility to provide students with an environment where they can become good citizens who can make positive contributions to society.” The Brunswick Academy Class of 2018 chose to donate to Children Incorporated.

This generous gift from the Brunswick Academy was used for the purchase of food, bedding, clothing, and toiletries for a family in New Orleans, Louisiana, as well as to assist four families in Inez, Kentucky that had lost their homes and belongings to fire.

The Value of our work

Ben, the Senior Class President at Brunswick Academy, called our office back in March to let us know about his class’ decision to contribute to our organization. He invited our President and Chief Executive Officer, Ron Carter, to attend the last assembly of the school year in May to speak to the student body of kindergarteners through twelfth-graders about the work of Children Incorporated. At that assembly, Mr. Carter gratefully accepted a check for our organization in the amount of $500.

Mr. Carter had the pleasure of meeting with Ben, and asked him how and why his class had chosen Children Incorporated to be the beneficiary of their hard work. Ben explained that the senior class advisor, Ms. Roberts, had suggested Children Incorporated. She was well-acquainted with our organization due to the fact that one of her close friends once served on our Board of Directors. It was through that connection that Ms. Roberts learned of our life-changing work; and as a result, she told Ben about it.

Ms. Roberts saw the value in recommending an organization whose mission the students could really get behind: Children Incorporated provides resources to children in need in the United States and abroad because we passionately believe that children everywhere deserve education, hope, and opportunity. Ben was moved when he heard about us, for he has a personal connection to children. Throughout his high school years, he worked as a childcare counselor after school and on weekends. Ben recognized that our work is important, for we, just like him, strive to improve children’s lives.

Kids in Kentucky and New Orleans are receiving support, thanks to a donation from students at Brunswick Academy.

The Brunswick Academy Senior Class contribution was used in support of our Hope In Action Fund, which addresses the pressing needs of children enrolled in our program and their families in times of emergencies and natural disasters. Donations to our Hope In Action Fund allow us to offer assistance beyond sponsorship support when it is needed.

Taking part in giving

This generous gift from the Brunswick Academy was used for the purchase of food, bedding, clothing, and toiletries for a family in New Orleans, Louisiana, as well as to assist four families in Inez, Kentucky that had lost their homes and belongings to a fire. As a result of Ms. Roberts having shared our work with her students, ordinary high school seniors made an extraordinary difference in the lives of five families in need. Those five families’ well-being was improved as a result, and they were given hope in the wake of devastation.

When adolescents take part in giving, they start to understand early in life the impact that they can potentially have on the lives of others. Involving children and youth in the giving process – and supporting causes that speak to them – can teach them about the importance of helping others, as well as give them a sense of meaning and purpose.

Not only do contributions create change, but so does telling our story – and our story is one that everyone can understand. All children deserve the chance to have a bright future; they deserve the chance to break the cycle of poverty. Young people helping young people is a beautiful testament to the fact that anyone can be part of someone else’s story through giving – and from giving comes gratitude that thrives and makes us want to give even more.

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How do I sponsor a child with Children Incorporated?

You can sponsor a child with Children Incorporated at one of our affiliated projects 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 who is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Children Incorporated | May 31, 2018

Dear Friends,

At any given time, we have over 1,000 children on our waiting list for sponsorship. Currently, there are more than 600 unsponsored children in our United States Division alone. One of our organization’s most difficult challenges is finding enough sponsors to support all the children referred to us by our network of volunteer coordinators. After being enrolled in our sponsorship program, some children wait many months — even years — before they are matched with individual sponsors.

One of our organization’s most difficult challenges is finding enough sponsors to support all the children referred to us by our network of volunteer coordinators.

Ideally, every enrolled child would have a sponsor — but the reality is that there aren’t as many individual sponsors as there are children in need in our program. That is why our Shared Hope Fund is incredibly important. Established to assist children who are not yet linked with sponsors, the fund provides food, clothing, educational assistance, and much more as these children wait to be sponsored.

We have heard many heartwarming stories of young people who have benefitted greatly as a direct result of our Shared Hope Fund. Avi*, a young man from India, is one such person. He did not have a sponsor, yet assistance from our Shared Hope Fund supported him throughout his high school years. After graduating, Avi desperately wanted to continue attending classes and receive vocational training, so he applied for assistance from our Higher Education Fund, which gave him the opportunity to go on to college.

Avi is now a Doctor of Pharmacy and has been working in this field for about a year now. Like Avi, there are other young men and women who have graduated from high school and who are now attending college under these same circumstances — and we are very proud that we are able to help them through our Higher Education Fund.

Your donations provide for the immediate needs of children in our program.

Both of these special funds are very important, and we need your support in order to keep meeting needs as they arise! Our Shared Hope Fund made it possible for Luisa*, a young girl in Guatemala, to receive school supplies while she waited to become sponsored. Marlene, a precious child from Kentucky, received a brand new pair of glasses when hers broke — and she didn’t have to wait until she had a sponsor to receive this assistance. Through our Higher Education Fund, Summer, also from Kentucky, is now a junior in college with the goal of working in the field of business administration after she graduates. Chelsea, another young woman who was enrolled in our child sponsorship program, is now a college senior and straight-A student who will soon begin her career as a systems analyst.

Our Shared Hope Fund and our Higher Education Fund are but two of the many ways in which Children Incorporated continues to meet needs around the world. Please consider making a contribution to one or both of these special funds today.

From the heart,

Ronald H. Carter
President and Chief Executive Officer
Children Incorporated

*All names changed for individuals’ protection.

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HOW DO I DONATE TO THE SHARED HOPE FUND AND THE HIGHER EDUCATION FUND?

You can donate to our Shared Hope Fund and Higher Education Fund 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 and select the fund you would like to donate to.

DONATE

Shelley Callahan | May 23, 2018En Español

Located twenty minutes from downtown New Orleans, the city’s eastern 9^thWard 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

Shelley Callahan | May 21, 2018En Español

The Encore Academy lies in the Milan neighborhood of New Orleans, a subdistrict of Central City in the Uptown region. The neighborhood dates back to the 1800s, and it grew to become the largest African American commercial district during the Jim Crow era. After desegregation, many African American families moved to other areas in the city, leaving many businesses and homes vacant. Currently, Central City has one of the highest murder and violent crime rates in New Orleans. Although the Encore Academy is able to offer students an education, it is an established charter school without a library.

Children at Encore Academy unfortunately don’t have a library at their school.

We are not exactly sure why the school, which is housed in a refurbished structure, does not include a library, whereas most of our other affiliated schools in the United States do. Not only are students lacking free books to borrow to help them with their education, but they are also required to purchase and wear a uniform to school, which creates a financial burden for their parents. While the uniforms downplay socioeconomic differences to foster school spirit and a sense of unity, the cost to families living in poverty is huge — especially when they have multiple children in school at the same time, and are already having a hard time making ends meet.

A growing population of students

Sponsorship support sometimes goes towards purchasing books so that children are not only reading in their leisure time at home, but they also have a sense of ownership when they might not otherwise while living in poverty.

The school hasn’t been able to expand enough to create a library for our sponsored and unsponsored children, but attendance at the Encore Academy is expanding fast. Since its founding in 2012, the school has grown from 220 students to over 550 in grades pre-kindergarten through eighth. The academy is an open-admissions charter school, which means that children from all over the city attend. Where it is lacking in books, the school does have a strong foundation in the arts, especially in music, as well as a before and after school program called Champ Camp. Run by our partnering organization at the Encore Academy, Communities In Schools (CIS), some of the camp’s enrichment activities include voice and theater production. In the past, Children Incorporated has provided Hope In Action funding to help with these important enrichment activities.

Giving children the gift of books

Since these children don’t have access to literature outside of school textbooks, sponsorship support sometimes goes towards purchasing books so that children are not only reading in their leisure time at home, but they also have a sense of ownership when they might not otherwise while living in poverty. Although we hope that the school will be able to establish a library for its students in the future, we are grateful for our sponsors, who are supporting children with basic needs and books so that they can obtain an education and have a brighter future.

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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