Tag Archives: poverty

Shelley Callahan | January 10, 2019En Español

Hear from our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, about her visit with our volunteer coordinator and a sponsored child and his mother at our affiliated project Johns Creek Elementary School in Pike County, Kentucky:

“I arrived on a cloudy afternoon; and even though it was April, spring had not yet reached the higher mountain elevations. The trees had buds, but no leaves.

“I was welcomed warmly by long-time Family Resource and Youth Services Center (FRYSC) Coordinator and our Volunteer Coordinator, Dwayne. It had been a while since I’d visited, so Dwayne took me on a tour of the buildings and grounds so I could familiarize myself with them.

“Rebecca told me that she will never forget our organization’s special help when she and her husband were so desperate.”

– Renée Kube

“Dwayne explained that the original building was constructed around 1950. A separate addition was built in 1975, with a courtyard between the two structures. Finally, a third addition was built in 1991 that enclosed and reclaimed the courtyard for academic purposes, and also provided a new cafeteria.

“Johns Creek Elementary School is the second-largest elementary school in the entire county, with over 800 children. Dwayne feels the school has an excellent academic reputation, and that young parents choose to live in the community so their children can attend school there. It is located in the rural community of Meta, where there is a lot of poverty. Seventy-two percent of the students at the school receive free meals. However, the county’s overall poverty rate is so high that it has qualified for countywide free breakfasts and lunches.”

A tireless advocate

“Dwayne is a tireless advocate for his students, and he works with partners large and small, near and far, for their benefit. He uses a company called Kits for Kidz that provides new, discounted, name-brand school supplies that can be ordered by age and grade. He partners with Operation Warm, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Pennsylvania that provides new winter coats to needy children.

“And he works on a smaller scale with a county group called Manna From Heaven Outreach, Inc. that provides clothing, hygiene items, and sometimes furniture. By collaborating with Operation Warm, Dwayne doesn’t have to use sponsorship funds for winter coats, so he instead focuses on using that money for the purchase of shoes and clothing for our sponsored children throughout the year, which really helps him and the children in our program.”

Taking action

Renée with Joshua and his mom, Rebecca

“After our tour, Dwayne took me to his office, where he had made an appointment for me to meet with Joshua* and his mother, Rebecca*. Joshua is eight years old and is the youngest of three boys who live with their mother and stepfather. All three boys are currently in our sponsorship program. His mother is a homemaker, and his stepfather does landscaping work. Joshua has Down syndrome, which comes with some developmental and physical problems. Overall, his health was stable until this school year, when he had three emergencies that required hospitalization.

“One of these emergencies resulted in a delicate heart operation at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Rebecca took Joshua to Ohio, and she stayed with him while his stepfather stayed home with the two older sons. Dwayne appealed to Children Incorporated for help for the family during these emergencies, and we were able to respond. Our Hope In Action Fund provided food for the stepfather and older boys, some aid with food and lodging for Rebecca, and some funds to purchase food and pajamas to ease Joshua’s stay in the hospital.

“While visiting with them, Rebecca told me that she will never forget our organization’s special help when she and her husband were so desperate. And she added that they are, of course, very grateful for the regular assistance that the boys receive from their sponsors, too.”

Thank you, Renée, for sharing this heartfelt story as a reminder of how Children Incorporated sponsors and donors make a difference in the lives of so many children and families in Kentucky, all over the United States, and around the world!

*Names changed for individuals’ protection.

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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.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | January 4, 2019En Español

From snowcapped Himalayans to tropical beaches, India is truly a nation of contrasts. It boasts a rich history spanning tens of thousands of years. In fact, the earliest known civilization in South Asia once called India’s fertile Indus Valley home. Today, with the world’s second-largest population, India comprises a staggering variety of ethnicities, languages, religions, and cultures. India’s wealth of natural resources and vibrant cultures, however, belie the abject poverty in which so many of its citizens live.

We are very proud of the teachers, administrators, parents, and students at the Auxilium School, as well as of all of our affiliated projects that prioritize parental involvement.

About the Auxilium School

The city of Guntur in the southeastern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is no exception to these maladies. Within this rice-producing region, susceptible to crop-destroying flooding and droughts, thousands of field laborers earn very low wages. Due to widespread poverty, few parents are able to send their children to school. For these reasons, the Auxilium School, located in the outskirts of the city of Guntur, is critical in offering children an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty.

Founded in 1981 and run by members of the Salesian Sisters of Saint John Bosco, the Auxilium School provides the poorest children of the Guntur slums – as well as children from the surrounding rural areas — with shelter, nutrition, and an education. In addition to equipping young children there with a well-rounded curriculum, our volunteer coordinator and the school’s administration also host parent meetings at the beginning of each school year. This way, parents and guardians have an opportunity to meet teachers and ask any questions they may have about the upcoming academic year, which the school feels is a critical element in student achievement.

Many reasons to participate

In India, our volunteer coordinators work to involve parents in their children’s education.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes parental involvement as “parents and school staff working together to support and improve the learning, development, and health of children and adolescents. Parent engagement in schools is a shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage parents in meaningful ways, and parents are committed to actively supporting their children’s and adolescents’ learning and development. This relationship between schools and parents cuts across and reinforces children’s health and learning in multiple settings — at home, in school, in out-of-school programs, and in the community.”

Why is it important for parents to become and stay actively involved in their children’s schooling? According to the National Education Association (NEA), family engagement in school improves achievement, reduces absenteeism, and restores parents’ confidence in their children’s academics. Parental involvement is also linked to better student behavior and enhanced social skills, while also making it more likely that children will avoid unhealthy behaviors such as using tobacco, abusing alcohol or drugs, or resorting to violence.

We are very proud of the teachers, administrators, parents, and students at the Auxilium School, as well as of all of our affiliated projects that prioritize parental involvement. Along with help from our sponsorship program, we feel confident that impoverished children in India are being uplifted through the support they receive from sponsors and their parents, giving them the best possible chance to have bright futures.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN INDIA?

You can sponsor a child in India 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 India who is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | December 19, 2018En Español

Although our affiliated project Dorton Elementary School in Pike County, Kentucky is an older school that has been around since 1929, the staff and administrators there have implemented progressive tactics to ensure that our sponsored and unsponsored children are receiving a well-rounded education that includes learning valuable ethical lessons. On a trip to Pike County to visit with our Volunteer Coordinator Alisa, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, was told about the school’s efforts to not only teach children academics, but to also incorporate character education.

“Students spend much of their young lives in classrooms. This time in school is an opportunity to explain and reinforce the core values upon which character is formed.”

What is character education?

According to the U.S. Department of Education, “Character education teaches the habits of thought and deed that help people live and work together as families, friends, neighbors, communities and nations.”

“Character education is a learning process that enables students and adults in a school community to understand, care about and act on core ethical values such as respect, justice, civic virtue and citizenship, and responsibility for self and others. Upon such core values, we form the attitudes and actions that are the hallmark of safe, healthy and informed communities that serve as the foundation of our society.

“Students spend much of their young lives in classrooms. This time in school is an opportunity to explain and reinforce the core values upon which character is formed.”

Thanks to Alisa and the Family Resource Center, Dorton Elementary School has made a commitment to implement character education while students are young, and oftentimes in need of guidance as they develop. For Alisa, who receives very little help to support children living in poverty outside of our sponsorship program, character education allows her to have an impact on students that will help them grow, because they might not otherwise have the opportunity to learn about these important topics.

Beyond academics

While they were meeting together, Alisa described to Renée exactly how she conducts her character education courses. She explained that many children at the school come from very poor homes. Their parents are often uneducated or absent from their children’s lives due to the rising drug problem in the area; so they aren’t around to teach them valuable ethical lessons.

In order to address these issues, Alisa runs small groups for her elementary students to discuss good manners, kindness, and proper study habits. For the older children in the upper grades, topics such as puberty and bullying are addressed. Alisa also works on drug awareness programs throughout the school year. She hosts a luau in the gym, with a DJ, food, the game cornhole, ping-pong, and other games so that children not only learn about good habits for everyday life, but they also have the chance to put good habits into practice in a fun and safe environment.

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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.

Shelley Callahan | December 13, 2018En Español

We are very grateful to regularly receive testimonials from our incredible volunteer coordinators around the world, because they have the opportunity to see first-hand the amazing impact that our sponsors and donors are having on the lives of impoverished children all over the globe. We would like to share a beautiful letter with you from Neil, one of our volunteer coordinators in North Carolina, in which he expresses his gratitude and appreciation for our programs — and more importantly, for our sponsors.

A letter from Neil

Your donations mean so much to our sponsored kids — and our volunteer coordinators.

“Dear Children Incorporated Staff and Sponsors,

“Words seem inadequate as I think about the smiles and heartfelt appreciation my students demonstrate for the gifts and letters they receive from their sponsors. How do I describe the pride a student exhibits as he walks down the hall in a new pair of sneakers? Or the twinkle in our students’ eyes and the voracious manner in which they read letters from their sponsors as they try to imagine far-off places? I do not believe it is possible to describe the gratitude the students, or I, feel for the sponsors. Words are not enough.

“Let me tell you a story about sneakers. There are two boys who come immediately to mind. Life has dealt them a very difficult hand. Both have absentee parents and are being raised by either a grandparent or great-grandparents. While having many excuses to be mad at the world that create waves of pain and anger, both of these young men work diligently to learn as much as they can, follow the rules, and interact with their classmates in a cooperative manner. They come to school and do their very best every day.

“At Christmas, I asked each of them what they would like from their sponsors. Both wanted a pair of Stephen Curry high-top sneakers. I told them I would see what I could do. Because of their sponsors’ monthly funds and additional holiday gifts, I was able to get both boys exactly what they requested. Each of these young men are used to being disappointed, to having promises made to them that are ultimately broken; and to wish for brand-name products, and to get discount brands instead. That is their experience in life.”

‘Thank you’ doesn’t express how much the assistance from Children Incorporated and the sponsors mean to the students and me. Know that it is heartfelt and truly meant.

– Neil

“When they sat down in my office, opened their bags of gifts, and there in their hands were the coolest shoes a kid could get, they were in disbelief; and then they smiled. Tenderly, they pulled their new shoes from the boxes, as if they were plated in gold — and the bright colors dazzled their eyes. One young man looked up to as if to ask if they were really his, and he had to be encouraged to try them on. One asked to wash his hands before he tried them on so he wouldn’t get them dirty.

“The other day, I greeted one of the young men as he was dropped off at school. The shoes looked almost as good as they did the day he got them. I asked his grandmother about this, and she stated that every day when he comes home from school, he takes off his shoes, washes them, and puts them away. He told her that he has to take care of them because they are the nicest shoes he has ever received in his life. This from a rough-and-tumble boy is an example of the worth he places in those shoes.”

Another special story

“It is unfair that I get to see the smiles from these children when you, their sponsors, might not. There have been times, like those described above, which bring tears to my eyes. One small girl, upon receiving her new, sparkling shoes, had to show me how well she could spin like a ballerina – the entire time, watching how her new shoes sparkled in the light. Another couldn’t stop tapping her feet to make the lights in her shoes come on and go off. Another young lady ran up to me and gave me a very unexpected hug (she is a child who seldom expresses her emotions), and spun around, showing me her new outfit, stating ‘I feel like a millionaire in these clothes.’ Things that I would take for granted meant the world to these students.

We are so grateful for your support of children in need.

“There is one last story I would like to share. One of the Children Incorporated sponsored children at my school is intellectually and physically disabled. Non-verbal and unable to provide for his own care, I have to depend on his caregivers to find out what to get him. They told me he loves blocks, and loves to put them away after playing with them. For Christmas, thanks to his sponsor, he received several different types of blocks and a container to put them in. While he wasn’t able to open them, as the caregivers opened his gifts and showed them to him, I could tell he was quite happy and excited.

“After Christmas break, the caregivers reported that he played incessantly with the blocks, arranging them and stacking them. When finally tired, he would use as much care as he could to put each block in his new container. One day shortly after the end of Christmas break, I was in his classroom giving a guidance lesson for him and his classmates. The boy, typically remote and aloof, began to smack his hands together, beat on his desk, and attempted to ‘talk’ to me. I walked over to him and offered him my hand. This student had never attempted to interact with me before that day. He began patting my hand – and in an ultimate display of affection, took my hand and rubbed it back and forth over his head.

“He chattered away at me and repeatedly patted my hand and had me rub his head during the rest of the guidance lesson. Never would I have believed that the boy understood that the blocks came from me. But he did. And he displayed the tremendous depths of his gratitude in the only manner his unique mind and body could. I left his classroom that day with a profound sense of humility. I had received a blessing his sponsor should have received. And what a humbling blessing it was for me.

“’Thank you’ doesn’t express how much the assistance from Children Incorporated and the sponsors mean to the students and me. Know that it is heartfelt and truly meant.”

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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 | December 6, 2018En Español

It is an unfortunate reality that, when it comes to our affiliated projects around the world, including in urban and rural areas in the United States, we often hear from our volunteer coordinators that there just aren’t enough funds provided to them to help every child in need. Sometimes the reason is that a school’s budget has been cut, or the number of children in attendance is growing faster than the administration can keep up with; or maybe a significant donor is no longer able to fund certain programs, and no new donor has replaced them. Whatever the reason, a lack of funding means that children living in poverty suffer without basic resources, and they are at risk of falling behind in school.

Because funding isn’t always secure for the schools, community centers, and orphanages with which we partner, our volunteer coordinators are endlessly grateful for our sponsors and donors, who help the kids in their care that are enrolled in our program.

Because funding isn’t always secure for the schools, community centers, and orphanages with which we partner, our volunteer coordinators are endlessly grateful for our sponsors and donors, who help the kids in their care that are enrolled in our program. Donations from Children Incorporated don’t always cover the needs of every child at a project, however; and in many cases, our coordinators seek help from the surrounding community in order to ensure that kids living in poverty are getting what they need. One such volunteer coordinator who did just that is Deloris at Mullins Elementary School in Pike County, Kentucky.

Rebuilding her center

Deloris shows Renée and Shelley her supply closet, which is full, thanks to a local church.

Mullins Elementary School is a spacious and well-equipped newer school located just outside the Pikeville city limits. Deloris originally worked in the school’s front office; then she was transferred to the family resource center when our last volunteer coordinator there, Tammy, retired a few years ago. On a trip to visit the school, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, and our U.S. Projects Specialist, Shelley Oxenham, met with Deloris, who explained that when she took over in her new position, she felt like she was starting from square one.

The center had been completely cleaned out after Tammy’s departure, and Deloris found that she had almost no budget to work with and no supplies to distribute to kids who were going to school without proper clothes or any school supplies at all. She told Shelley and Renée that it has been a big task for her to rebuild the center from the ground up. She has had to work hard to figure out how to provide for the students at the school, as well as for their families, who she knows all too well are struggling to make a living in this impoverished region of the United States.

Getting the supplies she needs

In order to obtain the food and school supplies she needed, she reached out to a church in the community to make food baskets during Thanksgiving and Christmas for families who would otherwise go without holiday meals. The church also held a school supplies drive that enabled Deloris to stock a closet in her center. Thankfully, when it comes to the donations that sponsored children are receiving from their sponsors, Deloris has had the funds in place to shop for children enrolled in our program so that they receive new clothes, shoes, and school supplies, as well as hygiene items on a monthly basis.

Before their visit ended, Shelley and Renée discussed how Deloris could identify more children to enroll in our sponsorship program so that we could hopefully link them with sponsors, too. Deloris was excited to work towards getting more children sponsored, with the hope that with additional sponsorships paired with continued help from the community, she could ensure that all the kids at Mullins Elementary School are receiving the consistent support they so desperately need.

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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.

Ron Carter | December 5, 2018En Español

I recently had the privilege of visiting several schools in West Virginia where Children Incorporated offers our child sponsorship program. It had been several years since my last visit to these schools; while I had clear memories from my previous trips, I wasn’t sure what I would find this go-around. Reflecting on the fact that everything in our world changes rapidly, I expected to find that these West Virginia schools were different from how they were when I last visited them. What I discovered, however, is that I was wrong to anticipate significant changes, for visiting these schools was, in many ways, like stepping back in time.

Mr. Carter with our Volunteer Coordinator Lara at Genoa Elementary School

The first two schools I visited, Genoa Elementary School and Dunlow Elementary School, both in Wayne County, West Virginia, are very small institutions; one has a total enrollment of approximately 75 students, and the other, just around ninety. The school buildings are old and showing signs of wear after many years of use; and both sit in extremely rural areas, void of businesses and commerce.

As I drove to these schools from Huntington, West Virginia, a city of 50,000 people less than an hour away, I couldn’t help but feel a drastic shift from city to country — from have to have not. The roads began to curve; some became much narrower and less maintained. Businesses and houses became fewer and farther apart. Then, while seemingly in the middle of nowhere, I arrived at the first school I was scheduled to visit: Genoa Elementary School.

Hearing from our sponsored children

While the staff at the school was extremely welcoming to me — and they clearly take their responsibility of caring for students quite seriously — the heaviness of poverty just hung in the air. It was palpable; I could feel it. As I interacted with several students enrolled in the Children Incorporated sponsorship program, I was moved by their obvious need.

As I spoke with one little girl, she told me that her sponsor writes her letters and encourages her to study hard and always do her homework. She said that she always looks forward to the letters she receives from this woman, for they remind her that someone cares about her and wants her to succeed in life. A little boy at the same school showed me some of his artwork, and he told me that his sponsor sent money for the supplies he used to create his little masterpieces. He was very thankful for the gift.

For more than half a decade, we have been touching lives and offering hope and opportunity in areas where necessities are often in short supply. That, friends, is why our organization exists; and you, through your generous support of our work, make it all possible.

Our wonderful volunteer coordinator at the school shared that a number of children would go without shoes, warm clothing, and food if it weren’t for assistance provided by their sponsors through our organization. She voiced her appreciation, as did the school principal, for all the years that Children Incorporated has helped the poorest among their student body to fit in and experience a sense of normalcy while at school, by providing them with clothing similar to those worn by less financially-stressed youngsters. She talked of the significance of ensuring that these children, too, have pencils and paper, and adequate school supplies, as well as food on the weekends, when they do not receive the free hot meals provided on weekdays in the school cafeteria.

A sense of hope

At the second school I visited, Dunlow Elementary — even further away from a major city, and perhaps even more remote – I found a very similar situation: a small, dedicated, caring staff working very hard to ensure that the children they serve are being well-provided-for and are offered a safe place in which to learn and grow. Children who live in extreme poverty, as most of the youngsters enrolled in our programs do, look forward to attending school, because while there, they not only have access to heat, clean water, and nutritious food — things often missing in their home lives – but they also experience a sense of hope and possibility for their futures. They see beyond what is to what could be, and they dare to dream.

It saddens me that the assistance offered by Children Incorporated is still so vitally important in the lives of these youngsters; yet I am also grateful that we can be there to extend a helping hand and offer support that is truly life-changing. That is what Children Incorporated is about: improving the lives of children and their families as they face financial hardships and trials of all kinds. For more than half a decade, we have been touching lives and offering hope and opportunity in areas where necessities are often in short supply. That, friends, is why our organization exists; and you, through your generous support of our work, make it all possible.

Thank you very much!

From the heart,

Ronald H. Carter

President and Chief Executive Officer

About Wayne County, West Virginia

Wayne County is 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 mines and the ecological stigmas attached to coal as a fuel source have seriously damaged Wayne County’s economy. With coal mining almost shut down, businesses that once depended upon mining and the buying power of 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 these reasons, Genoa Elementary School and Dunlow Elementary School serve as beacons of hope and safe havens, as they are among the few places where children from impoverished families can count on support, encouragement, and a warm nutritious meal each day. The caring teachers at these schools strive to improve each child’s self-esteem and well-being 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.

SPONSOR A CHILD