Tag Archives: sponsors

Shelley Callahan | November 21, 2021En Español

Often called the Bluegrass County of the Mountains, Morgan County is situated amid Kentucky’s picturesque, mountainous Eastern Coal Fields region. The county itself was first settled by Scotch and Irish immigrants during the eighteenth century and derives its name from an homage to Revolutionary War hero General Daniel Morgan.

“The East Valley community is generally more in need than other communities in the area, as many families are struggling with generational poverty that they just can’t get out of.”

Despite its natural beauty and rich history, Morgan County suffers the socioeconomic issues associated with the widespread, debilitating poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment so tragically typical of Appalachia. There are few economic opportunities in the small rural town of Crockett today, where our affiliated project, East Valley Elementary School, is located. Thankfully, students and their parents can rely on the dedicated staff at the school that serves children in this area, offering them a safe environment and the chance to obtain a well-rounded education — which can provide them a path out of the poverty that their families have faced for decades.

A community in need

East Valley Elementary School educates around 144 children in grades Pre-K through 5th grade — many of whom come from impoverished households.

“The school is located in an older building but is very well maintained. The Family Resource Center Coordinator, Angela, who is also our volunteer coordinator, is very experienced at her job,” explains Children Incorporated’s Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube.

“On my last visit to the school, in late 2019, Angie told me that the East Valley community is generally more in need than other communities in the area, as many families are struggling with generational poverty that they just can’t get out of.”

An article published by the North Carolina Community Action Association defines generational poverty and describes it effects:

“Parents were poor, their kids are now poor, and their grandkids kids will grow up poor. Like genetics, families in this situation seem to pass down poverty from one generation to the next. These families tend to be stuck in the cycle of poverty which means they and their children will continue to live in poverty until an external influence can help them escape.

Thanks to Angie, children in our program received much-needed resources throughout the year.

Generational poverty only requires that a family lives in poverty for at least two generations. Generational poverty persists mostly because of internal psychological factors, although financial issues are the external force that create these psychological barriers. It’s a combination of hopelessness, scarcity mindset and toxic stress.

Almost all of the psychological issues with generational poverty are centered around finances. Many parents work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. This lack of a fundamental resource — money — creates a “scarcity mindset”. The people trapped in poverty struggle to think of the future because they are so focused on surviving for the next few days or weeks. In this mindset, neither adult nor child are thinking about college, careers or higher achievements. Even if they are, they often feel that these dreams are unattainable to them, and their lot in life is to just try to survive.

Living in constant worry about money can also cause toxic stress which can damage the learning, behavior and health of people living with it. For children, the effects span their lifespan.”

Keeping kids interested in learning

According to Angie, many parents of her students place a low value on education, because they are preoccupied with trying to survive day-to-day, and don’t often have time to consider much for the future — both because they never imagine one for themselves and because they can’t imagine offering a different future for their children.

Living in constant worry about money can also cause toxic stress which can damage the learning, behavior and health of people living with it. For children, the effects span their lifespan.”

“Angie is incredibly grateful for our sponsorship program because it gives her the chance to offer children food, clothing and school supplies which will hopefully keep students in school and interested in learning — and it gives her access to them so she can encourage them to stay in school and consider higher education,” said Renée.

“Fortunately for Angie, the loving teachers at East Valley Elementary School keep a close eye on the children and serve as Angie’s ‘eyes and ears.’ Some report the kids come to school on Monday mornings dirty and ravenously hungry — when she hears this, she makes sure to focus on those children who are really struggling so they know they cared for and that someone is looking out for them.”

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How do I sponsor a child in Kentucky?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky 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 in Kentucky that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | November 13, 2021En Español

For students in this area, Morgan Central Elementary School serves as a beacon of hope, offering children a safe environment, a caring staff, and the chance to obtain a well-rounded education — things that we consider essential for success.

The idea is to improve students’ nutrition by exposing them to and encouraging them to eat a fresh fruit or vegetable snack at least three days each week,” said Renée.

Stretching her budget

“This school has around 300 children in grades Pre-K through 5^th — our sponsorship program is run by our volunteer coordinator, Brittany,” explained Renée Kube, our Director of U.S. Programs.

“During my last visit to the school in 2019, Brittany told me that she prefers to shop for the children at the local Walmart because she can really stretch out her budget that way. She added that the kids are not picky or particular about designer brands and are happy to receive sturdy, decent, school clothes which Walmart can offer at a low price.”

A variety of fresh food

“Brittany was very excited to tell me about a grant the school had been awarded through the United States Department of Agriculture. The grant is called the FFVP, which stands for the ‘Fresh Fruits & Vegetables Program.’ The idea is to improve students’ nutrition by exposing them to and encouraging them to eat a fresh fruit or vegetable snack at least three days each week,” said Renée.

Our volunteer coordinoator, Brittany (left), is pictured with one of our sponsored children and Morgan Central Elementary School’s guidance counselor

“Because so many of the children have been minimally exposed to fresh fruit at home, often times they have never tried some of the fruits or vegetables offered. They are encouraged to try it, but students may choose not to partake if they don’t like what’s being served. The school is allowed to buy the produce at local grocery stores, or even to buy from farmers’ markets, if any exist in the area, which also helps small business.”

Going above and beyond to feed kids

Brittany explained that this program has been so helpful because food insecurity is a big problem in the county. To help even more, she has been running the ‘Pack A Snack’ food bag program every Friday. She uses large Ziploc bags and stuffs them with granola bars, ramen noodles, packaged peanut butter crackers, and micro-wavable mac and cheese. Brittany said her main food partner is Lacey Creek Church of Christ, but she would love to have more funds so that she could put more food in the bags,” said Renée.

“I was delighted to tell her about our U.S. Feeding Program that helps our affiliated projects with programs just like this, and that I would be happy for her to apply for additional assistance to ensure students are getting food to take home on the weekends in addition to what they are already receiving at school.”

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How do I sponsor a child in Kentucky?

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | November 6, 2021En Español

Our affiliated project, Morgan County Middle School, is located in West Liberty, Kentucky, and serves 464 students in 6^th through 8th grade — many of whom come from low-income households.

The school’s Family Resource Youth Services Center is run by Children Incorporated’s volunteer coordinator, Kim.

“Kim runs a lot of important programs for our kids, and she can always use help with them. Her favorites are the 8^th grade career mentoring program, the weekend feeding program, and the Sweet Dreams bed program,” said Renée.

“Kim was previously at one of the elementary schools, Morgan Central, for many years, but she moved up to the middle school after its coordinator retired. Kim said it was a smooth transition, as many of the kids were her former elementary students,” explained our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube.

“However, the move did refine her awareness and sensitivity to this age group — middle school children are coping with the physical and emotional challenges of puberty, and many of them are also enduring poverty and family stress. These challenges make the Family Resource Center more important than ever.”

“When I last visited with Kim in late 2019, she told me that, due to the county’s high poverty rate, they were awarded district-wide free lunch. This has made it so much less embarrassing for the kids who don’t have lunch money. Now everyone is on the same level. Her school is also one of three schools in the county that is serving an early supper on select days, which really helps families in the community as well,” said Renée.

Kim’s Programs

Kim is pictured with one of the students in our sponsorship program at Morgan County Middle School.

“Kim runs a lot of important programs for our kids, and she can always use help with them. Her favorites are the 8^th grade career mentoring program, the weekend feeding program, and the Sweet Dreams bed program. She is most proud of and excited about the Sweet Dreams bed program,” exclaimed Renée.

“Kim said all Morgan County Public Schools are eligible to participate in the Build A Bed Program operated by Morehead State University. However, only 200 beds are made per year, and with so many counties and schools eligible, not all children in need can be helped.”

“So, she and the other coordinators in Morgan County started their own program. The Eastern Kentucky Correctional Center is located in West Liberty. The prison builds the beds for free for the students at the school, and the school coordinators appeal to local businesses to buy the mattresses for the kids, some of which she has been able to secure. Kim said more assistance is always needed to purchase mattresses, sheets, blankets, pillows, and comforters,” said Renée.

“Because of our Beds and Linens Fund, and thanks to our sponsors, Children Incorporated has been able to help Kim and our sponsored children with those new items so that students from the middle school can sleep comfortably at home and be prepared for school each day rested and ready to learn!”

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How do I sponsor a child in Kentucky?

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | October 31, 2021En Español

Morgan County is located in the northeastern part of Kentucky amongst a terrain of rolling hillsides, with no true mountains. The Licking River, the main waterway in the county, runs through its eponymous valley, which houses the county seat, West Liberty. It is a truly beautiful county, although not an area of our country without its problems.

Children Incorporated is remembered fondly to the community of Morgan County for raising over $10,000 in disaster relief funds in 2012 from our sponsors and donors.

Morgan County was never a very active coal mining area, although it was — and continues to be — impacted by the decline of the coal mining industry across eastern Kentucky. Historically, most of the county’s coal mining camps were opened between 1907 and 1909, and most closed in the 1920s as larger, more lucrative coal deposits were discovered elsewhere. The last camp, in Cannel City, closed and laid off its 250 employees in 1933. Back then, that meant that miners who chose to reside in Morgan County would commute, usually by train, to more southern counties that had bigger operations and were more profitable for their owners.

Present-day Morgan County

Today, Morgan County’s economy is primarily farming — cattle and burley tobacco, as well as sorghum, a cereal grain that is primarily used as livestock feed, which is also turned into ethanol. Kentucky leads the nation in sweet sorghum production, with the plant being boiled down to become sorghum molasses.

Each September, Morgan County hosts a Sorghum Festival in West Liberty. Highlights of the weekend include the Morgan County Sorghum Bowl, which is a football game featuring Morgan County High School and a neighboring rival, and the crowing of the Sorghum Queen during halftime. The weekend also includes a busy arts and crafts fair, which includes demonstrations of the sorghum being boiled down into syrup.

A History of Helping in Morgan County

In 2012, devastating tornadoes swept through eastern Kentucky. Morgan County was one of the hardest hit, with a tornado causing a great deal of damage in West Liberty. Among other businesses destroyed by the tornado, the Morgan County Tree Nursery was lost. By 2014 it was rebuilt and had seedlings in production. Today, the county’s tree seedling operations help fuel the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s $12 billion-dollar timber industry.

Children Incorporated is remembered fondly to the community of Morgan County for raising over $10,000 in disaster relief funds in 2012 from our sponsors and donors. The first of this aid was personally delivered to Morgan County by our President and CEO, Ron Carter, during a visit to our affiliated projects after the tornado.

Morgan County High School

Our volunteer coordinator Alicia, is pictured with one of our sponsored children at Morgan County High School.

Morgan County High school educates about 611 teenagers — 71% which come from low income families. In addition to the federal free breakfast and lunch program, the high school is one of three in the county to offer an early free supper on select days. Kids may stay after school from 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. and report to the cafeteria.

“During my last visit to the school in 2019, I was so pleased to see that there was a new building in place since the last time I had been in Morgan County in 2017,” explained our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube.

“The building was completed in the fall of 2018, with the students moving in after fall break. Over the summer of 2019, the old school building was demolished, and a parking lot was built in its place. The area looks totally different than my last visit — even the huge gym, which was housed in a separate building, is being refaced to match the look of the new building.”

A proud coordinator

“Over the years, our volunteer coordinator at Morgan High, Alicia, has really built up the programs that the Family Resource Center offers to students — from offering school supplies and clothes to students to offering support for parents — Alicia works so hard to ensure that kids and their families are getting the resources they need,” said Renée.

“Over the years, our volunteer coordinator at Morgan High, Alicia, has really built up the programs that the Family Resource Center offers to students.”

“One of the programs she is most proud of is the weekend feeding program. Because Alicia understands that receiving food to take home can be embarrassing for her students, she runs the program with a great deal of sensitivity, filling book bags that look just like all the other book bags in the school so kids don’t feel singled out or look different from their peers.”

“During my visit, Alicia said one of the biggest problems in the county is drugs. People get hooked for a variety of reasons, and they degenerate into thinking only of their next fix. She wants the students at her school to avoid the trap of hopelessness, and to see that their futures can be different and better,” explained Renée.

“In helping them, Alicia tries to get her students to take advantage of a great after-school program at the Area Technology Center in town, where trades such as welding or mechanics are taught so high school age students can see that they have career options once they graduate and don’t fall into the same despair as many adults around them have.”

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How do I sponsor a child in the United states?

You can sponsor a child in the United States 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 that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | October 18, 2021En Español

Throughout the year, our affiliated projects from around the world share special project proposals with us that will help improve the lives of not only the children that we support but their families as well. Thanks to our Hope In Action program, we are often able to support many of our projects so they can grow their programs and offer skills training and other important resources to impoverished communities in which we work.

A proposal from Bolivia

One such proposal we received in 2021 was from the Montero School in Bolivia, where our volunteer coordinator requested funds to construct an agriculture school on the same property as the existing school.

The new agricutural program at the Montero School will benefit both students and their parents.

“This area is mainly an agricultural area, and many children and adults have to go to nearby cities, even a few hours away to Santa Cruz to get better training,” explains our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet.

“With the support of this training institution, Children Incorporated is contributing to the whole community. The agricultural school will include a barn with cows, a pigpen, and a chicken coop in which students and their parents can learn how to take care of animals as well as grow food, skills they can then apply to their own lives to better their employment opportunities or gain income in the future!”

About the Montero School

The small, landlocked nation of Bolivia comprises 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) and lush, lowland plains of Amazon jungle 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, resulting in widespread malnutrition, crime and disease.

Thanks to our Hope In Action program, we are often able to support many of our projects so they can grow their programs and offer skills training and other important resources to impoverished communities in which we work.

The remote town of Okinawa — settled in the 1950s by Japanese immigrant farmers — is no exception to these maladies. Here, in 1976, the Montero Home/School was founded as a girls’ home by local religious leaders to assist children of the Japanese settlers, as well as native Bolivians. Today, the school has expanded its mission, providing a safe refuge and learning center for impoverished girls and boys in the area. Some children who come to Montero Home/School have never experienced the comfort of a bed, a bath, or a nutritious meal – let alone an education. Here, children receive these basic needs, along with the opportunity to rise above the difficult socioeconomic circumstances from which they have come.

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

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | October 10, 2021En Español

About half the students at our affiliated project, the Dzilth Community School in New Mexico, board at the school during the week, as the distance from their homes in the remote areas of the Navajo Nation make a daily commute impossible. Although this seems like it would make their lives more difficult, it is actually a blessing for them — due to widespread, debilitating unemployment in the area surrounding the school, families struggle to afford even the most basic necessities for their kids. As a result, very few of the students have ever eaten a balanced diet or known what it means to be properly cared before they began attending the school.

Additionally, thanks to our generous sponsors, children at the school also receive school supplies, clothes, and other items that help them to be comfortable and happy when at the school — and when they return home on the weekends and during holidays.

Administrators at the Dzilth Community School make sure that students receive three nutritious meals a day, as well as educational support — something these deserving Native American children need desperately. Additionally, thanks to our generous sponsors, children at the school also receive school supplies, clothes, and other items that help them to be comfortable and happy when at the school — and when they return home on the weekends and during holidays.

Visiting Dzilth Community School

“In late 2019, I visited our volunteer coordinators, Phyllis and Karen, at the Dzilth Community School. Phyllis and Karen run a flawless sponsorship program — they are great record keepers, and the sponsored students also create beautiful cards and letters for the sponsors almost once a month,” explained Renée Kube, Children Incorporated’s Director of U.S. Programs.

Phyllis and Karen pictured with two of our sponsored children

“Phyllis works in the main office and Karen is the school librarian. The first half of our meeting was in the library and included a nice chat with two 8^th grade students in our sponsorship program, Norah and Lincoln*. Norah has been in the Children Incorporated program since 2015 and Lincoln since 2018. They were both very thankful for the program and wanted to know how we found their sponsors and where their sponsors live.”

After our chat with the students, we got to meet the parents of a sponsored child named Allison.* Allison’s parents were so thankful for the program. For a while her dad did not have a job, and money was very tight. They were so appreciative of the program and said it was so good to know that their child’s needs were cared for by their sponsors,” said Renée.

A nice home for Parker

“Next, I headed to a home visit; we visited a sponsored child named Parker’s* mom whom I had visited two years prior. During our visit in 2017, Parker and her mom lived in the grandmother’s small, isolated house down a muddy road about fifteen or twenty minutes from the school. Since then, Parker’s mom has qualified for Navajo Housing Authority (NHA) housing and is living closer to school in a new three-bedroom single-story home on a paved road lined with other NHA houses.”

“Parker’s mom was so thrilled to show off their home, and I was thrilled to see it. Parker has her own room and also has use of the third bedroom for her books and art supplies. She has a very generous sponsor who gives her large additional gifts. When Parker moved into her new home, she was able to go to the store and purchase new bedding, rugs, lighting, chairs, bathroom items and more — and it was apparent she was very comfortable both at her school and her home thanks to our sponsorship program.”

*Names changed to protect the children.

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How do I sponsor a child in the United States?

SPONSOR A CHILD