Tag Archives: sponsors

Shelley Callahan | En Español

The Na’ Neelzhiin Ji Olta’ Community School is located outside of the vast Navajo Nation in New Mexico, in a remote area of the state. The nearest post office, in Cuba, New Mexico, is thirty miles away. As a result, the school, which serves children from kindergarten through the eighth grade, is incredibly important for the families that live in the nearby communities – families who otherwise might not have a way to get their children to and from a school even farther away. Having actually been constructed by the people of the community with materials supplied by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the school stands as a testimony to the determination of these Navajo families to see their children receive a good education.

Transferring schools is not ideal

Our Volunteer Coorindator Twilia with one of our sponsored children

Many of the residents in this region of New Mexico, where the unemployment rate is high, are living in poverty. Nearly all of the children enrolled at Na’ Neelzhiin Ji Olta’ Community School come from families too poor to afford even the most basic essentials, such as food and clothing, for their young ones. On a trip to visit the school, U.S. Programs Director, Renée Kube, met with our Volunteer Coordinator Twilia. Twilia’s background is in business management, and she is naturally meticulous in her work with the Children Incorporated program. When Renée me her, Twilia was warm and welcoming, and eager to discuss the community.

Twilia explained to Renée that there are often transfers of students between the Na’ Neelzhiin Ji Olta’ Community School and Pueblo Pintado Boarding School during the school year. Both schools are in the vicinity of Cuba, but they’re many miles away from it. The reason for the transfers is that Pueblo Pintado, which is also one of our affiliated projects in New Mexico, has a dormitory where the students can stay during the week; but the Na’ Neelzhiin Ji Olta’ Community School does not. When the annual potato harvest season comes around, parents withdrawal their kids from the Na’ Neelzhiin Ji Olta’ Community School, and enroll them at Pueblo Pintado Boarding School, so that they can go work in fields away from home, and at the same time, know that their kids are taken care of. Their kids stay at the dorms during the week, and go home on the weekends, when the parents have a break from farming.

When working with children who come from impoverished households, and who may also have the added challenge of changing schools every year, it is difficult to ensure that they are getting everything they need to succeed academically.

The only option

Transferring schools is not ideal, but it is the only option for many kids in poor families. In Cuba, employment opportunities are very limited. The next closest town is Bernalillo; and the closest city is Rio Rancho, but it’s quite a distance away – and many students’ parents have unreliable or no transportation. Many don’t have high school diplomas, either, so they can’t compete for better jobs.

Twilia told Renée that she has four volunteers who help her with shopping for our sponsored kids. All of the volunteers are teachers’ aides at the school. Twilia also says she has a great relationship with the school social worker. The social worker there is very proactive, and she is deeply concerned about the children’s welfare. She coordinates clothing drives and works with kids who come to school in need of hygiene items – and she even lets them use the showers there before classes start. She works in conjunction with Twilia to seek food donations, which is a great help.

It is wonderful that Twilia has so much support from other school staff members to help take care of the kids, both those that are enrolled in our program and those who are not. When working with children who come from impoverished households, and who may also have the added challenge of changing schools every year, it is difficult to ensure that they are getting everything they need to succeed academically.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN NEW MEXICO?

You can sponsor a child in New Mexico 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 |

In early 2017, I was contacted by international clothing company OBEY Clothing, based out of Los Angeles, California, about a potential partnership with Children Incorporated. I was already familiar with OBEY because the company’s founder, international artist and activist Shepard Fairey, has for many years created and donated artwork in order to promote awareness of social and political issues, while also contributing directly to the causes he believes in. I was thrilled for Children Incorporated to be added to the list of Fairey and OBEY’s partnering nonprofit organizations in a joint effort to bring further attention to the importance of supporting children around the world with basic necessities, so that they can receive an education and have a chance at a brighter future.

Not only did Shepard Fairey create artwork to support Children Incorporated, but he also produced that artwork based on photographs of Children Incorporated-sponsored children.

About Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1989 he created the “Andre the Giant has a Posse” sticker that transformed into the OBEY GIANT art campaign, with imagery that has changed the way people see art and the urban landscape. After 29 years, his work has evolved into an acclaimed body of art, which includes the 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama, found at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The artist collaborated with Amplifier in 2017 to create the We The People series recognizable during the Women’s Marches and other rallies around the world in defense of national and global social justice issues.

Fairey’s stickers, guerilla street art presence, and 85 plus public murals are recognizable worldwide. His works are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and many others.

The artist’s most recent body of work “Damaged,” was his largest-ever solo fine art exhibition, which ran in Los Angeles from November 11, 2017, through December 17, 2017. The “Damaged” opening reception set record attendance with more than 10,000 guests and the show drew an unprecedented number of visitors to experience the art firsthand during the exhibition run.

What is OBEY Awareness?

Shepard Fairey donates and calls attention to various nonprofits through the OBEY Awareness Project. The project, operated by OBEY Clothing, was founded in 2007 to complement Fairey’s humanitarian efforts around the world. The project allows the company to raise funds for causes Fairey believes in by selling specially-designed merchandise, and donating 100 percent of the profits from those sales to the organizations he supports.

Nonprofit organizations that have benefited from the OBEY Awareness Project in past years include HOPE (Helping Other People Everywhere), Feeding America, the Japanese Red Cross, and Adopt-a-Pet.com. Environmentally-related nonprofit organizations, such as the Surfrider Foundation and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, have also received donations. Children Incorporated is proud to now be listed along with the many other admirable causes that are supported by Shepard Fairey and the OBEY Awareness Project.

Teaming up to help kids in need

Not only did Shepard Fairey create artwork to support Children Incorporated, but he also produced that artwork based on photographs of Children Incorporated-sponsored children. During a visit to our affiliated projects in Ethiopia in 2016, I took photos of our sponsored children in Shashemene at Kids Hope Ethiopia. Fairey used two photos of two young girls enrolled in our program, and paired them together to create a design that was printed on OBEY Clothing T-shirts. The shirts are available now on the OBEY website, where the following is written about the company’s partnership with Children Incorporated:

Children Incorporated is proud to now be listed along with the many other admirable causes that are supported by Shepard Fairey and the OBEY Awareness Project.

“For our latest OBEY Awareness Collection, we’ve teamed up with Children Incorporated. Children Incorporated is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides assistance to children in twenty-three countries around the world, including the U.S. For more than 50 years, their organization has helped offer sustainable solutions for children to receive food, clothing, and healthcare. They envision a world in which all children have access to education, hope, and opportunity. By meeting basic needs and providing affirmation and encouragement, they empower children to grow and ultimately break the cycle of poverty. To date, Children Incorporated has reached over 250,000 children in 300 projects around the globe.

100% of net profits from sales of our OBEY Awareness Collection, featuring art by Shepard Fairey, will be donated to Children Incorporated.”

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Shelley Callahan | En Español

The town of Bloomfield is located in New Mexico in a desert crisscrossed by gullies where only scrub oak, piñon, and mesquite are hardy enough to survive. Within the town is our affiliated project the Huerfano Dormitory, which was originally designed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a school. The Huerfano (pronounced “WAR-fen-oh”) Dormitory was converted into a dormitory when the families that live in the Navajo communities in the outskirts of Bloomfield decided they wanted their children to be able to stay in town during the school week, because their homes were too far away to make daily commuting viable. Once the school was converted, students in kindergarten through grade twelve began staying there five days a week, making the dorm like a second home for them.

The socioeconomic effects of poverty, including broken homes, alcoholism, unemployment, and hopelessness, pervade Navajo life.

A hogan for a first home

Families of children that stay at the Huerfano Dormitory typically live in traditional Navajo homes called hogans, which are made of logs and mud, in communities where there is rampant poverty. Due to widespread, debilitating unemployment, many parents struggle to afford even the most basic necessities. The socioeconomic effects of poverty, including broken homes, alcoholism, unemployment, and hopelessness, pervade Navajo life. Thankfully, all the children who stay at the Huerfano Dormitory and attend public schools in nearby Bloomfield receive three well-balanced meals a day – and those that have sponsors receive much-needed assistance.

While visiting the Huerfano Dormitory, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, first met with Elsie, our Volunteer Coordinator there. Elsie is an experienced, long-time coordinator for Children Incorporated. She is the Residential Manager for the dorm, and holds a master’s degree in clinical social work from the University of Denver.

Our Volunteer Coordinator Elsie

Elsie told Renée that the dorm only recently obtained high-speed internet access. As such, she asked Renée to consider the dorm as a possible recipient of support from our Hope In Action Fund to purchase laptops and tablets for its residents. She said that the kids also need more blankets for the cold New Mexico winter nights.

Susan’s very own sponsor

After talking with Elsie about the needs of the dorm, Renée was able to meet some of our sponsored and unsponsored children. First, she met Jonathan*, who is in the sixth grade and loves hanging out with his friends. She also met Brian, who is in the eighth grade and likes to doodle and draw. Next, Renée met Susan, who is in the third grade. At the time, Susan was unsponsored. During their visit, Susan told Renée that her favorite thing to do is play outside.

Elsie said that Jonathan and Brian’s sponsors have been an incredible help and a blessing, and that she couldn’t wait for Susan to also become sponsored and be able to have that experience as well. Just a few short weeks later, when Renée returned back to our office, she was able to match Susan with her very own sponsor.

*All names changed for children’s protection.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN NEW MEXICO?

You can sponsor a child in New Mexico 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 |

Christmas is a special time of year for children all over the world. Children of all ages dream of what they might get under the tree on Christmas morning, hoping for a new toy or game to play. But for many of our sponsored and unsponsored kids, getting Christmas gifts is something that sometimes doesn’t happen.

We are so thankful that we were able to give these children a special holiday, when they would’ve otherwise gone without any gifts at all.

When families are living in poverty, they are often unable to save money throughout the year for Christmas gifts for their children; instead, there are always bills to pay, food items to buy, or school fees to consider. There is not enough money to pay for everything and save at the same time. Thankfully, the children enrolled in our program have their sponsors and our volunteer coordinators to ensure that they receive new clothes, school supplies, food, educational games and toys — and sometimes even presents during the holidays — all things they would otherwise go without.

We are so grateful for our sponsors who provide Christmas gifts to our sponsored children.

This is true for the kids at our projects all over the world – in the United States and abroad, including in the Philippines. The Visayans Community Center at Bliss is at the Bliss Housing Project in Sagkahan — a community established by the Filipino government for the poor of the city of Tacloban. Just fifteen percent of the residents there actually owns the land on which they live.

Most families inhabit concrete dwellings; but many others live in shacks fashioned from nipa palm shingles, bamboo, and cast-off boards. Amid this devastating poverty and its socioeconomic effects, the Visayans Community Center at Bliss serves as a beacon of hope. Founded by the local group Volunteer for the Visayans, the center is dedicated to facilitating community development, providing healthcare, and promoting education.

Our Volunteer Coordinator there, Helena, bought clothing, as well as groceries and grains, this past Christmas, thanks to donations from the children’s sponsors, to ensure that the kids in our program had a special Christmas. We are so thankful that we were able to give these children a special holiday, when they would’ve otherwise gone without any gifts at all.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN THE PHILIPPINES?

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

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

The remote town of Crownpoint, where our affiliated project Mariano Lake Community School is located, is in northwestern New Mexico, near the Arizona border and the vast Navajo Nation. Many of the American Indian families in this area generate income by making and selling jewelry, kachinas (traditional, carved figures that represent deified ancestral spirits), and pottery. Some families maintain small herds of livestock. Others, who can’t find work in this region of the United States, where unemployment is high, find themselves having to travel outside of the state for work.

Some parents rely on public assistance for feeding and clothing their children. For this reason, the Mariano Lake Community School is important for the kids who attend, because there, they can receive a good education and have a healthy environment in which to reside during the week – and their experiences there are enriched by compassionate teachers who work hard to build their self-esteem.

The value of dorm life

Mariano Lake Community School is a small boarding school of approximately 150 students ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade. The school consists of small portable buildings, which house the classrooms. The complex also has a cafeteria, a library, administrative offices, and a separate dorm for boys and girls.

For some parents, the relief comes from knowing that their children will eat enough at school during the week.

The dorm on the school’s campus serves many important purposes for both the students and their parents. Although school buses do travel an hour or more to the communities in which the children’s families live, the many dirt roads along the way often become impassable during and after rain and snow. If the buses can’t make it down a road, the children down that road are not picked up, so they miss school that day.

The dorm is also quite valuable for parents who work out of town during the week, because they don’t have to worry about their children’s safety. For some parents, the relief comes from knowing that their children will eat enough at school during the week, when they might otherwise go hungry at home, because there is not enough money to feed them.

Parents of our sponsored and unsponsored children at Mariano Lake Community School are often bus drivers, cooks, or security officers that make very small incomes. When they do receive their paychecks at the beginning of each month, students are sometimes absent from school, because there is food to eat at home, and money to pay for things to do — so they don’t make the trip to school. By the end of the month, however, the students are going hungry again.

Mariano Lake Community School is a small boarding school of approximately 150 students ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade.

Those who live at the dorm receive three meals a day. On the weekends, when they return home, they often go hungry, or they just eat junk food or snack food when money gets low or runs out. Once the weekend is over, these kids arrive to school on Monday mornings very hungry for breakfast. By Monday night, they are exhausted and fall asleep early, because they haven’t had a chance to get their energy back up from eating so little for days in a row.

Feeling unloved and unwanted

On a recent trip to New Mexico, U.S. Projects Specialist Shelley Oxenham met with Barbara, our Volunteer Coordinator at Mariano Lake Community School, who also manages the dorm. Barbara told Shelley that teachers and staff are seeing more and more students coming from difficult home situations. There is alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and drug use at home.

Children sometimes feel unwanted and unloved, which results in negative behavior both at home and at school. The kids sometimes talk back and swear at their parents and teachers in frustration. Unfortunately, because of these behavioral issues, another reason that some parents want their children to be in the dorm during the week is so they don’t have to deal with them — which only makes their situations at home even worse.

Barbara explained to Shelley that even though the children’s behavior can be disruptive, she does what ever she can to help them to have a better life. She says that the Children Incorporated sponsorship program is especially important because not only do the sponsored children really need the clothes, school supplies, and hygiene items they receive, but they also need encouragement and support from a caring adult, too. Barbara hopes that writing to and receiving letters from sponsors help the students know that someone really cares about them.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN NEW MEXICO?

You can sponsor a child in New Mexico 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 | En Español

Summers can be rather boring for children. While kids usually love the thought of being out of school and free from homework assignments, they often have a difficult time staying occupied and active. One woman from Warfield, Kentucky found a way to change that this summer.

Denise Stepp, who serves jointly as the coordinator for the Warfield Elementary School Family Resource Center and as a volunteer coordinator for Children Incorporated’s child sponsorship program, established a gardening program at her school. As a result, not only do the children keep busy and have fun, but Denise has also provided a service to many families in the community.

Denise, who loves gardening, decided to share her green thumb skills with the students that she serves. She went to the school principal and asked for permission to begin a food-to-table gardening program that the students, out on their summer break, would oversee. He gave his blessing for a large plot of land behind the school, and he wrote a grant for a small greenhouse and gardening supplies. Denise rounded up the children and got them excited about planting, caring for, and harvesting the food they would grow. Children Incorporated then provided funds so that Denise could purchase a compost barrel in order to help the children learn how compost enriches garden soil.

Denise has been volunteering for Children Incorporated for over twenty years, and during this time, she has worked constantly to remove barriers between home and school by providing various resources and services.

Denise’s summer gardening camp ran every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the summer, and she and her helpers worked with the kids on gardening techniques. Funds from Children Incorporated allowed Denise to buy supplies such as canning jars and freezer bags to preserve the garden food. The children have loved participating in the summer gardening camp! They have taken part in many hands-on learning activities, from baking muffins with zucchini they themselves have grown to making sauerkraut from their cabbage harvest – and they’ve taken jars and bags full of freshly-picked vegetables home to be shared with their families.

A long-time volunteer

Denise has been volunteering for Children Incorporated for over twenty years, and during this time, she has worked constantly to remove barriers between home and school by providing various resources and services. The Warfield community was once a coal-producing area; however, as a result of a decline in the coal business, there is now a high unemployment there. The community now has a 93 percent poverty rate. There are a lot of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, and there are many single-parent families. The children endure great poverty, and some come from rather unstable homes. Denise cares deeply about the students she serves, and she goes the extra mile to show them love and support. Her job does not end at 3:00 p.m. with the close of the school day. She takes the job home with her; it is consistently on her mind.

Denise doesn’t just talk the talk — she walks the walk. Thanks to the child sponsorship program at the school and additional contributions from Children Incorporated, Denise is able to ensure that many children receive basic needs that support their well-being and health, such as clothing and shoes, and also school supplies, books, and backpacks. Under her guidance, the school system also held a summer feeding program, which transported breakfasts and lunches to 600 children Monday through Friday all summer long.

As the new school year begins, corn and potatoes will be harvested from the summer garden, and used to prepare food for the students and families on Kentucky Heritage Day. On October 13 of this year, Denise will host a pig roast, and the children will experience the rewards of their hard work by enjoying foods prepared with vegetables they’ve grown. The school garden has given the children responsibility and a sense of ownership of their school. They take pride in the building, and vandalism is at an all-time low. They are also learning to eat more vegetables in order to be healthy and fight obesity. Much of this is due to the dedication and love displayed by Denise Stepp.

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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.