2009 is off to an interesting year. One thing is for certain, we all can't wait for the economy to turn. Who knows how long that will be.
In recent months we've noticed a change in the needs of our program feeding homeless children. I've mentioned, there are over 11,000 elementary age children in Orange County, CA who are homeless. They are homeless for different reasons. But here's a scenario you wouldn't think would take place:
Two able body parents in their early 30's. He has a 4 year college degree in marketing, she went to a technical school in information technology. Both are smart with a willingness to work. They have 3 kids, ages 8, 5 and 2. But guess what, they are both unemployed....for 9 months now.
What would you do? When your unemployment runs out and no matter how hard you try, you can't seem to get a job? How would you feed your family? How would provide shelter?
Unfortunately this family is representative of the new face of homelessness in our community. The college educated family forced to leave their rental home and bounce around from motel to motel with no money for food to feed their children.
We are thankful for all of the partners that support the We've Got Your Back program and help provide food for the weekends for families like this!
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Africa
Today I met with a partner, Mildred. Mildred is from Zambia. We have been trying to partner for 15 months now. She's been here obtaining her nursing degree so her and her husband can open a teaching clinic in Zambia.
Giving Children Hope does our best to try and bring resources into our organization so we can serve many different projects with the product we receive. That means we try and bring in funding to the organization, but we can't fundraise for each individual project that we want to take on.
Now this model works well in many instances. For instance, when the Rotary group comes and wants to do a project I give them a fundraising goal and they make it happen. The same happens with a church or other non-profit. But how do you help the national/indigenous group who has no assistance?
This is often my pain. So today, I sat with Mildred. I prayed with her and we cried together. This is a women who can be a leader in her community the way I could never be. She can implement change because of who she is and where she is from. But how do I expect her to fundraise in America? How do I help Mildred from Zambia raise the funds she needs to build the medical clinic and teach her community how to prevent HIV/AIDS, how to fight malaria, and the have the equipment and medicine to treat those whom already have these diseases?
That's a question that keeps me up at night.
Giving Children Hope does our best to try and bring resources into our organization so we can serve many different projects with the product we receive. That means we try and bring in funding to the organization, but we can't fundraise for each individual project that we want to take on.
Now this model works well in many instances. For instance, when the Rotary group comes and wants to do a project I give them a fundraising goal and they make it happen. The same happens with a church or other non-profit. But how do you help the national/indigenous group who has no assistance?
This is often my pain. So today, I sat with Mildred. I prayed with her and we cried together. This is a women who can be a leader in her community the way I could never be. She can implement change because of who she is and where she is from. But how do I expect her to fundraise in America? How do I help Mildred from Zambia raise the funds she needs to build the medical clinic and teach her community how to prevent HIV/AIDS, how to fight malaria, and the have the equipment and medicine to treat those whom already have these diseases?
That's a question that keeps me up at night.
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