Share In Their Future

Standout Student Wins Award for Business Plan

Delirita Lunderman, who recently graduated from Todd County High School in Rosebud, South Dakota, is a straight-A student, a member of the National Honor Society, and a four-year participant in the Upward Bound program at the University of South Dakota.

Now, she can claim yet another honor: Grand Prize Winner at the 10th Annual Great Plains Regional/Tribal Economic Development Summit Competition.  Along with Alyssa Reynolds, a fellow Todd County senior, Delirita created a plan for a movie theater on the Rosebud Reservation.  Her proposal included a concept overview, a marketing plan, financial projections, and other materials.  As part of their prize package, Delirita and Alyssa each received a new computer and printer. 

Delirita will begin college at the University of South Dakota in the fall.  She is the second person in her family to complete high school (her older sister was the first), and she will be the first in her family to attend university.  We are all very proud of Delirita, and we wish her continued success!

Sending Food to Your Sponsored Child

If you sponsor a child in the United States, you are very welcome to send presents to him or her.  However, please do not send food without first speaking to Children, Incorporated about your gift. 

Because of concerns about safety and nutrition, many schools will not permit their pupils to have food that arrives in care packages.  Also, there have recently been several incidents in which sponsors sent perishable food that turned rotten before reaching its destination.  In such cases, our volunteers have no choice but to throw the food away.  If you would like to provide food to an indigent child, we encourage you to donate to our "Food for a Weekend" program. 

As always, we deeply appreciate everything that you do for our children.  They benefit greatly from the support you provide, and we are very grateful for your generous assistance.  If you have questions about our policies on care packages and other special gifts, please contact Chuck Smith, Sponsor Relations Coordinator, at (800) 538-5381 or csmith@children-inc.org. 

Reservation Dormitories

Many of the Native American children on our program live in dormitories during the school year.  These facilities are built in close proximity to reservation schools, and they house children who are homeless or who live too far from school to commute every day.  The typical dormitory staff includes an administrator, a custodian, a nurse, and a counselor.  The dormitory system is particularly common on reservations in South Dakota and Utah.

Bunk beds in a Utah dormitory:



Exterior of the dormitory:

New Playground in Arizona

Generous donations to our general fund have allowed the American Indian Division to construct a new playground at an elementary school in Arizona.  This school is in an impoverished area of the Navajo reservation, and its old playground was in an extreme state of disrepair.  The children had no safe place in which to play.  Now, however, they have a jungle gym and a swing set to enjoy during recess.  These photos were taken during the playground's construction:

Warm Clothing Fund Update

Children, Incorporated is extremely grateful to everyone who has contributed to this year's Warm Clothing Fund!  Your donations have already allowed us to distribute coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and sleeping bags to hundreds of children throughout the United States. 

A project volunteer within our American Indian division sent in several photographs of her students wearing their new winter items.

Kindergarten boys:

 

Kindergarten girls:



First grade boys:

These children will now be able to safely play outside during the cold winter months!

The Warm Clothing Fund will extend through the rest of the winter.  If you would like to help us in our quest to keep our children warm, you can contribute via the Children, Incorporated website, or you can mail a check marked "Warm Clothing Fund" to:

Children, Incorporated
4205 Dover Road
Richmond, VA 23221

Celebrating a Milestone

Sandy Anderson has been sponsoring children through our organization since 1975.   She is grateful for the opportunity to give financial support, but she particularly loves being able to befriend and encourage the children she assists.  Exchanging letters with them, she says, is "what supporting an organization like C.I. is about." 

This year, Sandy is celebrating her sixtieth birthday by visiting each of the four youngsters she currently sponsors.   In September, she traveled from her home in France to the New Mexico reservation where her sponsored child Jason lives.  After almost four years of correspondence, Sandy and Jason were finally able to meet in person.  It was a joyful event for both of them! 

In addition to visiting with Jason, Sandy was able to tour the school and see Jason's classroom, where all of the children were  excited to meet her.   She used the classroom map to show the students how far she had traveled (see left), and she taught the class a few words of French!  The children were fascinated, and everyone was sad when it was time for Sandy to leave .

Sandy found her trip to New Mexico deeply rewarding.  "My visit with Jason was so rich," she told us in a letter. "I really enjoyed learning about the school and meeting the teachers."   We will post updates on her visits with her other sponsored children, so keep checking back to read more! 

Decades of Service

We were very pleased to recognize two of our most dedicated volunteers at the American Indian Division's recent coordinators' meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Marie Begay (pictured at left with Steve Mitchell, director of the American Indian Division) has volunteered with us for more than 25 years.  Lois Lee (pictured with Steve at right) has contributed more than 30 years of service!  The two women have helped to facilitate hundreds of sponsorships.  Children, Incorporated could not carry out its mission without the unfailing assistance of volunteers like Marie and Lois.