Share In Their Future

Why Children, Incorporated?

Sponsors and supporters of Children, Incorporated talk about why they chose to work with us. Enjoy!

Pajama Program Donates 2,140 Pairs of PJs to Children, Incorporated!

  
 
Children, Incorporated recently received 2,140 pairs of pajamas from the Pajama Program in New York City. The pajamas will be distributed to children all over our U.S. divisions.

We would like to thank the Pajama Program for this wonderful donation! Many, many of our children will be staying warmer at night thanks to their generous support.

To see a video of some of the kids who received pajamas last year, click here.

 

Volunteers Help Out with Annual Holiday Card Mailing

   
 
Every year the children who are sponsored through Children, Incorporated send special holiday cards to their sponsors. The cards have to go through a sorting and mailing process at our office before they are sent out to sponsors. With mail coming in from 24 other countries and thousands and thousands of sponsored kids, this mailing is anything but simple. Our Children's Letters Department usually has to take about three and a half weeks of their time to finish the mailing.

This year, we asked local supporters of Children, Incorporated to help us out. So many of you reached out and expressed interest in volunteering--we really felt your support! 25 volunteers came through our doors and helped to mail 12,138 holiday cards!! With their help, the mailing took just 8.5 days.

We'd like to thank all of those who volunteered for this project, including employees at Cavalier and Banana Republic.You made our work so much easier, and you helped us to foster the important connection between sponsor and child.

  

A Wish Come True for Nora

As those of you who are sponsors know, giving to a child through sponsorship is so vital to their health and well-being. When you give to a child in the form of sponsorship, you give them a consistent source of aid for their most basic needs. You also give them someone to count on, to look to in their time of need. Unfortunately, although CI sponsors support countless children already, there are still over 2,000 children waiting for a sponsor's help. A lot of times, those children happen to be some of the older ones in the program. In perhaps one of the most crucial times of their lives--developmentally, emotionally and educationally, many of these kids just aren't getting all the help they need.

So it comes as a welcome light of hope when we hear stories about such children finally getting the help they need. Recently, an adolescent girl from one of our partner high schools in Kentucky named Nora got the support she desperately needed. Nora is living in a pop-up camper with her mother, sister and brother while they look for an apartment they can afford. Nora's father is desceased and her mother, unemployed. The day after we recieved Nora's enrollment information, the volunteer at her high school told Children, Incorporated that one of her students had asked to be removed from the program due to improved financial circumstances. Because of her great need, we chose Nora to take the place of the boy leaving our program. Today we got the email below from the high school's volunteer regarding the choice of Nora as the "substitute" sponsored child.

“God works in mysterious ways...in ways that sometimes we just can't explain.  Nora dropped by my office yesterday asking if I had heard anything about a sponsorship.  I thought to myself with all the students that are younger and enrolled already waiting for a new sponsor...that she would at best have a slim chance of being sponsored.   I should never underestimate the power from above.

She is very, very much in need and will be so excited when I tell her the great news.  Thank you...”

Congratulations to the The Shelby Valley High School band of Pikeville, Kentucky!

A Children, Incorporated high school senior from Shelby Valley High School participated in the state band competition and marched in a Disney World Parade!

The band consists of only nine marching instruments and nine percussion. Despite their size, the band managed to place third in the state! This small group of very talented Kentucky students was then invited to march in a Disney World Parade.

The young man on our program now has memories that will last a lifetime. Without the dedication of his parents and without the help of his sponsor for basic needs, he never would have been able to participate.

Odis Says "Thank You"

Greetings from the newest employee at CI! My name is Liz B., and I am the newest addition to the Development department--I will be working with Liz S. as her Development Associate. That's right, two Liz's now make up the Development department! 

My first two weeks here have been wonderful--and one of the best things about working here thus far has been that I am now more able to put a face on victims of poverty all over the world. When you see a picture or hear a story about a child in desperate need of food, clothing and other necessities, that child's name and face make the need feel so much more immediate, so impossible to ignore. So, rather than thinking in terms of the massive worldwide issue of child poverty, think about the way your generosity can change the life of one child. Suddenly, the mission seems possible. I can help one child, can you?

Below is an example of how one child has been touched by a contribution towards his future. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope it will remind you of just how much positive change YOU can effect by giving today. 

Flooding in Eastern Kentucky & W. Virginia

Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia recently got hit with major flooding due to heavy rains.  Many of our project areas have been devastated and homes of children on our program have been wiped away by the overflowing creek and river banks.   We are currently engaging our coordinators in the area to determine an appropriate response. Funds from our Annual Fund and Appalachian Fund will go to provide much-needed emergency assistance in the form of clothing, food, and bedding materials.  Can you help?    To make a contribution to our Annual Fund, click here. 

Below is a video sent to us by one of our coordinators in Mingo County, WV.

To sponsor a child in Kentucky or West Virginia, and provide vital assitance, click here.   

A Community Giving Back

 Gloria Folz is on a mission.  A child sponsor through CI, Gloria decided to create awareness in her community of Oostburg, Wisconsin about children in need here in the U.S.  "I personally think that no matter what your view is on poverty and who you feel is responsible it's the children who suffer the most," said Gloria. "I'm helping these children because they're all so innocent.  I also believe that one person can make a difference, and we are all capable of trying on some scale."    With this heartfelt belief, Gloria has rallied her community, friends and family in a back-to-school clothing and shoe drive for unsponsored children in Kentucky.  Beyond clothing and shoes, they are also collecting hygiene items.  Once the drive is over at the end of the summer, Gloria and her friends will be delivering the items to  CI schools in Kentucky where 26 children have targeted by CI as having the greatest need.  We'd like to thank Gloria and her family, as well as the local businesses for their unwaivering efforts in collecting these much-needed items.

 

A donation jar at a local Cousin's SubsShop

 

A collection box at Jill's Drycleaners (who have offered a percentage off for those that make a donation).

TV Documentary Highlighting Appalachian Children in Poverty - Tonight!

Please be sure to catch "A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains" on ABC's 20/20at 10 pm tonight!   This Diane Sawyer special documentary will look at children living in poverty in Appalachia.    We encourage you to view it as it will highlight the importance of what Children, Incorporated is doing for children in that region of the United States, where poverty is so widespread.

Click herefor a special preview of this documentary that was aired on ABC's "The View."

Appalachia: A region of the United States extending from Pennsylvania to Alabama.  Children, Incorporated provides assistance to children through sponsorship in troubled poverty areas in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina.  The ABC 20/20 documentary tonight focuses on the eastern coal-field region of Kentucky.

Winter Weather Problems in Appalachia

   

Most of our project areas in Appalachia are suffering from extreme winter weather conditions that have crippled school districts, shut down roads, and created a situation that only intensifies the daily struggle for many families.  The hardships of paying the fuel bill, random power outages, frozen water pipes, house fires caused by woodstoves, not being able to get food because of impassable roads, and keeping the children warm enough are just a few of the challenges facing Appalachian families living in poverty.

  Life for an underprivileged child in remote places like Pike County, Kentucky, for example, is not easy at any time of the year; but in the winter when temperatures are well below freezing and basic comforts are affected, the reality of "not having" feels even greater.

This weekend the temperatures will jump to the 50s and 60s in some parts of Appalachia, and rain is expected.  While the warm weather is welcomed, the danger of localized flooding is yet another huge concern.  As freezing and snowy conditions remain a constant threat for our Appalachian children throughout this winter, we appreciate our sponsors' continued support and patience as we strive to remain in communication with our coordinators at the schools.  Many of these schools have remained closed for days, and as a result correspondence has become significantly delayed. 

To sponsor a child in Appalachia, click here.