Share In Their Future

Progress and Planning in Augusta, Georgia

Augusta, Georgia is famous for hosting the Masters Tournament each spring.  Known as "the Garden City," Augusta boasts lush parks, historic buildings, and thriving recreational centers. 

But alongside this wealth are significant economic and social problems.  As of 2007, more than 27% of Augusta's children lived in poverty.  29% of the adults in Augusta have not completed high school.  The city's rate of AIDS cases is the second highest in the state, and 78% of these infections occur among African Americans.  The Augusta Chronicle reported in February of this year that gang violence is a constant threat in many of the city's neighborhoods. 

These and other factors make life extremely challenging for the children who live in the troubled areas of the city--but Children, Incorporated aims to assist these children by ensuring that their basic needs are met on a daily basis.  We opened our first Augusta project in August of 2007, and in the past ten months we added two more.  Our Augusta outreach is made possible by a partnership with Communities in Schools (CIS).  At each of our three Augusta projects, a CIS employee volunteers to administer our program. 

Today, we have sixty Augusta children on our rolls, and thirty-five of these children are sponsored.  We hope to expand our reach into all of Augusta's low-income areas.  To facilitate this expansion, Ron Carter, Director of the Inner City Division, recently traveled to Augusta to meet with CIS staff.  Their discussions focused on the state of the city's low-income neighborhoods, the issues that affect Augusta's impoverished children, and the ways that CIS and Children, Incorporated can best work together to achieve their common goals.  We anticipate a marked increase in our presence in Augusta during the next several years.

To sponsor an Augusta child, please call (800) 538-5381 or visit our website at www.childrenincorporated.org. 

Ron Carter (right) is the director of our Inner City Division.  During his trip to Augusta, he met with Charles Bush (left) and Mary Crawford (center), among other employees of CIS-Augusta.  Mr. Bush is a program assistant, and Ms. Crawford is the organization's executive director. 

Photo Essay: Our Richmond Children

Kite Festival at Summer Hill

Summer Hill Elementary in Richmond recently treated twenty of its top students to an afternoon of kite-flying--and Children, Incorporated provided the kites!  For two hours, students, teachers, parents, and volunteers convened on the Summer Hill lawn to fly kites and play games.  It was a lovely afternoon.

We are very grateful to Richmond's CBS Channel 6 for the donation that made the Kite Festival possible. 

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. 

Children, Incorporated Pajama Party

In 2006, we hosted a pajama party for children at Swansboro Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia. At the party, the children received sleepwear, books, and stuffed animals. Children, Incorporated partnered with the Pajama Program to donate these items, which the Pajama Program originally obtained from the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Page Auto Group Donates to the Warm Clothing Fund

Each year, the employees of Page Auto Group in Richmond, Virginia make a charitable contribution in honor of Larry Page, the company's owner.  They selected Children, Incorporated as the beneficiary of the 2007 donation.  In addition to a generous monetary gift to the Warm Clothing Fund, Page Auto staff and customers contributed dozens of warm winter items to children in our Inner City and Appalachian divisions.  We are very grateful for this support!

Gail DeFeo, pictured below at center, is the office manager of the Page Auto Group.  She coordinated this donation drive.  Appalachian Division Director Renee Kube (left) and Inner City Division Director Ron Carter (right) were thrilled to accept Page Auto's gift on behalf of Children, Incorporated:

VCU Toy Donation Update: A Christmas Surprise for One Richmond Family

Children, Incorporated recently received more than 150 new toys from employees of the VCU Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.  CI staff delivered the toys to schools in  the  Richmond area on Monday morning. 

On Tuesday, Ron Carter, Director of the Inner City Division, returned to one of the schools to meet with Carol, the school’s CI project volunteer. During their meeting, a call came in from a single mother of two who was desperate to find toys for her children for Christmas. This woman lost her job in early December, and she has been struggling to pay her bills. She now has a new job, but she will not start receiving paychecks in time to purchase Christmas gifts for her children. Ron could hear the woman crying as she spoke to Carol. 

Carol asked the woman what types of toys her children wanted. The woman replied that her son likes Spiderman and dinosaurs, and her daughter loves baby dolls and My Little Pony items.  Carol explained to the woman that almost all of the CI toys had already been distributed and that she might not be able to give the children exactly what they wished for. 

Yet when Carol went to the box containing the few remaining toys, she was astonished to find a Spiderman football, a dinosaur play set, a My Little Pony blanket, and a beautiful soft baby doll!  Carol and Ron were both amazed!   Just the right items remained! 

 Ron delivered the toys to the woman’s workplace that afternoon, and the children will receive them on Christmas morning. Thanks to the generosity of our friends at VCU, some very precious children will have a wonderful holiday.

 

Home for the Holidays

Your donations to our General Fund provided a sponsored child and his family with a special gift, just in time for the colder months ahead:

“On behalf of [sponsored child] Tim and his mother, we would like to give our sincere thanks for your prompt response and your  willingness to assist this family with a special gift…As a result of your donations, the family was able to have their electric services restored and return to their residence.  This really meant a lot to the family.  It is through the generosity of organizations and individuals such as you that make a tremendous difference in the lives of the families we work with.”  --Marilyn, Volunteer Coordinator, Richmond,  Virginia

Children, Incorporated in New Orleans!

Terrific news! Children, Incorporated will launch new programs in New Orleans before the end of the year. Through a partnership with Communities in Schools, we will provide at-risk children in New Orleans with school supplies, clothing, and other necessities. 

 Watch our blog and website for updates on these projects. We will have New Orleans children available for sponsorship by mid-December. Meanwhile, you can get involved by donating to our Haven Fund, which provides immediate support to children who are waiting to be sponsored.