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More Than Me 2007
Project Results
African/Caribbean Heritage Camp
Families of middle and high school kids brought in baby clothes, children’s clothes, formula, shoes, and much more for the Brebis de Saint Michael de L’Attalaje (BRESMA) in Haiti. Candy Pruett, a CHC Board Member and social worker who works with Lighthouse Adoptions, gave a heartfelt presentation about the needs of the orphanage and the children, with a slide show and very poignant description of the children’s lives there. For instance, the children’s clothes are still washed by hand each day, and there are only enough clothes for each child, so they must dry overnight. Each morning, the children line up to get their clothing for the day. No child has his or her own clothing. The camp kids really responded to this presentation, and were eager to help.
Candy was able to bring 6 large boxes of clothing and supplies to BRESMA from the ACHC middle and high school kids. This went a long way towards keeping every child in the orphanage clothed.
Lighthouse Adoptions: http://www.lighthouseadoptions.org/
Cambodian Heritage Camp
With the help of Kari and George Grossman, the kids were introduced to two agencies working on water conservation and treatment and other environmental issues in Cambodia. One is the Grady Grossman School, which George and Kari started after they adopted their son, Grady from Cambodia. The school is located in the Aural Wildlife Sanctuary, which is in dire need of preservation, which they have taken on in their work in that area of Cambodia. The other agency is Floral and Fauna International, which works in wildlife conservation throughout the world. Kari and George made touching presentations of both, plus a couple of other organizations doing work in Cambodia in environmental protection, and the kids chose the projects they wanted to support.
They then learned a traditional Cambodian dance used in “passing the basket” and they passed the baskets at our Saturday night party. They collected $1,088 for the two organizations.
After camp, we discovered that Floral and Fauna International was not focusing on a project in Cambodia at this time, so we mutually agreed to donate the full amount to the Grady Grossman School. Please see Kari’s e-mail thanking the CAMHC middle schoolers here.
Grady Grossman School: http://gradygrossmanschool.org/
Chinese Heritage Camp
The kids were reminded about More Then Me in a letter form the middle school coordinators, and each brought at least $10 of money that they earned themselves to camp. Dr. Jane Liedtke, the Director of Our Chinese Daughters Foundation, was at camp this year, and presented a slide show to the kids about her organization. She gave the kids options to choose which areas they’d like to support, and they chose the “Coal for Kids” program, which provides heat to the orphanages in China, and the “Orphan Care” program, which provides formula, diapers, medicine, etc. for the children living in the orphanages.
The kids brought a total of $650 from money they earned, and also made about 70 gorgeous flannel blankets for Jane to bring back with her to the orphans in China. Heating the orphanages is a major problem in china and very expensive, so these warm blankets will be most appreciated by the little ones.
Please see the thank you letter from Dr. Liedtke here. Dr. Liedtke wrote in part, “Thanks to you many infants and small children will be warmed during the cold winter months by this gift of love. They will go to sleep knowing that someone from around the other side of the world cared enough to provide warm bedding, warm clothes and coal for heat…”
These are pictures of the babies wrapped warmly in the blankets the Chinese Heritage Camp middle schoolers made for them!
Our Chinese Daughters Foundation: http://www.ocdf.org/
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More cozy babies in blankets at the orphanage
in China. |
Happy baby in her cozy blanket from Chinese
Heritage camp MTM project |
Chinese Heritage Camp Too
The middle schoolers (or Chimerican Dragons as thy named themselves) had a long and very wise discussion about helping others, how to raise funds throughout the year, and how to make a difference. They also made a heartfelt presentation to the whole camp, asking for donations toward their More Than Me project.
They raised $407, which was sent to Children’s Hope International in support of their “Skills Training for Older Orphans in China.” The Chimerican Dragons are now “Junior Ambassadors” for CHI.
Read about our CHI Junior Ambassadors on the Children’s Hope International
website:
http://orphan.childrenshope.net/Junior-Ambassadors.33.0.html
Here are some pictures of the Chiamerican Dragons at Chinese Heritage Camp
Too!
 The
Chiamerican Dragons at Chinese Heritage Camp Too |
Filipino Heritage Camp
The kids brought in new crayons, coloring books, markers, etc. from home, then stuffed 96 fleece bags and made “get well” cards for children having cleft palate surgery in the Philippines through a great organization called Uplift Internationale. Doctors and medical personnel from Uplift Internationale took the colorful bags with them when they made their next trip to the Philippines.
This year, Jay and Donna Lavigne, two of our Filipino community supporters, came and presented a slide show about the work Uplift Internationale does and also had pictures to show the kids of the fleece bags they made last year being put to good use by the children waiting for, or recovering from surgery. It was a very touching presentation that made quite an impression on the middle and high schoolers.
Please click here to see the thank you letter from Uplift Internationale and also pictures of the kids in the Philippine hospital with their goody bags from FHC. In part, the letter says, “Your generous gift to these kids, who have so little, allowed them to feel special and, more importantly, to know that the world cares about them and wants them to lead a happy, fulfilled life, a truly special gift…”
Uplift Internationale: www.upliftinternationale.org
Indian Nepalese Heritage Camp
We had Ferooza Eswaran from the Indian community and a representative from Helping Hands in Nepal, come and talk to the kids about the organizations in their respective countries who needed our assistance. Both presented touching slide shows, and the kids were particularly amazed that with the funds from More Than Me last year, the school in India was able to get a water pump that allowed fresh water to run in the school for the first time!
The kids were also reminded before camp to bring in money they had raised from home. One girl brought in a large zip lock bag stuffed with coins! In total, they brought in $416 which will be sent to the school in India run by the Round Table-44 Trust, and this year, the kids chose to support the medical efforts in Nepal provided by Helping Hands. They were particularly touched seeing the medical needs of the people in Nepal’s villages.
Please click here to see the thank you letter from the school in India. Ferooza brought it to camp in 2008 to share with the kids. The last sentence of the letter says,” We would like to put on record that the middle schoolers are one of our youngest donors and we are convinced that they think of more than themselves!”
Round Table School, Bangalore India: www.roundtable44.org
Helping Hands Nepal: http://helpinghandsusa.org/hhhe_Npl.htm
Korean Heritage Camp
At the suggestion of Kim Matsunaga, who has been working in Korean adoptions for many, many years, the kids decorated onesies for preemies this year for the tiniest babies at Eastern Child Welfare Society in Korea. They decorated over 100 onesies, which Kim brought to Korea the next month. Please see the thank you mentioned in the Eastern newsletter here, as well as pictures of the babies in the onesies. So precious!
They also decorated baseball caps, which matched the camp shirts we sent last year, for the Jinhae Hope Home orphanage in Korea. Kyungmin Lee, the Director of the Hope Home orphanage was again at camp this year and able to talk to the kids directly and show a video of the Hope Home during the More Than Me session. The kids got a kick out of seeing all of the children in last year’s camp t-shirts on a field trip in Korea! He brought an extra suitcase just for the hats and was able to hand deliver one hat for each child in the orphanage. Please click here for the thank you letter from Mr. Lee.
Sorry, no websites available for Eastern Child Welfare Society or Hope Home.
Below are pictures of the children at Hope Home wearing the KHC hats the middle
schoolers decorated for them!
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Kids at Hope Home in Jinhae, South Korea wearing
their hats during their summer camp program! |
Latin American Heritage Camp
This year, Andrea Willman, one of our campers, who is now an LAHC alum, presented a slide show of El Hogar Infantil de Santa Teresita orphanage in Paraguay, where she has done some volunteer work in the past. Andrea was born in Paraguay herself. Having a graduate camper tell the story of an organization was very effective and meaningful to the high school and middle school groups. Russ Urrutia and Cynthia Baron, two of our Advisory Board members and camp facilitators, then led the powerful discussion on being part of a larger Latino community in the world, giving back to that community and others, and plans for next year.
The kids were sent a reminder before camp from the high school and middle school coordinators to bring in funds they had raised themselves and a total of $592 was collected for the orphanage in Paraguay. They also painted colorful wall hangings on canvas for the orphanage to hang on their barren walls. This orphanage in Paraguay is supported by Paraguay Hecho a Mano USA, Inc., a non-profit organization based in Wisconsin. Please click here to read the thank you letter from their President, Carol Pope, who is the one who brought our funds and the wall hangings Hogar Saint Theresita.
Sorry, no web site available for El Hogar Infantil de Saint Theresita, but you can help the needy in Paraguay through:
Paraguay Hecho a Mano USA www.paraguayhechoamano.org
REECA
(Russian/Eastern European/Central Asian)
Heritage Camp
The middle schoolers learned from Martha Tableman, middle school coordinator, about how many of the orphanages in Russia have no outside playgrounds or play areas. This was very impressive to the camp kids, since none of them could imagine not having playgrounds when they were younger.
FRUA (Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoptions) is running a national campaign to raise funds to build playgrounds at these orphanages. The middle schoolers decorated picture frames and sold them to supportive friends and family at camp for $10 a piece, making a total of $150, which was sent to the FRUA Playgrounds Project.
Please click here to read the thank you note from Karen Klein Berman, National FRUA Chair.
Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoptions (FRUA): http://www.frua.org/
Vietnamese Heritage Camp
Since camp was combined with the VAN (Vietnamese Adoptee Network) Conference this year, the VAN members were very involved in More Than Me. They chose to supportthe HALO (Helping and Loving Orphans) organization, run by Betty Tisdale, known as the “Angel of Saigon.” Many of our beloved VAN members were cared for by Betty during Operation Babylift when she evacuated 219 orphans as the city of Saigon fell to the Communists at the end of the Vietnam conflict. They credit Betty with bringing them home to their forever families. After 35 years, Betty is still helping orphans in Vietnam, as well as in Afghanistan, Columbia, and Mexico.
The middle school group took on the “hat project” and decorated hats to be sold to supportive friends and family during the annual camp celebration Saturday night. The VAN members and counselors helped in this effort, and in fact, the counselors also signed a t-shirt that was auctioned off to the highest bidder. In total, $1,076 was raised for HALO.
In her 2007 Christmas letter to Colorado Heritage Camps, Betty included a hand written note, “I am sorry it has taken so long to thank you for the most generous donation of $1,076 – I love all of you! Thank you.” B. Please click here to see the brochure that explains how the funds our middle schoolers raised may have been used to help the orphans in Vietnam.
HALO: www.bettytisdale.com
