Gifts From The World Auction

Today our annual Gifts From The World Auction began. More than 90 items from around the world are available for bidding. Items such as beautiful hand-made wine stoppers, blankets, clothing, and even a vacation home just to name a few will help us raise the $10,000 needed for Humble Hearts. While this auction can provide you with wonderful and unique items for yourself or others (are you thinking holiday gifts?), it will also provide daily necessities to the children of Humble Hearts.

Currently there is only one water tank at Humble Hearts. This water tank is way to small for the 140 children living there to have water to drink, as well as using it for cooking, cleaning, and showering. Every single dollar raised from this auction will be matched by 50% and one of the first purchases will be an underground water tank holding 30,000 liters of water. Then additional beds will be purchased so fewer children have to sleep on the floors.

Please, spread the word about this great auction and the enormous difference it will make in the lives of these precious children. Your bid is not only a bid for one of these beautiful items, it's a bid for a better life.

Kari
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Recycle Halloween for a great cause!

Halloween is a fabulously fun holiday for children. The candy, the parties, the costumes – what a treat! The trick is that not every child is fortunate enough to share in the innocent fun of dress up and make believe. Wish as we might, we can’t take the joy of Halloween to orphaned children, but there is something you can do to help make their lives brighter.

Send us your costume! Angel Covers is hosting a Halloween Costume Drive. So, when you turn your calendar to November please gather your costumes and send them to:
Caroline – Angel Covers, 9420 E. Golf Links Rd., PMB #204, Tucson, AZ 85730.

We’ll gratefully accept all costumes – for babies, children, teens, and adults. They don’t need to be in perfect condition and don’t worry about the chocolate stains or minor wear, we still want them! Please ask friends, neighbors and co-workers for their costumes too. Costumes will be sold on eBay with proceeds benefitting Angel Covers and the foster care program in Huaibei, China.

Thank you!
Caroline

Meet Emilio

In late 2009, Emilio was only a few months old living in the Huaibei, SWI in China. He was in great pain and in need of surgery for intestinal atresia. Fortunately Emilio was able to have surgery and began putting on weight right away and in July we were able to place him in a loving foster home in Huaibei, Anhui. Emilio is simply thriving! Emilio is walking around his new home holding onto his foster mother’s hand and is able to stand on his own. He’ll be walking on his own soon for sure! He has favorite toys, and does a great job feeding himself table food. His foster mom is completely in love with him and describes Emilio as lovely, active, and even a little naughty. We think that sounds just about perfect for an eleven month old.

By the December 31, Angel Covers would like to raise $3,000 for kids just like Emilio. As I type this, there is another little boy just waiting for a foster home. He too has recovered from life-saving surgery, but funding is not available to provide him with a foster home just yet. As of today, $110 has been raised towards our goal of $3,000. We are thrilled to know that we are on our way to providing a home for even more deserving children like Emilio. Would you please send this email to all your friends and family? A donation of just $10 will quickly add up and make a life-changing difference for Emilio and so many others.

Always grateful for the support of so many,

Kari Fillmore

High School Kids in Need.

Humble Hearts School, in Nairobi, Kenya, for deaf and disadvantaged children, has truly become a beacon of hope for many families in its community. Persevering through the destruction of its original site, the entire school now thrives on the campus of Angel Cottage, on the east side of the city. Originally, Angel Cottage was built to be a home for deaf children in Nairobi that attended Humble Hearts. Some of the children are orphans, some simply needed a safe place to live where they were understood and could easily attend school. It has now become home to nearly all of the students, from nursery through high school. As the arduous task of commuting daily became an obstacle to continuing their education, the students now share triple bunks and floor space for their pallets, just in order to receive the blessing of regular nourishment and instruction.

Our growing concern is for the high school students who come from such excruciating poverty that the pressure to drop out and give up on their dreams is enormous. Limited jobs of any kind make it difficult for families to provide even one meal a day, let alone the expenses for their high school age children’s schooling. These teenagers feel great pressure to drop out and either fend for themselves or assist in the support of their families. Even given those tragic choices, the realities they face away from school don’t simply steal their dreams, they haunt their safety and future.

The cases of youth being used by drug lords to carry out their filthy tasks, for measly pay, are increasing daily. This danger increases when children stay home from school (to save money) without jobs. They become lured into drug peddling for the income, yet become users themselves and ultimately ruin their lives, in or out of prison.

The environment at Humble Hearts is generously, graciously conducive to their learning and thriving. Especially now that many students board (perhaps a providential blessing in disguise) there is no opportunity for considering or even knowing of the illicit and dangerous drug business activities. Mandated by the Kenyan government, Christian Religious Education encourages the development of strong moral character while their educational home nourishes them physically, academically and emotionally. After four final years of high school studies, students are stronger, brighter and far better equipped to meet the challenges of their future, whether they continue to university or become leaders of change in their communities and their country.

Please consider supporting these students, who need all of the attention, care, and sustenance we can gather. Go to http://angelcovers.org/humblehearts.html to learn how to participate. Check out http://www.causes.com/causes/16135 or http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Angel-Covers/182221079501 or write to sponsorship@angelcovers.org to put actions to your compassionate reactions and concerns. A simple sponsorship of twenty dollars, each month, is all that is required to begin to encourage and empower them with the boldness to dream of a better future.

Ida McManis

Humble Hearts Sponsorship Coordinator

Bringing the joy of a family to orphans in China.

Angel Covers believes every child deserves a safe, loving home in which to learn and grown. The recent establishment of our foster care program not only provides children a loving home, but provides personal care most needed following surgery. In a partnership with Love Without Boundaries, children in the Huaibei, Anhui orphanage in China are given life-changing surgery and the first priority to a loving foster family once surgery is complete. Foster families provide individualized attention to these beautiful children following a very stressful time in their short lives. Personal care quickly meets the needs of these medically fragile children.

Prior to the child entering foster care, the new family is provided a crib, clothing, bottles, and other necessities for the baby. The family must also pass a health screening in order to ensure they are physically capable of caring for another child. Monthly, an Angel Covers’ monitor visits each family to ensure the home is safe, the children are meeting developmental millstones, and their medical condition is improving. Our dedicated monitor will return to the home more frequently if any questions or concerns arise. The monitor also ensures the children are made available for adoption, providing a forever family to kids such as Emillio who received surgery for a bowel obstruction, or Anton who was born with a cleft lip. Both of these children are now thriving in foster care.

Angel Covers has partnered with Facebook to raise $3,000 to fund the three children currently placed in loving foster homes. Costs such as monthly monitoring, health screenings, and start-up costs for beds, bottles and other necessities are on-going expenses necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of these great kids and others who will follow.

Can you please help us provide safe, loving homes for these very deserving children by going to our Facebook page and making a donation? No donation is too small. Every single dollar donated goes directly to the care of these medically fragile children. Please join us in showing Anton, Harrison, and Emillio how much you care.

Returning home

It was really unfortunate that I wasn't able to blog from Kenya our last 2 days there. So many wonderful things happened. After the school was demolished in December, a lot of looting took place. Textbooks expecially were taken and sold on the black market. Previous to the demolishion, Humble Hearts had enough textbooks for every 2 students to share one set. While that certainly doesn't measure up to US standards, that is a wonderful ratio for Kenya. The children and teachers were thrilled. Sadly, after the demolishion, the ratios change to every 3-6 students sharing one set of text books. Because of a generous donation, we were able to replace enough textbooks that again every 2 students are sharing one set.

Another very generous donation of more than $500 was given while we were in Kenya. This donation in part was used to purchase food for the children of Humble Hearts. Enough flour, beans and rice were purchased to last almost 2 weeks. It's such a wonderful relief to know the staff doesn't have to worry about these items after we left. Both of these donations will be matched by 50% and many more wonderful things will soon be done at the school.

We were fortunate to be able to meet with Muscort, the director of the Dagoretti Youth Centre, during our trip. He is such a kind and gentle man with a huge heart for the children of his school. With very little outside support, the Dagoretti school struggles every day to pay teachers and provide supplies for the students. We were thrilled to be able to give him backpacks, pencils, pens, and money to pay the teachers a little something this month.

My daughter had a birthday party last night and received dozens of silly bands. It's amazing to me how popular these have become so quickly. Millions of dollars are being spent and stores are selling out of them as soon as shipments arrive. As I watched her excitiment in opening these, I couldn't help but think that if each of us simply donated the cost of a package of silly bands to the Humble Hearts school, the same joy would be brought to these children as was brought to my daughter and the amount needed to receive the full matching donation would quickly be raised.

Will you consider donating to Humble Hearts? Even a small amount, such as $5, will completely change a child's life.

We've begun posting pictures on Facebook of this great trip. Please look through them and see the amazing difference your support is making for these children. They may live half-way around the world, but the laugh the same, cry the same, and learn the same as our children. Your support of them is helping them every day to grow and flurish as our own children do.

Grateful beyond words,

Kari

Saturday, a day of rest?

Saturday in Kenya really is considered a day of rest….well, technically. But as you drive around town and see as many cars as normal on the roads and all the people walking to and from jobs, you wonder when they really do rest. We were fortunate to take the day off from working and spend time at the local market. The market is always and interesting place and each year I find something new. While purchasing wonderful items of our auction and website, I couldn’t help but think about all of our great supporters who will likely see these things online and help the children with their generosity. It’s always amazing to me that a scarf or a gourd bowl can make such a difference in children’s lives.

We were honored today to finally get the chance to meet two young men Angel Covers has been supporting for some time. Charles is 21 years of age, and while I’ve had the joy of knowing him through others in Kenya and via email, we’ve never had the chance to meet until today. Angel Covers supported Charles through secondary school and is now supporting him in his dream to become a mechanical engineer. Charles attends the University of Nairobi and will begin his second of 5 years of study in October. His grades are high and his attitude is nothing but positive. He has big dreams of finishing college and getting his MBA as well. Charles is receiving a full scholarship for his tuition due to his hard work and dedication. Angel Covers is currently helping with costs of books, room and board, and living expenses. We are in desperate need of a sponsor for Charles, so if you’re interested, please contact me right away at kari@angelcovers.org

Julius is 29 years old and finished high school in 1998. Since then he’s been dreaming about being able to attend medical school and open a clinic in his home village of 15,000 people. Currently this clinic has no medical care available and villagers must walk more than 2 hours to the closest doctor. Julius has finished his 3 years of studies and is now almost completed a full year of internship. He loves working with children and is considering spending a week at Humble Hearts in October to help treat children there. Julius has 3 wonderful sponsors who have completely changed his life and the lives of those in his village. His eyes were teary when he talked about his sponsors, gave me individual gifts for them, and tried to thank us for everything given to him. He is a gentle man with a huge heart who feels he will never be able to repay his sponsors for all their support.

We were thrilled with Charles and Julius wanted to spend time with us at the Bomas of Kenya, seeing the show and the examples of traditional Kenyan villages. The dances are always beautiful and spending extra time with them was an unexpected bonus. After an exhausting day, it’s always nice to be back in our rooms relaxing, but even better to be able to see first-hand what a difference our work is making in people’s lives. Days don’t get much better than that.

Kari