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Welcome to Giving Children Hope’s Blog!
This blog features insight into a world of nonprofits, social justice, philanthropy, communications, marketing, current events and everything in between that concerns making a difference in this world.
This blog is managed by a staff writer, but we will feature guest bloggers from time-to-time. Please feel free to comment and interact with these posts! If you have any questions about blogs posted or guest blogging, please e-mail us
Coordinating Change
This guest blog comes from Jennifer Donovan. Jennifer joins the Giving Children Hope staff as Logistics Coordinator.
Hello World!
With just a little over a month working here at Giving Children Hope, I guess you can say I am the “new girl.” Besides gaining that title I have also acquired the title of Logistics Coordinator. I will be the friendly lady helping get things where they need to go, locally and abroad.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras I learned a lot about myself and about helping others. When I first got back in-country I was unsure of exactly how to put all of this new knowledge to work. I had a new view of how to help people, a clearer picture of the responsibility that goes into Development, and a longing for someone to listen to ideas I had. It took awhile, but after searching far and wide I found someone to listen.
The hopeful vibe and passion of the staff here at GCHope is inspiring. I feel as though I am among people who understand my desire to, excuse the cheesiness, bring hope to the world. With an array of diverse programs, GCHope is changing the world. In Honduras a common saying is “nothing is easy;” I think it is important to remember that through hard work and cooperation anything is possible.
One of the many programs GCHope has is Giving for Living, a distribution center where local nonprofits can come to “shop” for their cause. Lucky for me employees are allowed to shop for causes near to their hearts, as well. During the Holiday season I received an email from a good friend serving in the Air Force in Kyrgyzstan. She asked if I could send anything for the local kids she was volunteering with. As luck would have it I just started working at GCHope. I went down to our Giving for Living area and sponsored a large box of Pillow Pets and sent it off to my buddy to distribute.
A few days ago I got an email from her saying that she took the “pets” to the Children’s Heart Ward, where all of the children in the ward were awaiting heart surgery. She wrote: “the mothers were so thankful. I just wanted you to see the difference that you made today.” I couldn’t help but tear up. It is amazing how something so small can bring so much happiness.
While here at GCHope I look forward to creating more happiness and working to positively impact our world. From touching the lives of the people in our surrounding communities to reaching out to children around the world, GCHope is impacting our world in a big way and I am proud to be a part of it.
The Street: Educating The Next Generation
If there’s one thing I remember about my childhood, it’s the quintessential show for children — Sesame Street. I’m pretty sure my parents remember even more about it because they haven’t let me forget the hours I spent watching those Muppets sing and dance down the street known as Sesame. I can pretty much guarantee that my love of reading and learning can be directly traced back to this show. Proof that it works on your kids, parents.
But recently, twenty-some years after I stopped watching Sesame Street, I turned it back on to watch a special episode on a topic that is near and dear to our hearts here at Giving Children Hope. In October, Sesame Street aired a primetime, one-hour episode dedicated to the topic of poverty and hunger.
The Sesame Street crew and viewers are introduced to Lily, a brand-new Muppet resident. When Elmo first meets Lily, she is volunteering at a food drive; Elmo is considerably confused about why they’re gathering food, who gets the food and what a “food pantry” is. Lily patiently talks him through it, revealing along the way that she gets meals at school and her family gets food from the food pantry because her parents are out of work and they don’t always know if they’re going to have food or not.
This freaks Elmo out because he has never had to think about whether or not he’ll be able to eat. For being such a young Muppet, Lily is an old soul and wise to the ways of the world. She carefully explains to Elmo that many people use the food pantry, and with the help of the adults on the street, explains that “food insecurity” (not knowing where your next meal will come from) is more common than anyone knows. People just don’t talk about it.
This sad reality is becoming more and more represented in popular culture. Last year on the hit show Glee, one of the characters had a story arc that revealed he and his family was homeless because of job loss. It was a storyline that was never really fleshed out but it touched on many relevant topics including the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, families living in motel rooms, and the stigmas, fear and shame that these children face.
In my work here at GCHope, I’ve learned more statistics on homeless children than I ever thought existed. According to U.S. Census Data, 16 million children are living below the poverty line in the United States. A recent study by the National Center on Family Homelessness revealed that 1.6 million children in the United States are homeless and there are now nearly 28,000 homeless children in Orange County alone. Those facts are sometimes so overwhelming that it’s hard to process what the numbers actually mean. The first time I heard the statistics about homeless children in Orange County, I was stunned. It would be impossible to believe if I didn’t see it firsthand in our work with We’ve Got Your Back.
Sesame Street has a way of explaining difficult topics in a way that makes sense to children, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I was in tears several times while watching this episode. Hearing a child talk about the scariness of not knowing whether or not they’ll have a meal today is heart-breaking – puppet or not!
We’ve Got Your Back is a program dearly beloved both by GCHope staff and our supporters. We want the Lilys of our community to be kids and to laugh and run and play, not worry about whether they’ll have a meal today. Most of us know where our next meal is going to come from, but I encourage you to find out how you can help those who do not. Lily explained to Elmo that some people donate their time, money, or food, and of course those are needed. But even though it’s been a few months since I watched the show, the one thing that stood out the most to me was that for Lily, it was most important to simply have a friend.
GCHope realizes that just like Lily, these children need to know that they have a support system. That’s why we work to build relationships with the schools and the school districts to ensure that these children know they are not alone. We want to be more than just advocates. We want to build relationships in order to build a better community.
This blog post was contributed by Jessica Rickerts, Assistant to the President & CEO at Giving Children Hope. Jessica has been a part of the GCHope family for 4 years and holds the We’ve Got Your Back program dear to her heart.
Responding to Crisis: Somalia
I’ve always been passionate about the way Giving Children Hope responds to disasters and crises worldwide. As a team with unique skill sets and experience levels, we work well together and respond as quickly and efficiently as possible to needs around the world. This is no different with the current needs in Somalia and the Horn of Africa regions.
Our partners need help and relief and assistance now. The media seems to have already forgotten these regions that need help so desperately. GCHope has not.
Ben Hansen, our friend (and former intern from Ameri-Corps), highlights the needs and situation in the Horn of Africa region in his newest guest blog post:
Drought in Africa Leads to Famine
by Ben HansenSince the beginning of July, countries within the Horn of Africa – Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and neighboring nations – continue to suffer from a severe drought and famine. According to BBC, this crisis is “the worst in 60 years.”
Widespread famine is occurring throughout the region as uninhabitable conditions wilt crops and threaten livestock. The resulting increase in food prices and heavily controlled distribution lanes by local militia make food a scarce commodity for people of the region.
As time passes, conditions worsen throughout the Horn of Africa, effecting Somalia most severely. The nation has suffered more than 29,000 deaths since July as more than 860,000 refugees from Somalia flood camps in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, causing overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.
For the first time in nearly 30 years, the United Nations officially declared a famine in several regions of Somalia due to the worsening conditions of malnutrition and a lack of adequate humanitarian response. The UN World Food Programme expects 12 million people across the Horn of Africa to need food aid – a figure revised upward from 6 million in early July.
Giving Children Hope, in partnership with Dr. Abdul-Aziz Farah and Humanitarian Endeavoring and Life Promotion, Somalia, is sending the desperately needed pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to address the associated health risks that refugees suffer from.
As a humanitarian aid organization that takes pride in the ability to send aid where it’s needed most, GCHope is responding as rapidly as possible to this crisis, sending necessary medical supplies requested by partners in the Horn of Africa region. GCHope is doing everything in its power to spearhead the humanitarian aid response in Somalia and needs help from volunteers willing to get involved.
Please consider playing a part in this relief effort by helping to fund upcoming shipments. To sponsor medicines, medical supplies, or a container, please contact Sean Lawrence .
We’re asking for your partnership in this response. Alone we can only do so much, but together we can help thousands of individuals suffering.
Getting Ready For Our 2011 Gala “Timeless Hope!”
Our Gala event “Timeless Hope” on Sunday, October 9th is right around the corner! This vintage-inspired evening will feature entertainment, silent auction and fine dining. Ways YOU can participate: Be a corporate sponsor, purchase tickets to reserve your table, donate silent auction items, volunteer. This event helps us raise the necessary funds to make it possible for GCHope to continue it’s work in the community. This will be an event you don’t want to miss! Along with a photo opportunity in front of a classic car, there will be a silent auction and an Opportunity Drawing that will make it possible for anyone to win various prizes. For the Opportunity Drawing, you will have to purchase a ticket. We have big prizes like a foursome at Pelican Hill Golf Course (over $1,000 value), 7-night stay at Elite Island Resorts, a $5,000 gift certificate for a family photo session at Bradley Portraiture and more. We also have smaller prizes like gift certificates to various places such as Macy’s, Luigi’s restaurant,BJ’s Restaurant and Brewery, and Cookie Lee Jewelry.
To purchase a table visit: http://www.gchope.org/gala-2011.html
To purchase Opportunity tickets, donate, or volunteer: Call our offices at (714)523-4454 or email Jenna Sutherlin at jsutherlin@godaid.org
Giving Daddies Hope
I just celebrated my first Father’s Day with my little joy, Abigail, who is almost 11 months old (where on earth does the time go)!
Abigail, my wife and I relaxed with a small picnic along with my older brother (a father of three), and our dad. We threw the Frisbee, rocked some Bocce, hit some fly balls and chased the kids around the playground. It was a beautiful afternoon in the park and a great “Thank You” from our wives and kids.
I consider it a great privilege to come from a line of great dads. Both of my grandfathers were committed to providing the best possible kind of life for their families. They worked hard and pursued their goals with respect, humility and an abiding love for their wives and children.
My dad is a great man. He is determined, intelligent, compassionate, honorable and reliable. I cannot remember ever feeling like he wasn’t accessible to me or that I couldn’t go to him with my troubles or questions. Though he is not perfect, he shared his wisdom with all three of his sons and showed us what it means to be a man in America. Much of who I am is a result of his fatherhood.
Back at work, I learned you aren’t on staff long at GCHope before you realize that everyone is on-deck for just about every project, like a very large family. Though I work primarily with volunteers, I have also had a great deal of interaction with the “We’ve Got Your Back” program. Last month, I was working to compile the information we have on the kids in this program.
It was a huge task and very tedious, but it gave me a chance to get a brief glimpse into the lives of these kids. As I scanned through the thousands of names in our files, I was overwhelmed by the volume of children who currently have no regular interaction with their dads. Of the 2,600+ kids who have been served by our program this school year, well over a third of them don’t live with their fathers. Working around these kids, you kind of know that fatherlessness is an issue, but to actually see the names and hear the numbers was a kick in the teeth.
I hate it when people rag on dads for not stepping up. It feels like a sweeping judgment over an often misunderstood group of American males, even though there are certainly biological fathers who are barely worthy of the name. I am much more interested in congratulating those Dads who are doing it right…
To those dads who are taking on three or four jobs to make ends meet, thanks for stepping up.
To those dads that sacrifice their own needs for the sake of their wives, that is what a man does.
To those dads who know the difference between being loved by your kids and being liked by your kids, they will thank you for it someday.
To those dads that are dads to kids whose biological fathers have disappeared, your presence does not go unnoticed.
To those dads who serve without looking for something in return, thank you for investing in your families more than your portfolio.
To my dad and all those who are doing it right, thanks for giving hope to rest of us dads that we can, too.
With Admiration,
Abigail’s Daddy
Special guest blog written by Volunteer Coordinator, Drew Bryson, who just celebrated his first Father’s Day as a father!
