The End of the Story

Aisha is cute and chubby. She really doesn't look like a child who needs to be saved.
Saved from what exactly?

Let me show you Aisha's past.

Baby Aisha. Probably born to a mother who wanted her, but was told that she would be impossibly hard to care for because of her Down syndrome.

So Aisha's mother left her in an orphanage, trying to give her newborn daughter a better life.

The baby grew. She turned one. She turned two.

She turned three. She wasn't being starved or beaten. She had enough to eat. What she was missing was a family.

Now the baby is three and a half. This photo was taken in August, less than two months ago.

Shall we keep going? What is the end of the baby's story?

Meet Ksenia. Ksenia wasn't starving either. Then she got transferred to the adult mental institution.

This is Ksenia too. This is what the mental institution does to children.

Maybe that was just that one institution? Maybe that's not a pattern?

If only that were true.

Meet Nathan.

Meet Darina.

Meet Sonny.

So what will Aisha's future be? I don't want to see her turn into an example on someone else's post like this. If she is adopted, she will not be that example. Instead, she will be an example of how love and family save children.

Help me save Aisha. Pray. Share. Contribute to one of our current fundraisers.

(Just to be perfectly clear, my early life history on Aisha is nothing more than an educated guess. I have no real information about her past.)

Christmas Fundraiser: Tastefully Simple

Like to cook? Hate to cook? Either way, there's something here for you.

What it is: I'm hosting an online party with Tastefully Simple, a company that sells, as the name implies, yummy easy food.

What you're getting: There are too many options to list them all! Here are just a few: breads, serving dishes, spices, recipe books, cookies, drink mixes....and the list goes on.

How it works: Click here to get to the page of the consultant who set up the party for me. Browse for items you'd like to buy and put them in your cart. At check out, click on "Find Host" and type in my name (Teresa Gorman). Then continue with your purchase. Aisha gets a cut from the purchase price.

Christmas Fundraiser: Flower Power Fundraising

Here's one for all you gardeners.

What is is: I'm selling flower bulbs to help Aisha through a company called Flower Power Fundraising.

What you're getting: Flower bulbs! Right now they're having a deal where anyone who spends $40 or more gets 10 miniature daffodil bulbs free.

How it works: Click here here to go to my store page. Then choose your bulbs and check out. (There are more bulbs available than what's shown on the first page--just click on any one of those and you'll see six pages of options down at the bottom.) 50% of what you spend goes to Aisha.

The picture is the "Spring Garden Collection"--tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, and irises!

Christmas Fundraiser: Just Love Coffee

Are you a coffee addict? Do you know someone who is? Then this is a great fundraiser for you.

What it is: I'm selling coffee through Just Love Coffee, a company that provides fundraising opportunities for adoptive families and those in orphan ministries.

What you're getting: The coffee is organic, fair trade, and hand roasted. It comes from all over the world from sustainable and shade-grown conditions. There are many different types of coffee available, including some unroasted beans if you like roasting your own, and some samplers if you don't know what kind to try. They also sell a CD or two, some apparel, and coffee-related things like mugs, filters, scoops, and coffee makers.

How it works: Click here to get to my store info page. Then click on the button on the left that says "Shop & Support." Select your products, and check out as you would for a normal online purchase. It's that simple! Aisha gets a cut from the purchase price, and 5% of your order also goes to an organization that provides clean water so that fewer children are orphaned in the first place.

Here she is....the big reveal

This beautiful child, "Aisha K" (the name is fake for privacy reasons), is three years old and condemned to a life of neglect and abuse because she lives in Eastern Europe and has Down syndrome. When she turns four, she will be transferred to an adult mental institution and left there until she dies. Her only hope is to be adopted.

Reece's Rainbow is an organization that tries to save as many children from this fate as possible. They do this by raising funds for waiting children and families adopting children with special needs internationally. Their biggest fundraiser each year is called the Angel Tree.

Aisha K is my Angel Tree child! That means that I am going to do my best to raise $1000 for her between November 1st and December 31st. You can help by making a purchase through one of my links, or by donating money to her grant fund, or by participating in one of my other fundraisers.

Click here to view Aisha's profile on Reece's Rainbow.

Click here to view current fundraisers and sales links.

Please pray that my fundraising is successful and that Aisha's family finds her soon.

Thank you!

Teamwork Tuesday: Kate 26HA

I haven't been doing a good job with Teamwork Tuesday recently. But I'm back! (At least for now!) Today's child is Kate. Click here to see Kate's profile on Reece's Rainbow.
Isn't she pretty? She is eleven and a half and described as social, interactive, and liking dress-up. Her only special needs are HIV and "delayed psycho-motor development". Nowadays, thanks to modern medicine, being HIV+ has almost no impact on daily life. It doesn't pose a threat to people around you.
Kate has over $1000 in her grant fund. It would be nice to start an adoption with $1000 less to worry about, wouldn't it? Are you the lucky family to get Kate and $1000? If you are not Kate's family, please consider donating to her fund to help her family out when they find her. If that's not possible for you, please pray for her.

I have a Christmas baby!

Reece's Rainbow has a fundraising program every year called the Angel Tree. Some of the kids on the website are selected as targets for a concentrated fundraising effort. Each child picked has a target of $1000 raised for their grant between November 1st and Dec 31st. You can read more about the program here.

Christmas Warriors are assigned to a particular child and asked to raise at least that $1000 (this is not a legal commitment). I have a child to fundraise for. It's not Kurt, and it's not Gertie. She's a three-year-old (so baby in the loose sense of the word) with Down syndrome. I will release more information about her later--watch this space!

My sister (who blogs here) is planning to help me with some fundraisers, including an auction and a blog giveaway. If you're interested in hand-sewn items, hand-knitted items, jewelry, books, or other such items, I suggest you check back soon. Other ideas I'm playing with include a run at my school and participating in some commission sales things like Tastefully Simple or Just Love Coffee. Got suggestions? Want to help? Let me know!

Fundraiser for Gertie!

Please read the whole thing--ways to help if you don't have money are included!

"Gertie" is a little girl waiting in an orphanage in Eastern Europe for a family to adopt her and bring her home. (Gertie is a fake name because of privacy laws.) She was recently listed on the website of Reece's Rainbow, a non-profit organization that raises funds for international special needs adoptions (reecesrainbow.org). Gertie turns five in September. She is currently in a "baby house", but once she turns five, she will be eligible for transfer out of the baby house, and it is very likely that she will not receive adequate medical care in the new place. She may be in a facility that is not designed for young children and in which she is not kept safe. Gertie's special needs are a heart condition, kidney problems, and a gall bladder problem. I don't know the details, but it's very likely that these problems need medical attention that she will not get in an orphanage, but are fairly standard in the US.

It will probably cost about $25,000 to adopt Gertie, and she only has $22.50 in her fund right now. I have committed to being her Guardian Angel, which means that I have promised to fundraise for her and raise awareness of her in the hope of finding her a family and reducing the financial impact on that family. In honor of her birthday, I am having the following fundraiser:

Electronic Change Round-Up
The basic idea here is that for the month of September, you will donate a small amount of money for each purchase you make. Here's how it works:

Every time you buy something, look at the receipt and figure out how much money you would need to round up to the next dollar. Remember that number. At the end of the month, add up all the numbers (or keep a running total through the month if that's easier) and make one lump sum donation to Gertie's grant fund.

Here's an example: I bought gas yesterday for a total of $36.09. That's 91 cents for Gertie. Then I bought coffee later that afternoon: $1.06. 94 more cents for her. Today I bought more gas (I drove about 450 miles this weekend--I don't usually spend this much on gas!): $36.52. 48 cents. So far I owe Gertie $2.33. Make sense? (If you're feeling faint at the thought of that much adding and subtracting, commit to give a flat amount, such as a dollar, per purchase instead. It will cost you a little more, but it's for a good cause and the math is easier.)

To donate to Gertie's grant fund, go here.

If you don't want to participate in this fundraiser, but you would like to donate, please do that at the same link. If you want to help, but you have no money, please share this fundraiser with your friends! And whether you donate or not, please pray that Gertie will be taken care of and that she will soon be adopted into a loving home.