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Giving Love and Support to Orphaned Children
LWB's Foster Care Program
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| Volume 7, Issue 11 | November 2011 |
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November's newsletter features LWB's Foster Care Program. Based on the belief that every child deserves a family of his or her own, LWB's Foster Care Program began in 2004. This program provides orphaned children the opportunity of receiving love and care from foster care families.
Click the link below to download the complete newsletter in convenient .pdf format. You'll find the stories in this email plus these features and stories:
- LWB's Holiday Gift Guide, Holiday Gift Cards, and Pearl Necklace Thank You Donations
- Foster Care Trip (a three part feature article by LWB's Arlene Howard)
- Info about the upcoming Mini Christmas Auction running December 1-5, 2011
- Kudos (stories from our special donors, including Faith Fellowship Baptist Church)
- Welcome Home! (newly adopted LWB children)
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LWB's Holiday
Gift Guide
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LWB's Foster Care
Gift Cards
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LWB Cover Girl: Maureen Brogan
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"Giving Thanks" with the LWB Community
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TeamLWB Raises $26,500 at MCM!
TeamLWB participants in the Marine Corps Marathon had a fantastic race weekend the last weekend in October! While it was SNOWING on Saturday in Washington, DC, the weather was perfect on Sunday for the marathon and 10K races.
The weekend started with a pre-race pasta dinner hosted by Abiding Presence Lutheran Church. It is always great to finally meet our runners and their families after communicating via email for months before the race. Our runners must have been well fueled because they ALL finished the race they set out to run.
We had participants in three different events: the Kids Fun Run, the 10K, and the marathon. TeamLWB raised over $26,500 for LWB's Healing Homes!! What an amazing feat that will make such a difference to the vulnerable children in our healing homes!
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Families With
Children From China
Walk-a-Thon
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"Dear Love Without Boundaries,
We are submitting this check to you from the children of Faith Fellowship Baptist Church. They raised this money all by themselves during VBS this summer. They wanted to donate this money to you guys in honor of one of their own, Hayden Bittlinger. He just came home October 2010 and your foundation was the one who repaired his lip and gave him hope. They are honored and very excited to be able to give this check and they would like it to go to the healing homes. Thank you so much for all that you do!
Love,
The Children of Faith Fellowship Baptist Church"
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LWB on YouTube
 | | Thank You, from LWB |
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Welcome Home!
 | | Isabella Rose: from the foster care, medical, healing homes, nutrition and orphanage assistance programs; Fuyang SWI, Anhui. |
 | | Lia Faith: from the nutrition and orphanage assistance programs; Lishui SWI, Zhejiang. |
 | | Lorelei: from the education, foster care, nutrition and orphanage assistance programs; Shantou SWI, Guangdong. |
 | | Naomi: from the nutrition and orphanage assistance programs, Yangjiang SWI, Guangdong. |
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"Every child born deserves to know the love of a family."
The above is a saying that we frequently share when talking about our Foster Care Program, but it is more than just a motto; it is something I truly believe in. Never have I meant it more than when I met "Richard" in Anhui while visiting some of our foster care locations in October.
Richard had been abandoned just a few days before we met him. This beautiful boy, thought to be nine to ten years old, was terrified.
He was born with cerebral palsy, resulting in mobility issues. While we don't know for certain, he likely had been brought up in a family environment, and perhaps, due to his disability, his family was no longer able to care for him. When we met him he looked at us with his sad eyes. Later we found him sitting with some older disabled young adults. He looked so scared and overwhelmed at suddenly finding himself in an orphanage, and he kept his eyes down. I know all of us felt terrible for him as we stood there in silence, trying to take in the loss that had just happened to this young boy. Thankfully we were able to ask the orphanage to place Richard into immediate foster care, and within days a suitable family had been found.
I kept imagining being a little child who had no one to offer comfort after a nightmare. No one to sit with when sick. No one waiting for you to get home from school and to ask, "How was your day?"
On that same trip, we were able to visit our Anhui foster care children and families. It was pure joy to go into homes and see children's school achievement certificates hanging on the walls and to hear foster parents proudly tell us about their children. We are so thankful to all of our foster care program supporters as it allows us to give hundreds of orphaned children each year the chance to know what the support and love of a family means.
For two little girls in Xiaoxian, we are delighted to hear that their foster families are now moving forward with adopting the girls. Lani and Emmerson are so obviously loved by their foster parents, and we always celebrate when foster care leads to domestic adoption.
To see children needing sponsorship in our foster care program, please visit our website sponsorship page.
Thank you for helping these children to know the love of a family.
Arlene Howard
Foster Care Director
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LWB's Zhang Village Program:
Featuring Ricki
 Our Zhang Village foster care program in Anhui Province is a little different than our other programs. It is primarily for children who, for one reason or another, cannot return to their own orphanage town once they have recovered from surgery. This could be because we do not have a foster care program in their home town or because a foster family cannot be found.
Currently we have four children in our Zhang Village program, the newest of whom is Ricki.
Ricki needs sponsorships of $35 per month to cover her foster care placement, as well as sponsorships of $15 per month to meet her nutritional needs. Please see our website sponsorship page to help Ricki.
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LWB's Foster Care: Special Projects
Adequate nutrition is so important to a child's growth and development. When children go without necessary nutrients, the body lacks immunity and cannot repair itself. Good nutrition is also essential for a child's cognitive development. LWB supplies boxes of quality cereal to foster care children under the age of 24 months, ensuring that they receive the best nutrition available. The cereal is delivered monthly by our local foster care managers.
You can make a difference in a child's life by making a one-time or regular donation in any amount to this project. A month's supply of cereal costs $15 per child. Donors will receive monthly updates and photos on the children helped.
Email us for more information on any of our foster care special projects.
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 LWB's Mini Christmas Auction It's that time of year again-time for LWB's Mini Christmas Auction to help provide medicated with requests for help from impoverished families whose children are in desperate need of life-saving heart surgeries. One family's story in particular really illustrated the terrible circumstances some of our Unity Fund families are living through. This is what Kai's father recently wrote:al care for orphaned and impoverished children in China. Recently we have been inund 'There are five people in the family, my wife, me, two sons and my father. My father is over 80 years old and in poor health. My father has been hospitalized for several times which cost us over 30,000 Yuan. It was all borrowed money. We are deeply in debt. I have two sons in school. The whole family relies on me. I work in the field and do some other jobs. We do not have real housing, only have two cave dwellings. We cannot afford fertilizer so cannot harvest much grain from the field. Life is going down all the time. Now my son needs the surgery but I cannot afford it. Hope you can save my son's life and help us. I will appreciate it forever.' This year's Mini Christmas Auction will start Thursday, December 1st and run through Tuesday, December 5th. We are hoping to be able to offer between 30-40 items for bidding. The type of donations we are looking for are quilts, Christmas aprons, clothing, art, jewelry, dolls or ornaments. We are so grateful for your past support of our fundraising auctions and, because of you we have been able to help many, many children. With your help we can make some very special Christmas wishes come true this year for families just like Kai's. Donation items need to be submitted no later than November 26 to be included in our auction. Please let us know if you are interested in donating! Save the date: LWB's annual art auction is scheduled for April 12th-17th, 2012. If you are interested in learning more about LWB's art auctions, please email us for more information. |
Best Wishes, Kate!
This month we got the very sad news that Kate Finco, LWB's wonderful medical director, will be stepping down as a volunteer. I want to publicly thank her with the biggest standing ovation in the world for everything she has done for us over the last five years. She has given countless volunteer hours to help orphaned and vulnerable children, and she has built our medical program into what I feel is the absolute best of its kind in all of China. Many people don't realize what a very heavy burden the medical program can be to a person, as very difficult decisions have to be made on which children receive care and which cannot. And of course, babies are often so very sick and sadly some pass away. Kate has handled all of this emotional work with such wisdom and grace, and I have been so blessed to call her a friend and to get to work alongside her the last five years.
As Kate starts the next journey in her life, I know all of you will join with me in letting her know that she is a true angel on this earth. She has changed countless lives - and her compassion and kindness are a model for us all.
Amy Eldridge
Executive Director
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Meet Baby Kate!
We would like to introduce you all to baby Kate - our newest resident of the Henan Healing Home, who just arrived from the Changzhi orphanage weighing just a bit more than 2 kg at 3 months of age. This beautiful baby girl has been named in honor of our own Kate Finco, medical director extraordinaire, who will sadly be leaving LWB in a few weeks. We have had many people write us asking how they could honor everything Kate has done for the foundation over the last five years. We thought that naming a very special baby in her honor was just one small thing we could do, and so now we will all get to celebrate and cheer as baby Kate finally gets the healing she needs. If anyone wishes to make a gift in Kate Finco's honor, please visit Kate's sponsorship page.
May sweet baby Kate grow up to be as beautiful, kind, and compassionate as her namesake.
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Spring Forward to Team LWB Spring is right around the corner and LWB is gearing up for the NJ Marathon Festival At the Shore on May 6, 2011 in Long Branch, New Jersey. We are on the lookout for more runners! Runners can do the full marathon, a half marathon, or a two-person relay (about 6 miles for each leg). 
Team LWB runners receive a number of race benefits along with the satisfaction of raising money for LWB's Education program and helping to change the life of a child. Please contact Jessica Chu if you would like to be part of Team LWB. We're also looking for company sponsors so please let Mary Farmer know if you have any leads. It will be a great run along the beach and there is no better way to experience this event than to be part of Team LWB! These group races make such a difference to the programs they benefit, providing much needed funds. We are in need of events to benefit our foster care and orphanage assistance programs. If you are interested in coordinating an event for one of these programs, please email us for more information.
These are just a few of the upcoming events. Please visit our website to see additional events where our supporters are running or walking to raise money and awareness for LWB and the children we help. We hope you will join them or make a donation in support of their efforts.
If you are planning to participate in a race, why not raise some money at the same time? It certainly makes training more meaningful, and it is easy to get a website set up and fundraising support. Contact us for more information.
These group races make such a difference to the programs they benefit, providing much needed funds. We are in need of events to benefit our foster care and orphanage assistance programs.
If you are interested in coordinating an event for one of these programs, please email us for more information.
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Thank you for bringing hope to orphaned children in China!
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