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Starfish Foster Home
| Executive Director
Naomi Kerwin
Head Nanny
Xiao Liu
BoardMembers
President
Patrick McLaughlin
Marketing and Fundraising
Cynthia
Klaja-McLaughlin
Treasurer
Peggy McCue
Board Member
Amanda Oaks
Secretary and Child Advocate
Anne Little
Communication and Volunteer Coordinator
Deborah Coffey |
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Greetings!
We are excited about the feedback we received regarding our newsletter. There are so many exciting things happening at Starfish, and we are glad we can share this information with all of you. We have over 2300 emails in our data base - people like you who are interested in hearing about Starfish and who care about the mission and legacy Amanda de Lange left. This issue will focus on sharing examples of successful fundraising that is going on for Starfish, either personally or through companies, churches or other organizations. There is so much work to be done - thank you for helping to be a part of that mission. |
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Note from the Director
by Naomi Kerwin
 | Naomi and Kathryn
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Happy Thanksgiving! This year at Starfish we are profoundly thankful that despite all of the heartbreak, changes and challenges we have faced, we continue to prosper, grow and are able to help children one at a time.
We are thankful : - That our children are healthy and happy and getting all of the needed medical treatment!
- That we are almost done weathering the legal storm of getting Starfish established as it's own entity!
- For the 15 adoptions already this year and the ones we can look forward to before the year ends!
- That we have so many amazing generous people all over the world who support us!
- That we have been entrusted with Baby Ross and have the hope that we will be receiving more children soon!
Rest rest of Naomi's message HERE. Return to top |
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Collette Foundation Grant
By Patrick McLaughlin
 | Charlotte
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Team, I am happy to report that the Collette Foundation has granted us $10,000 to fund The Fat Babies Love Clean Air Project.
I have worked with Nancy Davids of Collette Travel for over four years to identify projects that their foundation could sponsor at the foster home. Nancy leads the Asian travel business for Collette Travel and she met Amanda way back in the early days of the foster home. Each time Nancy brings a group to Xi'an she includes a visit for her tour group to come to the foster home. Starfish represents the ONLY charity supported by Collette in China and we have been the recipients over nearly $40,000 to date.
Read rest of the article HERE Return to top  |
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Raising Money for Starfish
Meet Sinclaire Hancock, a high school senior from Palo Alto, California, and  | |
Sinclaire Hancock with baby Noah
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an avid Starfish supporter. She first heard about Starfish from her cousin who was a friend of Amanda's. She wanted to find a way to help, so she planned a fundraiser before she and her mother flew to Starfish to volunteer. Describing her fundraiser, she writes, "Using homemade invitations with pictures of babies from the Starfish website, I wrote emails and letters to friends, family and neighbors to join me in my home. I created posters and a slide show to display descriptions and photos of Starfish's initiatives and areas of need for decorations. I prepared refreshments and decorated with Chinese paper cuts and calligraphy I had made. And I talked personally with each person who came about the mission and activities of Starfish Foster Home.
I collected $1,135 in checks, with an additional $350 in cash donations. The checks were turned over to Starfish, and with the cash I purchased donation items requested on the Starfish website, such as Betadine, anti-scar gel, and children's art project aprons.
The day after the fundraiser, we left for Xi'an! Together we spent a memorable week volunteering
at Starfish. We grew to love the children and the staff and would love to return again."
Thank you, Sinclaire, for your amazing initiative to raise money for Starfish! People like Sinclaire are finding creative ways to make a difference in the lives of the Starfish babies. Have you had a successful fundraising experience? We'd like to share your story. Email us at: volunteerforstarfish@gmail.com.
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Gift-Giving That Helps Starfish
 
With Christmas right around the corner, we ask you to consider giving your loved ones and friends the gift of helping our Starfish Babies. There are two easy ways to do this. Click HERE to find out how you can help.
You will find that you can either purchase a piece of affordable Starfish jewelry or make a donation on behalf of the person you are giving the gift of helping our Starfish Babies to.
If you choose the Jewelry option - there are two designs: "Life, Love, Laughter." and "For this child I made a difference" -- both were designed by jewelers and Starfish Friends at Jubilee's Jewels Two sisters - Stacey and Jamie - work together in their passion to bring children to their forever families. They designed these two Starfish pieces in honor of our beloved Amanda de Lange. All proceeds from your purchase go to Starfish.
If you choose to make a donation on behalf of a loved one or friend, you will find an adorable downloadable gift certificate HERE that you can print and give to that person indicating that a donation in their honor has been made to Starfish. In order to complete the donation, all you do is hit the "Donate Now" button on the Starfish website and fill out a brief information sheet.
All donations to Starfish are tax deductible.
We hope you have a wonderful holiday season and thank you for all your support!
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Moving Forward
By Naomi Kerwin
 | | Anna |
This year has brought many changes to Starfish. Along with the management changes has come investments to our building. This year we have added child sized potties, a rubber floored play area with swings and slides (we have our own rubber room!), and air purifiers. These are all heavy financial investments committed to the growth and development of our children.
The new play area has brought wonderful changes that turned babies into children. Suddenly when they fell they quickly pulled themselves up so they could run again, they learned to brave the ladder and the thrill of going down the slide first with help then on their own and they learned to share and take turns pushing each other in the swings. Everyday they grow in independence, co-operation and confidence through climbing ladders, swings and different slides. Especially as the weather grows colder I am grateful to Care4Tina for recognizing this need and the joy and development that followed. Thank you Care4Tina!
Our friends at Collette Travel have kindly donated air purifiers for all of our children's rooms. Those of you who have traveled to Xian know that the dust and pollution can be pretty severe. We are enjoying
clean air resulting in better sleep and cleaner rooms. The air purifiers include UV lights that kills airborne viruses, bacteria, allergens, and molds to help alleviate the possibility of contagious
illnesses and an allergy free atmosphere. Thank you Collette Travel!
For many of our children their adoption is happening later rather than sooner. Some of our children were approaching four years old and we had no way to get them out of diapers and potty train them. A donor through Care4Tina generously donated the funds to have toilets and sinks installed into the older children's rooms. Now the children can be potty trained, learn to wash their own hands and brush their own teeth. Thank you Care4Tina and your supporters!
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Going to China? You can help!
Are you
 | Jeannie Butler and her husband Tim
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planning on going to Starfish soon? Or to elsewhere in China? Do you know of a group that is making the trip? We are always looking for those who are able to help take needed items over to Starfish for us. Starfish often has large amounts of donations that need to be sent over to Starfish. As you can imagine, shipping costs to China are very expensive.
Whether you are going to Starfish or to elsewhere in China, you can help. Jeannie Butler, one of our volunteers, organizes and arranges for volunteers to carry over donated items to Starfish, either a little or a lot, depending on what room you have available. Jeannie will send you the items to be hand carried over. If you are going to China but not to Starfish, Jeannie will mail to you a small box that can be hand carried over, and then just dropped into the mail once you reach China. If you are able to help, please contact Jeannie Butler at 615-688-8159, or email her at caringforchinasorphans@gmail.com.
Jeannie has been a Starfish supporter since the early days! For 7 years, Jeannie and Caring for China's Orphans have provided over 6,000 pounds of clothing, toys, medicine, diapers, and formula to Starfish. Amanda and Jeannie were very dear friends, and when Amanda was diagnosed with cancer, Jeannie traveled to China to bring Amanda back to Nashville for treatment.
Jeannie lives in Nashville with her husband, Tim, and 3 daughters, two of which were adopted from China. Jeannie Butler, Caring for China's Orphans
P.O. Box 210003, Nashville, TN37221
OR 214 Carriage Dr., Nashville, TN 37221
Phone number: 615-668-8159
Email: caringforchinasorphans@gmail.com
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Dental health has been a priority since Naomi Kerwin began at Starfish. Training started with the basics: no bottles in bed, no candy, brushing teeth, eliminating bottles when children reach 24 months, eating food with crunch like crackers
and vegetables. Slowly new habits developed.
Last week, The Little White Rabbit Dental Clinic in Xi'an came to Starfish and gave the nannies real training in caring for children's teeth. The nannies learned not just the how but the why children shouldn't sleep with bottles, the importance of chewing, how to brush teeth, etc. After the training they checked teeth and we are happy to report that there were only a few cavities that needed simple fillings. Starfish has a goal of having no cavities by the next dental appointment.
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Volunteer Feedback
Recently Barbara and Roy Rencher of Utah were part of a group that went to Starfish to volunteer. Here is a brief overview of their experience.
Dear Cindy, We were so impressed at our visit to Starfish to see the beautiful, happy children there. It is a marvelous facility doing a very important service. Others in our tour group really enjoyed being able to see the great work going on and to assist the good efforts. Naomi is awesome. I'll write you more about the possible help  Globus can offer to Starfish in the future. Thanks for letting us be of help. Sincerely, Barbara & Roy Rencher |
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Photo Showcase
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Starfish Foster Home
ChangLeGong Department for Old, Mid FengJing Road
XiaoLiuZhai Village, WeiYang District
Xian 710018, ShaanXi Province CHINA Starfish phone: 134.8811.9870
Naomi's cell phone: 202.657.4836
Sincerely, Naomi Kerwin, naomi@starfishfosterhome.org Starfish Foster Home |
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