Shade for Children General Fund

We did something we've never done before during our recent end-of-the-year giving season; we tried to raise funds for three different projects. Predictably, we weren't as successful as we wanted to be with donations being divided across three projects. 

However, we entered the new year with almost $2000 in our general fund, most of which will be directed towards our summer camps for orphaned and vulnerable children. That's enough to pay deposits and secure our venue for camps in July. Between now and then we'll need to raise about $4000 more to cover the full cost.

Our summer camps are trauma-informed and we'll have children from multiple local churches mixed with kids from foster and adoptive homes, from displaced families, and from local orphanages. 

As a side note- Shade for Children founders attended a friend's birthday party this afternoon at a local children's party place (indoor play area, etc). While we were there we ran into two sisters, also there for a birthday party, who were recently adopted. The oldest one was in our camp last summer while she still lived in an orphanage. We were thrilled to see her and full of joy for her and her sister who now have a forever family. That's what we like to see at Shade for Children and that's why we do what we do!

With so much of our efforts (and funding) going towards our building project, Blossom Cottage, we've been operating the rest of our work on a shoestring budget. We were fortunate, thanks to you and other donors, to have funds for our summer camps back in June and July. Funds received since then have gone primarily to our weekly orphanage visits.

There is an upcoming need related to our work of supporting adoptive and foster families. A family we know adopted a child that we've known for years. She had significant health issues, but it turns out that she had more issues than the family was aware of and more than the orphanage and social services told them about. In fact, they are preparing a lawsuit regarding the lack of disclosure.

In the meantime, their health care cost have skyrocketed. We've been told the mother is working three odd jobs and the father is working two jobs. They are in the process of gathering a list of their current and upcoming expenses so they can help their little girl. While not much compared, for example, to US healthcare prices, we expect their expenses to be in the $5000 range for treatments and procedures through the end of this year. We intend to help them with those expenses and donations to this General Fund will help us do that.

Thank you for your support,

Clinton