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Fundraiser Update:
We did it! We want to say a heartfelt thank you to all of our generous donors and compassionate supporters who helped us exceed our fundraiser goal! 🙏

We went above and beyond our fundraiser goal of $70, 000! Over $80, 000 was given by our donors, and thanks to the matching funds, over $160, 000 will be going to help our partners.

We feel overwhelmingly grateful for the outpouring of support and generosity that carried us to the finish line! It was a huge success and we are thrilled to put these funds into good use through the work of our partners in India, Haiti, and South Africa. Thanks to your donations, hundreds of children, adults, and families will be provided with hope and health.

Moving Forward with CHILD and our Partners!
Didn’t get a chance to attend the Moving Forward Fundraiser this year? Here is everything you need to know about what was shared about each of CHILD’s projects.
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We are asking you to join us as we hope to raise $70,000! This is our biggest fall fundraiser goal yet, but amazingly an anonymous donor has pledged to match 100% of the donations for this fundraiser. So every dollar you give is now doubled, which makes $100 into $200, just like that! The Moving Forward Fundraiser ends on Thanksgiving Monday, October 10, so make sure you get your donations in now.

Metropolitan Mission in India​

Presentation by Don Page, CHILD Board Member and Secretary

​I am happy to give a summary of how CHILD is Moving Forward with Metropolitan Mission, or MM, in Vijayawada, India, which five of our board members have visited at their own expense. CHILD supports MM as it provides education in Telegu and English for impoverished children. This prepares many for university education that in India is entirely in English. The education MM provides for children often leads to their educating their entire families. It also empowers girls to escape from human trafficking and abject poverty. For many years now, thanks to donors like you, CHILD has funded the rice and lentils and other protein-rich food for the roughly 175 children in the children's home.

With donations given at last year’s fundraiser, CHILD was able to pay for a tractor and two water buffalo for MM, thereby greatly increasing their self sufficiently. The tractor is being used for tilling the eight acres of land they own for planting vegetables such as spinach, eggplant, and lentils for the children. The purchase of the two water buffalo has been delayed by flooding, but they will soon provide enough nutritious milk for all the children in the school. In a slum in Hyderabad, CHILD is working with MM to provide milk and eggs for 70 impoverished elementary school students, thereby providing nutrient-dense food so the children have the energy they need to focus on their studies.

The tailoring program equips women to start their own tailoring small businesses. CHILD has sponsored five sewing classes of 20 women each that run ten months in five different villages. CHILD has paid for the salaries of the instructors and the sewing machines. At the end of the ten months, the classes are moved to other villages, and another 100 disadvantaged women will learn tailoring skills so that they can start their own small businesses. CHILD buys a sewing machine for each of the women, so that they are not only taught the skills but also provided the equipment needed to run their own small businesses.

Over the past 8 years, CHILD has also paid for the drilling of 58 wells, which provide clean water for over 200,000 people. These prevent many deaths from water-borne diseases, particularly for children under the age of five. Instead of spending many hours walking to distant wells to collect water, girls can now spend that time getting an education.

In summary, CHILD has been: 
  • Lifting children out of poverty through education 
  • Providing the main source of food, rice, to the MM Children's Home
  • Developing self sufficiency by paying for a tractor and two water buffalo 
  • Providing nutritious eggs and milk so that children living in great poverty need not study while hungry 
  • Equipping women to start their own tailoring businesses, and 
  • Drilling 58 wells to provide clean water for nearly a quarter of a million people.

All of these things have been made possible only because of many donors like you, who have so generously supported CHILD over the years. There is so much that CHILD has the potential to do in the coming year, but it will only be possible with your donations. There is nothing CHILD can do without your donations, but CHILD can do a lot with your donations. Thank you again, and I hope that we shall be able to move forward significantly this year to alleviate poverty not only in India but also in Haiti and South Africa.

Haiti Children’s Home Nutrition Program​

Presentation by Loretta James, CHILD Board Member
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Hi, my name is Loretta and I consider it an honor to be able to volunteer on the CHILD board. When it comes to CHILD’s projects I have a specific passion for Haiti for a few reasons. First for context, here in Edmonton I work as a Public Health nurse. I really enjoy working with families with children in their earlier years. Parents sometimes feel vulnerable and unsure of how to make healthy choices for their kids, especially in areas of nutrition. I love being able to provide parents with information and support so they feel enabled in their role in providing so their baby can grow, learn and thrive. What a gift to see parents enabled in their roles. 

Now back to Haiti, in 2011 I spent time there volunteering as a nurse during the cholera epidemic that happened after one of the worst earthquakes they had ever experienced. I learned a great deal about their country and their people and then in the following year I returned with my husband and kids and we spent time at Haiti Children’s Home. Some of CHILD’s work has come out of what I learned and connections I made during these two times there.  

Over the last 6 years different pieces have come together and CHILD has been able to contribute toward the development of a nutrition and health education program that is run near Haiti Children’s Home. This is how it works. The community in Marabalais is aware that the Haiti Children’s Home cares for babies. Parents with children they are concerned about will sometimes show up at the doors of the orphanage unsure what is wrong with their child and uncertain what or if they can do anything. I imagine they feel very vulnerable wondering if they will be able to provide what their child needs. When they come, a Canadian nurse & 2 Haitian nurses assess the children for signs of malnutrition. This involves getting various measurements of the child assessing for growth & development. Often parents have a lot of concern for their child’s growth but in severe poverty they simply do not know what proper nutrition is required to keep them healthy & developing. Depending on the nurse's assessment the child is then admitted to the program, a file is made for them and they are given a week's worth of Medica Mumba bars (a high protein peanut butter supplement bar that is produced in Haiti) or Manna Packs (Rice fortified with Vitamins, minerals and protein) or formula. The following week they return for another assessment to see how they have progressed. These subsequent assessments help with accountability, ensuring the child is receiving the product and it also gives an opportunity for further teaching. This pattern continues until the child has graduated from the program. Overall it often takes 4-6 weeks of nutrition supplements and weekly assessments for the child to show consistent stability in growth to graduate. Through these assessments and the health and nutrition teaching each week, often the whole family benefiting with the changes the family makes.

Our nurse connections at the project share stories of families who have come to the orphanage desperate for their sick child, wondering if they will have to leave their child at the orphanage, uncertain if there is anything they can do. Can you imagine their great joy in finding out that with nutrition support and some health education they will be able to provide for their child. Whether here in Edmonton or south in Haiti parents are often feeling so vulnerable in their deep desire to provide for their child and what a privilege to help enable them.  You with contributing to CHILD are joining in this privilege! 

To finish I just want to share a few quick stats from this past August 2022 and what your support of the nutrition program has been doing. There were 245 files for children open that month or in other words 245 children who were being monitored for malnutrition. Of these 100 were new children to the program. The total mamba packets distributed was 4047 and the total formula was 156! And best of all there were 5 program graduates! 
 
When we look at little faces like these on the slides that capture brighter eyes and a smile, behind it is a body & brain that is growing and developing, a family that is encouraged and lives that are moving forward! Let's keep enabling lives to move forward in Haiti!

SAHARA in South Africa​

Presentation by Sarah Walton, CHILD Board Member.
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My name is Sarah Walton and I get the pleasure of sharing how we are moving forward in South Africa. My introduction to CHILD happened when I was studying nursing at the U of A back in 2016. Now I am completing medical school in Calgary and slightly more distanced but just as excited to be sharing what CHILD, through your support is doing in South Africa. 

Since 2014, CHILD has been partnering with local individuals and organizations in South Africa as they empower children toward nutritional and educational betterment. This has included providing scholarships for underprivileged children to attend academic schools. Many of these children have now graduated and are attending university. Other projects have included supplementing hundreds of elementary kids’ nutrient deficient lunches with milk and other protein sources.
As those who have been involved with CHILD for many years know, many lives have been changed thanks to the continued support of our generous donors.
As time passes, the needs of the communities we serve change and so must the focus of our support. In 2020, we had the amazing opportunity of starting a new partnership with a group in South Africa called, SAHARA. SAHARA stands for Smoking & Alcohol Harms Alleviation & Rehabilitation Association. SAHARA is located in the town of George, in West Cape South Africa.
They have a direct relationship with six impoverished township high schools where drug and alcohol use among students was around 40% pre-pandemic and estimated to have dramatically increased since then.

SAHARA is a team made up of volunteer physicians, social workers, pharmacists, counsellors, spiritual advisors, and youth organizers. 
It utilizes an approach to treating substance use that capitalizes on family and community involvement called the Planet Youth Process. It endeavours to replace harmful behaviors with healthy coping strategies including extra-curricular activities, encouragement of parental supervision, and joint family dinners. This structure has been shown to be hugely effective when implemented in other countries and is revolutionary for parts of South Africa where help with substance use is minimal and government funding is not usually available.

SAHARA also trains volunteers, families affected by SUD, and community members to work in clinics, schools, and churches to identify and manage substance use disorders, thus increasing the capacity within their communities to care for those affected by SUD.

Through your donations, you will be providing free medications to supplement a comprehensive treatment program for people with alcohol, nicotine, and drug use disorder.
Adolescents who have a substance use disorder cannot learn and develop to their full potential, nor can young adults of drinking age. 

The consequences of addiction to both the individual and their surrounding family are deep and generational. SAHARA provides needed and accessible care to suffering individuals by addressing not only their medical needs, but by creating positive outlets and relationships to create sustained change. 
Many lives have been transformed thanks to the work being done at SARAHA. We feel privileged to help with this worthwhile project and look forward to hearing more success stories from George, South Africa. 
Remember that every dollar helps, and in this case $1 becomes $2 with our matching donor, so it’s even more reason to give!
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The Moving Forward Fundraiser ends on Thanksgiving Monday, October 10. Take this opportunity to partner with our generous matching donor and give today!
CHILD can only do what it does because of the donations that support our work.  

Your donations make CHILD's projects--reality.

Your donations make the world’s suffering—less.

Your donations help light come into the world of those who live without hope.

You are making a difference!
Monthly giving is also a big opportunity to help!

​By giving $30 a month, which is just $1 per day, you can help each of our projects have confidence in moving forward with your continued support.
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Monthly giving by debit can be set up by contacting us through email, and for credit card you can set up an account on CanadaHelps.

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