First Hugs is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for orphan children in the care of XuChang Social Welfare Institute in Henan, China.
It was spring of 2006 and I was at Dianjiang signing the agreement with the orphanage and government officials to start our Gracie’s Room project. There was a Chinese tv film crew doing a featuree on why “Westerners” come back to do work in orphanages. They taped me meeting the child- the orphan- that our family sponsored in foster care. I held this child and the reporter asked me a question. It was very emotional. I was meeting a child at my daughter’s orphanage who we had received reports on for a year.” Why do you do this?” “ Why do you pay for this child to be in foster care?” “ Why do you care about these orphans?” Remember, in China, “these orphans” are , to most, nobodies.
Why? Simple, boiled down answer? Because I would have given anything for my two girls to have received that care. Anything! If someone had asked me when I was waiting or my child if I would pay monthly for her care to ensure she was getting love and nurturing, that someone was holding her , engaging her, playing with her, loving her…I would not have hesitated. But that didn’t happen. I did not have that chance. Neither of our girls received any special care. No one held them and cherished them. No one fed them a bottle and cuddled them. They did not get what they needed.
I can’t change that for them . I can’t change their past. But I can change someone else’s future. In small ways, very small ways. And that’s why I do it. That is why I volunteer. It’s why I pay out of my own pocket to go to China and check on the program; to talk to the director about what can be done differently and how it can be improved. And it’s why I will continue to do – even in small measures- something to change the future of children, to give them a head start, to show them love…simply because I wish someone had done it for my kids…
Here it all is. And it’s a lot. Good thing I will be able to pack my simple jeansand tees to wear to hold babies in one very small suitcase, because I will need big suitcases to pack all of this.
Gifts for the babies. For the children of XinXang. Gifts from friends. People who reached into their hearts and pocketbooks, who looked at our wish list on Amazon and bought one bottle of vitamins. Or six toys Or bottles for kids with cleft lips and palates. Some diaper ornaments. Or bandages for the little girl who drags her foot. Or sleepers. These gifts arriving at my house over several months are gifts that matter.
Because of the way Amazon administerstheir wish lists, unless the giver wrote us a note, we never knew who the giftfrom. So I want to say now. Thank you. Thank you so much. This means a lot. It means when I travel to China next month, I will be carrying wishes and gifts from so many of you. I will post pictures as we bring these gifts to the orphanage but for now I want to say thank you. Your gifts are an affirmation that what we are doing is worth it. That these children are worth it.That they matter and that you care.
Again, thank you.Words fail me. “Xie xie” from these little ones in a room in an orphanage in a small town in China. Thank you.
All of us at Dianjiang Kids International would like to wish all our family, friends and supporters a Happy Chinese New Year. 2012 is the year of the Dragon! We are delighted to report that there has been a buzz of activities happening for the children.
Hurrah! We have been talking about our return to Gracie’s Room in XinXiang for some time now, but we have finally booked tickets. I have booked tickets for me ( Moya Smith, executive director of DJ Kids) and my younger daughter (a Dianjiang girl) to head to XinXiang at the beginning of March. We will be joined by Krista Dolan, our Grace’s Room coordinator and by Cathy Reilly, DJ Kids treasurer and most importantly, mom to Gracie. Xia Zhong of Chinese Children’s Charities will be with us for the first few days as we visit several other non-profits working with children in China.
We had hoped Gracie’s Room and, of course, the rest of the orphanage, would have moved to the new orphanage by now but there has been some bureucratic hold up. No worries, with the help of many generous friends, we have gathered tons of stuff ( see our next blog entry) from our Gracie’s room wih list on Amazon and will be delivering new toys and clothes and decorations to the room. And perhaps most importantly, plenty of vitamins for the kids!!
We have plans while we are there to brighten up the room. No use waiting for the move. We will be buying paint and hunkering down to brighten up the walls while there; we also hope to have some shelves built for all the new toys. We are so excited to check on the kids in Gracie’s Room and to begin talks with the director about making Gracie’s Room a 24 hour a day, seven day a week program.
If you would care to chip in, click on the chip in bar to help us pay for paint and materials for the bookcase. We also hope to take the ayis shopping for clothes and supplies for the kids while we are there. We hope to bring about $500 to meet all their wishes for now.
As a thank you for your help, all supporters who participate with the chip in will receive a FREE 18" chinese silk dress for a doll/bear!
We are also very excited to have a volunteer videographer join us and document our journey! We will be able to share this video with all of you and for other opportunities to obtain much needed support and grants for the orphanage. We thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for those of you who would like to volunteer with this portion of the trip. We are seeking Canadian air miles to help our volunteer travel to China.
Points needed from Canada with Aeroplan are 75,000
Points needed from Canada with Airmiles are 13,950
If you or anyone you know has extra miles and would be willing to donate them to our cause, please contact Krista Dolan.
Thanks for all your support and be sure to follow us here starting in March for our trip to China!
To attract good fortune, spend a new coin on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend, and lift up the heart of a true friend by writing his name on the wings of a dragon. -Chinese Proverb
I hope you have all enjoyed your Christmas celebrations and are ready for the New Year ahead! As we are all making New Years resolutions, one of mine I wanted to share was to help the children of Dianjiang a little more during the year of 2012!
The first step would be to complete our wish list so Moya and Krista can deliver the items to the children. Imagine the kids enjoyment and surprise when they receive all the items off the list.
One major important item still on the wish list-- vitamins. We all know they are needed to ensure the children have the supplements they require. I would love if any of you who have not purchased anything from the list would take a peek and perhaps purchase one! They are actually on sale now too, so it is the perfect time to do so.
We understand that times are tough for everyone, but if you can make one tiny sacrifice it would make such a huge impact! Here is the link in case you would like to contribute:
As you know, we have kicked off the fundraiser, mailed out the newsletter and introduced our new tee shirts! We sure have been busy here at DJ. With that said, there are many things needed from our wish list. We will be certain to share with you every few days some items from our wish list. We hope this will encourage you to view the needed items and perhaps pass them along to your family and friends.
Today's featured item is Little Critter Vites! Click here if you would like to purchase! Thank you!
Due to delays in government funding and construction, XinXiang is not due to move into the new orphanage until October 2012.
Until then we would like to make the current room as bright, colourful and warm as possible - just as you would want your own child’s nursery to be. We want Gracie’s Room to be a room that stimulates the children’s senses for proper development, a room where they can lie on their bellies on a soft, clean mat, exercising and developing their muscles, a room where they are discovering sights and sounds with nursery rhymes and colourful walls, all the while having a figure encouraging, loving them and helping them to grow!
The current Gracie’s Room is in desperate need of upgrades. No improvements were put into this existing room as we were expecting to be in the new facility by October 2011. We instead focused on staffing and immediate needs of the children.
As the transition is now delayed by a full year, we need to double our fund-raising efforts to maintain the childcare and to make improvements to the existing room.
To accomplish this Dianjiang Kids International is launching our biggest fund-raising event ever:
Growing Gracie’s Room
Gracie’s Room now has a wish list on Amazon.com
Vitamins, cleft lip/cleft palate bottles, sippy cups, toys and wall decals are just some of the items listed.
Donations of baby quilts, hats, socks and mittens have already been offered!
Monetary donations will be used to replace the existing foam matts, repair broken windows and winterize the room.
Investments in growing the existing Gracie’s Room will be able to be moved over to the new building in 2012.
Please visit our link, do a little shopping and remember the children. www.amazon.com/
Click on wishes and then type in Gracie’s Room.
Our summer may be winding down, however XinXiang’s is winding up for a huge change!
After an unexpected stop in construction, they are now gearing up to move into the new orphanage in October!
Currently we have 15 children in our Gracie’s Room Program and XinXiang has asked us to continue our work in the new building.We have been given a large bright room with two adjoining rooms, one is a bathing area and the other will act as an infirmary.
All of the rooms need to be furnished, painted and brightly decorated!This is our job! The orphanage has given us the rooms, now it is up to us to paint, decorate and furnish it!!Any interior decorators out there???We would love to hear everyone’s suggestions!
Nine of our fifteen children are brand new arrivals to Gracie’s Room and we know they will benefit greatly from the love and care of the nannies.
We have had one adoption this year, so far, and her family says she is doing amazing and can’t imagine life with out her or her contagious smile!!
We also have two more children that will be in the arms of their forever families hopefully by the end of the new year.
Stay tuned for information on an upcoming fundraiser to help decorate Gracie’s Room!
