HALF THE SKY CANADA FOUNDATION (HTS)
(Charitable Registration Number: 857373203RR0001)
http://www.halfthesky.org/
Open Arms Children's Foundation has over the past three years contributed $60,000 to the Canadian-build Yibin orphanage project in Sichuan province.
Please click here to see the kind of work Half The Sky has been able to accomplish in the past. Through our support, this kind of work will continue to be maintained. See the impact on the lives of these children in China by watching the video in the link.
We are pleased to share with you the most recent letter from Jenny Bowen, Executive Director of Half the Sky, one of our partners. If you click on the link you will view a heart-warming video that represents the work we are supporting at the Yibin site.
Dear Friends,
As we turn the page on 2008, it's impossible not to reflect back on all
we'd envisioned just a year ago. This was our tenth anniversary year, the
Olympic year, the year of the launch of the Blue Sky Plan - the government
promise offering Half the Sky an open door to change orphan care in all of
China forever.
It hasn't turned out quite like that. We've seen storms and earthquakes.
We've seen a financial crisis that rocked the world.
I am so proud of what we have accomplished together during this chaotic
year.
We brought the loving care of HTS nannies, teachers and foster parents to
children living in 41 welfare institutions. We created four new HTS Blue
Sky Model Children's Centers. We trained orphanage staff across an entire
province so that they can begin to offer HTS-style programs of nurturing
care and education on their own. We brought relief to 98 orphanages
battered by the spring storms. We brought relief to the quake-orphaned and
displaced children of Sichuan. We set up six "Big Tops" - children's
centers housed in giant tents in refugee camps near the epicenter - places
where children can learn to smile again, nurtured by teachers receiving
ongoing training to help traumatized children begin to heal.
It is, of course, your love and support that has made every bit of this
possible.
When I last wrote, I told you why we can't stop now. Without our
determination to help the children during even the hardest days, they will
surely not be heard. When the whole world is hurting, these most
vulnerable children will simply be forgotten.
Many, many of you have listened and you generously responded. Hundreds of
you honored your loved ones through donations. Over 200 of you answered
our wish for child sponsors for the more than 2,000 who need them.
Every little bit will help during these most critical days. The storms
have passed; the quake area begins to rebuild, but the legacy of 2008
lasts as we enter the new year.
From all of us at Half the Sky - the nannies, the teachers, the field and
office staff, the volunteers, and, especially the 5,000 children whom we
serve - in Anhui, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou,
Hainan, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning,
Sha'anxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Tianjin - and soon we hope, Inner Mongolia,
Shanxi and Xinjiang.
We hope this New Year's Eve and Day finds you safe, warm, at peace, with a
heart full of hope, and surrounded by the ones you love.
Happy New Year!
With love and gratitude,
Jenny
Jenny Bowen
Executive Director
Half the Sky Foundation
www.halfthesky.org
Half the Sky was created in order to enrich the lives and enhance the prospects for orphaned children in China. We establish and operate infant nurture and preschool programs, provide personalized learning for older children and establish loving permanent family care and guidance for children with disabilities. It is our goal to ensure that every orphaned child has a caring adult in her life and a chance at a bright future.
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