Zero the zeros !!!

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Which one ?

For those of you new to this blog, and to the world of Reece's Rainbow, here's a quick run down of what they're all about.

Reece's Rainbow is an organization that raises adoption grants for orphans living in orphanages around the world. They focus on children with Down Syndrome and other special needs - children who are mostly social orphans - meaning that their parents are still alive, but found themselves unable to cope with their child's needs. Sadly, many countries still see the disabled as burdens, and they just don't have the medical care, schools and therapists available to help the children reach their full potentials.

Most children with special needs live their lives in orphanages, then adult institutions, and many die young due to neglect. These children deserve families, just as our children do. They deserve to be loved, to be surrounded by moms and dads, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. Sadly, very few will get this opportunity - and those that do are those lucky enough to be adopted.

Over the past few years, I have followed many many stories of children who HAVE been adopted, and brought home to a loving family in the USA.

So many of these children were malnourished, bedridden, and had basically given up on life. I have seen them change before my eyes - seen them thrive as they received adequate nutrition, therapy, education and, most important of all - LOVE.

International adoption is expensive - and most families who CAN provide for their children once home - who CAN feed, clothe and house them - who CAN provide medical care - who CAN love their children - these families just don't have tens of thousands of dollars to pay for the adoption.

This is where Reece's Rainbow and their advocates come in.

They list children who are available for adoption - they get them seen - and they help raise adoption grants for them. Once a family commits to adopting a child, they are able to raise funds, and once they travel to meet the child, they receive any money in the child's already established adoption grant.

My mission - the mission of this blog - is to make sure that every child over the age of 6 has a few dollars in their grants. I focus on the older children because they are the hardest to find homes for - they have been passed over time and time again. I just cannot stand seeing a big fat zero on their Reece's Rainbow profile - so I do my best to zap those zeros !

I also aim to get every older child's grant up to $100 - however, as there have been so many children newly listed on Reece's Rainbow over the last few months, I have put this on the back burner. Once we have zeroed the zeros, we'll get back to that mission !

So - listed below are all of the older children who currently have ZERO in their grant. There are 27 of them - boys and girls who, through no fault of their own, have no hope of a loving family other than through adoption.

Please - help me zap these zeros - help me get these kids seen, so that their families can find them and bring them home !

You can click on any name, and it will take you to their profile on Reece's Rainbow - right there, you will see a donate button.

Please donate if you can.

If you can't, please share them !!

Denny - $0
Denny

Hattie - $0

Connor - $0
connor

Timon - $0
Timon

Xander - $0
xander1

Benjamin - $0
Benjamin 2006

Laurel - $0
Laurel (3)

Farrah - $0
Farrah

Blakeley - $0
Blakeley (1)

Yahto - $0
Yahto (2)

Aubrey - $0
2003, Sept. 23rd, Aubrey

Thaddeus - $0

Susan - $0
Susan

JoyAnna - $0
JoyAnna (1)

Nanci - $0
Nanci (1)

Tyler - $0
Tyler (3)

Ryland - $0
Ryland (2)

Aden - $0

Francis - $0
Francis (1)

Bennett - $0
Bennet2

Nannette - $0
Nannette (13)-001

Jack - $0

Seth - $0

Donni - $0
Donni cropped

Daryl - $0
Daryl

Bailee - $0
Bailey Collage

Chad - $0

Pick a child - share, pray, donate.

If not you - then who ?

Saturday, March 5, 2016

21 Days of HOPE

While I spend my time trying to get those zeros zapped, there are many other ways of helping the children of Reece's Rainbow.

During the month of March - more precisely, from March 1st - March 21st (World Down Syndrome Day) - Reece's Rainbow run their "21 Days of Hope" campaign. This campaign has 3 aims - to raise money for their Voice of Hope fund; to provide visibility to 21 waiting children; and to raise all round awareness of exactly what Reece's Rainbow does.

The Voice of Hope fund is what keeps Reece's Rainbow going - they are totally non-profit - they keep their operational costs below 10% - they run 7 days a week - and they rely totally on private donations.

Without the Voice of Hope fund, there would be no Reece's Rainbow.

The Voice of Hope fund covers all of the behind the scenes stuff that we don't even think about - postage - office supplies - printing costs - accounting - outreach projects - web design - fundraisers - and much, much more.

In a nutshell - the Voice of Hope fund is pretty important !

So - how does the 21 Days of Hope campaign work ?

Did you read it ?

Did you see - if we can raise $1000 per day for the VOH fund, during these 21 days, an anonymous donor will match that $1000 with a gift of $1000 for EACH of the 21 children highlighted !!

This is HUGE !!

There are 21 children designated to receive this wonderful $1000 gift.

Many of the children chosen this year do no have a photo in their profile, due to privacy laws in their country. Photos are HUGE when it comes to adopting a child, as you can imagine, and many adoptive families fall in love with their child solely because of their photo.

Without a photo, children tend to become invisible - sadly, their listings are scrolled past as if they are not even there. However - they ARE there - they are real children with real lives, who are just as much in need of a family as the children who DO have photos.

Let's help get these children SEEN !!

You can donate to the 21 Days of Hope campaign, and so the children will receive the matching money.

You can also share this blog - or the campaign - or the children.

Or all of the above !!

Please - go HERE - scroll down, and you will see the children. You can click on their picture to read their profile. Remember - while you can, of course, donate directly to the children - at this time, we would prefer your donations to go to the Voice of Hope fund - this way, both the child AND the Voice of Hope fund will benefit from your donation !

Below are the children - both the silhouettes of the "invisible" children, and the photos of those who are allowed to be pictured. ALL of these children have Down Syndrome - ALL of these children are orphans - ALL of these children need a family. ALL of these children need YOU to help them.

NO DONATION IS TOO SMALL !!!

Four children have already received their $1000 matching donation - but we have fallen behind big time - we are on day 14, and should have 14 children with $1000 already - please help us catch up and help all of the children.

Thank you reading - thank you for seeing the children.

Please go HERE to donate.

THANK YOU.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Pick a child !!

There are currently 56 58 55 54 52 47 53 50 52 47 42 38 28 26 25 28 older children listed on Reece's Rainbow who have ZERO in their adoption grants.

While recently this blog has focused on the children with less than $100 in their grants, I feel that at this time I need to bring the spotlight back to those with zero.

Once we have zeroed the zeros, I will get back to getting all of the older children's grants up to $100 !!

At this time, I ask you to scroll through the children pictured below.
If you click on their name, you will be taken to their Reece's Rainbow profile, and can read a little about them, possibly see more pictures, and donate if you are so called.

All of these children have ZERO in their adoption grant - any family that steps forward to adopt them will have to raise the full cost of adoption, with no help from a waiting grant.

Please - look at the children.
Look into their eyes.
See them for what they are - they are, first and foremost, children - children with nothing, children with no hope of a normal life, children destined to spend their lives in an institution, children with no love.

Please see them.
Please - pick a child - and share that child.
Pick a child and blog about that child.
Pick a child and pray for that child.
Pick a child and share them on Facebook, on Twitter, in any way you can.
Pick a child and donate a few dollars to them - ZAP that zero !!
(Please donate at least $5, otherwise Paypal fees offset most of the donation)

Let's get all of these kids seen, and all of these zeros zapped !!