From the Heart
‘’Gratitude is a big thing”, says Andra Day. “It puts you in a place where you’re humble.” Here at the Philip Hayden Foundation, I’m humbled by your compassion for vulnerable children around the world.
I’m thankful for you. You care deeply about children and take the time to show it. You trust PHF to meet the needs of children and are interested in transforming their lives. And you care about the outcome.
Like most of us, you are confronted daily with pleas for involvement and the busyness in your season of life. Yet you choose to care about the vulnerable children impacted by PHF and remember them in your thoughts and prayers. I’m thankful that you are part of the PHF community.
You and your faithful support and generosity have impacted the lives of hundreds of children in Mexico and China. Some of you have supported and donated to Philip Hayden Foundation for over two decades. Some of you have joined PHF more recently. But we all share compassion for vulnerable children. And as the lives of children are improved, it provides hope to families and, ultimately the community.
Thanksgiving is coming, and there is a natural opportunity to reflect on our blessings. This month, PHF will share stories of vulnerable children who have been helped through your donations this year. You can read some of the stories in this issue. We will share many more success stories on Facebook and Instagram over the next two months.
Would you take this opportunity to share our work with your friends and family? You can share this link to sign up for our email version.
What are you thankful for? Would you please join the conversation and share your gratitude with us via email or on social media? We’d love to celebrate with you!
Medical Care Successes in 2023
Your donations provide asthma medication for Karlita, Wendy, and others like them every month. For these girls, the impact is twofold. First, their energy level and ability to participate in life are improved. There are fewer days of missing school, and learning is enhanced. Second, the risk of a severe asthma episode is significantly reduced. Each major asthma attack can be life-threatening and cause permanent lung scarring, reducing the length and quality of life. Access to preventative prescription medication is a blessing!
TaoTao receives a special visitor each week. His Therapist! TaoTao has developmental delays and needs therapy to improve his quality of life. However, his family cannot afford to take TaoTao to the local clinic for therapy. Thankfully, your donations help provide a therapist to visit TaoTao in his home each week. TaoTao is not the only child in this Chinese community benefiting from your generosity. Many others like him in his community benefit from in-home therapy.
Mobility Aids
Your generous donations provided mobility aids for children in both Mexico and China this year. Five-year-old Elias has Hydrocephalus and needed a wheelchair. He was getting too big for a stroller! Your donations also provided specialized wheelchairs for two orphans in China. The children and caregivers were so grateful for the new wheelchairs, which were the right size. The chairs are safer and much more comfortable!
Healing Homes medication
Over 98% of orphans in Child Welfare Homes in China have disabilities; many of these children need daily medication to survive and thrive. Our partner, New Hope Foundation, directs Healing Homes connected with some of these orphanages. Clara, a young girl with congenital heart disease, lives in a Healing Home. Your donations provide medication and medical care for Clara and children like her in China.
Matías has undergone four life-saving surgeries in the past eight months. Your support provided the necessary travel for him and his mom to a hospital capable of completing his complex surgery and prosthesis. Thank you for making this possible!
Thanks to you, two-year-old Emma had imaging and biopsies to identify her liver cancer. Your donations also provided the chemotherapy needed to treat her cancer. Emma was recently hospitalized again. Her life still hangs in the balance, but your donations gave Emma and her family hope. Please continue to remember this young girl and her family.
Fulfilled Humanitarian Needs in 2023
Just south of Mérida, on the Yucatán Peninsula, are hard-working families living in extreme poverty. Families survive from day to day, living on a plant-based diet. However, it is challenging for a child to get enough protein to thrive in a plant-based diet.
UNICEF reports that stunting is a key indicator of undernutrition. The results are permanent and include a greater risk of illness or early death. Our partner, Red de Ciudadanos de Mérida, provides protein-rich milk and eggs to children and expectant mothers every month. Your donations give these nutritious foods to over 200 children monthly.
Did you know that a ten-dollar donation changed the life opportunities for a ten-year-old in Mexico? While school is free in Mexico, they must provide their own uniform, shoes, and school supplies. For families in extreme poverty, the cost of school supplies can be the tipping point – and education loses. But education is the path out of poverty, and the cost of school supplies is the overwhelming barrier. Your donations provided school supplies for over 500 children, keeping them on a path out of poverty.
Formula & diapers for Orphans in China
The cost of living in the US has climbed steadily since the pandemic in 2020, but it is not the only country adapting to higher costs. China is also experiencing increased costs when the needs of orphans are escalating. The government stipend per orphan has not changed, but the cost of supplies has climbed. As the percentage of orphans with disabilities increases, the caregiver demand also rises. PHF is partnering with Madison Adoption Associates to provide formula and diapers to orphanages in China. Your donations allow the orphanages to use their limited resources in other crucial areas.
Bathrooms in India
In 2023, your donations provided two free-standing bathrooms with running water for poverty-stricken school children in India. We partnered with Mission to the Nations (MTN) for this project in the coastal town of Kakinada, India. (See the December 2022 issue of Heartbeat). They provide orphan care, medical care, food, and education to street children in India who live in extreme poverty.
These bathrooms are not a luxury but necessary for sanitary and privacy reasons. They were constructed adjacent to the free school for street children. Boys and girls have separate buildings, ensuring privacy and safety for young girls. Good hygiene and sanitation also reduce the risk of illness.
The children are so excited to use their new bathrooms! Your donations made this possible, improving the lives of vulnerable children in India.
Giving Tuesday – Marking 28 Years of Transforming Lives
This year, the Philip Hayden Foundation is celebrating 28 years of donors making the world better for orphans and vulnerable children. When we began, the plight of orphans in China was almost impossible. By investing their time, resources, and voices, PHF donors and supporters began to change the lives of orphans. A community of people caring for orphans in China was born.
Since 2012, the number of orphans in China has decreased, and now China reports fewer than 200,000 orphans in the Child Welfare system. But now there are more than 500,000 de facto orphans in China, vulnerable children who do not live with a parent. Often, the parent is a migrant worker, and the child lives with a grandparent or a neighbor while the parent works in a neighboring city or province. The need looks different than 28 years ago but still exists.
Our wonderful community cares for vulnerable children, and you are making an impact. Would you continue your support by commenting on our social media posts and sharing? Would you forward an email? Or share this newsletter with a friend?
PHF will share stories for the rest of this year on social media. If you visited Shepherd’s Field in the past or have a story to share, would you email media@chinaorphans.org? We’d love to have you be part of the conversation!