This leaves Mercy Hospital without a chief medical officer. Bishop Yambasu has begun the search for a replacement physician. He is confident he can find a suitable candidate capable of leading the Mercy staff and working closely with HCW as we collaboratively plan Mercy Hospital’s future vision.

There is a dynamic May Team traveling to Sierra Leone. The team includes four medical doctors, a physical therapist, a special procedures nurse, a lab tech, and two area business leaders. This team will support Mercy Hospital and the CRC on a number of critical projects.  While there, the team will conduct a pilot demonstration for a proposed cervical and breast cancer screening program.

Watch Video – Dr. Tejan/Mercy Hospital

Join us on Sunday, May 6th from 11AM – 9PM at Stone’s Cove KitBar to “do good things.”  Stone’s Cove has generously agreed to donate 20% of each bill to benefit Connections for Hope.  Let your server know you’re here to support Connections for Hope, and 20% of your check will be donated to the center.  The proceeds of the day are expected to be between $500 – $1000. Help us grow the seeds planted. By making a “mini-match,” you can help us multiply this amount. A mini-match is a donation equaling the total 20% proceeds of the day. Your mini-match will help us grow a $500 – $1,000 donation into $10,000 to support Connections for Hope.  Learn more about the Stone’s Cove event

Saturday, May 19th, Footprints for Hope.  You don’t need to a be an athlete to help our community. All you need is enthusiasm! “Footprints for Hope” is all about having fun while helping our neighbors in need. More than 3,300 people came to Connections for Hope last year to receive vital human services in a welcoming, professional and collaborative nonprofit center. The path to empowerment begins with a single step. By forming a team and setting a goal, you are helping to unlock the full potential of the people who come to Connections for Hope for assistance. Footprints for Hope is a celebration of our community and an opportunity to highlight how much we can accomplish when we work together to help children and families in need.

The proceeds raised by these events will provide critical services that help people in our community who struggle economically.  As an active and involved member of our community, we hope you will participate.

Register today at active.com

Learn More about Footprints for Hope

Auntie Fatmata, residential manager of the CRC, pictured with Kemoh.

Lots of news from the Child Rescue Centre (CRC):  new family groups, new Aunties and a new bus!   Last year, the CRC transitioned from dorm style living to family style living, to better prepare the children for future family life.   Since it is not uncommon in Sierra Leone to share a home with grandparents, aunts, uncles and extended family, the transition has been warmly embraced by the staff and children. Each family group is assigned their own loving and motherly “Auntie,” and named for a Bible hero, such as Ruth, David and Abraham.  The family groups eat together, play together and do chores together.   The children are excited, happy and proud of their family groups.   Photos of the family groups and new aunties can be viewed in our online album, here.

Auntie Fatmata, pictured at left, is both the head Auntie of the Deborah Family and the Residential Manager of the CRC.    She spends the night in each of the CRC family homes one night per week, so that the Aunties can have the night off.

Faidu tries out the seats on the CRC's "new" bus.

Imourana, CSP

Imourana entered the Child Support Program when he was 9 years old and in class 3 (the equivalent of 3rd grade in the US.)  He had lost his father, and his mother was unable to support his education.  Instead of shoes, he wore slippers, and when even those were stolen, he had to go barefoot for some time.  His friends gave him a few notebooks and pens to help him go to school.  His teacher noticed that he was eager to learn and referred him to the Child Support Program for assistance.  “Then life became different,”  he says.  ” I give thanks to God.”  

With the support of the CSP, Imourana was able to pass all his classes and the difficult public exams.  Today, he is a student at Njala  University pursuing  a Bachelors Degree in Environmental Science and Development.  “I give God the praise and thank to the African Program Partnership, who have changed my situation….[the Child Resuce Centre] has not only cared for my education, it has given me opportunity to have pen-pals and sponsors in America which is very interesting and important to me…It is my hope and prayer that I complete my course and come out to give helping hands to other needy children.”

Volunteers are needed to teach basic computer skills.

Connections for Hope has volunteer opportunities for people to help teach this very basic computer class. The class will meet for 6 weeks, Monday and Wednesday evenings, 6-8 p.m. The class will start Monday, May 7 and end Monday, June 18. Connections for Hope is looking for a Lead Instructor who will be able to attend all 12 classes, and 4-6 Instructional Assistants that could help with one class a week, providing one-on-one assistance for the students. Computer CORE is providing all of the curriculum and will provide a 90 minutes training session for the volunteer instructors.

If you feel this is an opportunity for you, please contact Sarah Newman at: sarahnewman@helpingchildrenworldwide.org.

Class registrations will be held April 9 and 23, 6-8 p.m. If you know of someone that could use computer training, please have them contact Carolina Chavez at Connections for Hope, carolinachavez@helpingchildrenworldwide.org, or 703-956-6722.

Imourana Bockarie, CSP student

Imourana entered the Child Support Program when he was 9 years old and in class 3 (the equivalent of 3rd grade in the US.)  He had lost his father, and his mother was unable to support his education.  Instead of shoes, he wore slippers, and when even those were stolen, he had to go barefoot for some time.  His friends gave him a few notebooks and pens to help him go to school.  His teacher noticed that he was eager to learn and referred him to the Child Support Program for assistance.  “Then life became different,”  he says.  ” I give thanks to God.”  

With the support of the CSP, Imourana was able to pass all his classes and the difficult public exams.  Today, he is a student at Njala  University pursuing  a Bachelors Degree in Environmental Science and Development.  “I give God the praise and thank to the African Program Partnership, who have changed my situation….[the Child Resuce Centre] has not only cared for my education, it has given me opportunity to have pen-pals and sponsors in America which is very interesting and important to me…It is my hope and prayer that I complete my course and come out to give helping hands to other needy children.”

I am a Child Rescue Centre Graduate from the Manjama Institute of Agriculture, with Diploma in Home Sciences and Hotel Management. I entered the CRC in the year 2000 and I was enrolled in grade two (class two).I have now graduated from the Manjama Institute of Agriculture (in 2012) of which I am so grateful and happy. I am so filled with joy that I have nothing to say but to express my regards, thanks and appreciation to all those who have, in diverse ways contributed to my achievement.

I want to extend another blessed fold of thanks to the entire African Programs/Helping Children Worldwide. You have transformed my personal life and the lives of many Sierra Leoneans. Thank you for all the resources you put together in order to bring me up as I am today.  Words are not just enough to express how grateful I am to you all. As I express my gratitude, please realize that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. Through God’s help, I am going to live by all the Christian values you have impacted in me.  You have changed my whole world from meaningless to meaningful. From your spiritual and moral attitudes/supports, I have learnt that as a selfless and Godly human being, “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement.”

Isatu, CRC Student

I’m also very grateful to the UMC Sierra Leone Annual Conference for forming partnership with the African Programs. This Mission has greatly contributed towards my spiritual and moral output. May the Lord continue to bless this mission and all its members. I’m pleased to express my sincere thanks to the proprietor of the Child Rescue Centre, Bishop John K. Yambasu.  Sir, thank you very much for the Godly vision you had to initiate a program like this. Through your vision, many lives have been transformed including my very personal life. May the lord continue to bless and endow you with more wisdom and understanding to lead His people.

I am so grateful to the entire dynamic and God fearing CRC Staff. You really demonstrated the Christian parent-Child relationship with me.  I cannot imagine how you picked me up from childhood through adulthood now. Your prayers, dedication and commitments throughout my growth all contributed towards my success. I’m again expressing my humble appreciation to all members of the Mercy Hospital. Thank you for all the Medical treatments and gentle hospitality you administered to me I’m earnestly repenting and heartily sorry for what so ever crime I might have committed, and any inconvenience I might have caused anybody during my stay and development at the CRC.

Finally, I will be unhappy again if I fail to appreciate my brothers and sisters at the CRC.  These really wiped out the act of loneliness from my sight. I asked for a companion, and God gave me brothers and sisters who are so wonderful and nice people to ever live with. Thank you so much for your positive interactions, prayers and Godly attitudes we all put together to enable my success. May the Lord continue to bless each and every one of us.

I shall ever remain to be proud member of the CRC.May the Lord be my helper.

With all sincerity and humility,

Isatu

On March 15th, Connections for Hope celebrated two years serving our community.  Connections for Hope is a partnership of community service organizations addressing the needs of our low-income neighbors, fostering, self-sufficiency, good health, education, safety and full participation in community life.  In 2010 over 2,000 people were served at Connections for Hope, in 2011 over 3,300 people were served, a 40% increase.  As the center grows in the number of clients served, it has also grown in the number of partners and services it provides to the community.  The number of individuals/families that utilized more than one service far surpassed the number in 2010.  In just the first two months of 2012, over 50 households participated in more than one program at Connections for Hope.

Connections for Hope has added volunteer income tax assistance (VITA), financial management counseling and launched an employment services program.  Connections for Hope is also, building a strong partnership with the Neighborhood Resource Center in Herndon so that the clients served by one center can more easily access services at the other center.  Providing complementary services, our partners remain committed to this collaboration and the success it brings to the clients we serve.

The additional employment services available at Connections for Hope are provided by Human Resource professionals.  They have volunteered to develop a program that works with Fairfax County in job search workshops, one on one assistance in resume writing, interview preparation, how to keep the job, and how to prepare for job advancement.  It is a program that has already seen great success.  Connections for Hope held its first job fair in January to which 24 people attended.  Of those 24, 15 were identified as hired pending final paperwork and drug testing.  Most of the clients that our HR volunteers have worked with have received job offers.

One of the clients who participated in the Connections for Hope Job Prep Workshop was referred to the program from a partnering organization.  She successfully got a job and came back to the Workshop for  guidance to prepare herself for job advancement, and, to give back to the program by offering translation services for those who speak Spanish.  Thanks to our dedicated volunteers, this program is having a huge impact, people are getting jobs and moving toward greater self-sufficiency and stability in their lives.  Connections for Hope is able to provide vital services to the community at a time when so many people are searching for employment.

Connections for Hope partner organizations provide services that support the stability and self-sufficiency of families and individuals.  Connections for Hope partnering organizations currently consist of Reston Interfaith: homelessness prevention and foreclosure prevention; Literacy Council of Northern Virginia: ESOL training; Vecinos Unidos Neighbors United: homework assistance; Just Neighbors: immigration legal services; Fairfax – Falls Church Community Services Board: mental health, substance abuse and prevention services; Jeanie Schmidt Free Clinic: healthcare to low-income children and uninsured adults; and NOVA ScriptsCentral, a prescription drug service for low-income individuals.

Connections for Hope is a program of Helping Children Worldwide.  For additional information about Connections for Hope visit www.connectionsforhope.org or contact Sarah Newman at sarahnewman@helpingchildrenworldwide.org or 703-956-6722.

Sarah Newman addressing the gathering.

Ana Maria & Yudelkis enjoy the luncheon.

Patty Morell, Osterville UMC Partner Church Representative, is conducting a fundraiser for the Family Support Program at the CRC.  This is from her fundraising page:
This next trip we will take to Sierra Leone in April 2012, will be my 24th.  I have more than 2 dozen ideas of how to commemorate this milestone trip.  Ultimately I have decided to humbly ask friends and family to please consider donating twenty-four of their very hard earned / saved dollars to purchase half a bag of rice for those families in Sierra Leone whose children are in the Child Rescue Centre Child Support Program, who are finding it especially difficult to feed their family.  The new program is called the Family Support Program and is simply a vehicle to provide rice to those Child Support Program (CSP) families who are especially challenged…Read more on Patty’s Fundraising Page

Elisabeth Bryson, November 2011 Team and Manassas St Thomas UMC Member sent this note to her family and friends, promoting her run/fundraiser for the Lisbon Half Marathon.
Months after my ACL replacement, almost a year ago, I began training for a half marathon.  (God had a funny way to get me moving…it took a skiing accident!)  I can honestly say now that I have a love for the sport of running, and it is such an accomplishment to be able to train for this race (and hopefully finish!).  But, I want to focus my attention towards a greater cause…Helping Children Worldwide…Read more on Elisabeth’s Fundraising Page

As we enter our third year of operation, there has been real growth in Connections for Hope, growth in both clients served and services provided.  In 2010 we served a little over 2000 households.  In 2011 that number went up 40% to over 3300 unduplicated households.  We added volunteer income tax assistance, financial management counseling and launched an employment services program.  The number of individuals/families that utilized more than one service far surpassed the number in 2010.  In January of 2011 that referral number was more than twice what it has been for the previous highest month.  Connections for Hope is also building a strong partnership with the Neighborhood Resource Center in Herndon so that the clients served by one can more easily access services at the other.  Providing complementary services, our partners remain committed to this collaboration and the success it brings to the clients we serve.

Employment Services is the latest addition to the services provided at Connections for Hope.  Four Human Resource professionals, headed up by Todd Edwards, have volunteered to develop a program that includes working with Fairfax County in job search workshops, and providing one on one assistance in resume writing, interview preparation, how to keep the job, and how to prepare for job advancement.  The program will also include information on financial management.  It is a program that has already seen great success.  Connections for Hope held its first job fair in January to which 24 people attended.  Of those 24, 15 were identified as hired pending final paperwork and drug testing.  All of the clients that our HR volunteers have worked with have received job offers.  That is an amazing success rate!

One of the clients who participated in the Connections for Hope job preparation services, was referred to the program from one of our partner programs, successfully got the job and came back to the employment program for two reasons.  First, she wanted guidance to prepare herself for job advancement, and second, she wanted to give back to the program by offering translation services for those who speak Spanish.

Thanks to our wonderful volunteers, this program is working well, people are getting jobs and moving toward greater self-sufficiency and stability in their lives.  That is the mission of Connections for Hope and working in collaboration with our partners, we are seeing real progress.