Dear Sponsors,

We returned home from our trip to Jiangxi province in mid April and I'm finally starting to get caught up.  We visited eleven orphanages - Nanchang, Fuzhou (Linchuan), Yihuang, Shangrao, Yingtan, Guixi, Leping, Jiujiang, Yichun, Xinyu and Ganzhou and I took about 2000 digital photos!  

That trip was cancelled due to our September 11 departure date and this time they didn't mention that restriction!  

It was a long trip, but very rewarding.  Your contributions are making such a huge impact and it was very touching to see.  The children in foster care are blossoming and the schoolchildren are very appreciative of the chance to go to school "like normal kids".  Many of the Hugging Grannies are now focusing on the special needs children and what a difference this has made!  

Much of our foster care program is also directed towards the special needs children and there is an interaction between these two programs and the medical assistance program.  These children often receive surgery or other needed medical services and specialized attention from a Granny.  With this they often improve dramatically and a foster family can then be found that is willing to accept them.  By the time we saw them in foster care they were a very different child from the one that had initially been languishing in the orphanage.  Where before they faced a bleak institutionalized life with some dying from malnutrition and other problems such as infections they are now happy, healthy and very engaging.

Betsy Mowrer traveled with me.  Her youngest daughter is from Jiangxi province.  She's written a bit about her experience, too.  (Please see previous page for link.)

I'll include more details below but before I lose some of you I want to mention again that we need ongoing support to keep these projects going.  Anything that you're able to contribute would be much appreciated and is tax deductible.  Please mail your donation to:

Altrusa Foundation
Attention:  Peggy Gurrad
P.O. Box 1354
Longview, WA  98632

We're also starting an endowment fund so if you'd like to donate to this your donation can continue to help the children over many, many years.

Medical Needs Update

We saw many of the children we had benefited from your support.  Several children had had cleft lip repairs.  The difference between these children and those with cleft conditions is dramatic.  Some of the children that had cleft lip repairs still need a cleft palate repair.  Several children had had orthopedic surgeries and it was great to see them walking and active.  

For those of you that have sponsored one of these children I have photos of many of them from the trip and/or a photo from the end of the year medical project report that I received two days before leaving on my trip.  So, I should be able to get some feedback to you by the end of the month.  

Three children from our 2001 medical sponsorship program still need their surgeries and should be having them very soon.  There are some new children in need of surgeries and medical care.  Susan has added them to the website at www.altrusa.ws. 

Webmaster's Note:  Please see our Orphanage Requests page for details.

We saw some of the heart surgery children, now thriving in their foster homes and they were some of the most precious of the children we visited.  The Yingtan director was especially appreciative of our sponsorship for heart surgery for one of their schoolchildren.  They had another well loved teenager with congenital heart disease that died of pneumonia this past year before he could get heart surgery so it means even more to them to see this boy healthy and active after surgery.  

Gloria's Place of Hope is no longer in existence so we can't find any assistance for the children through them.  We have recently partnered with AIM-China to provide a heart surgery that was needed urgently for a child at Nanchang.  

There is also another boy whose situation was critical so the Nanchang orphanage director sent him to Shanghai for surgery before funds were available.  So, now they must pay the bill they owe the Shanghai Children's Medical Center before they can send more children for surgery and they do have another toddler there with blue fingers that needs surgery in the next few months and a ten-year -old girl needing surgery.  There were additional children in need of heart surgery at other orphanages as well.

We've made great progress at getting these children into foster care.  It hasn't been easy because families are often fearful of catching hepatitis and often won't agree to sponsor a child with Hepatitis B.  

One child had been in foster care and went for surgery on her club foot.  During her hospital stay she was found to be hepatitis B positive and her foster mom refused to take her back.  So she is now at the Nanchang orphanage and is very sad and quiet, not speaking.  In her foster home she had been very active and talkative.  She's on our waiting list to place in a new foster home as soon as an opening comes up.  

When the orphanage staff has a difficult time finding a home they tend to give up and ask to place the healthy children instead.  So it's taken quite a bit of perseverance on Amity's part to get these children into foster care and keep them there.  This is one of the reasons that we have raised the stipend at Nanchang for the foster families willing to foster a child with hepatitis B.  Nanchang also has a higher cost of living than the other cities.  

Also, if the children are old enough to go to school then the orphanage staff runs into problems because the kindergartens or schools refuse to accept them.  The orphanage staff will then try to use this as a reason why the child should come back to the orphanage, sometimes there is an orphanage school or a school near the orphanage that will accept them.  

Amity however, has insisted that the children stay in their foster homes and that the orphanage staff finds a school that will accept them.  A few times they've even resorted to finding a journalist that would write an article about the school's refusal to accept the student.  We've funded blood tests for the prospective foster families and vaccines for those family members who are Hep B negative.

We did see the equipment that we'd purchased in the past at the orphanages we visited.  These items are very much needed and greatly appreciated by the orphanage directors and staff.  Currently there are some additional needs, the most pressing being an industrial sized clothes dryer at three orphanages (Yingtan, Shangrao and Fuzhou (Linchuan)) and an industrial sized clothes washer at Ganzhou.  

Although this is not as exciting to donate for as a specific child whose photo you receive, it is a big help to the orphanage staff, giving them more time to spend with the children.  And it's very hard to get clothes and diapers to dry during the winter or the upcoming rainy season without a dryer.  There are also requests for two incubators and for some rehab equipment as well as other smaller items.

These devoted women are doing a fabulous job!  

Some are still working with infants, providing extra love and attention and teaching the orphanage staff about child development needs.  

And many are now working with the handicapped children.

At Guixi the handicapped foster children come to the orphanage three afternoons a week to do rehab exercises and/or speech therapy with the Grannies.  And the children at middle school come two afternoons a week so the Grannies can help them with their schoolwork (they live at the school during the week and also come back to the orphanage on the weekends).  

The Grannies at Jiujiang work with the handicapped children, using the rehab equipment that we purchased.  And at some of the other orphanages there is a Granny (or two or three) that works with the mentally handicapped children.  These children have too low an IQ to attend public school so the Grannies teach them and do fun and stimulating activities with them as well as providing love and positive feedback.  

At Yichun the Granny even lives with them in an apartment that the orphanage set up especially for them.  I can't even begin to tell you what a difference these Grannies are making for these handicapped children.  This is such a wonderful program and if we could afford to there are even more children that could benefit from additional Grannies.  Please consider sending a contribution to help support our Grannies.  Some of you have made quite generous donations in the past and I hope that you will consider doing what you can on an annual basis.

It is so wonderful to see the children in their foster homes.  No matter how good the orphanage care, it just can't compare to being in a loving home with a proud mom and dad that love to show you off to visitors and brag about how clever you are.  

Think of how this impacts their self esteem and confidence and what a difference it makes in their ability to form other attachments in the future.  

If children grow up in the orphanage they tend to grow into teenagers and young adults that don't feel any need to work, they know they can just stay at the Social Welfare Institute and their food and clothes will be provided.  They have little incentive to do well in school and even if they wanted to there is often no one to help them with their studies.  How can they compete with the other school kids that have parents at home to help them and encourage them, even pushing them to do well so they can go on to university?  The children in foster care are thriving and happy, and have a chance at growing up to live a "normal" life.

We have one student at university already and I told the director at Fuzhou (Linchuan) that we would sponsor a teenager there in university if he is accepted.  He was to take his entrance exams soon after our visit and was worried that he wouldn't be able to go even if he does well because of the costs.  

And we have some other students in vocational high school or other training programs.  So our school sponsorship program can have a big impact on the lives of these children, if they do well enough they can go on in school and end up with a profession and a way to support themselves.  And if they're not in foster care, going to school gets them out into the real world so they can see something other than orphanage life.  

Even though we're not able to get frequent feedback to sponsors on the schoolchildren I want you to know that this is a very worthwhile project.  Because of their limited staffing (only 7% of donations to Amity go to administrative costs) Amity is only able to send photos and reports on the schoolchildren once a year.  I know that some of you have not yet received your initial photo but while I was gone in China the final batch of info sheets with photos for the children new to the program this year arrived and you should be getting them soon.  And if your child was one of those we saw on this trip we'll be getting a photo from the trip to you in the next few weeks.  

The yearly reports will come each year in the late summer or early fall and should include a year end school report, a brief info sheet with photo attached, and from some of the children a letter and/or drawing.  If you are continuing your sponsorship for the following year all of this will come to you.  If the child will have a new sponsor for the following year copies will be made and the originals and copies will be divided between the previous and upcoming sponsor.

The following is a message I received from the new adoptive parents of one of the schoolchildren we had been sponsoring, our sponsorship really does make a difference!

"When we learned that our match was a five-year-old girl with hearing loss, we were concerned about so many aspects of her development.  We were encouraged when we discovered, quite by accident, that Altrusa had arranged to sponsor Yi Wen Min in kindergarten.  

Upon our return to the States, we brought her into kindergarten in mid-year, even though we did not know the extent of her hearing loss for weeks afterward.  It was immediately apparent that she understood what school meant, and what behaviors were expected in class.  Her teacher quickly fell in love with her, and told us that she followed directions better than most of the English-speaking children.  This teacher has become a strong advocate for keeping Meilee in the mainstream, and has prodded the school district to provide the extra help we need in language, speech, and hearing. 

We are convinced that the head start Altrusa provided for our daughter was a wonderful gift; what could have been an educational brick wall has become an open door because of this preparation.  We will always be grateful to a special "aunt" in Texas, and to Altrusa, for acting as the bridge between the sponsor and the daughter we had just realized was waiting for us in China."

New Altrusa Endowment Fund Programs  

Our Altrusa club is starting an endowment fund program.  There will be a general one for China (Jiangxi) Orphanage Projects that anyone can donate to and in any amount, large or small.  But individuals, families or groups can also start their own separate named endowment fund.  For example you could have "The Smith Family Endowment Fund".  Or a group (maybe several families that adopted from the same orphanage) could start a fund such as the "Guixi Families Endowment Fund". 

An initial donation of at least $3000 is required to have your own named fund.  Then the fund would need to grow to $10,000 (through further donations and investment earnings) within five years.  After the fund reaches $10,000 an amount of up to 5% of the principal (from the earnings) would be used each year for the projects specified at the creation of the fund, for example it could be used for the Grannies or some other need at a certain orphanage.  Your donation can continue to work for many years to provide long term support for the children in the orphanages.  

Donations in any amount to the general Jiangxi Orphanage Endowment fund (exact name yet to be determined) would be much appreciated.  Because of a generous donation from someone's estate this fund has met the $10,000 requirement so we can begin dispersing annually from the earnings.  Your donation would begin helping the children right away.

"Play and Learn Chinese with Mei Mei" Video Fundraiser 

I will have "Play and Learn Chinese with Mei Mei" videos available (volumes 2 and 3)  and we can keep 21% of the usual purchase price for our Amity projects.  Mei Mei has a daughter from Jiangxi province!  

So send your $20 per video donation (plus shipping costs) to Altrusa at the above address and I'll send you the video(s).  The shipping and handling costs will be $5 for the first video plus $2 for each additional video you request.  

Update 6/17/02: This offer is now over, as our stock of videos have been sold.

Here is a description of the videos:

Conceived as an extension of the learning process begun in the first "Play and Learn" video, the new videos use the latest technology to deliver a crisp and clear multimedia experience. Children of all ages will be happy to join in the fun once again, as they speak, sing and dance along with Mei Mei and her young learners. Drawing on her many years' experience teaching Chinese to children, Mei Mei guides viewers to a deeper understanding of the language while making learning fun. Going well beyond vocabulary, Mei Mei and her students model basic questions and answers, which become the materials for the songs and dances that follow. The magic of music and fun-filled activities will keep children involved from beginning to end. On-screen presentation of key material in English, Pinyin and Chinese characters guarantees an understanding that will grow with repeated viewing.  Vol. 2: Asks and answers the questions: "Who is this?" and "What are you doing?

Running time: 39 min.  Vol. 3: Asks and answers the questions: "Where is it?" and "What is this?"  Running time: 36 min."

Other Fundraisers 

Please check with your employer to see if they have a Matching Gift program.  If so most will match any donation you make to a 501(c) (3) organization - which Altrusa is.  We've received some great support this way.  

Also visit www.gurrad.com/mk for a Mary Kay fundraiser I've started (this project is purely a fundraiser for the orphanages, not for any profit for myself).  Right now there is a "buy one, get one at half price" lipstick promotion.  

If any of you have some fundraising ideas or projects that you could do we'd love to have your help.  For example, with summer coming it's a great time for a garage sale to benefit the orphanage children.  If you need a few photos to make a poster or display at any fundraiser or FCC event let me know.

Our Thanks to the Amity Foundation and You... 

In closing I'd like to say again how impressed I am with Amity Foundation and their staff.  They work very hard and are very dedicated.  They care so much about the children, that they feel loved and valued and have the opportunity to develop their potential.  And I have no doubts about their integrity.  Once in a while we may find ourselves dealing with a dishonest orphanage director but with Amity's careful monitoring the damage they can do should be quite limited.  I am so grateful that they are available to offer us this opportunity to help those children that haven't been fortunate to find a forever family of their own.  We wouldn't be able to provide this assistance without someone we can trust helping us. 

And to each of you that has donated, "Thank you very much!"   The lives of many, many children have been dramatically changed for the better because of the help all of you have provided.  I just can't find adequate words to tell you what a difference it's making.  I hope that you will continue to support the orphans of Jiangxi province.

With warm regards and thanks to each of you,

Peggy Gurrad 
peggy@gurrad.com 

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