Need a gift idea?

Yes, it’s just October, and I’m already checking things of my holiday gift list. With us leaving for Ethiopia in less then a month, getting home a few days before Thanksgiving and busy holiday season my hope is to get as much gift shopping done before we leave.

For my children’s teachers I always like to give a gift in their honor along with something  I’ve made in the kitchen. For my daughters two teachers I’m gifting them blankets in their honor. These blankets will be provided to girls at Children’s Heaven in Addis Ababa. While there visiting Children’s Heaven we will pass out the blankets and I’ll snap a photo of the girls to put with the teacher gifts.

This year my oldest is graduating from high school. How that is possible, I have no idea, as it just seems like yesterday we received the “call” that our son was born and to jump on the next flight to meet him. I wanted to honor his past favorite teachers with a meaningful gift. I’ve been going through old class party photos and printing them and will write letters to them about the impact they had on his life. Along with this I’m going to share that a gift has been made in their honor providing school books to the girls at Children’s Heaven.

Do you need a gift idea for a teacher, friend, postal carrier, dog groomer? We have some remaining items that we would love to provide to the children at Lola and Children’s Heaven. If you would like to make a gift in someones honor please leave a comment in the note section so we can send you a photo and card when we return to pass along to the recipient.

Some of our needs:

• $35 will provide a mattress to a child at Children’s Heaven or Lola – 5 left
• $21 will provide a blanket for a girl at Children’s Heaven – 19 left
• $16 will provide bed sheets for a girl at Children’s Heaven – 16 left
• $12 will provide a towel for a girl at Children’s Heaven – 25 left
• $50 will provide a scale to weigh the children at Lola – 1 left
• $6.50 will provide a child at Lola with a pillow – 6 left
• $40 will provide a white board for the tutoring rooms at Children’s Heaven – 2 left
• $5 will provide school books for the girls at Children’s Heaven
• $6 will provide a birthday wish for a girl at Children’s Heaven
• $5 will provide shampoo/soap for a girl at Children’s Heaven
• $400 (or any amount) will secure a sewing machine at Lola to teach the girls how to sew
• $360 will provide a lap top computer for Children’s Heaven

To make a gift in someones honor please visit here and also remember to include the name of the recipient so we know where to send the card and photo.

Many thanks for all you do for the children at Lola and Children’s Heaven.

Gifts of Hope

Last December generous EOR donors provided gifts of hope for the orphan and vulnerable children in Ethiopia. These included gifts of chickens, cows, goats, sheep in honor of loved ones, teachers, friends.

We recently received some new photographs from Ethiopia and wanted to share them with you!

The chickens continue to multiply and provide much needed protein and essential nutrients. A cow can produce up to 3.5 gallons of milk a day. The goats provide protein rich milk to help the children grow along with cheese and yogurt. 

 

These gifts of hope also extended to widows and their families, who can now sell the eggs and milk to provide an income for their vulnerable families. 

Next month EOR will have a team on the ground in Ethiopia. We will see first hand the impact your gifts are making. 

Thank you for your generous hearts! 

To learn more about Gifts of Hope 2013 please contact us at kim@ethiopianorphanrelief.org

 

Melkam Lidet!

Just finished cleaning up after my sweet four year old’s birthday party.  The actual anniversary was weeks ago, but the calendar and illness conspired and we had to postpone the big event.

Despite the delay, the day held all of the birthday girl’s desired elements–lots of balloons, lots of cupcakes, lots of guests, all in shades of blue.  At the end of the event, Astrid Meklit opened many lovely birthday cards, nearly all bearing checks, not for the birthday queen herself, but for Ethiopian Orphan Relief.  Astrid was delighted, “look mama, another money to buy toothbrushes (she’s really into oral hygiene!) and bananas in Ethiopia where I lived with the nannies!”

At four, my sweet girl is beginning to learn about the work we do through EOR–she’s been helping to fill backpacks for Project Gena, she helps add the stamps to the thank you notes I send out, and she’s starting to realize why we do what we do.  There are lots of kids in Ethiopia who’d like a new toothbrush and a banana (and shoes, and a warm bed, and clean water…) and this year, for her birthday, Astrid Meklit was able (with the help of lots of loving friends) to make that possible.

Thank you to all of our friends who enrich our lives.  We are humbled by your generosity and your affection for Astrid Meklit.

Paige

 

If you plan to celebrate with donations to EOR rather than gifts, please let us know.  We’d love to blog about YOU!

 

I am what I am! That’s a great thing to be! If I say so myself, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Nothing like a reading (or 12) of  Happy birthday to YOU! by Dr. Seuss and the best wishes of a frillion friends to make a gal feel adored.

Last year was a milestone birthday for me–a few weeks before it, a college friend celebrated her birthday by asking for donations to  ‘Doctors without Borders” on facebook.   It was such a good idea, and the first I had ever seen it, so I quickly made the same commitment to raising funds for EOR.    I made  a goal, and really, facebook did the rest.

This year, as the facebook reminders landed in my inbox, I largely ignored them.  Asking for money is hard, and feel like I ask      all.  the.  time.  Still, the idea of not asking nagged at me.  And so,  2 days rather than 2 weeks before the big event, I threw caution to the wind and made the commitment once more.  And,  just like last year, the gifts poured in.

It’s so amazing to know that we on the board of Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc. have the love and support of our friends and relatives.  The commitment we’ve made to provide healthy food,  clean water,  and a safe place to call home for scores of Ethiopian orphans is so much easier to achieve with the help of so many.

It’s funny, but every gift in my name reminds me that the donor really gets me, really knows the true me as well as anyone who made a mix tape or bought me a Billy Idol shirt for my birthday (a Billy Idol shirt?  Who, me?)
Thank you to each and every one of you for your commitment to the children of Ethiopia.  You all make gliding into my 42 nd year on earth seem easy peasy.

Billy thinks you should try it too...

Amesegallo,

Paige