TO DONATE TO MEGAN, JUST CLICK ON HER PHOTO ON THE UPPER RIGHT SIDE OF THE BLOG. THEN FIND HER PICTURE ON THAT PAGE AND CLICK THE DONATE BOX BELOW HERE NAME AND PHOTO. (or just click on this sentence and do the same).
Today marks the beginning of the
Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree fundraiser. What you need to know about the fundraiser can be found
here. But the short of it is that each holiday season, the children of Reece's Rainbow who do not have families are put on the "
Angel Tree". Then, families and individuals commit to trying to raise their grant funds $1000.00 or more. You see, many, many families wish to adopt and would qualify to do so except for one thing.
I dont feel I have adequately explained this in the past, but families must meet an extraordinary amount of financial, physical and mental examinations to qualify. So many families out there can pass THIS part of the "test" to become international adoptive parents. If they are approved, then the governments in both the adopting country and the US believe they are and can always be capable of caring for their child(ren) being adopted. BUT...adoption is NOT cheap. International adoption can range from $17,000 to over $40,000.00. This is where many families are stuck, waiting, hoping and praying. It isn't that they cannot take care of a rescued child with special needs once they are home, it is that they cannot pay the $17,000-$40,000 that is required to bring them home. (Do you have that just sitting around in the bank somewhere? Most people don't.)
So that is why Reece's Rainbow does everything it can to raise money and awareness so that families ready, willing and approved to adopt internationally can afford the up front costs. So that children with special needs in Eastern Europe and Latin America are not left to
mental institutions at ages as young as 4 years old. (Just watch the video at the top of the page linked @ "mental institutions in the previous sentence.)
To say that they are all like that video would be false. They are not. But to pretend that any of the mental institutions in Eastern Europe are good would be the overstatement of the year. Some are better than others, but NONE are the right place for a person as young as 4 years old who has Down Syndrome.
Even in the best baby house orphanages, children fight to survive at times. If you follow any one of these children from their parents' first visit to their trip home, in just that short amount of time you absolutely and truly see LIFE come back to them. They have never known the special love that is a mother and/or a father. It just takes days to see them change. Within months of coming home so many of the children are practically unrecognizable because of how much they change, how far they come, and how much love they are given.
Can you tell I feel strongly about this?
Now, back to the Angel Tree. If you donate $35.00 or more you get a holiday ornament with the child's picture that you donated to (MEGAN!). :-) Any and I mean ANY ANY amount is a blessing. If you think $1.00, $5.00, $10.00 wont make a difference you are wrong! It will. I saw a little girl's family raise over $2,000 in a matter of a week with many, many $1.00 donations. No amount is too small.
If you choose to donate to Megan (PRETTY PLEASE!) I would love for you to comment below. I plan to try and have some sort of a giveaway as a "thank you" for your donations, and just because you donate now does not mean you cannot enter the giveaway. So again, if you donate any amount no matter what it is, please, PLEASE leave your comment below so that I can enter you into the giveaway later.
Thank you so much for coming to this blog and for considering a donation to Megan!
TO DONATE TO MEGAN, JUST CLICK ON HER PHOTO ON THE UPPER RIGHT SIDE OF THE BLOG. THEN FIND HER PICTURE ON THAT PAGE AND CLICK THE DONATE BOX BELOW HERE NAME AND PHOTO. (or just click on this sentence and do the same).
