Updates: ‘community’
On Saturday, May 18, Wienerschnitzel in Buena Park is hosting a “Day of Hope” benefiting Giving Children Hope.
Guests who bring in canned food items between 9 am and 10 pm will receive raffle tickets for prizes. In addition, 20% of all purchases made with the attached flyer will go directly to GCHope.
Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to support GCHope and the We’ve Got Your Back program! We’ll see you there!
We were very excited to host team members from Target stores throughout the area. We have been working to find a time that works for everyone and finally made it happen yesterday. They did a great job in all three of our main volunteer projects. From sorting medical supplies for distribution to a clinic in Haiti to packing backpacks full of food for children in need throughout Orange County to arranging donations of household supplies for our hundreds of partner agencies. They did a great job, always with a smile. We were very grateful for their help and are looking forward to having them serve with us again soon.
In addition, we are also the recipient of a Target Community Grant for $5,000 which they brought yesterday! Thanks Target for giving your time and support to Bring Health to Kids in Crisis!
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Thanks again to our friends over at ADP! There were at our warehouse on Tuesday to help with the packing of our backpacks as well as ensuring that the food supply we send to our children each week are of the best quality. If you look back through a couple of our older posts (here and here) you will see that ADP has been sending us volunteers for quite some time now. Thanks for being faithful supporters of our efforts and for Bringing Health to Kids in Crisis!
A big thank you to our friends over at SD Deacon. They have comes several times now to help out with tour We’ve Got Your Back program and they are always a pleasure to have. This time, not only did they work on filling the backpacks for our kids, but also put together school supply packages for them. It is so wonderful to have friends and organizations throughout the SoCal area that are ready to step up and serve these children each and every week. Check out these pictures of SD Deacon in action!
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Back in November, we were privileged to have a group of Moms come with their little ones from Calvary Church in Santa Ana to volunteer in our We’ve Got Your Back Program. This week, we had an entirely new group of Moms do the same thing. I can’t tell you have beautiful it is to see little toddlers giving up their time to serve other children in our own community who don’t always have enough to eat. Thanks Calvary for having some of the best Moms around!!
What began as a sewing ministry in 1977 has transformed into an organization that strives to supply for the needs of the church body. That is why Love-Lift Ministry’s partnership with Giving Children Hope (GCH) is a perfect match! Founder, Marilyn Kunde explains that Love-Lift focuses on creating personal care bags, which are assembled by volunteers to meet the needs of specific age groups and gender. Once the bags are filled, the items are shipped overseas or sent with short term missions teams and distributed to the needy in small villages and churches around the world. Originally, the organization filled stockings for homeless children at Christmas time, akin to the methods of Saint Nicholas. Now, the ministry has grown significantly with eager volunteers and kind donations from individuals and partners. In 2008, Love-Lift Ministries provided for 8,000 people of all ages. Partnering with GCH has given Love-Lift Ministries the means to strive in their benevolent program.
Jake and Khara Tirabassi, members of RockHarbor Church in Costa Mesa, are making a giant leap of faith as they travel to Uganda, answering God’s call in their lives.
They came to Giving Children Hope over the years for multiple medical missions trips and visited us once again in preparation for their most recent medical missions trip: a two-week trip with RockHarbor Church to provide wound care, medical clinic work, and more. Following the two-week trip with RockHarbor, however, both Jake and Khara will stay in Uganda.
They will both be working and volunteering in Uganda for a year. Khara is working with Remnant Uganda, a clothing company that empowers women of Uganda in the cycle of poverty and sexual exploitation with vocational training, financial security, and education. Jake will be working with Gulu Bible Community Church and Congolese Refugees to provide mentorships and sports ministry, bringing community outreach, sports, education, and the word of God to the local regions.
We are grateful for their partnership and so encouraged by their faith. Keep Jake and Khara, their partnerships, their work in Uganda, and the communities they will be impacting in your prayers. You may also follow their blog at Jake and Khara.
For the past few weeks, Giving Children Hope staff, donors, supporters, partners and volunteers have been working around the clock to gather and wrap presents for homeless children in Orange County. This week, all the hard work paid off as we began distribution to more than 3,000 kids in the Orange County School Districts.
Each child was asked to complete a wish list of items they would like for the holidays. Some of the most heartbreaking requests were received on this lists: a job for my dad, presents for my brothers and sisters, a Christmas Tree, a house for my family, and much more.
Though many of these requests couldn’t be met, GCHope and supporters worked hard to bring a little bit of joy into the lives of these children in need. Every child enrolled in We’ve Got Your Back, a weekend nutrition program that provides essential and nutritious meals and nutrition education to homeless children and their families each week, was given a present for the holidays. In addition to these presents, toys were also given to their siblings as well!
Thank you to the hundreds of donors, sponsors, volunteers and supporters who helped to make the holidays magical and bright for the needy community in Orange County. We could not have done it without you and Christmas wouldn’t be the same to these families without all of your help. We are very grateful for your support!
See a video of the distribution here
Every winter, Giving Children Hope begins the happiest and most joyful time of the year: the holiday season for We’ve Got Your Back. In addition to providing backpacks filled with nutritious food and nutrition education each and every week, GCHope also provides families with toys for the children for the holidays. Every child is invited to complete a wish list for themselves and their siblings and volunteers, donors and corporations are able to sponsor these children.
With more than 3,000 students in the program, however, some children are left un-sponsored. This is where Toys for Tots comes in! After years of partnership with Toys for Tots, we were once again joining forces to provide toys and gifts for the kids of We’ve Got Your Back and their siblings!
GCHope staff was ecstatic when we received that call that we would be receiving more than 1,000 toys! Volunteers have been working to sort toys by gender and age ranges and wrapping the presents in preparation for toy distribution later this month.
Thank you so much, Toys for Tots, for allowing GCHope to continue with our commitment to serve the homeless children of Orange County with so much more than just food. We are so thankful for your partnership again this year!
