Hello from Beijing!

I’m not usually so quiet – you can tell we’ve been busy. My first very great news is that our new HTS China Care Home for medically fragile babies is now officially open and (while not yet accepting newcomers) in full operation. You can read about and see photos of the days leading up to this happy event here: http://www.halfthesky.org/work/chinacare-newhome1.php

As you know, the China Care Program is Half the Sky’s fifth and newest program, made possible by very special partnerships both with the wonderful China Care Foundation and with HTS’ key government partners at China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs.  This week we visited with our MCA partners – at our new China Care Home and at the ministry – and during those meetings, they confirmed that they are delighted with this newest program and, indeed, with all that Half the Sky has undertaken during this past, most challenging year. I have a very good feeling that even more great things will come about in the near future for China’s orphans, in large part because of what we – and that means all of us together – have managed to accomplish, despite unbelievably hard times.

June 1, China’s Children’s Day is just around the corner. You may have already received a letter in the mail from me announcing our annual Children’s Day Challenge. If not, never fear! - you can read all about it here: http://www.halfthesky.org/help/somebodylovesme.php

This year, when many of us are struggling to make ends meet, instead of asking you to help us build a new Children’s Center (though we could sure use help there too!) we are hoping that you – by bringing together friends, family, co-workers, schoolmates, all your favorite people – will sponsor just one special child through our “Somebody Loves Me” Child Sponsorship. We have 1200 children in Half the Sky programs across China and new arrivals and babies soon to arrive at our China Care Home, all of whom lack sponsors. That doesn’t mean they don’t participate in our programs; but it does mean that we struggle mightily to bring them the services that they so desperately need.

If you’d like to bring together your special “somebodies” to help us show orphaned children that somebody cares about them, visit our new volunteer resource section for some great fundraising ideas: http://www.halfthesky.org/help/volunteer.php

Throughout the entire month of June, all of your unrestricted gifts will go toward our Children’s Day Challenge. If you think you might consider a “Somebody Loves Me Sponsorship”, please take a closer look. Here’s a little music video: http://www.halfthesky.org/help/somebodylovesme.php#video (though I note that if you’re in mainland China, as I am right now, you probably can’t access YouTube, where it’s hosted) – and, again, here’s the whole story http://www.halfthesky.org/help/somebodylovesme.php, complete with photos <http://www.halfthesky.org/help/somebodylovesme-dollsbangles.php> of some special gifts to celebrate some very special children.

And speaking of somebody special, if you are in the USA, Canada, or the UK don’t forget that Father’s Day is coming on June 21. How about a Half the Sky Good Time Certificate for Dad, Grandpa, Dad-to-be? – in honor of the good times that Daddies always bring: http://give.halfthesky.org/prostores/servlet/Detail?no=103.

Finally, a reminder that, if you’d like to join Half the Sky this summer to help create new HTS Blue Sky Children’s Centers in Hohot, Inner Mongolia and Urumqi, Xinjiang – our most exotic builds ever! – you must get your application in ASAP: http://www.halfthesky.org/help/volunteerresources.php#workcrew

Thank you for all you do for the children!

With love and gratitude,

Jenny

Wherever you are in the world, Mother’s Day is probably on its way….

She helped you learn about the power of love.

Show your mom you learned well, by honoring her with a Mother’s Day Sponsorship from Half the Sky. Your tax-deductible donation of $50 will sponsor a Nurturing Nanny in Half the Sky’s Baby Sisters Infant Nurture Program at an orphanage in China for one month.

Long after this Mother’s Day has passed and store-bought cards are forgotten, your gift will endure. Babies who are still waiting for mamas who may never come will bloom under the care of a loving HTS Nanny.

It takes only a minute, but a Mother’s Day Sponsorship makes a thoughtful tribute that your mom will never forget!

You can make your donation online right now http://give.halfthesky.org/prostores/servlet/Detail?no=76 and we’ll send a beautiful one-month Nanny Sponsorship Certificate out immediately. Or, if prefer to wait until the very last minute, just give us a call at Half the Sky US 1(510)525-3377 (9:30-5:30 PDT, M-F) and we can make special arrangements to express-ship your certificate to arrive on time.

Mother’s Day is a great time to honor all the special mothers in your life! Don’t forget your wife, sister, aunt, grandmother, mother-in-law, AND mothers-to-be!

And completely unrelated – A reminder that we’re now accepting volunteer applications for our August builds in Urumqi and Hohhot. Exotic locations, both, and I’m sure this will be an event to remember as well. You can download an application to join our work crew right here http://www.halfthesky.org/help/volunteerresources.php#workcrew

That’s it for now. Don’t forget your mom!!

Half the Sky is humming with activity - even more than our usual bustle at this time of year.

When I last wrote I shared the good news that HTS is joining forces with China Care, and that we will soon be setting up a beautiful new infant care facility in Beijing, providing pre and post-operative nurturing care for babies who will come from all over China to have life-saving surgeries and medical treatments. Well, I’m pleased to tell you that the China Care Program at Half the Sky (TCCP) is just a month away from becoming a reality. We’ve recruited a terrific professional staff; you’ll be able to meet them on our website very soon. Right now, 80 nannies, medical foster moms, registered nurses and support staff are participating in a month-long training in HTS’ approach to infant nurture and foster care for babies with special needs, in neonatal and pre and post-op nursing care, in recuperative physical and occupational therapy, in embryology and common congenital disorders.

At the same time, we’re readying a beautiful home here in Beijing, including a 50-bed special care nursery and a medical foster home to allow an additional 25 babies who need longer term care to live in a family environment. Right around the first of May, 55 babies who are awaiting or recovering from life-saving surgeries will be settling into TCCP. We’ll share the whole story in our upcoming Spring Progress newsletter.

That newsletter will be the first, I hope, in which we attempt to save money by offering an electronic alternative. I know that many of you prize the paper version of HTS’ newsletters, so – at least for now – we’ll continue to offer that option for those who prefer it. These days we’re looking for every possible way to cut our costs so that the quality of our programs and our ability to expand outreach to more and more children does not suffer, no matter how tough the times.

As I write to you, all of China is observing the Qing Ming festival – a time to sweep family graves and remember those loved ones who have gone.

From Qing Ming through May 12, the first anniversary of the Sichuan Earthquake through Children’s Day on June 1, the survivors of last year’s horrible earthquake will be confronted anew with memories and hurt.

Two weeks ago, we held our third post-quake training for caregivers in Sichuan. Once again, our friends from US National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement and from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs joined us in an effort to help children living in refugee camps take next steps in their journey towards healing from trauma. This training focused on two things: first, preparation to commemorate the first anniversary of the disaster and second, to initiate a school intervention program for young children developed by Dr. Robin Gurwitch of NCSCB called HATS (Healing after Trauma Skills). We are introducing the wonderful HATS program in our children’s activity centers – the Big Tops.

And perhaps even more significant, this is the first time that we’ve been invited to work directly with quake-affected children while they are in school. During the field demonstration portion of the training at Dongqi and Tongwen Primary Schools in Mianyang, the teachers were thrilled and grateful to have some new, proven tools with which to help their children.

The principal at one school told us that the teachers had stopped talking about the earthquake at all because the children would grow agitated and even run away if it was mentioned. NCSCB doctors explained that this response was typical – more reason to help children express what they feel and carry inside. They demonstrated simple techniques like breathing in colors and “becoming a turtle” when you feel scared and sad. By the end of both demonstration sessions, children AND their teachers were clearly calmer, more relaxed.

There’s a long way to go, of course, but the mood is much more open and the community much more eager for hard-learned lessons from disaster trauma experts than they were only a few months ago. They do understand now that the after-effects of an event of this magnitude won’t simply dissipate over time.

This month, in addition to preparing for the launch of TCCP, Half the Sky is also readying two new children’s centers: a HTS Blue Sky Model Center in Zhengzhou, Henan and a HTS Children’s Center in Taiyuan, Shanxi. Recruiting, training and creation of preschools, infant nurture centers and family villages goes on through the month of April with openings planned for May.

In Chongqing, in preparation for upgrading that site from a HTS Children’s Center to a Blue Sky Model Center to serve the entire Chongqing Municipality, our Family Village program is expanding from six families and 24 children to 26 families and almost 100 children, all of whom have severe special needs that preclude them from participating in the government’s adoption programs. Thankfully, there are only a few cities in China where a Family Village program of this size is necessary. In most places, given what we are told are the government’s new efforts to find homes for children with mild and moderate special needs, many children who were previously deemed “unadoptable” may now find families.

Our August build, where we’ll create new HTS Blue Sky Model Center in Urumqi, Xingjiang Province and one in Hohot, Inner Mongolia, is also our annual volunteer build. This should be a great opportunity to help the children and also to visit some interesting, less-traveled areas in China. The build dates are August 3-15. If you are interested in joining us and have not yet sent in your application, please do so soon. If you have questions about the build beyond the information on the application, please contact us at chinacrew@halfthesky.org.

Speaking of volunteering, if you’d like to get more involved in supporting our work in a way that costs you nothing but your time, do contact our volunteer coordinator at volunteers@halfthesky.org and also check out volunteer jobs listings that we post on our website from time-to-time at http://www.halfthesky.org/about/careers.php. Wherever you are in the world, we can surely make good use of your energy to help the children, even during these times when making a financial contribution is tough. We well understand how tough things are right now. Our donations are down 40% from this time last year! And we are still looking for 1200 child sponsors.

Some good news for our donors in the UK and the Netherlands – Half the Sky is now registered in those countries. Your donations (when the economy picks up!) are now tax-deductible.

And no matter what the economic climate, if you find yourself in Hong Kong on the 3rd of June, we hope you might still be up for a great party. Our 2nd annual gala celebration of Children’s Day will be held at the Happy Valley Racecourse. Great food, good company, and exciting horse races. Maybe you’ll even get lucky! If you and/or your company would like tickets or a table, please do let us know - just contact Julia@halfthesky.org. Not only could we REALLY use your support this year, we can almost guarantee that you’ll have a terrific time.

And always, thank you for hanging in there with us, during good times and not so good…

Dear Half the Sky Community,

Here’s a special Chinese New Year greeting from all of us at Half the Sky–with warmest wishes from our staff, board, volunteers and, most especially, on behalf of all the children you have helped this past year.

Our greeting comes a little later than usual this year because I wanted to be absolutely certain that the news I’m about to share is really true. It is!

Perhaps even more than in the west, the Chinese Lunar New Year is a time to sweep away the troubles of the past and welcome a time of fresh beginnings. In even the poorest families, debts are paid, homes are scrubbed top to bottom and filled with flowers, fruit and candies. Children too – scrubbed clean and adorned in bright new clothes.

We can’t quite sweep away the old year’s troubles these days, but we at Half the Sky can look to the New Year of the Ox with hope and – I’m, at last, happy to tell you – some certainty that this will be a year filled with bright promise. Here’s our good news….

Our board of directors has just approved an alliance with an organization whose work with orphaned children perfectly complements that of Half the Sky. The organization is the China Care Foundation.

To tell you why we’ve decided to partner with another nonprofit at a moment when we — like so many others—are working hard to pare away and streamline our operations through challenging times, I have to tell you a little of the China Care story.

It is a story about a remarkable, 11-year-old boy who spent a year in China, learned the language, and like me and so many others in Half the Sky’s global community, loved the country, and was moved by the plight of her most vulnerable children. Five years later, at 16, the boy returned to China with a determination to help the orphans. That is how China Care, a Connecticut-based nonprofit founded by young Matt Dalio, came to be.

There is an extraordinary synergy between Half the Sky’s and China Care’s philosophies and missions. Where Half the Sky offers education and nurture, China Care offers specialized medical care and nurture.

China Care provides medical care with as much concern for the emotional health of the children as for their physical well-being. China Care’s staff spends 24 hours a day with its tiny patients who are enduring life-threatening medical procedures, calming their fears, wiping their tears, and rejoicing when they coax those first, tentative smiles from babies who are not only healing but know that someone cares.

In the decade Half the Sky has been providing nurturing care in government orphanages, I have seen too many small children who desperately need medical care that is simply not available locally. It is heartbreaking to not be able to help. Now, working with China Care, we can!

When Matt founded China Care eight years ago, he did so in order to rescue orphans from what seemed to be an impossibly broken welfare system. At Half the Sky, we’ve always believed that what’s broken can and must be fixed. In partnership with the Chinese government, Half the Sky has made giant strides in bettering the conditions inside welfare institutions. China Care has witnessed the changes and, with us, sees the possibilities.

Now, by taking on China Care’s high quality medical care program as our own fifth program - The China Care Program at Half the Sky - we, in partnership with China Care and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, will finally be able to offer orphaned children a comprehensive, personalized plan for the brightest possible future.

Yet, though our hearts and our missions intersect so closely, even that would not have been enough for us to enter into a partnership and new venture in these difficult times. Our due diligence taught us that

- China Care shares our frugal approach to maximizing the impact of every donation and, like Half the Sky, has a loyal and generous group of donors.

- China Care is blessed with a board of directors that underwrites its operational costs so that every dollar donated goes directly to support its programs.

- The China Care Foundation is fully committed to support The China Care Program at Half the Sky. It will operate no other program in China.

As we enter into this strategic partnership together, we can help to ensure our combined futures, make more effective use of our resources, and, most important – reach more children who need help.

And some of you may already know that there is another happy side to the China Care story. When Matt Dalio went to Harvard, he started a youth empowerment movement that is spreading across dozens of college and high school campuses in North America and soon, beyond: China Care Clubs. This terrific network of young people — who not only raise funds for orphan support but also mentor adopted Chinese teens and run playgroups and celebrate Chinese culture with the youngest adoptees — will now also become a part of our family.

It’s truly a great fit in every way.

You can learn more about China Care at www.chinacare.org. You can learn more about The China Care Program at Half the Sky. Please feel free to ask any and all questions. We’ll do our very best to keep you informed as our new 5th program gets ready to launch.

For now I just wanted to share our happy news with you, our most valued partners. Half the Sky is your organization. Your concern for the children makes even this exciting opportunity possible, for without you, Half the Sky would not exist.

In the last decade, we have welcomed so many different sorts of people into Half the Sky’s global family — adoptive parents who know that the waiting children in China are their children’s brothers and sisters, people like Matt who have a special love for China’s orphans, those whose birthplace and/or heritage is China, and generous corporations and foundations that strive to make the world a better place. Each addition has made our community stronger and better.

Now, as we welcome China Care’s family into ours, our hopes for the future are brighter and better than ever.

From all of us at Half the Sky … Happy Year of the Ox!

With love and gratitude,

Jenny

Dear Half the Sky Community,

A while ago I wrote to you and shared that, like so many nonprofit organizations, Half the Sky was more than a little bit worried, during this uncertain economy, about what might happen to the children who depend on its programs. No matter what, we knew we must somehow meet our promise to keep those programs going.

I just had to write and THANK YOU ALL. You heard us and you helped us.

Over 320 of you answered our call for child sponsors - only 1680 to go!

Many, many of you renewed your existing sponsorships or increased your annual gifts. Some of you had already given what you’d planned to give, and then you gave again.

Thanks to you all, when 2008 came to a close, we were not worse off than at the end of 2007. In these times, that is huge!

We are deeply grateful to you for trusting in us. Even given all the unknowns we live with, one thing is certain - Your love for China’s orphans will keep us going.

A special big thanks to all of you who have contributed to our Children’s Earthquake Fund. The response to help children orphaned and displaced by the quake in Sichuan has just been amazing. Today, I am very pleased to tell you that the Fund is now closed. You have provided sufficient funding to support six Big Tops for children’s disaster relief and healing for the next 3 years! That is our commitment. And you have made it happen.

Finally, I am happy to announce, at last, that Give Me Wings! (and I Will Fly), our website for children helping children, is now officially open for visitors. It’s far from finished (and really will never be) but we think we’re at the point where we’d like to invite you to share your thoughts about what we’re up to here (especially if you’re under 15!) Check it out at http://www.halfthesky.org/give-me-wings/ and send us your ideas, your videos, your photos and … whatever.

At Half the Sky we hear from young philanthropists and volunteers all the time. Whether adopted from China, or growing up with sisters and brothers who were, or simply kids who care about the lives of others who have less – we see growing numbers of children and teens who want to know more about their world. And want to make a difference.

Give Me Wings! wants to share with you some of what other incredible kids are doing and invites all the incredible kids out there to share their stories too. To parents – Give Me Wings! requires parental permission for your child to participate and we make every effort to protect each child’s privacy. Please check it out yourself first!

Wherever you are, we’d appreciate it if you’d take a look and send us your brainstorms, corrections and contributions. Our GMW (Give Me Wings!) webmaster is Kate Gaines. Her address is wings@halfthesky.org. Kate lives in Beijing and can talk to you in English or Chinese. Please drop her a line!

On to a great 2009 – and THANK YOU again!

With love and gratitude,

Jenny

As we turn the page on 2008, it’s impossible not to reflect back on all we’d envisioned just a year ago. This was our tenth anniversary year, the Olympic year, the year of the launch of the Blue Sky Plan – the government promise offering Half the Sky an open door to change orphan care in all of China forever.

It hasn’t turned out quite like that. We’ve seen storms and earthquakes. We’ve seen a financial crisis that rocked the world.

I am so proud of what we have accomplished together during this chaotic year.

We brought the loving care of HTS nannies, teachers and foster parents to children living in 41 welfare institutions. We created four new HTS Blue Sky Model Children’s Centers. We trained orphanage staff across an entire province so that they can begin to offer HTS-style programs of nurturing care and education on their own. We brought relief to 98 orphanages battered by the spring storms. We brought relief to the quake-orphaned and displaced children of Sichuan. We set up six “Big Tops” – children’s centers housed in giant tents in refugee camps near the epicenter – places where children can learn to smile again, nurtured by teachers receiving ongoing training to help traumatized children begin to heal.

It is, of course, your love and support that has made every bit of this possible.

When I last wrote, I told you why we can’t stop now. Without our determination to help the children during even the hardest days, they will surely not be heard. When the whole world is hurting, these most vulnerable children will simply be forgotten.

Many, many of you have listened and you generously responded. Hundreds of you honored your loved ones through donations. Over 200 of you answered our wish for child sponsors for the more than 2,000 who need them.

But there’s still lots to do. And there’s still time! If you haven’t yet made your year-end gift to help the children, you’ll be glad to know it’s not too late. To qualify for tax deduction in the US or Canada, donations paid by check must be postmarked by December 31. Or you can call our US office . Or simply click here http://give.halfthesky.org/prostores/servlet/StoreFront

Every little bit will help during these most critical days. The storms have passed; the quake area begins to rebuild, but the legacy of 2008 lasts as we enter the new year.

From all of us at Half the Sky – the nannies, the teachers, the field and office staff, the volunteers, and, especially the 5,000 children whom we serve - in Anhui, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Sha’anxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Tianjin - and soon we hope, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Xinjiang.

We hope this New Year’s Eve and Day finds you safe, warm, at peace, with a heart full of hope, and surrounded by the ones you love.

Happy New Year!

Hello -

If you’ve already received our year-end letter, you may wish to ignore this one. I hope you won’t. It has never been so important to reach out to every single person who might care what happens to children who’ve lost their families. During tough times, it’s easy to forget.

There are stories I could tell you – of storms, earthquakes and more - about why this year has been particularly tough for Half the Sky. There are things I could say about why we are afraid for the future of our programs as we watch the world struggle with economic woes. But you already know.

I want to tell you, instead, about some truly great things that have happened this year. I want to tell you why - no matter how difficult the times - we can’t stop now.

If you’re an old friend of Half the Sky, you might remember sad-faced little BaoBao. Back in 2004, when Half the Sky first brought its programs to Xinyang, her orphanage, I wrote,

“I place on my lap one little girl of about 3 who has mysteriously lost both of her feet. Both of them cut off. No one seems to know why. She allows me to hold her close. Not tense or fearful—just unaccustomed to this sort of intimacy. She gazes at me with a sort of foggy curiosity. I whisper that things are going to get better for her. I promise.”

And so they did. After we arranged for BaoBao to be fitted with prosthetic feet, she thrived in our Little Sisters Preschool. She made friends and played dress-up and painted pictures. Along with her colors and numbers and songs, BaoBao learned that she is important and that she is loved.

This fall, BaoBao received the best gift of all - a family of her very own. BaoBao doesn’t need Half the Sky any more.

But just last week, in an orphanage in southern China, I met a child I’ll call DanLu. DanLu is only 2 years-old. She was riding with her father when they were in a motorcycle accident. It took several days for DanLu’s parents to bring her for medical care. When they finally did, her leg had to be amputated. Last month, her parents abandoned her at the hospital.

Like BaoBao, DanLu needs a second chance at life. Half the Sky can give her that.

In the spring of 2005, Half the Sky was putting the finishing touches on a new preschool and infant nurture center in Haikou. Our trainings for new teachers and nannies was just wrapping up. The children were already beginning to respond to this new and exciting attention. Then someone mentioned that there were a few more little ones we hadn’t seen. Children not well enough to participate. All children can participate, we told the director. We were taken to a room not yet seen. Six small children languished in their cribs. One of them was a child I’ll call XiaoWan.

Three special nannies volunteered to work with the six who’d been left behind. They were devoted to their charges, refusing to let special needs stand in the way. Today, all six are in the Little Sisters Program at Haikou. And that HTS miracle has happened yet again. Little XiaoWan will soon have a family of her own! Soon she won’t need Half the Sky.

But what about FuTing of Ningxia…a girl whose body is locked in a wheelchair but who dreams of learning? At 15, her time to get an education, to start a life, is running out.

What will happen to JiaLi…a tiny child with a severe heart defect who has just arrived at an orphanage in Inner Mongolia? When that heart is healing, who will hold her?

I know that, for many of us, this is a difficult time. We’ve received regretful phone calls and emails from some of you who have to cancel child sponsorships and other monthly donation commitments. We’ve seen two corporate sponsors fall away. We’ve already pared our plans for the coming year down to the bare minimum to keep our programs alive. But we must keep going.

Yes, times are hard for all of us right now. But, no matter how tough things are at your house or mine, they’re tougher for DanLu, FuTing and JiaLi. We can’t stop now. We must continue this work that so profoundly changes young lives. We must not close our doors on any child.

But why - you may wonder - do we have to take on so much when China seems to have so much? I can’t speak for China, of course…. But I have seen with my own eyes that children who are abandoned, who have lost a mom and dad who will fight for them – are simply the first to be hurt when times are hard and the last to benefit when times are good. It isn’t fair; but it is so.

In this, our tenth year, when Half the Sky finally has the opportunity for which we all have worked so hard – the chance to impact the life of every single orphaned child in China – we have also been confronted with our greatest challenges.

But you have always been there when we needed you most.

Now we need you more than ever. Now, when some of our donors can no longer manage even a small donation, won’t you do the best you can to help Half the Sky keep its life-changing programs alive?

Please. We have 4,600 children in our programs right now. Less than half of them have a sponsor. Next year, we hope to add 600 more children. We just can’t do it without your help.

This year we failed to meet our goals in one fund drive and had to cancel another because of disaster. But we can’t stop trying to reach every child who needs to know what love feels like. Because we CAN do this, we must try.

If you are a child sponsor, please renew your sponsorship this year. If you’ve considered sponsoring a child, now’s the time! 2,700 children need your help right now!

How about a Big Sisters sponsorship to help give older kids a chance?

Or, if you can manage, give our children wings by becoming a HTS Guardian or HTS Angel. If you can’t do it alone, how about asking friends or family to join together?

This year, your gift of any size will mean more than ever. You can count on that. Now is the moment - please do what you can do for the many beautiful children who do not know that they matter in this world. Help them know the gift of loving care. With your help, we can make thousands of miracles happen. It’s in your hands.

With special thanks in these hard times,

Jenny Bowen

‘In search of beautiful sights, I forget the cold’

These words were written by Song Dynasty poet, Yang Wanli - perhaps 1,000 years ago – reminding us that there’s always been bitter cold, there’s always been hard times…. But spring always comes.

This has been a tough year for us all. We have to believe that a warm spring is just around the corner. So, in celebration of our 10th anniversary, of all the tremendous support you’ve given to children in distress this past year, and in fervent hopes for a warmer, brighter spring, Half the Sky is delighted to offer WINGS! - a stunning holiday card by Hu YongYi, our favorite Hong Kong artist, so aptly known as Wing.

In December (better late than never!), HTS will be introducing a new web meeting place for children helping children — Give Me Wings…And I Will Fly. This year, you all have helped so many to soar above their worries and fears. This card’s for you.

http://give.halfthesky.org/prostores/servlet/Categories?category=Greeting Cards

We’ve been mighty busy since I last wrote. Our new HTS Blue Sky model Children’s Centers in Xi’an and Harbin are in full operation. Those in Shenyang are almost ready to fly. We have six BigTops up-and-running near the Sichuan quake epicenter and two more in the works. In two weeks we will host an international training for child psychologists, psychiatrists, school counselors and our BigTop teachers and caregivers in Sichuan.

This morning I will begin a 10-day journey with HTS colleagues and ministry officials to select sites for next year’s new HTS Blue Sky model Children’s Centers.

We have been spending some long days lately trying to figure out how to keep our programs running despite whatever economic turmoil may come. Despite the fact that we already operate on a pretty bare-bones budget, we have managed to come up with even more cost-cutting measures. And we have re-affirmed our commitment to focus on program-quality and sustainability, even if it means slowing down our outreach to more children in more provinces.

As our “shareholders” I thought you’d want to know that. We have been fortunate to have changed the lives and outcomes for thousands of children already. There is no way we are going to let these programs die.

Have you had a chance to help child earthquake victims in the American Express Members Project?

For a while there it looked as if Half the Sky’s BigTops – the children’s recovery centers we’re creating in Sichuan refugee camps – were a shoo-in for the top 25. But now, with only 4 days left, our chances aren’t looking so good.

PLEASE HELP US TODAY - AND PLEASE, RIGHT NOW, FORWARD TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW - THANKS!

Anyone with an email address can nominate a project. The more nominations we get, the better our chances are. It’s easy and it doesn’t cost one penny!

Our project is called, “HELP CHILDREN RECOVER FROM EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA” and if it makes the top 25, it could get enough funding from American Express to build and operate four BigTops for two years. To nominate our project for potential funding, please follow these simple steps:

1. Go to http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/YBIBMW.

2. Click on “NOMINATE THIS PROJECT” button

3. Sign up & log in as a Guest Member or a Cardmember

4. The button will turn into a sentence that says “You have nominated this project”

If you have any problems, please let us know.

I’ll be posting some more photos of our amazing work in Sichuan soon. In the meantime….

Will you help us?

By now you’ve heard all about the BigTops – the children’s activity centers that Half the Sky is operating in Sichuan refugee camps to help displaced children recover emotionally from the earthquake. The first four camps are now in operation; more will soon follow.

Now American Express has announced its second “Member’s Project” where cardholders can vote for innovative projects that help others. Half the Sky’s earthquake project has been placed into nomination.

You can help us advance to the top 25 and you don’t have to be a cardholder to do it. It’s easy and it doesn’t cost one penny!

Our project is called, “HELP CHILDREN RECOVER FROM EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA” and with your support it could get enough funding from American Express to build and operate four BigTops for two years. The first step is to gather lots of nominations. To nominate our project for potential funding, please follow these simple steps:

1. Go to http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/YBIBMW.

2. Click on “NOMINATE THIS PROJECT” button

3. Sign up & log in as a Guest Member or a Cardmember

4. The button will turn into a sentence that says “You have nominated this project”

The website is a little bit confusing and our project was entered two times by accident. Please make sure you follow the link above.

If we should be lucky enough to make it to the next level, we’ll be back to ask for another vote from those of you who hold AMEX cards. But for now, all we ask is for five minutes of your online time. And please tell your friends.

The deadline is September 1 – so only a few days left.

I’m in Sichuan right now and I can tell you that the BigTops are really making a difference for these children.

Will you help us?