Celebrating Four Years With Matthew

Matthew, turning 4, welcomes the spring

Tomorrow, Matthew Beckley will celebrate his fourth birthday.

It’s his third birthday celebration with his parents, Michelle and Michael, since coming home. Matthew was adopted through WACAP from Russia, where WACAP has worked since 1993 to find families for the 500,000+ children who live in institutional care. 

In June of 2009, WACAP helped Matthew find his family, and in honor of his birthday, Michael and Michelle reached out to WACAP to share a little about their son today and to send a donation in his honor. 

In their words:

“Wow, time sure flies! We are so fortunate to have this little boy in our lives. He is smart, funny, sweet, spunky, silly, happy, and opinionated, and just the reason for waking up sometimes. He is loved, loved, loved — and loved some more.”

Matthew in his baby home in Russia (the first photo the Beckley's received)

Although swimming lessons aren’t quite his cup of tea, Matthew does love reading and is very fond of animals (as his above picture gives away). He also enjoys the company of many friends, and his parents often find him singing a happy tune — another of his favorite pastimes.   

Michelle and Michael, thank you again for your very special donation, which will be used to find adoptive families for the children who continue to wait in Russian institutions. 

Matthew, as you celebrate this year in the music and company of your family, WACAP sends you our happy birthday wishes.

Spring Flowers, WACAP Mother’s Day Brunch: Celebrate Family

Mom kisses her daughter, adopted through WACAP

There are close to 2 billion mothers in the world, with over 85 million in the U.S. alone. On Mother’s Day — the busiest phone day of the year — hundreds of millions of sons, daughters and grandchildren make a special call. And others send greeting cards, about 152 million of them.

As interesting as these figures are, they tell us nothing about a parent’s years of dedication, a caregiver’s influence on our future paths, or a grandparent’s ability to shape our lives in the present.

This Mother’s Day, join WACAP as we celebrate the immeasurable gift of family.

WACAP’s Annual Mother’s Day Brunch

Adding a different dazzle to this century-old holiday, we’re dressing up WACAP’s Mother’s Day Brunch with a fashion show, put on by the children of WACAP. If you’ll be in the Seattle area, invite your family to join us at Seattle’s Fairmont Olympic Hotel on Sunday, May 13, at 12:30 p.m. (Fashion show clothing will be donated to WACAP House in Ethiopia.)

Click here to order tickets or contact Lisa Yeager to learn more about the children’s fashion show (participants still welcomed).

Flowers at the Doorstep of Someone Special

You can say thank you with a spring bouquet while also supporting WACAP’s Promise Fund.
With your donation of $100 or more, a lovely floral arrangement will be delivered to the one you love just in time for Mother’s Day, and you’ll be helping children across the globe who still need families.

Place your online order before May 2; flowers can be delivered anywhere in the U.S. and will arrive on Friday, May 11. Click here to learn more. 

Thank you for celebrating the difference a family makes … and for helping us make that difference for so many children.

Transforming Lives: WACAP’s Stay-in-School Project in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is home to 6 million orphans. Of those, many live with birth relatives or in foster homes, and unable to attend school (which is free in Ethiopia), they must work to help with their families’ basic needs — food, clothing, a roof overhead. These kids wake up each day without access to the educational opportunities that would help them change their circumstances.

WACAP’s Stay-in-School project, in cooperation with the Ethiopian government, helps families meet these basic needs so that the children can stay in school … and just a couple months ago, WACAP’s Vice President of Adoptions Mary Moo and Ethiopia Program Manager Megan Nikiema returned from a trip to Ethiopia having witnessed the amazing impact of this project. In their words:

“A mother expressed her deep thanks. She and her child are HIV positive and before she received support, she shared that was very afraid of what would happen to her family. Now her child can stay in school…. One child stopped to thank us. She told us that her mother had a mental illness and her father had died recently, so the support was making a significant difference in her present and future.”

The lives of over 100 children were impacted in 2011 alone, thanks to our funders, including the International Foundation and the May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust, as well as the many individuals who support this life-changing effort.

We thank them on behalf of 11-year-old girl living with her grandmother who, using her wheelchair, now can attend school; the two children today attending a school for the deaf; the girl who has now been accepted into college; and on behalf of all the children and families whose futures they have brightened.

Below are some of the families touched by the Stay-in-School project. If you are interested in supporting this effort, click here.

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Photo Journal: Shenzhen

Last week, WACAP staff members travelled to Shenzhen, China. President and CEO Lillian Thogersen, China Development Director Bixin Huang, and Homestudy Processing Manager Meg Alley visited three orphanages and met 43 children who are part of the China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption’s (CCCWA) Journey of Hope program. We spent a little face-to-face time with each child, getting to know the children’s backgrounds, interests and needs so that we can more successfully find them families. While each of these 43 children had something special to offer, they all have one thing in common:  the need for a loving, permanent family. WACAP is honored to do this work on behalf of children.

These children.  

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A Message From Thailand

From WACAP’s President and CEO Lillian Thogersen 

Just over a week ago, I travelled with WACAP’s Thailand Program Manager Liz Richards to meet the newly appointed Director of the International Adoption Unit of the Department of Social Development and Welfare in Thailand. WACAP has worked in Thailand for 30 years, serving children in need of families. Each time we return, we are the recipients of recognition and appreciation for our years of work for Thai children.

On this trip, we visited several orphanages in Bangkok, Khon Kaen and Udon Thani, gathering updated information on children already matched with families and meeting new children for whom we’ve been asked to find an adoptive family. It’ been over 20 years since my first trip to Thailand, but there continues to be so many orphaned children.

While we are unable to share pictures of individual Thai children, here are a few pictures of rooms where orphans are resting during nap time. Over 50 children are sleeping in cribs in one of the images below. 

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Not all of these children can be considered for adoption; many have birth families who will hopefully return for them before long; some are in the process being adopted — just waiting for documents to be completed; and a few are close to going home to an adoptive family in a foreign country.

Then there are the children with special needs. Children like the 7-year-old girl who, we’re informed, has a slightly misshapen skull. As this small child tentatively smiled up at us through long lashes covering soft brown eyes, we immediately made a tacit promise that WACAP would find her a family. Another promise was silently given to the 6-year-old boy with a deformed foot whose prosthesis was broken, who has to limp on legs of two different lengths, but who still walks, runs even, and rides a bicycle. And yet another for the 10-month-old baby whose mother is mentally ill but who had the clarity to relinquish her son so he might have a more stable life.

These, and so many more, Thai children are why we keep returning. We know that WACAP’s work in Thailand, and in the other countries where we work, changes children’s lives forever.

Lillian Thogersen, WACAP President and CEO

A Travel Preview

Ethiopia
In January, WACAP’s Ethiopia Program Manager Megan Nikiema and Vice President of Adoptions Mary Moo travelled to Ethiopia to visit orphanages, connect with WACAP staff in Addis Ababa, and witness the continued impact of WACAP’s Stay in School project in the northern parts of Ethiopia. Travelling across the beautiful countryside, they’ve returned with many photos and stories about the children and families whose lives WACAP supporters have helped change. Check back for a more detailed post and photos from this Ethiopia trip.

Here’s a group of families who gathered to meet WACAP staff in Ethiopia and offer their thanks for our ongoing support:

Children gather to thank WACAP for its support

Thailand
This week, Thailand program manager Liz Richards and WACAP President and CEO Lillian Thogersen are travelling in Thailand to visit orphanages in Bangkok, Khon Kaen, and Udon Thani, where they’re meeting with children who have been matched with families, as well as orphanage staff. We look forward to welcoming home the children who will soon be joining their families.   

China
In the first week in March, Lillian Thogersen will join WACAP Homestudy Processing Manager Meg Alley and Bixin Huang of WACAP’s China team on WACAP’s seventh Journey of Hope trip.

Staff will visit three orphanages in the Shenzhen area in Guangdong province, and will be meeting with dozens of children, many of whom are who are older or who have medical needs. While at the orphanages, staff will be able to talk more with the caregivers about each of the children, engage with the kids, and return with photos and video of each child to share with those families interested in adopting them.

We’re excited to share more about these trips with you in the coming weeks. 

Eight Days, Three Minutes, Exponential Change: One Gift

“Exponential change.” “Exponential growth.” They’re phrases that frequent our daily headlines, newscasts, and blogs. The concepts have the power to motivate public action and inaction alike.

At WACAP, we know the unparalleled difference that our supporters and adoptive families have made in the lives of thousands of children. And as hundreds of thousands of children continue to wait without families, we also recognize the urgency …

The idea that, together, we can participate in an effort that sparks exponential change stirs us in spirit and in action. We invite you to support this 8-day campaign, Everyone Gives, of which WACAP is a part.

Here’s how it works:

• Minute one: Beginning February 22, sign in to Everyone Gives, and give a one-time gift to WACAP here.
• Minute two: With a click, tell two or more people via social networking, email, or word of mouth; ask them to give with you.
• Minute three: Watch your impact grow. You can visually see the branches of the “WACAP Impact” giving tree at www.EveryoneGives.org. 
• Minute four: It’s for you. Thank you for the lasting difference you’ve made in a child’s life.

You can learn more about the Everyone Gives campaign here: