I have mentioned several times before, but it is worth repeating ... Vitamins are literally life savers for many that we are working with. We are so diligent to make sure that we have our kids in North America receive a good balance of Vitamins..... and that's why almost everything that we buy now that is processed is fortified with them... we know that they work. Now if I am honest , I don't notice a big difference by taking them, but we do know they are working..
When we are dealing with our friends in Kyrgyzstan.. it is a totally different situation . We work with kids that are surviving on pennies a day... home ground flour and a bit of oil, fried and served with sugary tea.. this is the staple diet.. everything else is a bonus. We find so many are small , under developed, and have very week immune systems.. Many have rickets, TB is everywhere, and it is not out of the ordinary to die from a common cold. When you add vitamins to a child living in a situation like this, the differences are like night and day.
We have seen sick and listless kids , turn completely around and begin to thrive in as little as 2 weeks of regular vitamins. So much so is the difference, that we had decided that, next to some creams and ointments, we will only be focusing on bringing Vitamins when we go from now on.
Something that has been burning in our hearts for a few years now, has to do with our Christmas Pie in the Face challenge.. We currently bring hope and dignity to well over 2000 people every year... One day of the year makes such a difference to their mental state, but how much more could of a lasting impact if we also focused on their physical state. We see the success this has had in the Ukraine where our friend Ed Dickson has been providing vitamins and a trip to McDonald's, which he calls McJoyful Christmas.. Just think of the difference we could make.. think of how much more effective our food drops would be to the orphanages if they went along with a Vitamin project..
I am really excited about this, and have been sharing this idea with many different organizations looking to make it possible... I
just got off the phone with an organization called
Vitamin Angels ..
Today they truly are our angels. They have agreed to donate vitamin A for all of our kids up to 5 years old , and multivitamins for the women who are pregnant or nursing ....you can read more about
their program at http://www.vitaminangels.org/ .
What a blessing it is to have an organization like this step up and support. more then that, it is a real encouragement to me that this dream is possible.
Over the next couple weeks, I will begin contacting our Pie in the Face challengers from previous years to see how many are interested in taking part again this year.. If you would like to take part in the challenge , let me know .... just to remind you how it works... I register you, and right on the blog we provide pay pal link and a tracking thermometer, along with individual totals. You get your family and friends to donate $500 and someone gets to throw a pie in your face, and we post it right here. It's lots of fun .. it's exciting , and we get to make an incredible difference in the lives of the orphans.
Previous years we had a goal of $10 000 , thats 2000 @ $5 each.. we had 20 pie challengers each raise an average of $500... this year, we are going to stretch our faith.. With the increase costs in Kyrgyzstan over the last few years , along with the added expenses of transportation and delivery of the vitamins, we are now looking at raising that to $10 per child.. So this year we will be looking for 40 challengers. for a total of $20 000. I believe it is possible .. and I believe that our kids are worth it. Please think about it ... maybe this year your friends can through a pie at you.
On December 26 we will be flying out of JFK, heading to Kyrgyzstan to be a part in the festivities as well as setting up the vitamin program and touching base with the many other programs that we are involved with. If you are interested in joining us, drop me a line. You could come and witness first hand the impact that you are making .
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