Family Care Foundation Newsletter:

Volume 2 -- No. 3 -- September 1998

Family Care Foundation Project Honored in Washington

Washington D.C. based Family Missions recently received the Freedom Works Award sponsored by House Majority Leader Dick Armey. This award is given annually to "the most active service group in the country motivated by personal commitment and desire to make the world a better place rather than personal gain or government funding." Following are excerpts from press releases about this event:

Family Missions, DC Volunteers with Majority Leader Dick Armey (center)

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"On Thursday, March 5, House Majority Leader Dick Armey presented his Freedom Works Award to the D.C. Center of the Family Missions for their exemplary service in assisting homeless shelters and soup kitchens in the D.C. area. Armey formally presented the award to the Family Missions at a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol. D.C. Center Dir-ector Cindy Thompson and several teen volunteers were on hand to accept it for the group."

Freedom Works Award to Family Missions
Delivered on the House floor March 5, 1998

"Mr. Speaker, I am honored today to present the Freedom Works Award to the Family Missions of the D.C. area. I established the Freedom Works Award to celebrate freedom by recognizing individuals and groups who promote personal responsibility instead of reliance on the government.

"The Family Missions is a privately-funded charitable religious organization made up of families who believe their Christian duty is best served by assisting and operating homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and offering other human services assistance within their communities. Their activities have ranged from delivering two tons of milk weekly for the last four years to D.C. area soup kitchens, to serving as Red Cross deputies in Florida during the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. It really warms my heart to see these young people doing all they can to help people in need. The Family Missions volunteers also help teenage runaways and shelters for battered women.

"A sincere calling to service of others and the personal reward such activity brings motivates them, not because they were drafted by AmeriCorps or even because they were trying to meet some local community or state mandated requirement for charity. These young people exemplify the kind of genuine service and sacrifice I had in mind when I conceived of the Freedom Works Award.

"This organization has taken on these difficult tasks and more, without receiving a single penny of federal assistance. The success of the Family Missions is based on a simple belief that ‘There is no greater love for our fellow man than to be willing to lay our life down for them.’"

Past recipients have included Dallas Cowboys running back Emmit Smith (for his work in educating at-risk youth); "Touched By An Angel" producers; Omega Boys Club of San Francisco (for their work in rescuing inner city children from the influences of gangs) and Cornerstone Schools of Detroit, Michigan (for their cutting-edge approach to education).

Thanks to the generosity of the Embassy Dairy, each week the D.C. Family Missions’ Milk for Many volunteers pick up and deliver approximately 2000 gallons of fresh milk to Washington D.C.’s shelters for the homeless, for battered women and children, and other poor and needy families.

Gail Cline,executive director of the Serve Shelter in Manassas, Virginia writes,
"Family Missions are among those who understand what the disadvantaged need. Since we never have enough milk, even for the children who constitute half of our clients, we are always amazed and delighted to see you arrive with what we need most."

Pictured here is Family Missions’ volunteer, Alyssa, unloading crates of milk at the D.C. Central Kitchen.

As you can see from the first article in this issue of our newsletter, Congressman Dick Armey recently bestowed his prestigious Freedom Works Award on Family Care Foundation’s Washington D.C. project. The Freedom Works Award is given to only one charitable project per year and recognizes exemplary service to others, coupled with a reliance on support from the private sector, rather than government funding. The success that D.C. Family Missions has achieved, and the recognition they have now received for their Milk for Many program, amongst others, is well deserved indeed, and we are proud to be associated with them.

In our last newsletter, we gave you an overview of our Mission Support and Humanitarian Services Program (MSHSP) which allows us to work in partnership with projects like D.C. Family Missions. There are now over 70 individual already-approved projects operating under the MSHSP, effecting positive change in the lives of men, women and children in nearly 25 countries, and we are receiving a steady flow of new applications, and the MSHSP continues to grow at a rapid pace.

Another significant step of progress for Family Care Foundation is in the area of broadcasting children’s educational videos. Family Care Foundation has signed a number of contracts with companies in several countries to facilitate the fee-for-service distribution and broadcast of these exempt-purpose children’s educational videos to which we have acquired worldwide rights. The OK-TV Channel of the Primestar Satellite network in the U.S. has already begun broadcasting Treasure Attic and Kiddie Viddie, and we are finalizing negotiations with other broadcasters. As a prime component of our Family Education Program, the distribution and broadcast of these videos helps us to fulfill our mission of strengthening families and children in an effective and far-reaching way.

In closing, please allow me to once again thank you, our dear friends and supporters. Your regular gifts and support to Family Care Foundation’s many worthy projects makes it possible for lives to be touched and hearts to be healed. In a very real sense, you are helping to change the world, one heart at a time, one life at a time, one day at a time. Thank you for your friendship and for being partners with us. We greatly appreciate each of you.

Sincerely,

Lawrence Corley

By Carlos Cedillo,
Project Manager

In a struggle for survival, in the 1500’s, the Tarahumara Indians escaped the Spanish Conquistadors by fleeing to the nearly inaccessible canyons of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Northern Mexico. Today, centuries later, there are over 250,000 Tarahumaras living in caves, under cliffs and in small wood and stone cabins in remote areas, largely undisturbed by modern civilization.

On February 3rd of this year, the well-known Universal Newspaper of Mexico City published an article entitled: "Tarahumaras—On the Edge of Survival." This report explains how several years of drought have caused severe food shortages for the Tarahumaras. As well, recent winters have become increasingly colder, leaving many children dead for lack of proper shelter, clothing and food.

We, of the Tarahumara Aid Project Team, recently spent four weeks visiting several of the most remote of the Indian communities and assessing their needs. Those living in the valleys have received a measure of supplies from government agencies and charitable organizations, but still lack such basics as medical and food supplies, blankets and warm clothing. As we traveled into the high mountains, we found small one-family caves and hovels. These mountain dwellers were, by far, the most needy of all we visited. Many suffered from an acute shortage of food, surviving only on Pinole, a flour they grind from corn and drink with water. The children are malnourished and susceptible to many diseases. Our Project is now raising support and gathering supplies for an on-going mission to reach these needy, neglected people. We need your help.

Ramon, a Tarahumara native, related many detailed accounts of his ancestors and culture. He was deeply concerned for the plight of his people, expressing their fears and discouragement. Many had promised to bring them help, but the food and supplies never arrived.

Chemo, our Indian guide, in front of a Tarahumara cave dwelling. The heat of the evening woodfires is absorbed by the cave’s rock walls, keeping the cave warm during the cold nights. These dwellings are centuries old and have sheltered generations of Indians.

Malnutrition and poor living conditions make the children susceptible to many sicknesses.

Helping Desperate Street Orphans

From Love’s Bridge Staff

At the beginning of the year, we opened a center for homeless children in Perm, here in central Russia. These children are either orphans or come from homes filled with drunkenness or violence, and otherwise, literally live in the sewers beneath the city. We renovated part of the building ourselves while local companies volunteered to renovate the rest. On opening day, all of the major TV, radio stations and newspapers in Perm came to report on the event.

Starting any new project is difficult and this one is no exception. Despite several obstacles, we are elated to finally have a place for these abandoned street children, who would otherwise be spending their days on the streets sniffing glue and stealing.

Since opening, we have cared for approximately 110 children, 40 of them on a regular basis. Our days are spent feeding the children and getting them to participate in various educational activities with us. Most of these children have no formal documentation, such as birth certificates, so we have begun investigating each child’s individual situation and passing on whatever information we can gather to the local authorities who help us find solutions for each one. It often takes the local bureaucracy a long time to respond. In the interim, we, along with Russian student volunteers, also visit the children’s relatives, if they have any, or their former orphanage, in an attempt to work something out for them. We are also helping the children pass medical inspections and acquire birth certificates so we can enroll them in summer camps. Eighteen of these children are already placed in camps and a similar number are about to be placed.

Love’s Bridge’s Lea Leonard (far right) playing with the children at the new center.

Irene, Russian student volunteer, helping Kamarik with his school work.

14-year-old Denis climbing out of the sewer. Many of the homeless children literally live under the city in the sewers seeking warmth and shelter.

Email: fcf@familycare.org
Copyright 1997-2007 by Family Care Foundation

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