Category Archives: Bring Me Hope News

Cupcakes for Orphans

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As Bring Me Hope begins the long awaited summer camp for Chinese Orphans, people around the world are finding ways to sponsor kids for camp and give them an opportunity to be loved and cared for.

This past month, two young girls (Layel & Christina) got together with the hopes to creatively raise money to send kids to this years summer camp.  With a love of baking and all things sweet, they decided to sell cupcakes.  They called their fundraiser “Hope Bakes” and offered some fun flavors…Banana Split, Peanut Butter Cup, & Vanilla Orange Buttercream.  It looks like they had a blast in the kitchen creating massive cupcakes for delivery.

CupcakesforOrphans_BMH_0001 CupcakesforOrphans_BMH_0002 CupcakesforOrphans_BMH_0003

We all have gifts, talents & hobbies that can be used for a greater cause!  Like these two young girls…they used what they loved and HE provided more than they could have asked for.  They even exceeded their $300 goal and were beyond excited to be sending a couple of kids to Bring Me Hope camp.  It wasn’t just these two girls but everyone that jumped on board and donated, your gifts are changing lived.

If you have a story about raising money for Bring Me Hope orphans, please let us know.  We would love to feature you on the blog.  We are also still looking for people to get involved with this years summer camp and helping kids come.  If you would love to change a future please click HERE and visit our sponsor page.

Forever Families

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Fu Xia is a sweet, ten year old girl that Bring Me Hope staff and volunteers at the Yantai location had the privilege to meet and grow to love. Fu Xia’s special need is dwarfishness; and, she loves to sing, dance and play just like every other child. She lit up the room with her sweet smile and loving personality. But the resounding echo, the one we hear for every child, is that she needs a family.

 

Our hope is that through camp and raising awareness about the orphan crisis, forever families would be led to the precious children that we have the privilege of working with.

 

The victorious news for Fu Xia is that she now has a forever family and will be going to live with them soon! More than that, her parents have also decided to adopt a little boy! They hope to be able to bring the two kiddos to their forever homes together, but with that come a heap of expenses. The biggest barrier between this family and their newest additions is money, that is where you come in! Depending on where you feel led to give, the Parker family would so appreciate donations to help bring their kids home.

Heartsent Adoptions, Inc. China Waiting Child Fees
-HAI Program fee (part 1) $2,750
-HAI Program fee (part 2) $2750
-Beijing Service Fee $500
-I-800A Approval $2,850
-Visa Processing Fee $380
-Post-Adoption Service Fee (part 1) $1,800
-LSC $2,180
-China Travel Coordination Fee $2,000
-Article 5 Submission $2,000

In-Country Travel Expenses
-Orphanage Donation Fee $5,500
-China Notary Fee $550
-Registration Fee $325
-Application Fee in Province $95
-China Passport Fee for Child $110
-Flight from Province to Guangzhou for 3-4 people $1,000
-Incidental Fees: medical, photos, etc. $100

Heartsent Adoptions, Inc.
140 Brookwood Rd.
#100
Orinda, CA 94563

 

The vision of Bring Me Hope:
“To convince orphans of their incredible worth and value, and to inspire volunteers to use their influence, skills, and resources to help orphans”

 

What a joy it is to serve the children for the one who loves us. We must never forget that we can cover these kids in love and trust that there is a greater love than even that, one that we cannot in and of ourselves give to them, one that only the Father can provide. We can trust him with their forever families.
So many more orphans are in need of forever families, and we want to do everything possible to bridge that gap, from the families to their kids.

 

Rally Day through Bring Me Hope is coming up December 1, 2012. This is the FIRST EVER Rally day in which the volunteers and staff will join efforts in their own cities, states, and countries, and raise awareness for the orphan, for their buddy or buddies froom camp. The goal is that our voice might be loud enough to be heard.

 

That resounding echo does not go away when we leave camp. It gets more intense. Living here knowing that our kids still don’t have families is heart breaking. This is our chance to really do something. Please continue looking at our facebook page, website, and twitter. Videos for several of these children will be posted on www.defendfoundation.org

We Declare His Love

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As our tired tears watched the bus full of little ones drive away,

all we could do was declare His love over them in faith.

Knowing that His love is more satisfying and steadfast than anything

we could give these precious kids we had grown so close to.

This was the emotional departure that was shared among volunteers, translators, and staff across each camp site, each week of Bring Me Hope Camp.

Bring Me Hope had camps for four weeks in Xinzheng, Kunming, Taiyuan, and Yantai; and, one week of camp in Nanchang.

Week 2 of Xinzheng camp: after having a paper fashion show!

96 Volunteers from around the world came together for one purpose….to give China’s children HOPE.

Taiyuan Week 1
Taiyuan Week 1

24 staff members and 31 Chinese staff gave support and encouragement throughout the many weeks of camp.

Yantai Week 2

274 translators helped immensely with the language barrier and had opportunities to be poured into by the staff and volunteers

All of this…

For the kids!

Bring Me Hope held camp for 347 Chinese Orphans this summer!

The goal of BMH camp is to show orphans their incredible worth and value, and to inspire volunteers to use their skills, resources, and influence to help orphans. Everyone that was part of the summer camps grew as a family and enjoyed crafts, swimming, and family time. Seeing the smiles as the children got into the pool, the first time for many, filled our hearts with a joy that is hard to describe; and, seeing the kids slowly begin to trust that their volunteers would protect them was such a beautiful picture.

The children and the volunteers wrote good-bye letters to one another; and, the responses from the kids show just how much love the children were shown and learned how to show while at camp.

“Dear sister, I really enjoy your laugh because it makes me feel that you love me and have fun with me.  I love you.  The happiest thing is that we went to the swimming pool together and you kept holding me all the time without any rest.  Thank you.  I was so happy with your company.  I really don’t want to go home.”

“I’ll be a good example of helping people.  If you have any difficulties, I will help you.  Because you helped me, I should also help you. Isn’t that fair?”

“I like to draw pictures with you and swim together.  I cannot swim, but you are here and make me feel safe.  I am so thankful.  I will miss you.”

“Thank you for taking care of me this week.  I know you are tired sometimes but you are always smiling.  You are a good sister.  I really wish we can meet together again in the future.”

Hearts were forever changed by these precious children. Hearts break because their value and worth is not always recognized.

The goal of Bring Me Hope is that these kids would see their worth and beauty in the way they are created; and, that we would be a stepping stone for forever families to be united with these little blessings.

…FAST FORWARD…

Bring Me Hope has a follow-up program in which the life of each child that attended camp is looked into and examined. For some of the kids it is addressing a medical issue or working on improving their living conditions. For others, it means contacting their orphanages and asking officials to start on adoption paperwork.

Since August we have:

–moved several children into foster homes

–researched medical treatment options for the kids

–helped find several adoptive families

–provided many adoptive families with information and photos of their little ones waiting in China

For children who are ready to be adopted, many volunteers have been actively trying to find families for their children. An outlet making it possible for voices to be heard is Defend.

Defend is an extension of Bring Me Hope that seeks to defend the poor and needy.  Through videos, social media, and word of mouth volunteers spread the word about specific needs; and, raise up teams to meet those needs through awareness, prayer, and financial support.

Right now we are featuring children from our camps who need families or sponsorship.  Eventually we hope to expand to feature needs from other non-profits and help people defend needs around the world.

www.defendfoundation.org

Our heart’s cry is that families would be led to these children who are in such need of a family that will give them the unconditional love that we seek to show them through camp!

Thank you to everyone who made camp happen this year!  We look forward to continuing to work with you to show love to Chinese orphans – both at camp and year-round!

Camp Spotlight: Kunming

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Week 2 of Bring Me Hope Summer Camps in China has passed and this week we are focusing on camp in Kunming!  The stories coming out of camp at Kunming are nothing short of incredible.  We are so thankful for the dedicated staff and the great volunteers and translators at this location!

 

Check out the Bring Me Hope YouTube channel for Kunming’s weekly videos by clicking HERE!

To find more photos from camp in Kunming, click HERE!

 

Here are some stories from this year’s camp at Kunming!

 

Leah came to Kunming camp and was with her foreign volunteer and translator at a park participating in a photo scavenger hunt.  Her volunteer noticed a man in the park who was begging so she ran back to give him a water bottle.  Leah was carrying noodles that her volunteer had bought for her that she hadn’t finished eating and after seeing her volunteer give her water bottle to the man, she ran back as well and started talking to him and gave him the rest of her noodles to eat.  What a precious act of “love like an ocean” from a little girl, named Leah.

 

Joshua is a boy with a smile that lights up the whole room.  While playing a game of musical chairs, Joshua gave up his chair for another little girl so she could keep playing the game.  Smiling the entire time.

 

Camp Spotlight: Xinzheng

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Each week we will be featuring a post about each camp location, giving you all an insight into the beautiful world of camp.  We are honored to be able to work in China, to be with these kids and to experience such a wonderful place!

 

This week the focus will be on Bring Me Hope camp at SIAS International University in Xinzheng.  This is BMH’s fourth year at SIAS!  The University is the perfect place to hold camp, with it’s large, beautiful campus and great accommodations.  Each year the kids enjoy being able to explore the waterfalls and fountains, as well as playing basketball on one of the many courts at SIAS and swimming in the pool!

 

The first week at the 2012 camp was incredible!  One of our volunteers for the week was wowed when her 16-year-old orphan buddy read her goodbye letter to her in front of the group.

 

“I don’t often tell people my dreams because I think they are far away,” the letter read, “But I want to tell you that my dreams seem closer now.  I want to learn English and become a translator.”

 

 

Here’s a story about camp from Rach, a volunteer for week 1 at camp in Xinzheng:

“Its hard to come to a summer camp for orphans without any pre-conceived ideas about what it will be like…about what the kids will look like, how they’ll act, what they’ll talk about. For me, this week completely smashed every expectation I had.

 

I thought that coz these kids were orphans, they would have a massive chip on their shoulder and be super angry at the world. But actually the girls in my group were just the opposite. They were considerate to each other and full of joy. There was an attitude of thankfulness that defined everything they said and did.

 

When we took them to buy a snack before the movies or shopping for new clothes they were reluctant to let us, and when we insisted, their genuine joy and thankfulness just blew me away! They didn’t ask for more or take advantage of their ‘rich foreign friends’, they just took time to enjoy what they had been given, and be thankful.

 

The other major thing that impacted me was hearing the kids talk to Dad. Nearly every single sentence started off with “thankyou so much for…”. No wonder they have so much joy – they’ve chosen to focus on the good gifts from Dad and not their own self pity. You’d hardly even know that they were orphans. Also, they’re currently looking for a new building for their orphanage and the size of their trust in Him as they asked Dad to provide was a huge example to me!

It was such a privilege to learn from these beautiful kids these week!”

Be sure to check out the Bring Me Hope Flickr account for more photos from the Xinzheng camp as well as the other BMH camps!  Also, you can find the Xinzheng Week 1 video HERE!

Summer Camp Starts in Nanchang! Thank you, JMC!

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The whole group at the JMC factory in Nanchang

The first of the Bring Me Hope summer camps kicked off in Nanchang on Saturday!  After months of planning and preparation, the kids finally arrived and another summer of swimming, singing, face painting, hugs and love began!  In Nanchang, we have the added benefit of being near the headquarters of one of our biggest sponsors, JMC, so several JMC employees were able to join in the fun!  We are so thankful for all the support JMC has given us over the last seven years.  Not only have they been involved with the Nanchang camps, they have covered the entire Bring Me Hope transportation budget!  Wow, we appreciate their heart to help orphans so much!

 

Official Nightwalk Recap/Camp is Coming!

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Nightwalk was a complete blast!  We were able to sponsor many, many orphans to come to camp in China in 2012!  What a blessing!

Here is just one way Nightwalk and Summer Camp changes lives forever:

“4 years ago I had the blessing of going to China and being a buddy to 3 girls for a week . It was life changing. I have been able to receive a few emails from one of the girls we called Rachel who can update me on the other 2. Rachel emailed me to tell me she is expecting her first child, loved by a good man and been received into his family. She’s not an orphan anymore.
I sponsored to honor Rachel and her unborn baby. He changes lives through Bring Me Hope…”

-Deborah

Night Walk 2012 Photos and Call

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Wow!   What a blessed Night Walk 2012!  We are so thankful for each of you for participating!  An official Night Walk Recap will follow this post, but we wanted to give you all a little hint into the awesomeness that was Night Walk!

We started the beginning of the Night Walk with a conference call, led by Lacey Scott (Bring Me Hope’s U.S. Operations Director) and David Bolt (Bring Me Hope’s Executive Director).  During this conference call we had the opportunity to hear the voices of some of the orphans Bring Me Hope will be working with this summer.  We were also able to hear the story of an orphan who Bring Me Hope worked with in China, was adopted, and had the opportunity to go back to volunteer at a BMH Summer Camp!  Whoa!  Check out the whole call HERE!

People were walking for these little ones all over the globe!  Check out some of these locations!  More photos up on our Flickr page!

 

 

The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas

“This was my 1st “Nightwalk”!   I love those littles very much and wanted to help somehow.”

-Misha Barcroft, Alamo Night Walk

 

 

Kaweah, California

“This is the fourth annual Night Walk my Mom, Grandma, little brother and I have done. I do it because Bring Me Hope is near and dear to my heart. I would love to volunteer one year and go to China for the summer camps but that hasn’t worked out so Night Walk participation has been a great way for me to help.”

-Joyce Campbell, Kaweah Night Walk

 

 

Birubi Beach, Australia

“We had a beautiful day for our ‘night walk’, and it appears that we will raise about $2000 so it was a great success.
We were joined by a small band of faithful, and all creatures great and small. We had our dogs, horses, camels and God even sent two humpback whales to ‘walk’ with us.”

-Steve Odger, Birubi Beach Night Walk

 

 

Tallahassee, Florida

“We typically have service and study on Friday nights, so we just incorporated the Night Walk into our Friday service.  I led our congregation in by giving a presentation on our Bring Me Hope experience in 2010 and the importance of the Night Walk. We set up luminaries (paper bags with candles in them) to make a path around our campus and basketball courts, about a quarter mile circuit, and started walking!  A couple of our guys walked with guitars and sang songs the whole time.  I did not know that our own daughter, Eden, would be featured in the conference call!”

-Kevin Robertson, Tallahassee Night Walk

 

Night Walk News!

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Night Walk is coming up on May 18, 2012.  That’s just a few weeks away!  We can’t wait to show our support of these kids during this awesome opportunity.  If you haven’t yet heard of Night Walk, keep reading to find out more!

Want to skip the reading and sign up now??  Head over to the Night Walk sign-up page!

This year, our Night Walk and camp theme is “Love Like an Ocean”.  For many of the volunteers who have spent time with the orphans in China, for many of the families who have adopted these beautiful children and for many hearts that long to bring these kids love and hope… an ocean separates us.  But love, deep like the ocean, binds us to them.  We love them through the love He has given us… and He gives us a love that surpasses knowledge (Eph 3:18).

Essentially what Night Walk does is it gives us another opportunity to show this “love like an ocean.”  We have the opportunity to tangibly help these children who we love.  We have the opportunity to share the kids’ stories with our friends, family, and sometimes complete strangers as we walk.   At the beginning of the walk, we even get a chance to be on a call with some of the kids we are directly helping with the Night Walk.  What a cool opportunity to be a part of something so huge!  Be sure to share about it with your family and friends and let’s have thousands of people across the globe together for one cause!

For more info and to sign up, CLICK HERE! Sign up by Friday, May 4, 2012 and get an awesome official Night Walk t-shirt to sport for the Walk!

One hour.  $30.  The opportunity to change lives forever.  Bring Me Hope Night Walk 2012.

Hope Renewed

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A few months ago, we published a blog post from Rob Molloy, a volunteer at 2011 BMH Summer Camp in Xi’an, China.

Jacob, Rob’s orphan buddy from camp, touched Rob’s life in an extraordinary way.  When Rob returned home from camp, he did everything in his power to help find Jacob a forever family.

We are so thankful for Rob and allowing the father to work through him… because now, Jacob will soon be Ian Straight as his family makes the trek to China in early May to bring him home.

The whole story about Ian’s adoption is pretty amazing!  Check out Ian’s forever family’s blog at http://myshelbybaby.blogspot.com/2011/10/ians-story-finale.html for the whole story (and more to come as they bring him home!).

Ian has a forever family!