Dear Friends,
As you all know, this
past year brought a wonderful addition to
our family. Amanda officially became a
“Brown” on April 20, 2004. We
are truly blessed with two beautiful – if
not headstrong – daughters.
Most of you know that
Amanda was born with a club foot and had
corrective surgery last December in
ChongQing, China at the Children’s
Hospital of ChongQing. What you may
not know was the funds for this surgery were
raised by Fuling Kids International. FKI is
a parent’s organization comprised of
adoptive parents from Amanda’s orphanage,
Fuling First Social Welfare Institute.
Last year two Fuling parents,
Melissa Mannassee from Colorado
and Mike Heimert from Chicago,
ran a grueling 26.2 miles in the Chicago
Marathon to raise money for Amanda and other
children still at Fuling. The money they
raised provided Amanda’s surgery as well as
a surgery for another little girl and
medicines for the 400 plus children at the
orphanage. Fuling has 400 children, with
only about 12 being over the age of 2.
As all of you that have
seen Amanda can attest, she is running
around and climbing like any 21 month old
child. Her doctors at Shriners Hospital
were extremely impressed with how well her
surgery was done and told us that they often
don’t see a foot turn out that well without
numerous surgeries. They believe Amanda will
not need additional surgery and that a
corrective shoe for now will finish
straightening her foot.
This year, Melissa and
another Fuling parent, Melissa Merchant, are
running once again to raise funds for the
children. The money this year will be spent
to implement First Hugs, a program designed
to provide additional caregivers to the
orphanage. These caregivers’ sole function
will be to provide love and stimulation to
the babies. This program will allow the
orphanage to hire and train “nannies” who
will play with the infants and help the
children know loving, nurturing
relationships.
With the number of
infants and limited funds available, there
just aren’t enough caregivers to allow the
children “floor time.” How wonderful would
it be for the children to interact with a
mother or grandmother figure and be given
more time out of their crib or walker? When
we toured the orphanage, we were very
impressed with the level of care the
children were given despite obvious limited
funds. And while Amanda was given much
attention, unfortunately, there are many
babies who need that extra nurturing. We
were told that many times the “squeaky
wheel” gets the oil and the quiet babies are
sometimes overlooked. I can promise you that
Amanda is definitely a squeaky wheel! First
Hugs will supplement the existing staff and
help ensure that all babies are given that
extra nurturing.
Every $600 raised will
cover the cost of one hugging, nurturing
caregiver for one year. Each nanny will
make it possible for five children each day
to know that consistent love and attention
that is necessary for healthy growth and
development.
Our family was extremely
blessed by the generosity of this
organization and the selflessness of the
runners last year. We were fortunate enough
to meet one of the runners, Mike, this
summer. It was a very emotional and
touching moment seeing him hold Amanda in
his arms for the first time and give her the
medal he won in the marathon.
We have promised Melissa
to be standing on the sidelines this year
cheering her on as she runs through
China Town in Chicago. We
can’t wait to meet her and thank her in
person also.
This year Rick and I are
asking you to help us bless not only another
family, but many more beautiful children.
FKI is a non-profit
organization and the donations given are tax
deductible. Any amount you can
give is greatly appreciated. Our family
would like to personally raise $600 in
Amanda’s name to give 5 babies a loving
start. If you are able to donate to this
worthy cause, please send your checks,
payable to Fuling Kids International, to our
attention.
Thank you so much for
your help and support. We value your
friendship and thank you for all the support
and encouragement you have given us while we
went through the adoption.
Sincerely,
April and Rick.
