| Making Christmas Special with Gift Paks
 Christmas
should be a special time for children, but poverty makes
even simple Christmas gifts impossible for thousands of
children in countries where World Hope International (WHI)
works. So each autumn, WHI’s Hope
for Children program collects Gift Paks from
caring individuals and organizations in the United States
for distribution to deserving children around the world.
Each Gift Pak contains an assortment of items for education,
health, hygiene, and fun for young boys and girls. WHI collects
Gift Paks at designated drop centers around the US, then
ships and distributes them to children who would not otherwise
have access to the kinds of educational and fun things many
Americans take for granted.
WHI’s dedicated field staff sees the
positive effects of the annual Gift Pak drive firsthand.
Hope for Children coordinator Francisco Pérez Mendoza
tells how Gift Pak distribution made Christmas 2007 memorable
for children in the Lake Atitlan region of Guatemala:
Hope for Children is
an organization addressing child development in the areas
of education, health and nutrition; at the same time it
is a manifestation to the world of God’s love for
children. Many of the world’s children suffer from
hunger, poor health and a lack of education and clothing.
Hope for Children is a blessing in the
lives of 269 children and their families in the Lake Atitlan
region of Guatemala. This past Christmas, the children received
a Christmas basket full of basic grocery items, i.e. rice,
beans, a chicken, oil, cookies and a toy for each child.
All the children were so happy and it brought a beautiful
smile to their face when they saw the beautiful gift they
were to receive. We also put on a little party for the children.
Here in the Lake Atitlan region of Guatemala, children do
not usually receive Christmas presents so for that reason
Hope for Children is a great blessing in
the lives of many children and their families. May God pour
his overflowing blessings on Hope for Children.
Since Christmas, project coordinators
have been busy seeing that each sponsored child was enrolled
in school and their registration fees and tuition paid.
A trip was made to the city to purchase school supplies
and other items needed for the start of the new school year.
These were distributed to all of the children in the Hope
for Children program. The new school year begins the week
of January 14th.
Francisco Pérez Mendoza
Hope for Children Coordinator
Lake Atitlan region, Sololá
Guatemala C. A. |
