Lots of News!

Good Afternoon from Sunny NY!

  I just wanted to update you on what has been happening with the Ministry lately!

I am excited to report that we have submitted our corporation request to the State and are hoping to start operating as Project Hope for the Children soon! We will have a very busy Summer as we  do the necessary things to get us up and running while fundraising and speaking for this year's trip. And speaking of trips, I am excited to say that I will be returning in August for two weeks!

Along with that announcement come a couple of prayer requests. First, the ticket prices are astronomical! Double and Triple what I have ever seen!  I am looking at between $1600- $1800 round trip- and that does not cover all the transportation expenses involved! Please pray that I can find a good itinerary for a reasonable price!

This year I believe I will be flying solo. This has not happened in over 5 years and I know I will miss my babies dearly( and enjoy some refreshment alone). Please pray for Jack, Katie, Andrew and Babysitter Brittany while I am gone!

And lastly, please pray for the funding to all come in! We have had some requests for more supplies and are venturing into another hospital. This Spring is an experiment to see how it goes but by Fall we well might be supporting another baby ward. Last year we also contributed to two excellent ministries run by friends that are doing fantastic work in the town of Tinca and I would love to bless them again this year if possible! We need to raise about $10,000 in the next few months to cover the budget for the entire year!

 If you have never, ever given to PHFTC before and think that this is a great ministry, please consider giving this month! I cannot imagine how much would come in if everyone who has never given would donate just $10 to PHFTC! We could come close to covering the budget needs and could aid so many people! I love our faithful givers and am so encouraged by them, but I know there are so many of you who support this Ministry and would like to take the next step by giving a gift of $10 or more. Please consider!

 You can donate through PayPal via our website:
 http://www.projecthopeforthechildren.blogspot.com or you can send a check to 6983 Chase Rd, Fabius, NY 13063. Make the check out to Pompey Community Church; Memo Line - Project Hope for the Children. A tax receipt and thank you will be sent at the end of the year:)

Many Blessings,

   Ramona Petrella Cummings

Help Wanted

We all have several gifts and talents that God has given us that bring us and others pleasure and sometimes even bring in an income! I have some too, however, I seem to be lacking in the tech area. Computers are frustrating to me, though I enjoy the benefit of them sometimes.

In short, PHFTC needs someone who will volunteer their time to help me update things for our growing Ministry. This special person would need to have knowledge of Blogs, Websites, Mail Chimp, Social Media and Marketing would be a huge plus! I enjoy learning, but find that I have a hard time teaching myself and fitting that in with my family life.

If any of you would be interested in helping PHFTC out in this way please call or text me at 607-591-1065 or email me at ramonasmail2002@yahoo.com.

Blessings,

Mona

Fundraiser Success!

Hello Everyone!


  I have an exciting update about our 11 on 11 Fundraiser in March! We had 11 people either donate or commit to donate to the Ministry! In total we raised $1,134! What a success! I want to give a big thank-you to Jeff, Mike, Kelli, FCC Mission Group, Thomas, Kevin, Sid and Belinda, Clara, Heather, Charles and Gloria, and Steve and Amy.


Just recently PHFTC has been asked to send supplies to another pediatric hospital in Romania. I am excited to think that we have the money to branch out like this and help the babies in a hospital that resembles 2003 conditions! The babies have nothing and what does come in gets stolen from them! Please pray that we might be able to permanently expand to this hospital and help make a difference. I am hoping to visit these babies in August if possible!


I am starting to schedule my fundraising/speaking schedule so if anyone knows of a church, civic organization or group that might be interested in having me speak please pass on my information to them! You can check out schedule page on the website to see where I'll be! 


Also, for you Face Book users please consider liking our PHFTC page so your friends can check us out! It is a simple, easy and effective way for a non profit to get advertising~ Thanks! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Hope-for-the-Children/146117805560061?ref=hl


Have a wonderful day!


Mona
607-591-1065
prietenptfb@yahoo.com

Snapshots of Memories

It's the 22nd of March and that day has special meaning to me because that was the date I first entered Romania! Indelible snapshots are still imprinted in my mind of the people and places that were so new and strange to me. Has something or someone ever completely changed your life? You could not imagine your life without that particular event or person?

My time in Romania was that type of time for me. It was like I had been preparing my whole life for something and each day that I spent in that country I felt like I was given the smallest peak into my life as it was meant to be. Working with babies in the hospital has given me such joy and I want thank all of you for having joined me in this life passion!

Project 11 on 11 only needs 5 more people to give in any way. Just $11 donation, $11 once a month for a year or $11 for each member of your household in way, shape or form! Checks can be made out to PCC, 6983 Chase Rd, Fabius, NY 13063 or you can go to www.projecthopeforthechildren.blogspot.com  and click on the PayPal button.

Please enjoy some of my life's snapshots and again thank-you for allowing this Ministry to operate and help people!




From the Heart,

Mona
  

An Update !

Hello Everyone!


 I promised you a couple of weeks ago that I would bring you up to speed on things that have been happening with PHFTC! Life has been hectic so I am just getting around to writing this and am thrilled to share!


I have been deeply blessed by my Board Members- Aileen, Rick, Amy, and Debbi! We have been busy setting up a budget, writing our bi-laws and making decisions. One of our biggest decisions  has been to set up a 501c3 for Project Hope for the Children! This has been a step that I have contemplated many times, but have felt too overwhelmed to do on my own. With the help of our Treasurer/CPA and Julie, our attorney we are going to proceed! Please pray that this next step goes smoothly as we transition from being under PCC to our own non-profit. Stay tuned for me on this!


March has kicked off our 2014 Fundraising and Project 11 on 11 is still going on! We have had a good start with 3 people promising $11 a month for a year. Another person donated $100 and one of my churches chose PHFTC to donate over $480! Still looking for at least 7 more people to join in this month! You can donate from anywhere in the world by clicking on the PayPal button on the Homepage on our website or mailing a check to PCC, 6983 Chase Rd. Fabius, NY 13063 -Memo line Project Hope for the Children.


Some more exciting news is that we have been asked by a nurse in another pediatric hospital in Romania to donate diapers and wipes so she can help the abandoned babies warehoused there. This hospital is just like ours was 10 years ago. The babies are languishing with no diapers, wipes, baths, decent food or clothes. The hospital does not even have water some days. We are going to have several boxes of diapers and a few of wipes sent to her and see how the arrangement works. In the summer, I am hoping to gain permission to enter this hospital and see what else can be done for these little ones!


And lastly, I have a prayer request for you all. Many of you know that I was in a car accident a year and half ago. I injured my left knee and neck. I am still suffering pain, stiffness and many sleepless nights from this. I have had many different types of treatments and nothing seems to give me long-lasting relief. My knee could be permanent and we are waiting on the insurance company to give permission for a pain therapy treatment on my neck. All this to say, that I am tiring of the pain, fatigue and limitations this has put on my family and myself! Please pray for total healing so I can function normally again! Thank-you!


Please remember to LIKE us on FaceBook and spread the word about PHFTC
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Hope-for-the-Children/146117805560061?ref=hl






Many Blessings!


Mona

Fundraising 2014

For those of you who know me, you know I like numbers and how things relate to a certain number! I am very excited about a fundraiser that I am going to offer! This is going to be a great way to kick off our 2014 Fundraising Season! Please consider joining in to support our babies this year!


Today is the 11th of March and 11 years ago in March I flew over to Romania to live! That is when I Project Hope was founded in my heart and funding the abandoned babies with supplies started! I would like to propose three donating options for your consideration.


During the month of March if you would:


   Give a one time donation of $11 to PHFTC


   Give a one time donation of $11 for every member of your household (Pets included:)


   Give a monthly donation of $11 from you or your family. ( Every month or a lump sum amount is fine)


Eleven dollars will buy several packages of wipes, several bottles of shampoo and soap or 1/2 pack of diapers!


If 11 of you give $11 then we would have $121 for supplies; if 111 of you gave then we would $1221 and we could keep going... We need to raise at least $10,000 for this year's budget! Get your families, your churches and even groups involved if you want and lets see how much we collect for Project 11 on 11!


You can donate using our PayPal button on our home page on the website or you can send cash or checks made out to Pompey Community Church. Memo line- Project Hope for the Children. Mail to 6983 Chase Rd, Fabius, NY 13063.


Thanks!

Great Article!

This article explains so well what is happening to the children in Romania! It also shows how important PHFTC is even when it seems small! If you want to join in and help, please check out our donate page and share this blog with your friends! ~Mona

For Romania's Orphans, Adoption Is Still A Rarity

by Meghan Collins Sullivan

August 19, 2012 4:39 PM

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hide captionA disabled and orphaned Romanian child in his bed at the Targu Jiu orphanage in southwestern Romania in 2009. Romania has, in general, improved conditions in orphanages that provoked outrage when they were exposed internationally nearly a quarter-century ago. However, some 70,000 kids are still in the care of the state.

Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images

A disabled and orphaned Romanian child in his bed at the Targu Jiu orphanage in southwestern Romania in 2009. Romania has, in general, improved conditions in orphanages that provoked outrage when they were exposed internationally nearly a quarter-century ago. However, some 70,000 kids are still in the care of the state.

Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images

First of two stories
The 1989 overthrow and execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu provided the first glimpse of a country that had been mostly closed to the outside world — and many of the scenes were appalling.
Among the most disturbing were images of tens of thousands of abandoned children suffering abuse and neglect in Romania's orphanages. Many were confined to cribs, wallowing in their own filth and facing mental health issues.
There was outrage in the West. Foreign charities came in to help. Europeans and Americans adopted thousands of children.
Nearly a quarter-century later, the fate of Romania's abandoned children is an unresolved issue. While the orphanages, in general, have improved, the number of children in state care — more than 70,000 — is nearly the same as it was in 1989. Many in the field say there are tens of thousands more on the streets who are not being counted.
Romania remains a relatively poor country, and the legacy of Ceausescu's policies has not been completely erased.
Complicated Laws
Romania's adoption laws are complex and are seen as one of several reasons there are relatively few adoptions domestically. Annually, between 700 and 900 children are adopted of the 1,200 to 1,400 considered adoptable. Foreign adoptions, which were common during the 1990s, were halted a decade ago.

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hide captionUnder Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, handicapped and orphaned children were neglected, unbathed and malnourished in orphanages throughout the country. This photo shows orphans at a state institution in Grandinari, Romania in 1989, the year Ceaucescu was overthrown and killed.

Isabel Ellsen/Corbis

Under Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, handicapped and orphaned children were neglected, unbathed and malnourished in orphanages throughout the country. This photo shows orphans at a state institution in Grandinari, Romania in 1989, the year Ceaucescu was overthrown and killed.

Isabel Ellsen/Corbis

A revision of Romania's adoption law, which went into effect in April, aims to make more children eligible for adoption and more quickly. But many involved in child protection doubt that the new law alone will significantly improve the lives of these abandoned kids.
Bogdan Panait, head of Romania's Office for Adoptions, says he hopes the new law can bump the number of children considered adoptable to 2,000. But this number would still be less than 3 percent of the children in state care and less than 9 percent of those residing in non-family situations.
"It's not a system for children's rights. It's a system for parents' rights," says Bogdan Simion, executive director of SERA Romania, a nonprofit foundation that is one of the largest financial contributors to Romania's child welfare system.
Consider the case of Tatiana. She spent two years in a baby ward at a Romanian hospital because she had no birth certificate, her caregivers say. But the law states a birth certificate should be issued within 45 days, even if it means listing the mother and father as "unknown."
In Romania, to be considered "adoptable," a child's biological parents must be deceased or indicate that they have no interest in having a relationship with the child. But beyond this, all relatives as distant as siblings of grandparents also must sign away rights to the child. The aim to reintegrate a child into his biological family, for better or worse, is considered the ultimate goal.
Defining Relationships
The biggest change in the new law is a child's eligibility for adoption should be considered after a year without a parental relationship.
But what a "relationship" is, exactly, is unclear. How frequent must contact be to constitute a relationship?
"As often as possible," says Ramona Popa, ROA's cabinet director. "It depends. There are possibilities because sometimes it is very hard for them to come."

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hide captionRomanian orphanages were routinely overcrowded and children often lacked toys, as was the case at Bucharest's Number One Orphanage in 1991. A new law should make adoptions a bit easier. However, adoptions remain relatively rare.

Siumui Chan/AP

Romanian orphanages were routinely overcrowded and children often lacked toys, as was the case at Bucharest's Number One Orphanage in 1991. A new law should make adoptions a bit easier. However, adoptions remain relatively rare.

Siumui Chan/AP

Many children now linger in the system because their mothers express interest by stopping by once a year.
Mothers have the option of leaving their newborns at the hospital when they go home. They do not have to give up the rights to the child at this point –- or ever. Some kids are lucky enough to get moved into foster care, which is required prior to adoption eligibility. Others remain at the hospital until they are 2, and are then moved to orphanages.
One foster mother living in Eastern Romania says she considers the two children she fosters her own. But she's unlikely to adopt them. She worries what would happen if she brought the idea up to the children's mother at this point. She's afraid the mother, an alcoholic and victim of domestic violence, would block the adoption and, possibly, take the kids back.
"It's a hard situation because they are not legally adopted," says the foster mother's biological daughter, Cristina. "But they are so much a part of my family. But they are not legally abandoned and they are not adopted either."
For Panait, there are many challenges. Any new approach not only requires the buy-in of a separate-but-intertwined child welfare system – but also relies on changing the minds of a people.
"This is a first step," he says of the revised law. "We are trying, after we are finalizing this first step, to find a solution for all the children. And after we will try all the possibilities. Probably we will have to find other solutions."
Ceausescu's Legacy
Many of the problems today can still be traced back to Ceausescu. When he came to power in the mid-1960s, he aimed to create a race of Romanian worker bees. He instructed all women to have at least five children, and outlawed abortion and birth control.
But many parents couldn't afford to feed and clothe families of seven or more, and children were abandoned in the thousands each year and the state orphanage system grew.
Many thought the state would be able to do a better job of taking care of their kids than they could. And this mentality, especially among the poor, remains today.
Most of those who apply to adopt children are couples who have been unable to have children on their own. Yet few Romanian couples are open to adopting children with disabilities or those of Roma descent.
Meanwhile, studies by the U.S.-funded Bucharest Early Intervention Project and other groups show that mental, physical and emotional issues that result from living in a non-family setting, such as anxiety and attachment disorders, have a much better chance of reversal if the child moves into a family setting before they turn 2.
But within the current structure, it's difficult to get children into the arms of a couple before this small window of opportunity slips away.
Tatiana, the 2-year-old toddler left at a Romanian hospital, was lucky enough to form an attachment to a caregiver who took a special interest in her.
"To get to adoptability you will need a period of 18 months, which is huge. For the child this is huge. For the small child it is huge," Simion says. "It touches the very soul of its brain development. So this has to stop."
Meghan Collins Sullivan is a former supervising editor at NPR. Her reporting in Romania is supported in part by a Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism