newsletter

Looking Back on 2022  We here at PHFTC wish you a Blessed New Year and want to thank you for partnering with us in our mission to care for abandoned and needy children! We appreciate you and would like to update you on the highlights of this last year!

What a busy and blessed year PHFTC has had! In February, Russia invaded Ukraine and presented a whole new opportunity for PHFTC to care for the needy due to many Ukrainians crossing the Romanian border and needed a place of safety and rest. Many of our partners embraced this opportunity and took in these homeless mamas and children. This provided a unique opportunity for us at PHFTC  to purchase supplies for the refugees, as well as food, medicine, and hygiene products for hospitals and orphanages across the border in Ukraine. One refugee mama sobbed when she was given a bottle of shampoo from us as she hadn't been able to wash her hair in a month.  That was a $5 donation that became the hands of Jesus.     The pediatric hospital continues to care for babies in Sibiu  and  Ramona and Andrea visited  and held the children. Olga, our Board Treasurer, met Ramona in Romania and worked as a translator to the Ukrainian Refugees as they traveled from camp to camp. They also were able to visit  one of the Roma villages and check in on Sammy, a little boy that Mona took care of for years in the hospital. His joy at seeing her is such a delight. This Fall, Ramona and Kristen, Board Vice Chair, went to Romania and found an orphanage an hour away from our home base. This is an exciting opportunity to help in new areas! PHFTC has had a burden for our tired partnering foundation directors, and we put on a banquet on to encourage and thank them.     2022 gave PHFTC the opportunity of again going to Puerto Rico! Ramona and Kristen took their families with them and introduced to the children to the ministries there. While, there they stayed at the Christian School for the Deaf and met Henry, PHFTC’s sponsored educational student. Henry has settled into the school life and is doing much better than before. He is feeling the love and commitment from Director Betsy and learning sign language more increasing his communication skills.   The team purchased books for the children in the orphanage and in the pediatric hospital. Many baby supplies, food, and hygiene products were purchased for the hospital and orphanage and the families had a chance to play with the kids at the home.  The hospital unbeknownst to Ramona were almost out of one size of diapers– and that was exactly the size that the team purchased double of! There was much praising God after realizing that fact! They also visited the afterschool program on the other side of the island and shopped for plants, soil, and other gardening items for the new agricultural club.   Prayers: · Health and wisdom or the Board of PHFTC · Trip to Puerto Rico in March  to visit and buy supplies for the hospital and foundations there. Continue to build relationships and broaden our reach. · Fundraising and new donors · Trip to Romania in the summer with Ramona’s family to purchase supplies and check in on partnering foundations     Praises: · New opportunities and doors opened to serve · Grateful for our prayer partners and donors · Thankful that  we were able to travel safely and work in 2022 · This March, marks the 20th anniversary of Ramona moving to Ramona and later founding this ministry!     PHFTC had the blessing of several safe, successful fundraisers this year! March Madness, our second Online Auction, and Giving Tuesday all received a great response and you, our friends, have been so generous! Through churches, organizations, and private supporters, we have been able to increase our giving in Puerto Rico, support the Ukrainian Refugees, and continue serving the projects in Romania that we are already committed to. In 2022, over $48,000 was donated for our mission! Our proposed budget for 2023 is $56,525 as we hope to increase our aid wherever the Lord leads this year. We are trusting that  God will supply all our needs as He knows exactly what needs will come and what children we care for.  James 1:27

Summer Edition

View this email in your browser PHFTC Update ~ Summer Edition Hello Friends, Ramona here! Much has happened since I last updated and I apologize for the silence. Family life sometimes becomes a priority and we have had many major things going on including the addition of a sweet, foster baby that has had a very tough start in life. All in all, we are managing with lots of prayers and grace. In May, I traveled to Romania for my annual work trip to purchase supplies, work in the hospital, visit with our Partners, and minister to the Ukrainian Refugees. So many blessings this trip and very sobering on how quickly our lives can change.

PHFTC was once again able to bless multiple foundations with supplies for their missions! Today I will share with you about the NGO Humanitas/ Romanian Relief.  We bought food and hygiene products for the group homes in Tinca where medically and emotionally disabled children live. At least one of these children, I cared for in the hospital many years ago and was rescued and placed in the homes. I met with their Director and shared in her concerns, stressors, and joys she had over the past year. We were also able to help them with food and supplies that were being taken over the border into Ukraine to a makeshift orphanage for special needs children. This last part was due to a sweet donor, who gave a substantial donation to PHFTC. She really wanted it to be used for orphans, but knew that the need of the Ukrainian Refugees was great, as well. In the end, she gave the gift without any strings attached and surrendered the gift to God. Of course, He already had a plan and that was for PHFTC to buy items from a list for orphans that had been moved from Western Ukraine to Eastern Ukraine and were set up in an old school! This gift killed two birds with one stone as the saying goes!   Andrea, our Romanian Outreach Coordinator, and I visited our pediatric hospital in Sibiu where we found a sweet 8 year old girl now a resident of the hospital. Ten months earlier she had drunk cleaning solution from a water bottle and her esophagus had been almost completely destroyed. The doctors in Bucharest had put a port in her stomach, but had no other training or ability to do more. She was then sent back to Sibiu to live in the hospital.  When we met little Codruta, her sparkling eyes and sweet smile immediately captured us, but after hearing her story, we became determined to give this little girl her life back! We are looking for a specialist in Europe or UK that would take this case on pro bono and do the complicated surgery of creating a new esophagus. Recently, Andrea met a German nurse, who knows a doctor in Germany that might be useful. We are trying to get the medical records translated and sent to them. Please pray that we can help this remarkable child with a new life! In February, a group of us from PHFTC with our children, traveled to Puerto Rico and visited with our Sponsored Education Student, Henry. What a change we saw from one year to the next and all for the positive! We also started a pen pal club with Henry and some of the other kids at the school. This year along with our children, Vice Chair, Kristen and I shopped for the pediatric hospital in San Juan. We loaded cart after cart with supplies from their list! For some reason , we kept finding more of a certain size diaper and I kept insisting that we would buy all we found. The kids teased me about it. LOL However, a few days later, as we were delivering the supplies, a helper at the hospital excitedly ran over to the Directora while we were speaking. He gladly announced that they were almost out of that size diaper and we had delivered sooo many of them! What a praise that we could help in such a small way! Please pray for our upcoming Fundraisers! We have our Teen Rockathon coming up in September! All teens welcome to come and rock and have fun while raising money for a great cause! Please send us an email for more information. We have been blessed by the new churches that have invited me to speak and have helped PHFTC financially! We  are hoping to send a small team to Romania in the Fall to work with the Ukrainian Refugees and minister to the directors there and we will need funding. We are currently hoping to raise $10,000 by the end of the year with our fundraisers and individual giving! If you would like to help please visit us at our website at  http://www.projecthopeforthechildren.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram or send a tax deductible donation to the address below.

March Newsletter

 Project Hope for The Children (PHFTC) Organizational Prayer Points: 

1. Prayer for fundraising /ideas /more streams of income, etc. 

a. Our March Madness Fundraiser will be kicking off soon as PHFTC celebrates 19 years since                 Ramona has started working in Romania.

2. Prayer for when and where Ramona is speaking. Receptivity from the congregation /organization /Pastor(s). 

1. Please be in prayer as Ramona sets up speaking engagements this spring to update the churches and fundraise.

2. We are also praying for new churches to take an interest and invite PHFTC to come and present so we can reach a broader donor base.

3. Prayer for PHFTC current donors and their families, as well as future potential donors. (also churches who support us)  ~ With Covid still prevalent, please keep our fellow brothers and sisters in partnership in your prayers. Many are struggling physically and financially because of the pandemic.

4. Prayer for the facilities/children we serve. 

a. The Pediatric Hospital in Sibiu has several abandoned children residing at the hospital currently. Ukrainian refugees are starting to enter the city and could end up needing the pediatric hospital. We have ordered a large amount of supplies and are having them delivered this week as there is concern of the Russian Invasion and the ramifications on supplies, etc.

b. The Afterschool Program : Pray that they can get sponsors for their farm project.

c. Praise that we were able purchase the heating pellets for the Romanian Relief Orphanage

d. Pray for Forget Me Not Ministries as they are preparing for the Ukrainian Refugees that are coming into Oradea.

e.  Praise that Ramona and Kristen were able to travel to Puerto Rico with their families and serve with their children on the island.

f. Praise that Ramona and Kristen were able to stay at the Deaf School and visit with Henry, PHFTC’s educational student. Our ministry has families that sponsor the tuition so that Henry can receive an education and the tools of ASL as he is going deaf. We noticed that Henry was more relaxed and secure this year and is learning at a slow if not consistent rate. His foster mother reported that he was doing better in their home as well. Our prayer is that the Lord would touch Henry’s heart and he would accept the Lord as his personal Savior.

g. PHFTC purchased solar lights, plants, soil, seeds, etc. for the new Agricultural Club they are starting at Casa Juan Bosco, the Afterschool program in Puerto Rico.

h. Praise that the women were able to purchase many basic baby essentials and hygiene products for the Hospital de Ninos in San Juan and the 22 medically fragile, foster children residing there

i. Praise that PHFTC was also able to purchase supplies for Hogar Regazo de Paz, a children’s home on the island that houses and cares for 12 foster children. Our children spent three hours playing and interacting with these foster children after the supplies were donated and both sets of children were blessed!

5. Prayer for the needs of the org, whether items or for example, a breakthrough in an area of something PHFTC is trying to accomplish. (ie: a school, facility, water, etc.) 

a. Please pray for these new fundraisers that PHFTC is trying out as it is new territory for us and stretching us! 

b.  We need wisdom as we plan our trip for 2022 to Romania. The Russian Invasion is very upsetting to us as the border of Ukraine touches Romania and already refugees are pouring in. The thought of an attack on Romania and the war planes that are already flying overhead the Oradea area are cause for concern! Please be praying for peace in the area as Ramona plans a trip in May.

3. One of our Directors has family in Ukraine, which makes it even more personal for us here at PHFTC.

4. Pray that we can help our partner foundations in Romania with the refugee crisis as they shift gears to add in housing the women and children coming across the border. Our hope is to send along supplies of food, diapers, linens, and towels etc. to aid these homeless families.

    6. Prayer for PHFTC Board Members (and their families) 

a. Ramona- this is a difficult time for Mona with her fibromyalgia. The pain often limits what she can do or how her memory functions. Mona’s son Andrew also experiences more stressors due to school and mood disorders. He has been having difficulty regulating himself and it requires a lot of time and patience to manage the issues.

b. Mandy, Kristen, Olga, Debbie, Nancy and Jeff- each of our Directors are facing challenges currently and need prayer to juggle their lives and their responsibilities here.

c. Please pray that we can find more Board Members and Resources.

7. Prayer for other team members including contractors, web designers, and those involved with the growth of the organization. 

a. Larry, our NEW volunteer working on webpage

b. Our Marketing Coordinator has left for a full time job and we need a replacement. Please pray God brings another person along, gifted in fundraising and long range planning.

c. Andrea, our Romanian Outreach Director, in România helping with the day to day needs and shopping for the foundations. Pray for protection as she is living in Romania.

d. Cornelia, our volunteer Nurse Liaison, working in Romania in the Sibiu Pediatric Hospital- please pray for her health as she works in this very difficult field.

8. Prayer for the town of Fabius (NY), town officials; Prayer for our community where our organization is based.

9. Thank you for your prayers and  support over the last few months! We are so grateful that we have so many voices raised to God on our behalf. If you want more information and media, be sure to check out our blog posts located on our website, and our Facebook and Instagram pages where we have weekly photos and videos. www.projecthopeforthechildren.org

2021 Online Auction Information and Update

 

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2021 Online Auction PHFTC is pleased to announce that we are doing our first virtual auction starting on November 15th and running until the 18th! This fundraiser will hopefully be a hit and a great blessing to our budget while giving you, our supporters, a fun way to do some shopping! Please check us out at https://go.rallyup.com/phftc-auction-2021. More information in the week ahead! I

Covid continues to rise in Romania again and it is not immune to our hospital in Sibiu. Please pray for the safety of our nurse liaison, Cornelia, and her fellow colleagues, as well as the social babies we have there at the moment. Currently, we are caring for 8-10 abandoned babies in the pediatric hospital.   Our Romanian Outreach Coordinator, Andrea, returned from the States and quarantined for two weeks. She had Covid while in the States, but the county is refusing to let her upload her American information on their green certificate. This is severely limiting where she can go or shop and we have a couple of foundations that need more supplies before our budget closes out next month. This is very frustrating to Andrea and complicating things for us. Our sponsorship for our student is going well. There have been some speed bumps along the way that test the teacher's endurance. Our student has had a very traumatic childhood with 30 foster home placements in 16 years. His attachment and PTSD flares quite a bit when faced with a frustrating situation. Please pray that he will continue to advance academically and feel safe and secure at the school. PHFTC was able to deliver many supplies of backpacks, academic supplies and cleaning products to Casa Juan Bosco, the afterschool program we have been helping! Their gratefulness was overwhelming as they seek to help these high risk children.  We are also hoping to help with supplies for children at one of the group homes that Ramona and Kristen toured in the spring. We are waiting to hear back from them. Recently, we partnered with Maria Gimma and her class at the Seven Valley New Tech Academy to provide a video of the storybook Goldilocks and the Three Bears read in Spanish by the students. Ramona then forwarded this video to the director of the Pediatric Hospital in San Juan for the entertainment of the social children housed there.   Please pray for our upcoming Fundraisers! We have our Online Auction next week and Giving Tuesday after Thanksgiving. We are so grateful to have received $1100 in matching grants for the Giving Tuesday Fundraiser hosted on Facebook. Our goal is $2000! If you would like to help get us to that $2000 matching goal please contact Ramona at http://caring@projecthopeforthechildren.org We are currently hoping to raise $6000-$8000 by the end of the year with our fundraisers and individual giving! If you would like to help please visit us at our website at  http://www.projecthopeforthechildren.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram or send a tax deductible donation to the address below.

Mailing Address: 6983 Chase Rd, Fabius, NY 13063, USA Phone:  607.591.1065

Fundraiser Opportunity

 Good Afternoon Friends,

I am writing to tell you of a neat promotion that has been offered to us at Project Hope for the Children and it involves you! Supporter and PHFTC friend, Katie Carmickle at                                                                   https://www.katiecarmicklephotography.com/
is offering a limited amount of Portrait Session vouchers for $99 to support PHFTC!

Here's how it works: You purchase a voucher for $99. They are redeemable for a one hour portrait session and an 11x14 print. They are good for 1 year from the date of issue. Digital images and additional prints are sold separately. THE FULL $99 GOES TO PROJECT HOPE FOR THE CHILDREN! 

                             

If you are thinking about getting any type of portraits done, this is an awesome way to accomplish that AND support our cause! This option is for our supporters in Central NY only! 

Have a Blessed Day!

Mona

http://www.projecthopeforthechildren.org

Romania Trip 2021

 The Latest at PHFTC

Dear Friends,
   In late May, I found out that România was opening its borders to vaccinated people without a quarantine period on the 11th of June. Excitedly, I booked tickets for June 12th! Our Board's Vice Chair, Kristen, chose to accompany me as well!

                               

    Now two weeks later, we are here in România! My heart has yearned to be back doing this part of the job for over a year now! Within the first week of being here, we have driven across half the country. We flew into Cluj, Romania and drove up to Oradea, where I met with my Romanian children, and our PHFTC Romanian Outreach Director, Andrea. She has been doing an amazing job in her new role during Covid and we are so grateful for her!

                               

  We purchased supplies for Forget Me Not Ministries and Finding Hope Ministries before we left for Sibiu. Once there, we were able to visit Finding Hope Ministries, an orphanage that houses 35 children and that housed our PHFTC November Service Team in 2019. Due to a fire in one of their homes, they lost many items. We were able to purchase sheets, blankets and bath towels for the children. Kristen, Andrea and I delivered the supplies, spoke with the Director, interacted with the children and volunteers, and even helped cook in the kitchen!

                                 

   That afternoon, due to our vaccinations, Kristen and I were allowed into the hospital for a few hours to hold and feed the babies. We have only 6 social children in the hospital now. Covid has greatly declined the number of children being left at the hospital and we are praying that the trend will continue as long as the babies aren't being neglected.

                            

    We had the opportunity to meet and visit with a member of Firm Foundations Romania in Brasov, a couple hours away. One of their projects is sending in volunteers into their pediatric hospital, much like we do! It was such a pleasure to make that connection and possibly partner or help each other in the future. Again in the afternoon, we were able to spend time with the little ones in the hospital and put up some colorful wall clings to brighten the rooms.

                                     
  The weekend has been spent, among other things, showing Kristen the beauty and culture of Romania and preparing for this coming week's meetings! I am so excited to be making two new connections this year with some very special people who have started projects of their own here! 

1. Please pray that all will go smoothly this week and our health will be protected, not only from Covid, but the vast amounts of cigarette smoke that is affecting my allergies. Kristen is also experiencing an allergic reaction and she is trying some Romanian medicine to help. 
2. Please pray that we can get our Covid testing done before we board our flight next Sunday without any hiccups.
3.  Send up prayers for Monica and her children. She is a manager of a foundation that we support, who just lost her husband to Covid. It has been devastating...
4. Pray that we can be a blessing to whomever we meet, whether it is an orphan, an NGO director, or a person on the street.
5. Lastly, please remember our husbands and children at home holding down the fort so we can be here.

   Thank you all for your support! Without your generosity, peoples lives would not be touched with the simplest of things that we take for granted. But every diaper, every bath towel, every vitamin, every bottle of oil means so much to people here!

   I encourage you to visit our website. It is slowly being renovated with new content being added weekly! Our Donate section is ready and usable for anyone that feels called to join us for the first time or again and again!

Be Blessed,

Mona

Ramona Petrella Cummings
Executive Director of PHFTC

Puerto Rico

 Hello Friends,

  I am currently traveling to Puerto Rico with one of PHFTC's Board of Directors, Kristen. This week we will be meeting new foundations on the island as we open our new project on the island. This has been a long journey to get to this point where we could expand our ministry and all of us at PHFTC is very excited about this opportunity! Please pray that all goes smoothly and safely for us! 

https://youtu.be/RhwrEwiMLBQ

Blessings,

Mona