|
"I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you."
John 14:18
Swimming,
boating, horseback riding, gymnastics, soccer…these are but a few of the activities that make up a summer camp experience
for children. What is unique about Summer of Hope is that the camp participants are orphans – children without
families who reside in orphanages across the world. They travel to the U.S. and spend four weeks experiencing life with
a family. Host families recruited from the community provide housing and care for the children during their stay.
For the children, it’s a vacation away from the often grim, institutional setting of the orphanage. But it’s
much more than that. It’s a chance for these children to be given a future and a hope for a better life.
Every day thousands of children reach the age when they are no longer adoptable. Their
greatest fear is being forced to leave an institution with no one to belong to and no place to call home. These children
have been passed by year after year because people generally want to adopt babies and are often afraid of the unknowns and
challenges they will face if they adopt an older child. The Summer of Hope program can take some of the fear and risk
out of adopting an older child by giving prospective families an opportunity to see and evaluate first-hand what the challenges
and rewards would be. Through Summer of Hope, many of the children find permanent families
as a result of their sojourn to the U.S. In fact, the Summer of Hope program boasts an 85% success rate. Over
five summers, a total of 78 children from Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia and the Philippines have participated in our program.
Of those children, 66 have been or are in the process of being adopted. Summer of Hope 2007 The summer
of 2007 was our fifth summer to conduct the Summer of Hope program and our first summer to expand beyond our community of
Bozeman, Montana. Two new host cities were added which included Billings, Montana and Boise, Idaho. Fifteen children
were identified to participate in the summer program. It costs approximately $3,000 per
child participant which includes airfare, escorts, medical insurance, summer activity fees and administrative costs.
This meant that we needed to raise a total of $45,000 to bring these fifteen children to Montana and Idaho. It was a
daunting task for these new communities to take on this level of fundraising. We questioned how successful they would
be and had the same doubts for ourselves in Bozeman. God once again demonstrated His faithfulness to our cause.
Each community exceeded their fundraising goal! Between the three communities, a total
of $67,000 was raised. This gave us excess funds to put towards adoption assistance for those families who decided to
move forward with the adoption of their host children at the end of the summer program. The children arrived on July 1st and spent four weeks experiencing life with a family in America.
Many activities were provided for the children including swim lessons, rock climbing, horseback
riding, outdoor exploration, hiking, boating, arts and crafts, an excursion to a water park and lots more. Doctors and
dentists within each community provided physical and dental exams as well as vision and hearing screenings. Ten out of the fifteen children who participated in Summer of Hope 2007 currently
have families moving forward to adopt them. Two of the children proved to not be good candidates for adoption and will
need counseling. We are still hopeful for the remaining three children who have an opportunity to return for Summer
of Hope 2008.
Summer Of Hope 2008
Summer
of Hope 2008 will be happening once again in three communities, Bozeman and Billings, Montana and Boise, Idaho. A total of
19 children ranging in age from 6 to 14 years old will be arriving from the Philippines on June 28. The children have been
matched with host families for the four week summer camp. The communites will be holding a Hope Walk/Run
on June 7 to raise the needed funds to bring the children to the U.S.
Click here to see pictures
from Summer of Hope 2007 in our gallery. to see pictures from Summer of Hope 2007 in our gallery.
Click here to see pictures from Summer of Hope 2007 in our
gallery. to see pictures from Summer of Hope 2007 in our gallery.
Click here to see pictures from Summer of Hope 2007 in
our gallery. Click here to learn how you can donate to the Summer of Hope Program.
|
