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Education

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Children at Uganda orphanage

Education is paramount.

Hope for Hearts is one of thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Uganda working to prevent future generations of children from ending up on the streets.

This is a child we are talking about, a child that if provided the means to an education can soar into a thriving member of society. A child who is living on the street, eating out of trash cans, prostituting and begging for food. These children have landed on the streets, some by personal choice to leave abusive and neglect homes with hopes to raise their life status from poverty; and others by death of a parent(s) due to civil wars and diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis, cholera and dysentery.

Children are the single largest demographic group living in poverty in Uganda. Nearly 72 percent of Uganda’s estimated 45 million are under age 24, and of that nearly 49 percent are under 15 years old.

Children at Uganda orphanage

Uganda is a country where the government does not provide any social services. Hope for Hearts currently works direct with orphanages and schools that target street children in Kampala and surrounding rural areas. In this city particular, as a social-economic transformation takes time to progress, the livelihood needs of these orphaned children are at the mercy of NGOs and donors like us.

Here’s a fact: NGOs seeking to support street children face threat of criminal sanction for offering assistance. Hope for Hearts helps schools that are operated lovingly by local nuns, and have not been disrupted by the corrupt officials or rebel factions engaged in civil war.

The future goal is to create more schools using this model to help meet the educational needs and emotional support for more orphaned children in Uganda. Our proven formula, has delivered a 90% graduation rate.

Hope for Hearts carries very little administrative costs, and donations go directly into supporting the necessities and education for orphaned children.

You have the opportunity to provide a life-giving gift to a child. Empower an orphan child through the gift of education.

DONATE TODAY

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Summer is finally here. It’s a time for vacations, work, and play.

This summer, we ask you to consider being a sponsor. What exactly is a sponsor?

  • a person who takes the responsibility for some other person or thing
  • a person or an organization that pays for or plans and carries out a project or activity
  • Sponsor supporter of an event, activity, or person
  • The word sponsor stems from the Latin word spondre, meaning “give assurance, promise solemnly”

In this situation, a sponsor is life-changing for the children in our program. For only $20 a month, $240 a year, you can drastically improve the lives of children who need it most.

The children we serve are desperate for an education. They strive to maintain any type of normalcy in their lives. Even through the worst times, these children look forward to the opportunity of embracing a new spiritual welfare of hope and building a new life and future with the tools provided by our sponsors.

By sponsoring a child, you are altering the course of their life for the better. You’re providing them a safe place to live, learn and heal and a livelihood through education and training. Overall, you will be providing them a place to simply call home.

As you enjoy your summer with your family and friends, please consider giving back and sponsoring a child. On behalf of the children, I know they will be eternally grateful for your sacrifice and generosity to support a greater good.

With love,
Cristen Lyn

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Child reading under a tree.

It’s a New Year. A New Start.

As we move fast into 2019, we have the chance at a new start, another trip around the sun. I cannot believe we are midway into January. Where does the time go? It seems like yesterday we were celebrating with family and friends the end of 2018.

I know one thing. Another trip around the sun means we are blessed to see another year. We have the chance to make 12 new chapters full of happiness, love and success.

Each year we are blessed with a 365-page book to be filled with hope, goals and achievement. How do you want your book to read? We tell our children to make this year count. Decide what goals you want to accomplish, and create a plan to get there. No matter what age, we all have goals. Whether it involves your personal life or career, think about how you will make the best of each day and have an impact on others. Make this year count.

Child reading under a tree.

Even though our organization’s mission stays the same year after year, we always start our year thinking of new ways to achieve our mission and help the children who need it most. Thanks to our generous supporters, we plan to make this our best year yet as we continue to focus on education. Education is at the heart of our work, providing children a strong foundation to a self-supporting future.

As you start this new journey, think about ways you can help your favorite organization or get involved with a cause you are passionate about. Make a positive impact this year whether it’s through volunteering, donating funds or assets, or even just spreading awareness.

“The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves.” — Helen Keller

We hope you have a prosperous year with a heart full of love and look forward to sharing our journey with you.

Best wishes,
Cristen Lyn

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Dear Friends,

As we move into the merry part of the year where we tend to have an abundance of everything in life, let us meditate on our blessings. Then let us take action to keep the world’s children in focus.

A large portion of the world, most children, don’t have enough for one day. They don’t have access to nutritious meals. An education. Proper healthcare.

My children do. I bet yours do too.

The children we nurture in Uganda came from violent homes or lost their parents at a young age. No matter how they came through our doors, children are still children. They hunger for hope.

I love to solve problems and inspire young leaders by providing the resources to feed their hunger and desire to not only survive but thrive in a world that threatens their future.

At Hope for Hearts, a 501(c)3 charity, we are dedicated to funding schools in conflicted countries and helping children move from poverty to prosperity with training and education programs to become self-sufficient. Dependent 100% on private donations, we assist in providing children things most people take for granted such as a roof over their head, dinner on the table, an education and even clean water to drink.

We currently work with two schools, St. Elizabeth Academy Uganda and Kankobe Children’s Home, guiding more than 450 children annually through their personal resurrection. We are requesting your help to eliminate the need for children having to beg on the streets, wonder where their next meal will come from or if they’ll have a warm place to sleep at night free from the elements.

Our work is more urgent than ever before.

Your gift, no matter how large or small, creates opportunities for a child. Give a hand-up and a gift of hope, visit hope4hearts.org/donate/ or if you need more information, please email us at donations@hope4hearts.org.

Thank you for assisting in our mission and making a life-changing difference in the world.

Many blessings for a bountiful holiday season.

With Gratitude,

Cristen Jacobsen
Cristen Jacobsen
Founder, Hope for Hearts

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Take a Trip Down Memory Lane

February is always a fond month for us here at Hope for Hearts. It is the month that St. Elizabeth’s Girls Academy was founded. This year, we celebrate the school’s 20th anniversary. In honor of that, I thought we’d take a trip down memory lane and look at 20 things society was doing in 1998.

Take a Trip Down Memory Lane

  1. World population: 5,912,000,0000
  2. The price of a 2L bottle of Coke is only 89 cents.
  3. President Clinton gets impeached for misconduct with Monica Lewinsky.
  4. Hampsterdance.com, one of the earliest examples an internet meme and click-bait, was created by a group of Canadian students competing to see who could generate the most traffic. Hampton and the Hampsters are still around and enjoying a career in music today!
  5. We lost Seinfeld. The final episode of this classic, well-loved show, aired on May 14, 1998.
  6. JetBlue Airways was founded.
  7. The hit teen drama primetime TV show, Dawson’s Creek aired for the first time.
  8. Everybody’s favorite toy – the Furby – hit store shelves and made its way into homes everywhere in 1998.
  9. Total Request Live, a TV show counting down the top 10 music videos, aired for the first time. The show was canceled in 2008 and only recently saw a revival last year.
  10. Sex and the City aired for the first time. Women everywhere were following the lives of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda as they explored the dating scene in Manhattan.
  11. Girl Power was unleashed in the US via the debut of the Spice Girls.
  12. Apple first brought iMac into the world.
  13. Google was founded.
  14. That 70’s show appeared for the first time.
  15. Mp3 Players were introduced to the world.
  16. Britney Spears debuted in the pop music scene and hasn’t stopped yet.
  17. Bellagio Hotel & Casino opens in Las Vegas.
  18. Frank Sinatra, one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century, dies.
  19. The Euro was introduced in Europe.
  20. SEGA (St. Elizabeth’s Girls Academy) opened its doors to the orphaned girls in Uganda, promising to lift them from poverty to prosperity through education.

Much like the celebrity marriages of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston or Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, a few of the things on this list have come and gone. But several, like Google, Apple, The Euro, Bellagio, JetBlue, etc. have stayed and thrived over the years. We’re proud to have SEGA listed among one of the great organizations that are celebrating 20 years this year. That’s two decades of creating new memories and opportunities for orphaned girls in need.

The school wouldn’t be able to continue to do what it does best without the support of organizations like Hope for Hearts, and generous donors and supporters like you. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who continues to play a role in the success and future of the kids in our schools.

If you wish to say congratulations to SEGA, you can do so by making a donation, in any amount, to Hope for Hearts, so that we can continue to help the school support even more children throughout the next 20 years.

Donate Today

With Gratitude,
Cristen