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With confidence, you can do anything

This week’s Weekend Word is extra special to me because the children are reminded every single day of their confidence and abilities to succeed.

con·fi·dence
a: a feeling or consciousness of one’s powers or of reliance on one’s circumstances had perfect confidence in her ability to succeed met the risk with brash confidence
b: faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way have confidence in a leader

Imagine being ten years old, unable to go to school, not knowing if you will have food to eat for dinner or where you are going to sleep at night. Living a life like that would make it hard to have any confidence or faith.

When the children start at our program, they often think that they can’t succeed at anything. We turn can’t into can. At our program, confidence is the key to success. We take vulnerable children many with very little confidence and self-esteem and teach them how to turn their lives around. We teach them about self-worth through therapy and classes. By making them feel like their life matters, they get a boost of confidence. The children express what they are interested in and we teach them the necessary skills, so they can gain experience and lead a fulfilling life.

Everyone deserves a chance at a happy life – and that’s what we strive to provide these innocent children. We meet these kids when they are scared, insecure and hopeless about the future. By helping them face their fears, they gain strength and confidence along the way. With a little bit of love and education, we build confidence and make it possible for these kids to do anything they put their mind to.

With love always,
Cristen

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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

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Continuing our conversation from the last blog, today I want to talk about the classic holiday story “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” The Grinch had no Christmas spirit. He lived alone high on a mountaintop, away from society, fending for himself. Cast away by so many for so long, many would say he had an evil spirit scaring passersby and trying to steal Christmas.
But, as the 2000 Jim Carrey remake of this tale shows, The Grinch wasn’t always this way. Despite his unconventional looks and behavior – his spirit wasn’t bad as a child. He was a kind, fun-loving soul just like any other kid. He tried his best to get in the Christmas spirit, but teasing and taunting from the other Who’s broke him. So he became an outcast, fled to live alone high on top of a mountain for years to come, hating the Who’s and letting evil control his spirit.
You could say that his spirit was broken, until Cindy-Lou Who came and changed that. She too was in search of what it means to be in the Christmas Sprit. She found her spirit by bringing joy to others and helping the Grinch find joy again.
The lesson to be learned here is that only through kindness, can we change a broken spirit, and spread peace and happiness in the world. Much like the Grinch, there are several orphaned children in Uganda, alone, in dangerous environments, left to fend for themselves with no shelter or protection from people who care. For some, their spirits may be broken, some may be forced to darken their spirit by doing things like cheat, lie or steal just to survive. But they too weren’t always this way, and their spirits can also be mended.
If we’ve learned one thing from the story of The Grinch and Cindy-Lou Who, it’s that spirits can be repaired with a little love and kindness. Will you be the Cindy-Lou Who to our kids this year? For just $240, or $20 per month, you can sponsor an orphaned child in Uganda, providing them with a year’s worth of education and shelter at one of our schools. That’s a year to show them compassion, teach them kindness and provide them with the family they desperately need. A year to help heal their broken spirit and prove to themselves that they can break free from the cycle of poverty and be a productive citizen towards the healing of their nation.
We’ve got the spirit to continue on in the fight against poverty in Uganda. Yes, we’ve got spirit, yes we do. We’ve got spirit, how about you?
Wishing Many Blessings
Cristen
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As you’re busy bustling about preparing for the holidays, please keep our kids in mind. Whether it’s as simple as signing up for Amazon Smile, making a donation on Giving Tuesday, or purchasing a handmade Kambulago as a gift, supporting Hope for Hearts this holiday season is as easy as 1… 2… 3!

  1. Shop Amazon Smile
    Whether you’re planning on participating in Cyber Monday, or simply purchasing items online at Amazon, if you haven’t already signed up for Amazon Smile, you should. It’s easy. Simply sign up at smile.amazon.com, select Hope for Hearts as your charity of choice, then do all your amazon shopping from smile.amazon.com, and a portion of the proceeds will go back to our organization. The best part about this program is that there’s no fee for you to sign up, and a portion of the proceeds from products you’d be buying anyway will go back to our organization. So why not put the money to even better use?
  2. Giving Tuesday
    After Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday comes our favorite shopping holiday – Giving Tuesday. It is a day to show your gratitude for all that you have by giving back to the local community. All donations are tax-deductible, making it a great, easy way to give your year-end contributions to a worthy cause. You can participate by making a donation to support our children online at https://hope4hearts.org/donate.
  3. Kambulagos (necklaces)
    Looking for the perfect stocking stuffer or small gift to give a teacher, colleague, etc.? But one of our handmade kambulagos (necklaces). They’re the gift that keeps on giving! We purchase the kambulagos from women in Uganda who hand-make and sell each necklace to make a living and support their independence. The necklaces are eco-friendly and made from recycled paper – ensuring each one is truly unique and one-of-a-kind. When you purchase one of these necklaces from us, the proceeds go back to providing a hand up to the orphaned children in our schools. The necklaces are made by a guest teacher of the school’s art program that teaches our students how to make this jewelry and sell it as a business to support themselves once they graduate. So we are still supporting the school programs with these beads.

Browse our products and make your purchase today at https://hope4hearts.org/products.

However you choose to support Hope for Hearts this holiday season, no contribution, no matter how small, goes unnoticed. We depend 100% on private donations. Every donation, large or small, supports our mission to educate up from poverty to prosperity. Here are just a few examples of where your money goes!

  • $25 provides two children a month of meals
  • $120 purchases a sewing machine
  • $240 one child, one year of education
  • $625 feeds 50 for a month
  • $1,200 sponsors five children for the entire year

With Gratitude,
Cristen