Jennifer's Senior Project!

Hola, fellow group members! I'd like to introduce you to Jennifer Swisher, the daughter of my mom's work colleague. Jennifer is a high school student and animal lover. She belongs to a dance team that travels all over the country for competitions. Jennifer also enjoys working with children, and is loving her summer job as a day camp counselor.

I've recruited Jennifer to Paola's sponsor group for a very special reason. Look below the photos for her self-introduction ...

"Hello! My name is Jennifer Swisher and I will be a senior at Eastlake High School this upcoming year. To graduate from high school, it is required to complete a senior project. A senior project has to teach you something new and must take up 60+ hours of your time. I had a general idea that I wanted to help someone or do community service of some kind for my project.

I was approached with the idea of fundraising for the Children International program. I was told the story about Paola in Mexico, and the terrible poverty of her living situation, and I instantly became interested!

I plan to collect money and have various fundraisers to help Paola. A memo has been sent to the Children International office in Jalisco, Mexico, to inquire about the family's greatest needs. Paola will be starting school as soon as she obtains a copy of her birth certificate, so I am hoping to create a study/kitchen area for her family, because they currently live with four people in just one small room. I will update this fundraising page when I learn the total cost of a table, chairs, bookcase, refrigerator, and whatever else Paola's family needs the most.

Next winter, I plan to go down to Paola’s home in Guadalajara, Mexico to see the items purchased through this fundraiser and to bring her family clothes, toys, and food. I will also take Paola to the zoo, and have a fun day with her!"

Although we haven't received specific SNG information from CI yet, Jennifer has created a preliminary fundraising page on First Giving:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/jenniferswisher/jenniferswishersfundraisingpage

Meet Our Newest Member - Mani!

Hello everyone,

My name is Mani. I was born and brought up in India. Currently I am in US (seattle) for some work assignment. I work in the IT industry. All my family live in India. I believe I will go back soon in a coupla years too :). I love solving sudoku puzzles and watching cartoons/wrestling/soccer.

This is my first group sponsorship and needless to say, I am excited. I have been a sponsor only for 4 months. Paola will be my 7th kid. I am so happy to have found CI. It came to me during a very difficult time and I am so happy that it gave me the much needed inner peace. All the kids I see on children.org and liftone melt my heart easily... :)

My other sponsor kids are

1. Suman

2. Yulissa

3. Sunandita (Out of the program as she shifted to another area)

4. Kulsum (Actually, she is sponsored for my friend)

5. Nicole

6. Joan (Supposed to be a co-sponsorship, I am still figuring out how that works )

7. And now Paola


As I have already told Mack, I read all the posts here and I am so happy to see your journey and the transformation you have brought into their lives. Reading thru all the posts were like living thru it.

When I am doing nothing at all, I also blog

http://mynewtrials.blogspot.com/ - This blog is exclusively for children I sponsor

http://batzandvampires.blogspot.com/ - This is for everything else :D

Hello Everyone,

I would like to introduce myself.

I used my picture from school since I am usually on the picture taking side of the camera. I am 46 years old and live in the Middle Atlantic portion of the United States. I currently have two jobs, my first and true love is teaching. Currently I teach fourth grade at a local Catholic School. At my second job I work as a customer service representative for Lenox Corporation.

I have been sponsoring children through CI for the past 20 or so years. My first sponsored child was from Columbia, she left the program after three years because her parents found a better job in an area outside of the CI service area. I still remember that her favorite thing was to see the street sweeper come through her neighborhood. That sticks with me because I like to watch that truck come through my neighborhood as well.

Presently I sponsor four girls (including Paola). My other three girls are all from Ecuador. First there is Josselyn, she is 10 years old and we have the same birthday. Next there is Jenniffer, she is 11 years old and her birthday is in May. My third child is Ashley, she is 10 years old and her birthday is in November.

I am blessed to be part of two GREAT groups so passionate about sponsorship, the CI newsgroup and this group.

Bernie

P.S. If you haven't guessed, purple is my favorite color so I REALLY LOVE our picture of PAOLA! :-)

"Hi" from Mack

Hi, all! I'm Mack and I'm estatic to be a part of the Paola salvation team!

I live a child-deprived life in the Pacific Northwestern United States. My husband (Mike) and I will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary next week. We live with my parents (by choice), and our two wonderful doggies. I take care of my sick friend, who also lives with us. This is my “job”, as the state pays me to assist him.

I gained a godchild ten years ago when Mike’s ex-girlfriend showed up on our doorstep, unannounced, with her 5-year-old son (not my husband’s, lol). I don’t get to do very many things with my godson these days, because he is grounded for three weeks out of every month.

I am technically an only child, but I have an adopted “sister” and “brother”, who my grandma smuggled out of Pakistan. They have blessed me with a niece and nephew – now ages 11 and 9 – who I am able to visit with occasionally, depending on which country they are hiding in. Right now, they live in California until the end of the year when the family will be deported and will move to Australia.

I began sponsorship to fill the childless void in my life, and now I have 10 kids of my “own” from 3 different sponsorship programs:

Jonathan – Honduras

Wilson – Honduras

Mercy – Zambia

Jeremiah – Uganda

Katherine – Ecuador (shared with my father)

Nicti – Guatemala (shared with my father)

Milli – Guatemala (shared with my parents)

Jojo – Thailand (shared with my parents)

Jenifer – India (shared with my parents)

Paola – Mexico (shared with all of you)

My personal hobbies are travel, scuba diving, and messing around with animals.

It’s great to have a chance to get to know all of you!

Your fellow sponsor,

Mack