Can you join us for the world premiere of ‘Rise and Dream’?
Great news for all who are interested in our upcoming documentary film, “Rise and Dream!”
We recently learned that “Rise and Dream” is an official selection in the 2012 Thin Line Film Fest, an international documentary film festival, which will run from Feb. 10 to Feb. 20 in Denton, Texas.
This will be our world premiere – the first time the film will be shown to the public!
If you live in or near the Denton or Dallas/Fort Worth areas or are in the mood for a road trip, please come and see the movie! We know you’ll love the film, and we’re hoping for a packed house to show support for the film and for CFCA.
Rise and Dream will be showing at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, in the Campus Theatre, located one block west of the downtown square: 214 West Hickory St., Denton, Texas 76201. Seating is limited, so we encourage you to get tickets soon. Read more
January 19, 2012 at 9:00 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 1 comment
We found sponsors for more than 8,000 kids!
We did it!!
More than 8,000 children have been sponsored through the “8,000 miles for 8,000 kids” effort inspired by Walk2gether, the 8,000-mile solidarity walk through Latin America led by CFCA President and Co-founder Bob Hentzen.
Related news report: ’8,000 miles for 8,000 kids’ meet goal
We cannot thank everyone enough for all the help we received in making this possible. This was a labor of love for so many people, and we deeply appreciate your support.
As Bob says, “For each of you who walked with us in fact or in prayer, this continues to be an exciting and humbling journey into the lives of our sponsored friends, their families and our CFCA colleagues.”
Thank you, CFCA community!
January 18, 2012 at 9:00 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 6 comments
Natural home remedies for winter, flu season: Honduras
Clockwise, from top left, are eucalyptus leaves, orange leaves, anise seeds and ginger root. Maria, grandmother of three CFCA sponsored children in Honduras, uses all these items for her natural home remedies.
In our ongoing series about natural home remedies used by sponsored friends and their families, we look to Honduras.
Maria is caretaker of three CFCA sponsored children in Honduras. She has a vast knowledge of herbal remedies intended to alleviate discomfort from common ailments such as coughs, colds, fever and nausea.
Her practice does not discourage her neighbors from visiting doctors or hospitals. However, because of her vast knowledge in herbal remedies, neighbors prefer going to her first for a quick diagnosis and affordable treatment.
(Read more about how she uses herbal remedies to help her community.)
Here are some herbal remedies Maria recommends during the winter and flu season. Read more
January 17, 2012 at 9:00 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) Leave a comment
8 games played by sponsored children in Chile
By Shanxi Omoniyi, CFCA web editor and writer
If you sponsor a child, have you ever wondered what kinds of games sponsored children play?
Despite the challenges of poverty, kids in developing countries often find joy in playing with whatever they have available. Many of these games don’t require a lot of items, but they keep children entertained for hours!
On a recent mission awareness trip to Chile, sponsors got to observe – and participate in – games popular among sponsored children. I was honored to be part of the trip.
We hope you enjoy learning and watching these games as much as we enjoyed playing them! Watch the games in action
January 16, 2012 at 9:00 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 4 comments
Guatemala trip displays ‘harmony amidst challenges’ of poverty
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
“Bob’s notes” are reports from CFCA President Bob Hentzen, who regularly accompanies mission awareness trip participants. You can see Bob’s full update on his Facebook page.
What a joy for Cristina and me to share this sacred time with 36 sponsors, their sponsored friends and families, and a great group of CFCA co-workers.
This New Year’s group of sponsors includes a good number of children and young people. They found a Guatemala in great need, but in the happy time of coffee harvest.
Students in Guatemala will be out of school until mid-January; coffee harvest involves the entire family.
[Related link: Read our story about families harvesting coffee in Guatemala.]
A new president, new congressional representatives and new mayors will take office on Jan. 15.
This is also the time of the “safra” – the burning, cutting and hauling of sugar cane. The air is filled with the distinct odor and falling ash of the cane. It is impressive to think that every stalk must be hand-cut by campesinos, darkened by the coastal sun and carbon, and cut and stacked. They are paid for by the ton. Read more
January 14, 2012 at 9:00 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 2 comments
2011 CFCA blog numbers in review
Thanks to WordPress for preparing a 2011 annual report for our CFCA blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 82,000 times in 2011. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 4 days for that many people to see it.
In 2011, there were 237 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 639 posts. There were 580 pictures uploaded. That’s about 2 pictures per day.
We appreciate all our blog visitors and subscribers for giving us such great readership in 2011!
January 13, 2012 at 9:00 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 2 comments
The gift of clothing to boost self-esteem
Think back to your high school days when all you wanted to do was to fit in and make friends with your classmates.
Now imagine going to school with a badly worn, patched-over uniform because your parents couldn’t afford a new one for you.
Gladness, a sponsored youth from Tanzania, faced this situation every day. But no longer, thanks to some help from a CFCA social worker, her mother’s diligent budgeting and a tailor’s magic touch.
Read the rest of Gladness’ story.
January 12, 2012 at 9:00 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 2 comments
Get a free 2012 CFCA desk calendar
We recently put together a desk calendar that includes photos of some of the wonderful children and families served by CFCA throughout the world.
We would like to give you an opportunity to receive one of these calendars by sharing your sponsorship story with others. You can:
- Write a blog post on your own blog about your personal sponsorship experience with CFCA and send us a link.
- Write a guest blog post for us to post on the CFCA blog, then submit your post to us.
- Leave a comment on a CFCA blog post of your choice to have your name entered in a daily drawing. A name will be randomly selected as the winner of a CFCA calendar.
We have only a limited number of calendars left, so please submit your entries to socialmedia@cfcausa.org with the subject line, “Submission for 2012 desk calendar,” as soon as possible.
Note: These calendars will be sent only to U.S. residents.
Thank you!
January 11, 2012 at 9:00 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 10 comments
Twitter chat: How people make a living worldwide (#cfcachat)
Mothers of sponsored children give sponsored elderly friends massage therapy in a CFCA livelihood program in the Philippines.
Yesterday we conducted a Twitter chat about livelihood programs and different ways that people make a living around the world.
Read the highlights: “How people make a living worldwide” on Storify
We’re grateful for all the participation and engagement during this hour-long chat. If you haven’t had a chance yet to join our Twitter chats, we’d love to see you next time!
January 10, 2012 at 9:00 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) Leave a comment
4 goals for CFCA in 2012
2011 was a great year for us!
Here’s a look at some of the amazing work that CFCA and its supporters have accomplished.
We also thought this is a great time to share a few of our New Year’s resolutions (though we might as well just call them goals) for 2012:
1. Sponsorships through Facebook
While our goal for the year was 50, we managed to exceed it and find 52 sponsors for children and elderly who have been featured on our Facebook wall. They have been given great opportunities for future success through sponsorship.
Next year, our goal is to find 75 sponsors.
2. Facebook “likes”
We think our organization is great. And apparently 4,334 (and counting) of you do, too. We’d love to see our Facebook audience grow.
Our goal was to reach 5,000 supporters and CFCA supporters on Facebook for 2011, and we’re excited to continue and expand our online/social media reach to 10,000 for 2012.
3. eLetters
Our eLetter feature (a message sent to your friend through your CFCA online account) on our website launched in August 2011. This is something all of us here at CFCA are extremely excited about.
Since August, 5,857 eLetters were sent between sponsors and sponsored friends. In December alone, 2,590 eLetters were sent and received. We’d love to see that number increase in 2012.
If you have friends who sponsor through CFCA and don’t yet know about eLetters, please spread the word!
4. Reaching our audience
We are working on raising awareness of CFCA to anyone interested in sponsorship, which is why we have multiple ways online to spread the word about our work.
We would love to see more traffic on our YouTube, Vimeo and Twitter accounts.
Now that we’ve shared a few of our resolutions, we’d love to know some of yours. Post ‘em here. What’s a goal of yours in 2012?
January 9, 2012 at 9:00 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 2 comments
