We’ve been honored to be a part of the leadership team that has raised over $300,000 to build classrooms at these schools. We are true believers in the idea that delivering great education and two meals a day will help families to stay together, break the cycle of poverty and begin to put an end to the global orphan crisis.

Late afternoon on Friday, we launched the next phase of the project: child sponsorships.

Most child sponsorship programs are $30-$36 per month. We’re a volunteer-run program without any US administrative staff managing the program. So we’ve been able to keep the cost very low…just $19/month per child!

So Cacey and I decided we’d sponsor two of these kids…one for each of ours.

Spencer is sponsoring Minyahel…remember his story in “Just a Little Bit More“?

And Emma is sponsoring Etalamahu, a five year old in Lower Kindergarten…and did you notice, these photos were taken right in front of the new classroom building you all helped to build last year?

In a little more than two days, we’ve already had 26 kids sponsored and there are only 162 left before every single one can stay in school, learn the skills they need to break the cycle of poverty, and get the life-changing food to allow them to stay with their families or caregivers.

This isn’t the long term vision for funding these schools. Our next step is to raise up in-country business ventures to fund the school’s operations and make the entire project self-sustainable. We can’t wait to come back to you and say “mission accomplished.”

But in the mean time, we hope you’ll consider making your own dent in the universe by sponsoring one of these awesome kids.

It’s a great piece that he wrote, and I hope you enjoy it.

For Sierra College trustee Aaron Klein global adoption issues are personal

Colfax resident, wife work to aid, educate orphans in Ethiopia

By Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer

AUBURN CA – Through the eyes of Emma Klein, the youngest child there, Thursday’s citizenship ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in Sacramento was no big deal.

Plenty of talk by grownups, lots of smiles and people raising their right hands at some point.

For the adults and older children assembled – 138 in total, representing 19 different nationalities – the ceremony was the landmark moment in their lives where they received the official piece of paper showing that they are U.S. citizens.

Emma’s ceremony was the latest chapter in the personal mission Emma’s parents, Colfax couple Aaron and Cacey Klein, have taken on to help in small and large ways to ease the plight of orphans.

Aaron, well-known as a Sierra College board president, and Cacey, a blogger and decorator, have adopted two children over the past four years – a son, Spencer, now 4, in 2007, and Emma, now 2, early last year.

Both U.S. citizens by right of their adoptions, Spencer and Emma now have the official papers the government is increasingly requiring for future international travel. Both children became naturalized citizens the minute they stepped on U.S. soil but the citizenship certificate is an important piece of paper to have, said Sharon Rummery, of the Immigration Department.

“They’re citizens but they don’t have anything to show they are until they receive their certificate,” Rummery said.

Spencer was born South Korea and Emma was an orphan living in Ethiopia. While Spencer was receiving his citizenship certificate, the Kleins were in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, preparing to bring Emma back.

Aaron Klein said that the ceremony is a special one for his family.

“I think adoption has been a huge blessing for us,” Klein said.

Klein’s sister, Dora, is an adopted member of his family, having been born in Rumania. The Kleins decided to start their own adoption process in June 2006 and worked with Sacramento’s Holt International Office.

Holt social worker Lusandra Vincent said that since Emma was adopted, politics have closed adoptions in Ethiopia.

“There are a lot of politics in international adoptions but I think the nation will open again,” Vincent said. “But many other nations are looking for good families for their children.”

While adoptions are now closed in Ethiopia, the Kleins have continued to help that country by assisting the village of Adami Tulu to fund and build new classrooms. The doors opened on one school in January 2010 serving 80 children.

Fund-raising to construct another school should be completed in the coming year, Klein said.

“There will be about 800 kids there in the fall,” Klein said. “They’ll get an education and be fed two meals a day – breakfast and lunch.”

The Kleins visited the south of Ethiopia when they adopted Emma and seeing the poverty and the needs of the people was a life-changing experience, Aaron said.

“There are 163 million orphans in the world,” Klein said. “It’s a huge problem and it’s growing.”

Merry Christmas!

My daughter Emma officially became a United States citizen yesterday, just about two years to the day since my son Spencer did the same.

That means only 16 more years until she starts voting and taking over the world.

Here is Whitney Mountain’s great article in the Sacramento Bee, and I’ll post the equally great piece from Gus Thomson at the Auburn Journal tomorrow.

138 children get citizenship certificates in Sacramento ceremony

By Whitney Mountain

Many signed their names with ease. Some scribbled their names on the line with illegible penmanship, too young to sign in cursive. Others were so young they couldn’t use a pen, needing their parents to sign for them.

But the hands of every child at the immigration services ceremony Thursday afternoon held tight to the symbol of their new nationality: an American flag.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service presented 138 children and young adults with citizenship certificates in a ceremony held at the USCIS Sacramento Field Office, providing children of immigrant citizens and American adoptive parents a milestone and a document proving their citizenship.

“These children’s parents were kind enough to apply for the certificates for them so they will always be able to prove that they are U.S. citizens,” said USCIS spokeswoman Sharon Rummery. “It’s basically the birth certificate of their nationality.”

Rummery said that many of these children may have watched their parents apply and study to become American citizens. So having a ceremony to celebrate their own citizenship is meaningful for them, she said.

“The kids are all freshly scrubbed and the parents are all happy because they’re at the end of the process,” said Rummery. “We try to make it special for the kids, and the moms and dads as well.”

Aaron and Cacey Klein of Colfax celebrated their 2-year-old daughter Emma’s citizenship certification Thursday after adopting her from Ethiopia in 2009.

Their son Spencer, 4, whom the Kleins adopted from South Korea in 2007, received his certificate two years ago.

“It’s a very special thing to be an adoptive parent in a multicultural family; we are first and foremost Americans,” said Aaron Klein, “but as we adopted both of our kids, their cultures meshed together with ours, and that really is the wonder that is America.”

The Kleins missed Spencer’s certification ceremony two years ago because they were called to Ethiopia to get Emma and bring her home. But Klein said that when Spencer received his ornate certificate in the mail, they told him: ” ‘This means that when you grow up, you get to vote and help decide who the president is going to be.’ He thought that was really cool.”

After Thursday’s ceremony, Emma, along with 137 other young people, will be able to do things like vote, apply for Social Security cards, and get their driver’s licenses with ease.

“This is proof of citizenship that they can use their entire lives,” Rummery said.

Klein said the U.S. government is not only allowing these children to prove their citizenship, but also helping these children feel like members of society and part of American culture.

“They often say you can go to China and it doesn’t make you Chinese; you can go to Russia, but it doesn’t make you Russian,” he said. “But when you come to the United States, you really become an American.”

Photo Credit: Hector Amezcua, Sacramento Bee

Here are just a few of the amazing details of what happened.

In mid-October, just 61 days ago, the Adami Tulu team was getting started on its $65K project for 2012. The Ziway team had raised $50K but still had another $105K to go.

When we met in Chicago in early November and merged the leadership teams for the two projects (33 people strong!), the mountain looked pretty darned high to us all. The combined construction budget was $220K, and we still needed about $170K of that.

Then a simple phone call changed everything…a matching donation of up to $65K for each project’s fundraising by December 31.

It was like we had a little grass fire going, and then it started raining gasoline.

In the last 61 days, hundreds of amazingly generous people have given $85,000. An unbelievable $65,000 of that came in just the last 29 days. That’s $2,246 a day, for crying out loud!

You double $85K to $170K, combine it with the $50K already raised, and the 2012 construction budget of $220K is fully funded.

So the kids of Adami Tulu and Ziway just got the greatest Christmas gift ever. Because of you, 735 kids will have the classrooms to get a great education and two square meals every school day. Preventing these kids from becoming orphans, breaking the cycle of poverty and building self-sufficiency.

We’ve still got a lot of work to do to raise the operating funding for the schools. There’s still more time to double your donation with the match before the end of the year. And we’ll be rolling out some exciting opportunities to get involved with these projects in 2012.

What an incredible Christmas gift for us all!

A little overwhelmed by all there is to do this holiday season? Here’s a quick way to send a Christmas gift of meaning to your family and friends.

Now just in case you’re new to this blog, we’re big supporters of the Adami Tulu Project to build self-sufficiency, break the cycle of poverty, and prevent kids from becoming orphans in Africa. You can read more about the project here.

My mom, Bonnie Klein, ordered 50 of the beautiful Adami Tulu Project greeting cards that you see above, and for the first 50 people who donate, she’ll inscribe a card from you, to your family and friends.

Those folks will love getting this card as a gift. Inside, they’ll read more about the project, learn that you made a donation in their honor, and be wished a “very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”

So no need to brave the crush of people or lack of parking at the shopping mall. You can give a gift that changes the world, right from the comfort of your own home – and have it delivered before Christmas. Oh, and did I remember to mention that your donation gets DOUBLED?

Here’s how it works:

1. Please donate by this Saturday, December 17 to ensure delivery before Christmas.
2. Minimum donation of $10 per card that you want mailed, please.
3. When making your donation via PayPal, write “Christmas Gift Card” and your email address in the notes.
4. Send an email to bonnie.klein@gmail.com with your name, return address, and the recipient’s name and address.

I’ll update this post and remove the donation link as soon as all 50 cards are gone…so if the button is still here, there’s a card left for you!

Click Here to Donate

When I wrote the post detailing what our immediate plans were for Adami Tulu, we had raised $1,357 of the $65,000 construction budget.

Just six weeks later, thanks to your incredible generosity, we’re at an unbelievable $53,000.

Over on the Ziway Project side, a bunch of team leaders had already raised $49,000 of their $155,000 construction budget, and today, Ziway Project is at $120,000.

With the construction budget for both projects close to 80% complete, Lifesong has launched Hope Ethiopia:100…a weeklong effort to ask 100 people to invest $100 in the project.

(Remember, because of a very generous donor, every dollar raised between now and December 31 is matched 100%, up to a total of $130,000.)

Already, we have 44 people who have stepped up and joined the ranks. We’ve got three days left to find the other 56!

So when you’re pondering the true meaning of Christmas during the next few days, I hope you’ll consider becoming one of the Hope Ethiopia:100.

In fact, I’m putting out a challenge right now. The first person who pledges that $100 donation in the comments on this post…Cacey and I will match that $100. (Which then turns into $400. Double match!)

And whether you can give or not, do the next best thing: tweet, share or email this blog post to at least three other people who might be able to.

It’s amazing to think that you can give a Christmas gift of education, a few square meals a day, and the chance for a family to break the cycle of poverty…all for just $100. But that’s exactly what your generosity can do.

Will you be that 1 in 100?

Click Here to Donate

Update: As of Friday morning, we’re at 76 people and need just 24 more! Are you number 77?

And now there’s another opportunity to get some great gifts while helping an amazing cause. Our friend Cassie Williams has an Etsy shop called Twinkle Stitch, and she’s donating all of her profits for November and December to the project!

So thank you Cassie! And all of you find some great gifts for your family and friends, and enjoy changing the world along the way.

Update: Don’t forget, we just got the news about the Matching Gift! So the profits from every item you buy from Twinkle Stitch or Tastefully Simple get DOUBLED for the school. Get shopping!

An incredibly generous donor has thrown down the gauntlet: they will match the next $130,000 given to build the schools at Adami Tulu and Ziway by December 31. That’s $65,000 each!

So for every $1,000 you give…it just magically turns into $2,000.

Now keep in mind, this is a real match, not a phony one. This is not a $130,000 gift. If we don’t raise that money by December 31, it evaporates into thin air.

I’m so incredibly thankful to these generous folks for their commitment to these kids in Ethiopia. For their belief in our shared vision of ending the global orphan crisis by keeping families together, breaking the cycle of poverty, and building self-sufficiency.

So I don’t know about you, but I’m incredibly enthused, excited and energized about this movement to change the world. I hope you’ll join us in acting today to maximize the impact of this generosity!

Make a Matched Donation Now

It’s hard to believe that it was only 14 months ago that I flew to Africa with a vision team from Lifesong for Orphans, trying to learn more about the global orphan crisis and how we could help end it.

The formula I saw was…great education, to break the cycle of poverty; combined with twice-a-day meals to keep families together; combined with a long-term effort to make all of this self-sustaining, to eliminate dependency and make Africa self-sufficient again.

We found a little school of 70 kids there, and with your generosity, a team of people raised over $40,000 and transformed it into a school of 210 kids. It was nothing short of amazing to go back there this past August, put the finishing touches on the new building, and start planning “what’s next.”

This past week, the Lifesong Ethiopia board gave a thumbs up to a three year plan that will expand Adami Tulu to about 500 students from nursery school through fourth grade.

There are three parts to the plan, so let me explain.

New Facilities. We’ll build another classroom building to handle first and second grade during this next year (budget of about $65,000), an expanded kitchen and feeding center in year two, and then a final classroom building for third and fourth grade. We’re already more than 10% of the way to goal!

Child Sponsors. Lifesong has a variety of fundraising efforts that pay the teacher salaries, buy the food and keep the school operating year-in and year-out, but to grow this school to have a village-changing impact in Adami Tulu, we need to find sponsors for these kids. Stay tuned…we’ll be launching a $19-per-month sponsorship program in January 2012.

Sustainable Ventures. Over time, we want to transition the ongoing costs of this school to be self-sustaining, by starting up in-country business ventures, owned by the school, that over time can pay for 100% of the school’s costs while also providing great jobs to local villagers. We’ve got a lot of work to do on this part of the plan, but it’s a critical part of building a self-sufficient Africa.

The other decision we made at this board meeting was to broaden our efforts to include the other Lifesong school about five minutes down the road in Ziway. So while Cacey and I will continue to focus our fundraising energies on the Adami Tulu Project for now, we’re going to play an active role on the Ziway Project as well.

So I hope you’ll help us get started with a donation to the facilities construction fund now. Time is short as they’ve got to start construction in late March or early April.

Time to saddle up for another year of changing the world!

It’s been busy. After my day in the sky on Thursday, I worked Friday morning from my hotel in Chicago, and spent Friday afternoon and Saturday at a Lifesong for Orphans event for donors. It was a privilege to have a couple of opportunities to speak and share what we learned as we put together the Adami Tulu Project.

This afternoon, we had a meeting of our board to discuss the next phase of our work to help orphans and vulnerable children break the cycle of poverty, and to support the best way to end the global orphan crisis, which is keeping families together.

I’m incredibly excited about the broadened direction we’ve settled on and can’t wait to write a post and share that with you on the plane home on Monday.

And then we got to have dinner in downtown Chicago with people who have become some of our dearest friends and people we admire: Casey and Mary Beth Picker, Andy and Jill Lehman and Steve and Danae Lehman. Afterwards, we walked around the sights and sounds of the city and endlessly talked about this mission that ties us all together.

Advocating for these kids in Ethiopia is a cause near and dear to our hearts, and you have our heartfelt thanks for your incredible generosity. What you accomplished with the Adami Tulu Project is amazing…and we’re all just getting started.