It’s the time of year where parents/grandparents buy new school supplies, clothes, shoes and lunch boxes for their children/grandkids to be prepared for the new school year.

The National Retail Foundation claims American families with children in KG to 12th grades plan to spend an average of $697 on back-to-school shopping.

A separate survey conducted by TopCashback.com found that 41% of Americans plan to spend up to $500 per child on back-to-school items.

But not every family in the world has the same flexibility as most American families, which is why your faithful giving all-year long and additional giving during back-to-school months of August and September are so important!

Due to extreme poverty, most families in the communities we work with cannot afford to send their children to school. Most of the orphanages have schools on-site, but raising funds for the teachers and materials isn’t easy. Your partnership helps provide school fees, school supplies, and weekend activities. In addition, your gifts ensure children receive nutritious meals and medical care so they can develop, learn and properly grow.

Food and clean water save lives. Education saves futures. When you provide a child an education, you give them HOPE that they can overcome the poverty that has consumed their family for generations. And hope that they can one day fulfill their dreams with a job they enjoy and an income that will meet their family’s needs. This dream all begins with a proper education. And proper education isn’t possible without nutritious meals and healthy bodies!

Meet Wesley. As I arrived for a meeting with HRI’s Nurse in July, she was wrapping up Wesley’s medical check-up. The nurse introduced us to each other, and his mother immediately started hugging me and praising God her son was alive!

Just two months ago, this vibrant eleven-year-old boy was weeks, if not days, away from dying of typhoid. Today, he is well, strong and very thankful!

One element of HRI’s Children First program includes providing medical care and nutritious meals to ALL of the children in the local school—not just for the children whose families are enrolled in the program. Thankfully, HRI’s Nurse was able to quickly confirm her suspicions and intervene for Wesley JUST IN TIME.

Your giving literally saved Wesley from the grips of death!

By August, Wesley was enjoying playing with dozens of other children in our 3-week-long Children First Summer Camp. He got to go swimming for the first time in his life, as well as to enjoy many other activities and nutritious meals. Wesley will soon start school again where he will be in the 3rd grade. He should be going into 4th, but he fell behind due to his life threatening and very debilitating bout of typhoid. What does he want to be when he grows up? Thanks to the life-saving intervention YOU made possible, Wesley now dreams of becoming a doctor!

Wesley’s mother hopes to soon join the next Children First class. She is currently on a waiting list, along with many other parents, hoping and praying for their chance to improve their household income through HRI’s trainings beginning next month.

We are currently $9,500 short of our budget needed by September 10th. Please consider giving an additional gift this month for this life-saving program which not only provides medical care, nutritious meals and school for children, but also prevents the abandonment and trafficking of children by keeping families together, strengthening families, teaching child-rearing, and training parents so they will learn marketable skills to improve their income and become self-sufficient.

EVERY GIFT SAVES AND IMPROVES LIVES! Thank you for your generosity!

Thousands Needs

Help HRI end hunger and suffering.