Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Moving forward with Joy! Giveaway

Just 3 campers with autism left to sponsor!  More than 100 parents and kids from adoptive families in Ukraine are still counting on us for sponsors!

If you're in a hurry, scroll down to the *********** section to find giveaway details!

Our little boy's adoption in Russia has allowed us to let go of our dream of being parents to a child with Down syndrome, and embrace the challenges of raising our Daisy with Autistic Down syndrome.  Today, we are moving forward with joy...in more ways than one.

We are hoping to make the barriers a little lower for children with Autism in her hometown of Odessa City, Ukraine.  Five years ago, waiting in a public works office for an updated birth certificate, Heritage Ukraine co-founder (and our adoption translator) Alyona told me just a bit about how the pending political instability of their country had put a great gift into the laps of her newer organization.  Each year, the government used to pay for the orphans of the region to go to a week-long summer camp.  The money ran out, so when Slavik and Alyona asked for just a few children to share in a bible-based summer camp experience at no charge to the government, the government said instead “Can you take them all?”  

600 orphans, when they had asked for 25. 
A week's worth of orphaned kids experienced the love of Christ
and their importance in God's eyes the summer of 2013.

What could they do but say yes, and hope that God would provide.  And He did.  Through the incredible donations that came in part because of the Mulligan Stew efforts of fellow-Ukrainian adoptive mom Julia Nalle and family, the summer camp kids found there was room for each one of them that year and the next.  

The Puzanovs and Heritage Ukraine have made this work for 5 years.   In that time, Camp LELA went from hosting kids two months of the summer on borrowed land to raising the funds to buy a permanent campus in the heart of a city overrun with vacationers each summer.  The only drawback?  They receive no funding.  
The original home of Camp LELA.  No utilities, no water.  But love.  So much love.  

First, they came for the orphans, and Camp LELA opened her arms to the orphans because no one else would.
In 2015, God provided a permanent campus for Heritage Ukraine, shown here transformed into Camp LELA in 2016.  Notice the wall all around which shows the borders of this couple-acre field, surrounded by urban sprawl.
From a sandlot in the city...


To a beautiful dining hall and kitchen, complete Spring 2018...along with four permanent bunkhouses!

Then, in 2015, they came for the kids with special needs, and Heritage Ukraine created a new place for them, because no else had.


The Joy! Center is the very first of its kind in the region, let alone in Ukraine.  Despite only having one usable, permanent building on campus at the time, they made over the basement for these kids with special needs.  The campers who come to Camp LELA Joy! have autism.  They are still living with their families, who very often have no more support than what the internet can provide.  They have no right to a free, public education geared toward their ability levels or care needs.  These families have decided to rock the boat of society and keep their children with them, in their families.  They are revolutionaries in their society…simply for loving their own children in their own homes.

When I look at the faces of these parents, I *know* them already.  They are not different from me.  These kids, these families...this photo could have been shot in a church basement here in Michigan for all I know. 
When I see them...I see me.

These children have a hidden diagnosis.  The world often doesn’t know “what’s wrong with them?” even here in the enlightened US.  Can you imagine how much these families must endure to just get to the grocery store?  To keep their children out of institutional care?  Can you imagine then, what it means to hand those children to a trusted caregiver for a just a few hours that week and *breathe* again?

Joy! Center's sensory room.

You can be a part of it. 

Despite the extra staff required, the cost is the same to attend Camp LELA Joy! as it is for other campers.  $60 per child.  . 

In the basement of the permanent office building on the Heritage Ukraine campus, they have cleared all their storage out and created from almost nothing a special needs classroom.  A place where children who run (elope) are safely gathered in.  Children who are sensory-seeking have swings and ball-pits to explore without judgmental stares.  Where they receive an education appropriate to their abilities, instead of limited by their diagnoses.  Where parents are able to gather upstairs for a few minutes reprieve, and can believe that maybe, just maybe, things could be better someday. 

One of two resource closets.  
Furthermore, a new camp has been opened up, Lighthouse Family Camp, specifically for adoptive families in Ukraine.  They need $6000 for the week to sponsor the families attending this camp.  

And if you are feeling the need like I am to fund the efforts of those who are able to do this work full-time, we have a chance to make that happen.  There are 60+ children whose parents want them to come to Camp LELA Joy!, 35 of whom do not yet have sponsors.  There are 400 orphans who want to come to Camp LELA who do not yet have sponsors.  The current Joy! Center special needs classroom is a great start, but needs so much improvement to be worthy to the task of replacing a full-time education for these children. 
Crash pillows, foosball, and giant foam Legos are a great start, but I know we can offer these kids and families the world if we come together in this.
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Wherever your heart is, please donate and pray.  There is not a penny nor a prayer that will be wasted. There are three material ways you can help:

1) Donate to Camp LELA Joy! to sponsor a camper with autism in Odessa, Ukraine for $60, or any amount.  Any amount raised over the goal will go to improve the Joy! Special Needs and Autism Center:  



2) Donate to Camp LELA (kids from orphanages) and Lighthouse Family Camp (Ukrainian adoptive families) to be a shelter in a chaotic storm.  Sponsor one camper for $60 or any amount will be appreciated: 



3)  Sponsor the ongoing work of Heritage Ukraine throughout the year with a recurring monthly donation (tax deductible) to minister to at-risk kids and families through afterschool programming and parent support classes**:   



Any amount you can contribute will be so greatly appreciated.  We are doing a small giveaway to give folks a reason to share.  And the prizes have each been donated with the sincere hope that they will turn into a greater gift for the children whose lives are changed for the better by Heritage Ukraine.

Here's how it works:
For every $5 donated, you will receive an entry in the giveaway.  Share once a day on the social media of your choice for a free entry.  If you sponsor an entire camper’s tuition, $60, your giveaway entries will be doubled.  Also, a monthly commitment of any amount will be doubled.  A copy of all entries must be sent to openhandsacres@gmail.com to be counted.  Shares can leave a comment below *or* email for a free entry!



Giveaway begins with shares and donations made and email receipt forwarded to openhandsacres@gmail.com from 12:01 May 29 until midnight EST on June 18.
On June 19, I will use a random number generator to find a winner for each prize:


Grand prize: $100 Amazon gift card donated by the Nalle Family

Bottle of homemade Rumnilla extract, 3 winners, $38 value, donated by Open Hands Bakers


Lularoe leggings, new with tags, donated by Jennifer Kroll



Young living essential oils, donated by Jennifer Kroll


Board games donated by Toko Togashi


Camp LELA T-shirts (3 winners), donated by Heritage Ukraine


Heritage Ukraine Sweatshirt (2 winners), donated by Heritage Ukraine (and clearly hand-carried across the ocean for us!  The wrinkles make it more comfy!) 


Ukraine regions magnetic puzzles, (4 winners) handmade in Ukraine, value $25 (all the Ukraine moms are going "are you sure this isn't the grand prize?!")


Handmade scarf, made and donated by Katy Colbry


Handmade hat, pom pom will be added at winner's request, made and donated by Katy Colbry


Watch for new photos and prizes to be added throughout the giveaway!  Thank you to all of those who have already made Heritage Ukraine's mission your own.  Please contact them at nasledieukraine@yahoo.com to learn more about volunteer opportunities as well.

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.  As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” –John 9: 1-5


**Donations can also be mailed to HU's partner organization, though will not be eligible for the giveaway 
A Family For Every Orphan 
PO BOX 34628 # 37939 
Seattle, WA 98124-1628

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