How You Can Help

Join Us in Inspiring Hope and Transforming Children’s Futures

December 1, 2009

Dear Friend,

Deep in the Amazon jungle, a young woman holds her stillborn infant and cries, consumed by the thought that he might have survived if she lived closer to a doctor.

A child in South Africa opens the kitchen cupboard with the hope that it is still not empty. It is.

Swings and slides in a southern California city park stand unused. Children don’t play there, fearing the gang violence that has taken over their neighborhood.

Just outside the nation’s capital, a father heads home after losing his job. He has yet to figure out how to tell his wife and children that they might also lose their home.

These are the realities of our time. It’s not one woman, one man, one child, but millions across the world, connected by one seemingly hopeless situation to the next. Does history repeat itself if nothing ever changed in between the past, the present and the future? Or is the loss of hope inevitable?

We at INMED Partnerships for Children know first-hand that change is possible, that hope is retrievable, that children can be rescued from the grip of hunger, disease and violence.

We know it because we have done it. But we would not have succeeded without donors like you. Whether you have donated to us in the past or might for the first time, you make these changes possible. Thank you. Even in the face of the impossible, you have made such a significant difference in the lives of so many children.

You still can. We’re proud to announce that any gift made by December 31, 2009 will be matched dollar for dollar—up to a total of $55,000—by a team of committed donors, magnifying the impact of your tax-deductible donation. I hope we can count on you to send your contribution today, either by mail or right here online.

Please read on to learn about some of the lives that have been transformed thanks to the support and generosity of people like you, and how you can continue to help.

This year, we began building maternity houses for expectant mothers living in the jungles of Peru, placing them close to health care providers who can save their lives, and the lives of their infants, in case of a medical emergency. We also expanded upon our school garden programs in South Africa and Brazil to feed tens of thousands more children fresh, nutritious foods.

Fear in Compton, a south Los Angeles County city that has ranked among the most dangerous in the United States, is being replaced with healthy outdoor activities for families and community activism. And children there, many of whom have a parent in prison and are more likely to end up in prison as a result, now have mentors who are introducing the kids to a life outside of crime.

We are working with the homeless in Loudoun County, Virginia to help them emerge from crisis and achieve independence through intensive, one-on-one guidance, education and goal planning.

We are placing South African orphaned children in summer camps to introduce them to healthy lifestyles rather than the rape, crime, drugs and alcohol, malnutrition and HIV/AIDS risks they have grown up with. These children have already demonstrated their eagerness to learn about team building, job opportunities, nutrition and respect for one another.

In the last year, we saw students we work with in and around São Paulo, Brazil go from being among the most illiterate to some of the more accomplished. One school recorded the highest reading and writing scores in the state, and a student from another of these schools won a bronze medal in Brazil’s Portuguese Language Olympics for his poem, “Tracing the Path of Memories.”

Similarly, our reading programs are taking hold in the Caribbean, improving literacy—and opening a world of new possibilities—among primary school students by training their teachers in best practices.

INMED has also joined other organizations in the call for policy change and funding for developing countries and localities such as Compton, where our community obesity reduction program has brought parents and school district officials together to increase students’ access to healthy foods.

These are but a few of our accomplishments in the past year, none of which would be possible without the support of donors like you. As a result, not only do more children have better opportunities for the future, but fewer children have to suffer.

Yet there is more to do. More of our children in Compton need mentors. More children need the healthier diet that thousands others of their peers in South Africa and Brazil now have. We need to better prepare teachers and improve literacy. We need more parents to advocate on behalf of their children.

Working directly with families on the edge—teen moms, victims of domestic violence, kids who lost a parent to prison, students whose teachers are ill-equipped to provide an adequate education, and so many more—we have seen the difference we can make when we work together, and what remains to be done.

Here are just a few examples of how your donation can help right now:

• $25 delivers deworming medicine and preventive health and hygiene education to five children in Brazil, to combat the intestinal parasites that compromise their nutrition and cognitive potential.

• $38 provides seeds for a school garden in South Africa, helping students grow nutritious produce to supplement their school meals.

• $75 supports job training workshops, including child care, to help a homeless single mother in Loudoun County, Virginia or a victim of domestic violence in Compton, California gain the skills to find secure employment and achieve self-sufficiency.

• $120 would build a classroom library for children in Brazil or Tobago who are just discovering the joy of learning to read.

• $266 can send a South African orphan or HIV/AIDS-affected child to a seven-day life skills camp during school breaks.

• $750 would buy a shed full of tools and supplies to be shared among families and communities in Brazil or South Africa, allowing them to start their own vegetable gardens.

• $3,500 supports a year of in-home education and guidance to help obese children and their families in Compton adopt new healthy eating and physical activity habits.

• $10,000 would purchase the land, construction materials, furnishings and labor to build maternity waiting houses for expectant mothers in Peru so they may be closer to doctors and nurses when labor begins.

• $15,000 would bring a mobile kitchen to a rural school in South Africa, complete with a gas stove, sink, running water and work space, so that fresh produce from school gardens can be added to a daily healthy lunch.

There are, of course, many other needs and many other ways you can help, in the form of a tax-deductible donation. You can find more information about us and ways to help on the other pages of our web site, www.inmed.org, where you can make an online donation for your convenience.

We are always available to answer your questions or put you in direct contact with our staff for additional information about any of our projects or to arrange to visit our locations and see the impact of your support in action.

Knowing that we would never achieve so much without the generosity of donors like you, we will take every opportunity to highlight your giving as an inspiration to others on our web site and in our newsletters. These are great ways to stay informed about our programs and how your gift is making a difference. I encourage you to sign up for the newsletter for an up-close look at how children lives are being changed for the better—it’s a cinch to do on our web site.

We have done much this past year to increase hope and opportunity for thousands upon thousands of children. Sadly, so many more continue to need our help—your help. I hope you will join us in rescuing more children from imminent and irreversible harm and lighting the way toward a brighter future.

It is possible.

Wishing you and your family a safe and happy holiday season,

Linda Pfeiffer, Ph.D.
President and CEO