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Thank-you for your support!We are thrilled to announce that in total over $155,000 was raised for the Transformation Fall Fundraiser! We are overwhelmed by our generous donors giving over $67,000 during the couple weeks of the fundraiser which surpassed our $60,000 goal. We are also overjoyed to welcome 3 new monthly donors on board! The anonymous donor matched the fundraiser donations, and throughout the past year over $21,000 was donated by our monthly donors which was also matched. Adding together the fundraiser donations, fundraiser matching, and monthly donation matching, we get a total of $155,000.
The CHILD Board and all our partners are incredibly thankful to each and every person who participated. You played such an important role in making this fundraiser successful! And combined with the matching donations, now over $155,000 plus the new monthly donations will be going to help our partners transform their communities this coming year. |
Our theme this year was “Transformation”. When I think of our partners working all over the world, it always amazes me how they transform what we give them into something more than I ever could have expected! They are able to transform just a couple cents into a nutritious meal, a couple dollars a week into a life changing medication, or $100 into the help a child needs to go from malnourished to healthy. They are also so innovative, thinking of ways to solve the problems that come their way and transform that problem into a new way of helping their community. I never get tired of hearing about all the ways our partners are transforming your support into lives changed for the better.
CHILD is so blessed to be able to come alongside 3 amazing organizations in India, Haiti and South Africa that are working to transform their communities. In the presentation below, you’ll have the opportunity to hear a snapshot of what our partners have been working on this past year and a bit of what they hope to do going forward.
Over the past year, your gifts have been transformed into thousands of lives changed. And we are excited that through your support even more people will experience transformation in the coming year!
- Annemarie Doell, CHILD Vice President
CHILD is so blessed to be able to come alongside 3 amazing organizations in India, Haiti and South Africa that are working to transform their communities. In the presentation below, you’ll have the opportunity to hear a snapshot of what our partners have been working on this past year and a bit of what they hope to do going forward.
Over the past year, your gifts have been transformed into thousands of lives changed. And we are excited that through your support even more people will experience transformation in the coming year!
- Annemarie Doell, CHILD Vice President
Update from India
Presentation by Estelle Reuter, CHILD's Executive Director, and Gerhard Reuter
Update From SOUth Africa
Presented by Annemarie Doell, CHILD Vice President
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To give some background, CHILD has been supporting SAHARA for 5 years now. SAHARA is a local organization in George, South Africa that runs a free substance-use disorder treatment program for low-income adults and teens. They provide support needed for long-term change through addressing mental, physical, and social needs and specialize in the treatment of substances like smoking, alcohol and drugs.
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I visited SAHARA in early 2024, and saw first hand how they are transforming their community. After experiencing the life changing work SAHARA does, many program participants and even their supporting friends and family decide to volunteer with SAHARA because they know it’s making their community a safer and healthier place.
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CHILD funds medications used alongside the group counseling program which is run by SAHARA's trained medical and counseling team. Medications to treat substance use are not publicly funded in an out-patient setting in South Africa, so SAHARA’s work is critical to increasing community health and wellness.
Many with substance use disorder want to quit but don’t have the self-confidence to do it under their own willpower and oftentimes willpower isn’t enough to overcome their body’s intense desire for the substance they have come to rely on. This desire often overwhelms every other thought about wanting to stop using the substance. Medication gives them that initial boost of self-confidence and also reduces their cravings to make it easier to reduce or stop using the substance, and the support group continues to encourage and build up their skills along their journey. |
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In late 2024, SAHARA was able to step up their community involvement by increasing their team by 50 staff with a large grant in partnership with another organization working in the area. When our executive director, Estelle, visited the program in early 2025, she met with many of the new staff and experienced their passion for transforming their community.
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One place they increased staff was hiring drivers like Shaun and David. Drivers transport SAHARA staff, program participants, and also CHILD funded medication for the different support groups. Many who work for SAHARA do not have personal vehicles, so their support has been invaluable.
Shaun is a driver and social worker who is extremely passionate about helping teens in his community, and even trains a group of boys to run a local marathon, and he invests in their lives at the same time. |
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I met David when I was there in 2024 when he was a program participant at one of the support groups. He was very open about his own struggles with alcohol and smoking. He told us how he benefited greatly from SAHARA’s counseling and medication, and was able to stop using alcohol and smoking after just two weeks of treatment, and was able to stop using the medications entirely after only one month which is much shorter than the usual treatment period. He was interested in supporting the SAHARA team to help transform his community, just like they helped him.
Amazingly, when Estelle visited again in 2025, David was still helping out at SAHARA, but now as a driver. David, with his friendly and outgoing personality, which we can see from his fun demeanor in this picture, was able to provide a space where people felt welcomed and supported as they got from place to place. |
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Unfortunately this past spring, the grant was terminated due to the decrease in US Aid and Global Fund cuts. This has left SAHARA in a very tough situation, wanting to continue many of the community services they had started, but unable to because of having to lay off their new staff.
This has been hard for the whole SAHARA team, but thankfully the substance use treatment program has been able to continue. Over 1000 people with substance use disorder have participated in SAHARA’s programs within the first 4 months of 2025, projecting growth over last year’s total of 2600 participants with a possible 3500 by the end of this year. And this growth is made possible through your support, as medications are a critical part of the treatment program. |
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With the rest of my time, I would like to introduce you to Kyren. I met Kyren when I was visiting the SAHARA program in 2024 at their downtown clinic where most of the program participants struggle with heroin. When we were there, the participants took time to share their journeys with us, and how their lives had changed since joining the SAHARA program, and Kyren’s story really touched me. Kyren had a gentle, yet joyful, disposition. He was genuine and kind to those around him.
When Estelle returned to SAHARA in 2025, she was able to reconnect with Kyren and record his story so that tonight we can hear directly from him about the transformation that took place in his life.
When Estelle returned to SAHARA in 2025, she was able to reconnect with Kyren and record his story so that tonight we can hear directly from him about the transformation that took place in his life.
Update From Haiti
Written by Dr. Cathy Page, CHILD President and read by Prof. Don Page, CHILD Secretary
Haiti is a country of 12 million people: men, women and children who live in the poorest country of the Western hemisphere. Over half of the people live on less than $2 per day. One out of every 15 children die before the age of 5, meaning 17,000 children in Haiti die each year before the age of 5.
Yet, despite the great poverty, the Haitian people are the most beautiful, joyful and courageous people I have ever met. Our family has made 4 trips to Haiti and have many wonderful memories of the people there. The Haitian people value family and community greatly. They are proud people with a sense of dignity in the face of great poverty. The Haitian people’s passion for life and joy of living, despite unimaginable poverty, is inspiring.
Now, for the past several years, close to 300 gangs are active in Haiti, and the Haitian people face incredible brutality, rape, forced slavery and destruction of their homes and lives. About 5.7 million people face acute food insecurity, and nearly 1.3 million are internally displaced.
The deep and all-pervasive poverty in Haiti is why the Haiti Children’s Home Nutrition program, which CHILD has helped fund from money raised at the fundraiser each year for over a decade, has been so vitally important. It has saved the lives of thousands of children over the years.
However, in the past 6 months, gangs have taken over control of Mirebalais, the town of close to 200,000 people where Haiti Children’s Home is located. This has forced tens of thousands of people to flee, as their homes have been looted or burned. Stores have been looted, food is almost non-existent, schools have been burnt, and the vast majority of children are unable to go to school. Life is a living nightmare, and there is no end in sight.
Yet, despite the great poverty, the Haitian people are the most beautiful, joyful and courageous people I have ever met. Our family has made 4 trips to Haiti and have many wonderful memories of the people there. The Haitian people value family and community greatly. They are proud people with a sense of dignity in the face of great poverty. The Haitian people’s passion for life and joy of living, despite unimaginable poverty, is inspiring.
Now, for the past several years, close to 300 gangs are active in Haiti, and the Haitian people face incredible brutality, rape, forced slavery and destruction of their homes and lives. About 5.7 million people face acute food insecurity, and nearly 1.3 million are internally displaced.
The deep and all-pervasive poverty in Haiti is why the Haiti Children’s Home Nutrition program, which CHILD has helped fund from money raised at the fundraiser each year for over a decade, has been so vitally important. It has saved the lives of thousands of children over the years.
However, in the past 6 months, gangs have taken over control of Mirebalais, the town of close to 200,000 people where Haiti Children’s Home is located. This has forced tens of thousands of people to flee, as their homes have been looted or burned. Stores have been looted, food is almost non-existent, schools have been burnt, and the vast majority of children are unable to go to school. Life is a living nightmare, and there is no end in sight.
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Thankfully, through donations made to CHILD, we have been able to send funds for emergency relief for the refugees. Food, water, basic hygiene, blankets and many other supplies have been bought with CHILD donations. CHILD funds have also allowed the installation of solar lights for safety at one old school where hundreds of refugees are sheltering. These lights have not only provided safety, but have also enabled people to gather together in the evening to socialize and support one another through the hell that they are enduring.
The staff and children at Haiti Children's Home have had to flee to the northern part of Haiti, which is also home to a charity called Children of the Promise. Children of the Promise have an orphanage, a K-9 school and a nutrition program. Their philosophy is very similar to that of Haiti Children's Home in that they empower Haitian families so that they can feed, educate and provide healthcare for their children, instead of surrendering them to orphanages. |
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A number of the children who were living at Haiti Children's Home are now living at Children of the Promise, along with some of Haiti Children's Home caregivers.
With the Haiti Children's Home Nutrition Program being unable to function at this time, because families are in grave danger when they travel anywhere in the Mirebalais area, CHILD has decided to send desperately needed funds to the Children of the Promise Nutrition Program for the coming year. Then CHILD will reassess the situation to see whether the gangs have retreated and the Haiti Children's Home Nutrition Program can be reinstated.
Many of the 30 children on the Children of the Promise Nutrition Program have physical and mental handicaps. There is an occupational therapist and a physiotherapist who closely work with these children to make their quality of life as good as possible. Families are taught about caring for a child with disabilities, and how to make the child’s ABILITIES shine!
With the Haiti Children's Home Nutrition Program being unable to function at this time, because families are in grave danger when they travel anywhere in the Mirebalais area, CHILD has decided to send desperately needed funds to the Children of the Promise Nutrition Program for the coming year. Then CHILD will reassess the situation to see whether the gangs have retreated and the Haiti Children's Home Nutrition Program can be reinstated.
Many of the 30 children on the Children of the Promise Nutrition Program have physical and mental handicaps. There is an occupational therapist and a physiotherapist who closely work with these children to make their quality of life as good as possible. Families are taught about caring for a child with disabilities, and how to make the child’s ABILITIES shine!
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We are very thankful for your support of CHILD’s work in Haiti over the past many years. Things have changed dramatically in the region where Haiti Children's Home was located, but CHILD is committed to making the lives of Haitian children better in whatever way possible.
We are thankful for the difference that CHILD has been able to make in the lives of countless refugees in the past 6 months and now in the coming year by supporting the Nutrition Program run by Children of the Promise. Thank you for your love and concern for the amazing Haitian people, who are enduring so much terror and tragedy. With your continued support, CHILD will be able to bring LIGHT and HOPE into an incredibly dark situation. THANK YOU! |
