Orphans at Play Give A Grandma Gift

Tis' the season to Give a Grandma and help a child through Orphans at Play's newly released holiday donation cards. Honor that special person in your life by giving the gift of a donation in their name. Our cards give you an area where you can write up a special note and we will have them delivered to their door in time for the holidays.

You can make a difference this holiday season. The Give a Grandma Program is in place with grandma's working successfully in a baby hospital in Vladivostok. We have two grandma's ready to be placed in Nakhodka and hope to be placing more into the local homes in Vladivostok.

Thinking about what to give a co-worker, friend or relative? This is the perfect present that keeps giving all year long. A child's smile, a hug, a hand and play time are all simply worth Giving a Grandma. We work hard to bring the basic needs to children in Russia who are without families, sitting day in and day out in play cribs, rooms with several beds or cribs. Our team have all experienced the incredible gift of seeing a child's life change with just a little bit of love and contact. Our Grandma's go in and give these children ever lasting hope. Be a part of Give a Grandma and when you sit down for a large Christmas feast know that you made that bit of difference for an orphaned child.

From one of our parents, "I remember sitting there watching my son's face the day I met him staring blankly out of the window. There was a bit of awe coming about in his eyes. He looked as if he had never seen the huge tree blowing in the wind. We realized he really hadn't when we brought him out of the orphanage. In fact, he had never touched grass before. The simple things we take for granted, these children have never experienced." - MB

Orphans at Play want to bring these experiences to children and help support their needs by Giving a Grandma. Let's ring the New Year in with at least 3 Grandmas! We have a little over 3000k to raise to achieve our goals by the end of the year. We hope to raise enough funds by December 31st to bring our grandma's into homes for the 2012 year. Just take a moment and visit our Store.
Your donation is also completely tax deductible and we will be sending you a receipt with each donation.

Here is a little bit about our program in place in Vladivostok, Russia.

Grandma Mentoring Program

Children thrive with simple contact in promoting emotional growth and physical development by giving a baby home a grandma. The few orphanage employees cannot keep up with the growing number of children in these homes. This is where Orphans at Play have partnered with the vladmission.org in the Primorsky Krai region to provide the Grandma Mentoring Program giving children a chance to “play”.

The “play” time is a program built on a foundation of research and expertise in the areas of development and attachment in order for grandmas to be educated in the most effective ways to impact socioemotional development.

The advantages of this program:

* increases attachment
* lowers behavior problems
* enhances emotional growth
* strengthens physical growth
* promotes language development
* lowers stress
* promotes social skills

The grandmas are given a small monthly stipend to spend at least 48 hours in a designated orphanage each month. The stipend allows them to spend time doing something they love while providing a source of income for their personal needs. This program is active and making a difference in the few homes in place, however is in desperate need throughout the region. You can make a difference by helping support the Grandma Mentoring Program by donating now and putting a grandma to play.

****Just as a sidenote, we have three children from three different orphanages. The differences were astounding. The baby home that Addie was in was okay, but the children obviously didn't have much interaction with adults.

The baby home that Will was in was much better. They did have some folks coming to walk the children in strollers. He had obviously been outside quite a lot and had absolutely no fear of grass, etc.

The baby home that Jack was in was superb. It was a smaller home (only about 17 infants and toddlers when we brought him home) and the children obviously got much more one on one time. The caregivers loved the children.

I can only imagine how much more well adjusted these children will be if they have some time with Grandmas. Older folks who just want to have some contact with some pip-squeaks. It's a win-win. The grandmas get some 'grandchildren' and the children get to experience some time with grandmas.

We still need to raise about $3000 in order to get the grandmas into the orphanages in 2012. I know that it can be done. That's only 300 people giving $10 each.

If we can't go bring home the children, we certainly can insure that the children left behind will receive the best of care.

Blessings to you all this Christmas season.