APB

I need help. And I don't mean the psychiatric kind. I need financial help. Well, specifically, EEROP/Walking with Orphans needs financial help. I just want my bedroom back.

See, all the donations that come in to Walking with Orphans get placed in my bedroom. Why? Because I'm the president and we don't have office space (yet). Extra large packages get put in the basement. Once the boxes are all unpacked the donations get logged, sorted, and stored. In my bedroom closet. When I get enough ready for a shipment or someone contacts me about a need then I repack everything. In my bedroom. Then I either send it with my operations manager to be shipped or I wait. Why do I wait? Usually because we don't have enough funds to cover the shipping at the moment. Which means that the huge boxes of donated items sit. In my bedroom.

Right now we have SEVERAL boxes that are ready to ship but not enough funds to cover them all. So they are waiting. In my bedroom.

Exhibit A:

A stack of girl's clothes just waiting to sent off. I have at least 3 places these could go.

Exhibit B:

More girl's clothes waiting to be packed up.

Exhibit C:

A packed box for children in Russia. I have the address and everything ready to go. Winter and summer clothes plus games for the kids all packed up.

Exhibit D:

Underwear. Yes, underwear. A whole box of brand new underwear. Specifically designated for an orphanage in Ukraine. Just waiting...

Exhibit E:

3 boxes of hats and scarves ready to go to a new orphanage (1st time contact). There will be 1 more box going to this same location.

Exhibit F:

A box of baby clothes to go to a friend in Romania who works with abandoned infants and gypsy children. There is enough clothes in stock to send probably 3 boxes to her. But, for now, it sits.

As much as I like using boxes as a bedside table it's not really the look I was going for. What can you do to help? Click on the link below and donate. Then share with your friends and get them to donate too. I have at least 4 more bags of donations coming in and I need to make room for everything. The longer these sit the longer the kids go without. Just remember...

$20 will get a small box to Romania
$50 will get a small box to Russia or Ukraine
$100 will get a large box to Romania
$150 will get a large box to Russia or Ukraine
$500 will get 3-4 boxes to Russia or Ukraine
$1000 will get a box to Bulgaria
$2000 will cover shipping for 2-3 months
$3000 will get a round trip ticket, 2 weeks in country, and HAND DELIVERY of 2 suitcases worth of items (plus the opportunity for that person to love on some kids and develop a personal bond with them)
$10,000 will get us office space and cover shipping, operating costs, and even travel for approximately 6 months. Yes, 6 months. $10,000. Over 1,500 children impacted. And I get my bedroom back.

Just to sweeten the deal...if you are a playboy millionaire who needs to be persuaded, here is a picture of me in a bathing suit in a pool...

playing with a little girl from a Romanian orphanage last summer.

Give away:

Donations

Another round of thank yous for some wonderful donations to the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project! These were received in either August or September. I still have some more September packages to go through so if you don't see your name here, don't worry, there's more to come!

First off, a couple of hats and some socks from yours truly (I have in fact been crafting despite the apparent lack of documented progress):

Some baby mitts (super cute), socks, and hats from Beverly J. of Santa Fe, NM:

Tiina S. of Augusta, GA sent tons of blanket squares that look like these:

Carol L. from Kentwood, MI sent socks, hats, 4 gorgeous sweaters, and some mittens:

 B. J. M. from Salisbury, MD sent a blanket, some scarves, and some hats:

Valerie H. from Morris Plain, NJ sent 38 (!) pairs of mittens and a pair of slippers. These were given in memory of Dorothy Coombs whom Valerie tells me would have liked nothing better than to see these used by children in need:

Callista W. from Lakewood, CO sent some hats and a sweater:

Mrs. James W. of Kerrville, TX gave some darling booties, some hats, and tons of knitted toys:

 And LeeAnn G. from Denton, TX sent a large wrap, toys, mittens, scarves, cute headbands, and a hat:

Thank you so much to everyone who donated! Please remember that we are still taking monetary donations for the shipping to Sliven, Bulgaria. The shipment was pajamas for the orphans of the Special Helping School. Please check out their Facebook page and consider giving a donation below (if you are viewing this blog from a smart phone the widget will not appear, sorry!):

The Good Harvest

Taking a quick moment to relax on the couch with a diet "Dr. K" (Kroger brand Dr. Pepper) and look around at the slowly emptying apartment. Today my mom and I spent 3 or 4 hours packing and moving stuff. I've thrown out 3 bags of trash and taken another bag to Goodwill along with several small boxes of stuff. Tonight I'll finish packing for my trip to Romania (I leave tomorrow night). I already have two suitcases full of ministry materials, now I just have to pack my clothes!

In between the packing and moving craziness I did manage to take two large boxes of blankets out to the shipping company. The Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project (EEROP) collected blankets for orphans in two orphanages, one in Russia and one in Ukraine. We were able to ship all the blankets to the Ukraine orphanage but it took a little longer to get the ones together for the Russian orphanage. We finally got all the blankets and then I had to wait on funding to come in. Then, I got the funding and I needed boxes and Space Bags to pack them in. I was finally ready to ship 40 of them out today so I loaded up my car and headed to the shipping company which is 40 minutes away from my house. I use a shipping company that works exclusively in Russia and several Eastern European countries. I've never had a problem with them and they're cheaper than the post office (the name of the company is MEEST if anyone is interested). Well, today I find out that Russia has changed their laws on shipments. They will insure large packages up to $150 but anything over that you pay for (one of the boxes as just under that limit). Also, if you send multiple packages to one person they treat them all as one shipment and if the total value of all the packages is too high then they will charge you customs fees. In the past they have treated each package as a separate shipment so I could send 15 packages to the same person and as long as each of them was under a certain value there were no customs fees charged. Now if I send 15 packages to one person they add the value of all the packages together and charge customs based on the total value. This presents a problem when you are sending large amounts of supplies like EEROP does. So, now I have to send packages one at a time every two weeks (when the new container comes in) or I have to send the package to the same address but addressed to a different person. It's just another thing to have to overcome.

Recently though I came across a Bible verse that has stuck out in my mind just about every minute of the day. It's Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (NIV). It's all about enduring, sticking with it, no matter what hurdle comes our way. So, yeah, this new law is really inconvenient. You know what though? It doesn't matter, these kids need these blankets and other supplies so if I have to drive an hour and half back and forth every two weeks to make sure they get them, then that's what I'll do. When I started EEROP I knew I was picking up a task that others have had to abandon because of the time and, especially, money involved. However, I also realized that if I didn't do something then these kids may never be reached. And what an amazing blessing has come out of that venture! We've made contacts steadily and now help support 12 orphanages! There are hundreds of people who have lovingly devoted their time and resources to helping these kids and it is making a profound impact on their young lives. The harvest will be ready one day. Will you stick around long enough to see that happen?

You can follow EEROP on Facebook or Twitter for up to date happenings and links to resources for orphan care and adoption.