Information on Amity's projects in Jiangxi province

Supporting Amity's work in the Jiangxi Province Orphanages

Amity began working in Jiangxi province in August 1996 with a "Hugging Granny" program at the Nanchang orphanage and then began sponsoring foster care there in 1997. At the request of Childhood Friends (a charity organization in Scotland who continues to send support to Amity) they also began a foster care program and a "Hugging Granny" program at the Jiujiang orphanage late in 1997. A group of us, mostly from the U.S.A. and Canada, have joined in these efforts and we are now supporting 165 children in foster care, 23 Hugging Grannies, and the schooling costs for 125 schoolchildren. We've also provided funds for many surgeries and other needed medical care, as well as some equipment and supplies. Some of these foster children are at Guixi where Amity started foster care sponsorhip during 1999 at our request. We are sponsoring a few children in foster care at Wanzai as well. In 2000 we started foster care at Pingxiang, Xinyu, Leping and Yingtan and started at Linchuan in 2001. Also in 2000 we added Grannies at three new orphanages (Guixi, Ruijin, and Yichun) as well as some additional Grannies at Nanchang and Jiujiang. In 2001 three new Grannies started at Ganzhou, two in Xinyu and we're planning for two in Yingtan. The schoolchildren are at several different orphanages (Shangrao, Yichun, Xinyu, Leping, Guixi, Linchuan, Gao'an, Jiujiang, Yujiang, Nanchang, Yihuang, Yingtan and Pingxiang) and this was also a project we initiated. Amity is a foreign organization so donations directly to them are not tax deductible in the US. For this reason I have arranged for a US charitable organization, my Altrusa club, to collect the funds and then send them on. More information on Altrusa and where to send donations is included later.

Hugging Grannies is a program where an Amity "Grandma" goes into the orphanage and provides some extra love and caring by holding and feeding the babies, and playing with the toddlers. They also help the orphanage staff by introducing and changing concepts about how to work for better child development. Most are retired teaching and medical personnel. For example, the first four Grandma's at Jiujiang include a retired pediatrician, nurse, special education teacher and a care giver. The amount needed to support a Grandma varies between orphanages, partly depending on whether they are strictly volunteers or whether they are given some pay for their work. The volunteers are given a stipend for travel expenses and meals. The cost for each Grandma in Jiangxi province is US$544 a year and if you're specifically interested in this project you can make donations of any amount. We now have six Grandmas at Nanchang (plus another four there supported by Childhood Friends), six at Jiujiang, four at Guixi, three at Ganzhou and two each at Yichun, Xinyu and Ruijin. Two should be starting at Yingtan soon and hopefully some at Shangrao and Linchuan.

We also have some other specific needs at the different orphanages that you could contribute to. These needs include funds for schooling, vocational training, equipment and medical needs especially surgeries. I can give you more information on these if you are interested.

We have a "General Fund" for use in Jiangxi province orphanages which will be used where most needed. This is for those interested in contributing but not necessarily wanting to just support a specific child or only support foster care or a certain project. This fund is used for various things. Some has been used to get the support for children in foster care started until a sponsor is found. And later, if a family has to discontinue the support of their specific child, it could be used to fill in the gap until a new sponsoring family is found. Support for some of the Hugging Grannies is coming from this fund and possibly education needs for the children or specific medical needs such as surgery for a child or equipment for a playroom or playground. You could contribute to this fund regularly, occasionally, or on a one-time donation basis. If you are interested in contributing regularly to this let me know as it will help in the budgeting of these funds.

Amity has indicated they are quite willing to expand these programs into other orphanages if there is enough interest. They have not yet responded to the question of how much money (per year) would need to be committed before they would approach the requested orphanage about beginning a program. It would probably be easier to raise enough support for starting a new Hugging Granny program than it would be to begin a foster care program. Or it may be that there are medical or equipment needs that contributions could be used for. The cost of this is less than foster care so might be more affordable if we don't have a large group of families from a certain orphanage interested in sponsorship. One time donations to purchase items such as a clothes washer or dryer, refrigerator or air conditioner might also be possible. For those of you with a lot of interest in contributing to your child's orphanage maybe you could take on the task of contacting the families that have adopted from that orphanage and see how much support families could commit to. I can then forward on the request to Amity.

Additional Information

Why go through Altrusa?

While contemplating this project I wanted to make it so that contributions were tax-deductible. I read in the IRS info that contributions to a foreign charitable organization were not tax-deductible but that contributions to a US charitable organization that then sent the money to a foreign organization were. (As long as the US organization has control over how the money is spent which we would.) So I thought maybe I could become a not-for-profit charitable organization. But I found out that this takes several months and a few to several hundred dollars to accomplish. My Altrusa club then came to mind. It's local and I'm already a member so it's very accessible. And I knew that I would be able to keep control of the project and oversee the money flow. All of the money you donate to Altrusa will be sent on to Amity. I will cover any costs for paperwork, mailings, etc. This project also fits in well with Altrusa's main focus so is a great project for them to be involved in.

What is Altrusa?

Altrusa is a group of volunteer business people and professionals humanitarian. To cover its operating costs Amity retains seven percent of all donations. This was increased from the previous five percent on June 1, 2000 due to their rising costs, including increasing number of staff needed and increasing wages for their staff. They are a well known organization with an excellent reputation. Some Families with Children from China groups, especially the New York group, are also sponsoring projects through Amity but in other regions of China than Jiangxi province.

Who is Peggy Gurrad?

If you have any question or would like additional information please let me know. I will be sending out a newsletter to all sponsors about three times a year to keep them updated about our work in Jiangxi.

Sincerely,

Peggy Gurrad

peggy@gurrad.com

phone 360-636-3445 (pacific time)

fax 360-636-9730

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For the June 2001 DTC Sponsorship, please make checks out to Altrusa Foundation and mail them (with the information below) to:

Peggy Gurrad
3571 Fairway Lane
Longview, WA 98632

Your cancelled check should serve as a receipt if your donation is less than $250. If you send $250 or more with one check then the IRS requires you to have a written receipt which I will send to you. I can also send you one for donations of less than $250 if requested. If you send more than $250 over the period of a year but each individual check is less than $250 you are not required to have a written receipt.

Please print out the form and send it in with your check.  (click on the link to get to the form).

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