Blankets for Babies Update

3/7/2008

Ethica has met our fundraising goal for this initiative and have
authorized all of the supplies needed to be bought for the babies and
children. Thank you very much for your generosity over the past 3
days! We will have photos and a report on the first deliveries by
March 10th posted on our website at www.ethicanet.org. Any donations
made to the Blankets for Babies Fund from hereon will go towards
additional heaters, warm clothing for nannies, and administrative
costs. Now that we have secured the basic necessities for 621
children for the next 30 days, we will turn our attention to planning
their long-term care with a coalition of Vietnamese government
organizations, international NGOs, and adoption agencies.

Special thanks to the adoption community, Vietnamese overseas
community, Vietnamese nationals, Hanoi International Women’s Club,
Hanoi UN International School, and Asian Children’s Services for their
support, contributions, and goodwill!

–
Linh Song, MSW
Executive Director
Ethica, Inc.
3/6/2008

Update: As of Wednesday afternoon, Ethica has raised $8,192.17 … Almost to their goal - if you haven’t contributed yet, please considering giving now and putting them over the top!Hello Everyone -

A quick update to let the community know that we are almost at the halfway mark for our Blankets for Babies Fund. As of this Tuesday night we have raised $6,311.18 . We have already authorized Ethica’s rep in Hanoi to buy blankets, formula, and warm clothing for the children. While she has been able to secure some in kind donations from the expat community in Hanoi (clothing, blankets), we still need to raise almost $3,000.

While this might sound like a substantial amount of money given Vietnam’s economy, we’ve been told that the northern region has been hard pressed for warm weather clothing, blankets, and heaters, creating some inflation on these goods. Please also keep in mind that we’re trying to keep over 600 infants and children fed and warm for the next 30 days. Formula can be quite expensive and is often watered down. When I think of that number, I imagine an entire elementary school here in the U.S.

Just a reminder that the funds will be used to buy and deliver goods. There will be no cash donations to orphanages. Also, these requests are for the infants and children only, not caregivers. Our hope is that should we raise additional funds, we’ can commit the money towards preparedness for future extreme weather as well as some warm clothing for the caregivers. Right now we are focusing all of our efforts on the babies and children.

Again, if you would like to contribute please visit our site: Blankets for Babies - Emergency Relief for Vietnamese Orphans

Thank you!

–
Linh Song, MSW
Executive Director
Ethica, Inc.

3/5/2008

Looks like Ethica has raised half of what they need after 2 days. Tomorrow we all will need to push for more contributions.

Blankets for Babies

Reprinted with permission from Ethica: Ethica, Inc. has received troubling reports of severe, cold weather in northern Vietnam that has taken a toll on orphanages in Hanoi, Bac Giang, Hay Tay, and Bac Ninh provinces. We understand 3 children have died in the past week and 10 more less than a year old have been hospitalized. In the past two months, 9 of 19 infected infants have died.Government officials at the National Fund for Vietnamese Children are concerned that many more children will be vulnerable to a virulent form of rhinovirus that has in some cases, progressed to pneumonia. This fatal for institutionalized infants and children already vulnerable to illness. The officials have met and given Ethica’s representative in Hanoi permission to secure and deliver much needed blankets, heaters, warm clothing, and formula on March 7th and 8th. We estimate that $9,350 USD will be needed for this emergency relief fund which will assist 469 children under 16 years old and 152 babies from 1-7 months old.

We only have 3 DAYS TO FUNDRAISE.

Currently, Ethica’s involvement in Vietnam has been to evaluate irregularities in international adoption processes and advocate for ethical and transparent adoption policies and practices. As our mission is to assist all adoption community members, we are providing short term emergency care as we determine long term policy objectives.

Our hope is that in a month’s time, we will be able to transition the children’s needs to more permanent funders through a coalition of local and international NGOs.

You can make a difference in the lives of the children we serve by making a 501-C-3 tax deductible gift to Ethica, Inc. We cannot help these children without your contributions.

$30 donation will provide an infant with formula for one month.
$300 donation will buy 100 baby blankets.
$300 donation will buy 100 warm baby outfits.
$500 donation will buy 100 warm children’s outfits.
$600 donation will buy 100 children’s blankets.

We are currently awaiting estimates for heaters, medicines, and delivery costs.

To donate please visit this link and follow up with a note to info@ethicanet.org that your donation is to go towards the Blankets for Babies Fund.

http://www.ethicanet.org/item.php?recordid=donations&pagestyle=default

Additional information on this effort with notes, updates, and photos of each orphanage will be posted at www.ethicanet.org and our blog http://ethica.ning.com/ . We are seeking graphic and web savvy volunteers to assist us in creating a blog button and page for this fund. Please contact Linh at lsong@ethicanet.org for more details. Thank you.

Photos - May 8th

We love this little guy. We have been three month waiting to get our notice to travel Our angency thinks it will me 2 - 4 months from the referral date.