Well—I broke my own rule on this trip—thankfully in the back seat of a van and after we had already left the orphanage.  Sometimes the need is just so immense.  It is a sobering experience to hold a tiny baby and know she needs immediate medical help, and then have to put her down and walk away.  I visited five orphanages in five days, and our list of children needing medical assistance grew and grew.

Many times I have thought that if any of us ever opened our front door to find a baby lying there – blue and struggling to breathe or severely malnourished, we would move heaven and earth to help her right that moment.  We would take her to the emergency room, call the local newspaper to get the story out, do anything necessary to make sure that baby had a second chance.  None of us would walk away from that one single baby in our path.

But when you are in an ORPHANAGE, surrounded by kids, and you look around realizing that every child needs some sort of assistance……where do you begin?  How do you decide?   I have learned there is no good way – and so you begin with ONE.  One life at a time.  And you pray for the others to stay strong until it is their turn and ask God to forgive you for getting on a jet plane and going back to your full pantry and warm home and so often needless spending on things you honestly don’t even need.   All the while knowing in your heart that children are lying in orphanage cribs right this very moment going hungry and struggling with medical needs.

I think we are all guilty of forgetting what we have.  I rarely think to give thanks for central heat.  Running water?  Glass windows?  How many of us stand in front of 4-5 pairs of shoes each day (or more) deciding which pair to wear, never thinking of how many kids don’t own a single pair.  How many of us eat more than a meager bowl of rice each day and yet forget our blessings?  I would definitely have to raise my hand many times, and I am ashamed that it takes returning to rural China to bring me back to the reality of how many kids are orphaned.  Of how many kids are alone.  Of how many kids are waiting for just one person to fully believe in them.

On this trip, as wide eyed children froze and held their breaths when they saw the crackers in our bag, too scared to even hope that perhaps one would be for them, my mind went to my own kids coming home from school in the afternoon and thinking nothing of making a whole frozen pizza or a hot can of soup for a snack.   I thought of the bowl of fruit on my counter they can always choose from.  And how we can have an entire freezer full of food and yet they can innocently look at me and say, “mom, there’s nothing to eat in this house.”

And then I suddenly came back to the moment and realized that a nanny was placing a tiny baby with frostbite in my hands, and explaining that she was found in the mountains and the tops of her ears could not be saved.  And my heart broke yet again by the immense needs of so many children in this world.

Today I ask you to pause for a moment and ask if you have also become complacent at times about the urgent situations facing so many orphaned children.   It is so easy to put it out of our minds when that baby is not right outside our doorstep, and yet I can assure you that tiny baby is very real and very much in need right this moment for someone to care about her life.

So for the little girl we met with heart disease or the baby boy with a facial tumor or the tiny baby with clubfoot and cleft -  can you make a $5 or $10 gift to help them find healing?   I promise you won’t regret it.  When we count our own blessings and then pay it forward – we really can change the lives of children in need.

Amy Eldridge, Executive Director

On April 17th and 18th, 2009, Gina Hall (Lu’An Foster Care Assistant) accompanied me to visit the Lu’An Foster Care Children.

As always it was a joy to see the children and since they all know me quite well by now, it was even more special to be met by broad smiles and hugs.

We are pleased to report that the children all seemed happy and well cared for. There is so much love between the foster parents and the children….

We visited 2 little girls in their new school. It was so funny to see our 2 girls stand up beaming while the rest of the class dived under their desks screaming! So many times during our 2 days in Lu’an we saw the LWB foster children acting up for the camera and so obviously posing for the best photo opportunity available whilst all the neighbouring children were hiding.

But poser of the day photo has to go to Rachel……

One little girl has recently received a wheelchair and she was quick to show us how she can zoom around in it.

It was touching to visit a home and see 2 non-special needs children so lovingly fussing over by their older sister. The sister was 15 years old and she proudly helped her mum answer all our questions about the 2 little ones, whilst constantly rubbing their faces and smiling at them.

There are so many wonderful stories about the homes, the families, and schools. We’ve created a slideshow to help share these stories with you — Please go to, http://snurl.com/h417t ,for some great photos!

So on behalf of the Lu’An Foster children I would like to thank all our sponsors who make the foster care possible and all our donors who so generously give soft toys, toy cars, legos, hair clips etc for the children as presents. Without you, none of this would be possible. And as someone who has just been there to see for herself, I would like to say how very grateful to each and every one of you I am.

Arlene Howard is the Love Without Boundaries Lu’An Foster Care Coordinator

The day started with us getting picked up for the luncheon, where Amy spoke to a packed house. The event was sponsored by Women and Co, a group sponsored by Citi created to address the unique needs of women as they seek more command over their personal finances.

That morning, Amy asked me how many people she thought she would be speaking to….she thought about 35, I said I thought more like 75…imagine our surprise when we arrived and the room was packed with tables…more than 200 people. The lunch was so elegant, but the main attraction was LWB. They showed the LWB/Amy video that Cookie had created and then Amy spoke from the heart about the children that LWB helps. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room…the children’s stories touched so many. Afterwards, we met so many wonderful people. They came up to us to ask us more, how they could help, and to thank Amy for her inspiration. There were so many people who stopped to talk, that we were late leaving.

Next it was off to the Lincoln Center, where we had a walk-though for the evening.
We met our handler, Elaine, a very sweet woman whom we all loved, saw where we were to sit, and Amy was shown where she would walk the red carpet, where she would speak, and then go for photos afterwards. The room was so elegant, with huge windows that overlooked Central Park. Surreal……

After that, we had a little down time, where Amy worked on her speech and had her hair and make-up done. The time flew and then we were off again.

When we arrived to the Lincoln Center, there were so many people and media, beyond what anyone of us had ever seen. There was a red carpet area where the media had set up to shoot photos and video of all of the stars and award winners. We met Elaine, and waited with her until it was Amy’s turn.

Amy did a great job posing for her photos, answering a few questions, and then had a photo op with Pilar Guzman, Editor-and-Chief of Cookie magazine.

We mingled with many of the people we had met earlier in the day…how great it was to see some familiar faces. So many were asking us what they could do to help. We also heard from Linda Duscano, COO of Women and Co., that their phones had been ringing off the hook from people that were so touched at the luncheon. What wonderful news that so many people were touched by the children.

Soon it was time to be seated for dinner and listen to the works of so many other wonderful charities. Among the speakers and presenters were Deborah Roberts, emcee of the evening, Leslie Stahl, Judy Woodruff, Debra Messing, Uma Thurman, and, because Salma Hayek had a family emergency, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman, spoke on her behalf. In all, seven wonderful charities had a platform to spread their message. Last up, was Amy, and she did LWB so proud. Lisa Caputo, Executive Vice President, Global Marketing and Corporate Affairs for Citigroup, and Pilar Guzman presented Amy with the award and the check for $35,000. Amy thanked them all and then spoke passionately about the children. Again there were so many in the audience that were in tears.

She ended her speech with this:

“It would be my hope that everyone here in this audience would realize that if this mom from Oklahoma can make a difference, then anyone can. All around the world, there are children just waiting for someone to believe in them, whether it is here in our neighborhoods or halfway around the world. And so I accept this honor tonight on behalf of all the children around the world who are waiting, and I renew my promise to never stop working to make sure their stories are told.”

Karen Maunu is the Associate Executive Director for Love Without Boundaries. She lives in MN with her husband LeRoy and five children, Ryan, Tyler, Trevor, Anna (Guangdong province) and Ellie (Jilin province).

Jone, our representative from LWB Spain, who with her travel companion Aitor, left Shanghai today and traveled to Hefei, Anhui. Today they visited the Hefei SWI and the Anhui Cleft Healing Home. Here are today’s gorgeous pictures from their travels.

Here are some pictures from the orphanage

And also some from the Healing Home

Please click here if you interested in donating to Love Without Boundaries.

Have you heard about the GiveList? It is an incredible resource of ways to “support communities and causes this holiday season that don’t necessarily require writing a check” that is sweeping the social networking world. LWB wanted to take part in this list as well. While we of course can’t do any of our work without financial donations, we have other needs as well. Here is a list of 10 ways that you can impact orphaned and impoverished children without opening your pocketbook.

1) VOLUNTEER! We are in need of several volunteer coordinators right now, including volunteers to help write reports and thank donors. Our surgery program, our nutrition program, and our Heartbridge healing home are just a few of the areas in need of motivated people who want to help children in China.

2) CALL A FRIEND who might be looking for a charity to support at year end and tell them that LWB has many children waiting for immediate sponsorship. They will get regular updates on the child they impact, and you can know that you helped make it happen!

3) CREATE a piece of artwork for our annual heart surgery art auction, held each spring.

4) EBAY! List your quality used items on eBay and designate LWB to receive a portion of the proceeds. We are a registered charity with their Giving Works program. When you are listing an item to sell, at the bottom of the listing page, choose “select another nonprofit you love” and search Love Without Boundaries Foundation. Click “select” and then choose to donate between 10-100% of the selling price to help kids in need.

5) PRINT some LWB brochures by clicking here and pass them out to your friends, leave them on a table in your office, or ask your favorite local stores to put them on their counters.

6) TELL your friends and family that instead of gifts, you would like donations made in your honor to help change the life of a child. LWB has many choices of gift cards.

7) BLOG about one of your favorite children or stories you have gotten to know through LWB and include a link to our website.

VISIT our website FIRST to shop Amazon.com. Just visit http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com and click on the Amazon button at the bottom. We then get 4% of what you spend, at no cost to you. (okay, that involves your pocketbook but you were already shopping, right?)

9) CARRY. Traveling to China for business, adoption or vacation? – can you carry cleft bottles, protein powder for children having surgery, or medical equipment as part of your luggage?” Our staff can meet you in Beijing, Hefei, or Guangzhou and get it to the kids who are waiting.

10) JOIN FACEBOOK and then join our Cause! ( http://www.causes.com/lwb ) We have had several people write to let us know that when they connected with old friends on Facebook, their friends then wanted to know more about LWB! A great way to impact children in need is to simply spread the word that they are waiting for help. And once you join the Cause, write on our Facebook wall. We love to hear from you!