LWB Community

Nutrition: LWB’s Featured Need of the Week

LWB provided nutritious formula to two orphanages when it first began over eight years ago. Since that time our nutrition program has expanded to serve children residing in numerous orphanages throughout China. Quality formula is essential for babies to grow and thrive, particularly when they have medical needs. We use only quality formula, which, unfortunately, comes at a premium price.

In December we received the unexpected news that Nestogen, our formula of choice, will no longer be available in China. We plan to switch to Lactogen, a formula that is produced by the same company and has a similar formulation. This formula will meet our babies’ needs but comes with a price tag that is almost twice that of Nestogen’s. We now have the difficult task of telling the orphanages that, without additional funds, we must send half the amount of formula. Please help us keep our babies’ bottles full! Read more.

An Adoption Story: Taking the Plunge

LWB has many programs in Anhui province.  Through the years, we have come to know a number of lovely older children from Anhui who have been waiting so long for their chance to find a family. We have featured several of them in the past few months, such as Brianna, Michelle and Wendy – all students in our Believe in Me Huainan school in Anhui.

Maryn was once a student at the same Believe in Me school in Anhui and was good friends with all of these girls.  She had the good fortune to be adopted and has been home with her family for two and a half years.  When her family learned that Maryn’s friends had the same chance as she did to have families of their own, they decided to share a bit of their story to encourage folks to consider these lovely Anhui girls and older children in general.   They have likened their exhilarating experience to “taking the plunge.” Read more.

Care Packages to China

Over the holidays, we had a call from an orphanage who had been sent a care package from a kind and well-meaning adoptive parent. Unfortunately the package had been stuck in customs, and since there were multiple items inside the parcel, the customs agent was insisting on charging the orphanage a $60 fee to pick it up. The orphanage staff had to go into the city several times to fill out paperwork before the package could be released, which took quite a bit of their time as well. Once we had worked out the details of this last package, the orphanage director suggested that while they appreciate the good intentions, perhaps we could let adoptive parents know that packages often cost them precious money and time to pick up, depending on each city’s customs rules.

We know everyone sends packages with such good and kind intentions, but we felt it was important to point out some of the issues that can arise when a package is mailed to an orphanage in China. One orphanage was once hit with a $125 customs fee for a large box that a parent had sent. Read more.

Layla: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Layla has just turned seven years old; yet she has had to endure more in her short life than most could imagine. Abandoned at a young age, she was adopted domestically and enjoyed family life. When her parents divorced, her mother continued to raise her until she took ill and passed away last fall. Layla was returned to the orphanage, and, while dealing with the grief of losing her mother, she became very sick. Doctors discovered she has a VSD and is in need of surgery.

Layla wants nothing more than to return to school, but her caregivers would like her to have a healthy heart before doing so. Read more.

When Hope Turns to Loss

When LWB first started our Unity Medical Fund, it was with the hope that we could actually prevent children from becoming orphaned. Through our medical work in China, we had learned that many parents abandon their children born with medical needs when they are unable to pay for the surgeries their children need. Our LWB managers had been approached multiple times by pleading rural parents who didn’t have the funds to get their child admitted to the hospital for care. They would frantically say, “we will give you our child if you will just save her life.” There is only one word to describe what I saw in too many rural parents’ eyes when they could not afford to help their child: desperation.

Read more.

Feliz 2012

From all of us at Love Without Boundaries to all of you, best wishes for a happy 2012…in any language!

Happy 2012 from LWB!

Us Versus Them

This morning I had a phone call from someone who had read that we were helping children in China. What I thought was going to be a pleasant call actually gave me great pause when the woman asked me, “But why should WE help THEM?”

It probably didn’t help my mood that I had just finished reading Sarah’s Key, a book that took place during World War II. This book made me wonder how people can ever reach a point where they don’t see each other as fellow humans, but instead as “others,” somehow lesser and not worthy of help. My caller’s use of the word “them” cut through my heart like a knife, bringing images of tiny babies abandoned in cardboard boxes and toddlers shut down and in shock at suddenly finding themselves in an orphanage without their parents. Read more.

Counting Down Our Top Ten Photos of 2011: Smiley in Foster Care

Coming in at number one for 2011 is this adorable photo of little Alisha, grinning for the camera with her foster mom. Alisha is part of our Loudi foster care program, and every report describes her as social baby who is outgoing and loving.

Alisha goes shopping with her foster mom almost every morning, and she is always so happy to meet neighbors and greet them with a smile. We loved hearing that she is “especially enthusiastic” when she sees other children! We are so happy that sweet Alisha has now been chosen for adoption. Read more.

Counting Down Our Top Ten Photos of 2011: Foster Family Love

Ben is a beautiful little boy who is in LWB’s foster care program in Anhui Province. He loves playing with his foster brother, Jon, but obviously what Ben loves the most is being in the arms of his foster mom.

She likes to take him outside to walk in their vegetable garden, and she loves telling our local manager what a thoughtful and sweet little boy he is. We are such huge supporters of foster care for orphaned children as we believe every child deserves to grow up in a family setting versus growing up in an institution. Read more.