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Hope for Children is a new organization on campus that has set out to raise awareness to the university and community about the number of children that are in need statewide and internationally.
“We wanted to start a new ministry on campus, and we really had a heart for children,” Bethany Asquith, co-coordinator for Hope for Children said. “After doing some research we found this particular organization and wanted to bring it to the University of Maine.
Hope for Children is a Christian organization; working as part of the Campus Crusade for Christ. However, the group welcomes students from all denominations and anyone interested in helping the cause. The original organization is a non-profit, licensed, full-service agency based in Atlanta, Georgia since 1991. The organization currently has a domestic infant program and international adoption programs in China, Russia, Ukraine, Columbia and India.
Asquith said there are over 183 million orphans in the world and over 700 just in the state of Maine.
Since Hope for Children is fairly new and currently only has seven members, their resources are limited. However, they have already started planning projects to help children in need. The first project is called Operation Christmas Child which involves having people take a shoebox and fill it with gifts. The shoeboxes will be shipped around the world to children who may not receive any other Christmas gifts.
Members of Hope for Children will begin collecting shoeboxes the first week of November in the Memorial Union. People will then have until Nov. 14 to donate the shoeboxes. Since these boxes will be shipped world-wide, they need to be in early to ensure that children receive them by Christmas.
The group will be teaming up with Crossroads Ministry in Old Town to do a toy drive during the Christmas season. They will be helping collect donations to be given to the less fortunate.
“We know that college students’ financial resources are limited,” Asquith said. By being a member of this group students are able to help these children in ways other than monetarily.”
Tyler Francke, a sophomore journalism major – and, in the interest of full disclosure, a contributor to The Maine Campus -joined the organization because he was interested in helping children less fortunate than him. He was interested in working one-on-one with some of these children, not just those belonging to orphanages. This was one of the main reasons he came up with the idea to have members of Hope for Children work with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
Francke said the program has many children waiting for a big brother or sister, 90 percent of those children are male. “I felt this was a great opportunity for me to offer my services.”
The group hopes to be able to grow and take on more projects. For the spring semester they hope to start a program for students to sponsor a child by giving monthly donations toward the child. They would also like to do a shoe drive where students could donate shoes.
“Shoes are one of the biggest things orphans need,” Asquith said. “Some orphans don’t own any possessions so a pair of shoes is a big deal.”
Hope for Children meets every Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the Drummond Chapel, located on the third floor of Memorial Union. They will soon be adding a meeting on Tuesday night. Anyone interested in joining the group can attend a meeting or contact Bethany Asquith on FirstClass.
Bangor Daily News