Partners in Action
Highlights of the various ways individuals and organizations are partnering with us!
Bremerton, WA – January 2012 – COTN partner Futbol For Life raised $5,000 for COTN’s children in Sierra Leone by hosting its seventh annual Kitsap Cup soccer tournament on January 1 at the Olympic Soccer and Sports Center in Bremerton, Washington. The group received numerous donations and help from local businesses and volunteers, including Kitsap Screen Printing and Embroidery, Minuteman Press, and Hansey and Colleen Lopez, who supplied raffle prizes.
Seattle, WA – December 2011 – Donor Effect is a fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations dedicated to ending extreme poverty. Their mission is to strengthen organizations by creating awareness and facilitating funding movements. Every dollar donated through their website is matched by a sponsor to increase the impact of ordinary people wanting to make a difference in the world. In December Donor Effect highlighted Children of the Nations as the featured cause and raised $1,009.30 for our medical clincs!
Seattle, WA – December 2011 – Members of the Seattle Pacific University women’s basketball team packaged 6,550 meals and raised $1,500 to help ship the meals to the children COTN serves. Four of the women also signed up to sponsor children in COTN’s I Love Baseball program.
Prescott, AZ – December 2011 – Members of American Lutheran Church have been busy in the Dominican Republic. In 2011, they organized a wedding ceremony at COTN’s Casa Bethesda mission house for 19 Dominican couples, paid for 150 children to attend COTN’s summer camp, hosted a quinceañera for 18 girls in Los Robles, poured 3 concrete floors in Algodón, and held a pastors conference and couples training.
Syracuse, NY – October 2011 – COTN partners and Venture participants Liz Feree, Carissa Matthews, and Gabrielle Romano traveled to Malawi to help establish the Kamalathu Women’s Project in Mgwayi, a sister program to COTN’s Widows Program in nearby Mtsiliza.
Coto de Caza, CA – October 2011 – COTN partners in Orange County, California, raised $50,000 for our secondary school in Malawi during our annual banquet.
Woodbridge, VA – October 2011 – Members of Occoquan Bible Church have made a series of trips to the Dominican Republic to help the people of Los Robles construct a new church building. The Occoquan crew installed the church’s roof and plumbing during their latest trip.
Seattle, WA – September 2011 – Employees of Expeditors International packaged 15,000 meals for COTN’s children in Malawi and raised money to send a shipping container full of supplies to Malawi.
Des Moines, WA – August 2011 – Members of Southminster Presbyterian Church traveled to the Dominican Republic to construct latrines in the village of Altagracia as part of COTN’s clean water initiatives.
Chandler, AZ – July 2011 – Dan Angermiller, founder of Light Feet Project, brought a team from The Grove church in Chandler, Arizona, to Malawi to distribute shoes to the children in COTN’s Mtsiliza Village Partnership Program. The team fitted about 500 children with shoes, and gave thousands more pairs to people in neighboring communities.
Silverdale, WA – June 2011 – Twenty-five volunteers from The United Way of Kitsap County transformed the COTN–USA campus by planting flowers, pulling weeds, and making the entire property more beautiful during the annual United Way Day of Caring.
Orlando, FL – June 2011 – Real Thread, a design and print company based in Orlando, Florida, has partnered with Children of the Nations to provide T-shirts for our third annual Run for Africa 5K fundraiser in Winter Springs, Florida. Real Thread provided the shirts at half their regular price. The company’s owner, Dru Dalton, became involved with COTN through Summit Church in Orlando, and served with his wife on a Venture Trip to Malawi in 2009. Real Thread’s mission is to become the nation’s leader in quality water-based textile printing, while creating their product in an environmentally friendly manner.
Seattle, WA – February 2011 – Luis Sneaks, a nonprofit organization founded by students at the University of Washington in Seattle, has teamed up with shoe manufacturer Native Shoes to send 1,250 pairs of new shoes to our children in the Dominican Republic. Native Shoes donated the footwear, and Luis Sneaks is selling T-shirts to pay the shipping cost. For every T-shirt sold, Luis Sneaks will send two pairs of shoes to the Dominican Republic. For more information, or to buy a t-shirt, email luissneaks@gmail.com or visit the Luis Sneaks Facebook page.
Silverdale, WA – February 2011 – The Silverdale Rotary Club teamed up with the Sequim, WA, Rotary Club to purchase and deliver a new van to our staff in the Dominican Republic. Thank you to all the Rotary Club members who made this possible!
Orlando, FL – February 2011 – Florida-based nonprofit Clean the World is donating 15,000 bars of soap to Children of the Nations, to be shipped to the Dominican Republic in April. The organization collects used bars of soap and shampoo bottles from hotels throughout North America that would normally be thrown away. Through a process of sterilization, melting the soap, and making new bars, Clean the World distributes the soap and shampoo to people in the poorest areas of the world to prevent infectious diseases and death.
Lynwood, WA – February 2011 –Washington-based nonprofit Remedy Group is using its website, SpendForOthers.org, to allow online shoppers to support COTN’s ministries by purchasing things they would normally buy, and at no extra cost. Shoppers who visit SpendForOthers.org can choose a charity they want to support, then follow a link to online retailers like Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, etc., for their normal shopping. As they shop, a portion of the money they spend will automatically be donated by the retailer to the selected charity.
Sammamish, WA – November 2010 – The people of Missio Lux Church in Sammamish, WA, assembled 40,000 meals for children in Sierra Leone, in addition to providing meals for local food banks at their Glocal Food Assembly 2010 event.
Mission Viejo, CA – June 2010 – Girl Scouts of the USA organized a meal-packaging event and informational meeting to get community leaders involved with Children of the Nations. Girl Scouts Anna South and Shelbi Stein planned the event, which attracted fifty people who packaged 2,000 meals to send to COTN’s Teen Girls Home in Malawi.
Mount Dora, FL – June 2010 – Rob Slezak of RLC Enterprises, a long-time partner of Children of the Nations, organized the Fifth Annual RLC Enterprises Golf Tournament to raise money for our Micro-enterprise Loan Program in the Dominican Republic. The event drew 32 golfers and raised $1,500 for the program, which is administered through our partner, Esperanza International.
Bremerton, WA – Ralph Rogers, owner of Team Sports (established in 1964) specializes in custom screen printing and embroidery, as well as supplying all kinds of sporting equipment for local sports teams and hobbyists. As well, Ralph has partnered with COTN to gather and donate sports equipment for the purpose of helping COTN care for children in Africa and the Dominican Republic. Thank you for joining our team, Ralph!
Silverdale, WA - The people of Peninsula Bible Fellowship (PBF) have been partnering with Children of the Nations for many years. Recently, the church volunteered to host COTN at their facilities to host the annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon. Over 75 volunteers and COTN staff enjoyed a wonderful meal, beautiful decorations and yummy cupcakes (donated by PinkaBella Cupcakes™ from Redmond, WA) while celebrating the lives of thousands of children that have been transformed by their efforts. Thank you to PBF, PinkaBella Cupcakes™ and all who participated in the event!
Silverdale, WA - May 2010 - Silverdale Pee Wee Adult Association (SPWAA) donated baseball bats, gloves, shirts, catching gear, and helmets to Benjamin Lander who participates in spring baseball each year. Benjamin is taking his first mission trip to the Dominican Republic with COTN this year and is gathering baseball resources to donate to the I Love Baseball® (ILB) program that cares for children who love baseball. Thanks to SPWAA!
Old Town, Maine - January 2010 - United Baptist Church (UBC) has been focusing on the ministry of Children of the Nations (COTN) in their children's ministry. The church supports Jeff and Connie Lander in their work with COTN (Jeff is on staff with COTN), but the church decided that they would like to do more than just give financially. Thus, they took on the projects of gathering and assembling Hygiene Smilepacks®, taking weekly offerings for the mission work, and inviting missionaries to come speak with the children of UBC.
Seattle, Washington - April 2010 - HL2, a Seattle-based marketing and advertising agency, partnered with Children of the Nations and sent a Venture team to the Dominican Republic as a team-building activity. Click here to read more.
Bellevue, Washington - March 2010 - Crossroads Bible Church packaged 50,000 meals at a meal packaging event to aid in Haiti relief efforts. Click here to read their story.
Seattle, Washington - February 2010 - Dr. Vicki Sakata participated in a Venture trip to the Dominican Republic to aid victims of the Haiti earthquake crisis.
La Grange Park, Illinois - January 2010 - Shortly after her reitrement, Therese Xandrew began to sew dresses for girls in Malawi by using slightly used or new pillow cases. At 68 years young, she fully intends to send thousands of dresses to women and children in Africa.
Kirkland, Washington - November 2009 - Students and faculty at Kirkland Seventh Day Adventist School irecently partnered with Children of the Nations to host a food-packaging event, raising over $800 and packaging 3,320 meals for our children. Click here to see photos and read full event details.
Portland, Oregon - October 2009 - Sarah Delamarter Benson and her husband Daren love shoes. Their ministry is a perfect fit: Shoes for Life collects new and “gently used” shoes, which they then donate to families in need, both locally and abroad. To find out more, check out http://shoesforlife.wordpress.com, or follow them at http://twitter.com/shoesforlife.
Bellevue, Washington - August 2009 - Members of the Downtown Church in Bellevue, Washington partnered with Children of the Nations to host a 25K Meal Marathon event. Over 200 volunteers came together to package food for Sierra Leone.
Sterling Heights, Michigan - July 2009 - Bill and Josh Bollinger set a goal to raise $1,000 for COTN by organizing the 50-mile Bike Ride. Visit their fundraising page to view their progress.
Sammamish, Washington - June 2009 - Missio Lux Church committed to packaging 40,000 meals for COTN this summer. At their kick-off event, they packaged 8,000 meals. Click here to watch a video they created of the event.
Orange County, California - May 2009 - While in Malawi, Mark Marty witnessed the positive impact that our Widows Program was having on empowering women to run their own businesses. He decided then to begin working on micro-enterprising for the program. He is now working with COTN Development Liaison Peter Drennan to set up micro-enterprise programs in every country that COTN has ministry in.
Kirkland, Washington - April 2009 - Margo Engberg combined her love of baking with her passion for children in distress by opening her own baking company PinkaBella Cupcakes. Proceeds benefit Children of the Nations.
Minneapolis, Minnesota - March 2009 - Anika Gadbury, a preschool teacher from Minneapolis, is involved in our new program, COTN’s Advocates Council, and has a heart for children and for sharing the love and message of Christ Jesus.
Jacksonville, Florida - February 2009 - Amy Scott is planning a 5K run for this summer that will benefit COTN. Her goal is to reach an entirely new demographic of athletes through this evangelical fundraiser. She hopes that those who participate will learn more about COTN and decide to get involved!
Indianola, Washington- January 2009 - Dr. Don Stevens, after participating in a medical Venture trip to the Dominican Republic, combined his hobby of beekeeping with his passion for the Dominican Republic. Launching his "Sweet Deal" fundraising project, Dr. Stevens offers his patients 1 1/2 or 2 lbs. of honey for a donation to COTN.
Phoenix, Arizona - November 2008 - Bruce and Michelle Crawford have partnered with COTN in many ways since their trip to Malawi. They sponsor two children and organized a medical Venture team. And twice, they hosted our Malawian guests during our Some Kind of Miracle benefit season. On both occasions, the Crawfords organized a large gathering of friends and acquaintances—so they could hear directly from the Malawian children what COTN’s ministry is all about.
Orlando, Florida - October 2008 - Chris Phillips of Loveless Apparel Company wanted to get people’s attention when he named Loveless Apparel company. And he did. As people are drawn in by curiosity about the name, they discover the meaning behind Loveless. More LOVE LESS hate. More LOVE LESS oppression. More LOVE LESS hunger. COTN staff are excited about partnering with Loveless Apparel, a Christian-based company founded by supporters Chris Phillips and Danny Haas. Loveless is now our exclusive online distributor of COTN apparel.
Bremerton, Washington - July 2008 - Richard and Pat Krell have faithfully given their time and bargain shopping expertise to assemble over 1,000 SmilePacks®. The Krells began by putting together School SmilePacks® (packages of school supplies) by shopping at the back-to-school sales.
Orlando, Florida - June 2008 - Rene Vazquez, the service coordinator at Summit Church in Orlando, Florida, supports Children of the Nations in an important way— he connects church members with ministry opportunities. Rene has organized many projects for church members to participate in. Some of them include placement of Coin Banks in local businesses, assembling SmilePacks, organizing a container of supplies for Malawi, and setting up partitions in the Florida COTN office.
Vancouver, Washington - May 2008 - Cindy Donnell, a massage therapist from Vancouver, Washington, has felt the Lord drawing her to missions for quite some time. Soon after Cindy started as a volunteer at COTN, she was accepted as a global intern to Malawi. Cindy will be using her skills as a massage therapist to work with our children who have disabilities.
Silverdale, Washington - April 2008 - As a member of the Silverdale community, Stuart Beasley, Store Manager of Macy’s Silverdale Furniture Gallery, found out about Children of the Nations by simply driving by our office and seeing our sign. Recently, through the help of Stuart Beasley and Pat Jones, Partner and Time Coordinator, Macy’s employees collaboratively came together to donate funds to support our upcoming Silverdale Meal Marathon.
Everett, Washington - March 2008 - Jeff Sondermeyer has two passions: orphans (especially those in Africa orphaned by HIV) and mountain climbing. In 2002, he combined his two passions and founded BroMan Expeditions (www.BroManX.org), an organization created for the sole purpose of helping children in need. Jeff organizes and leads mountain climbing expeditions that solicit sponsors to raise funds and awareness for well-established and respected children’s charities. Today, BroMan partners solely with COTN, raising on average $15,000 per year to fund strategic projects in Malawi. Currently, BroMan is funding the construction and start-up of KaJAMbula Studio, a recording studio at our Njewa Ministry Center.