FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 25, 2008

 

 FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Dolores Quinn Kitchin
Public Relations
Children International
To page: (816) 942-2000
Mobile:  (816) 718-0711


Volunteer Mother Helps Lead Her Family
and Community From Poverty
Children International volunteer spends 15 years as a community leader.

QUITO, Ecuador – When María Elena Sailema moved to Quito with her family 18 years ago, little did she know that three generations of her family would benefit from Children International’s help.

Maria Elena’s four daughters were provided with medical and dental care, educational support and nutritional assistance through Children International, a Kansas City-based one-to-one child sponsorship organization. María Elena and her husband witnessed other ways sponsorship helped lift their family out of poverty. Children International made it possible for them to take classes to help them run their own business, and provided low-interest loans for them to make badly needed home improvements.

Knowing she could never repay the organization for improving her family’s life, María Elena felt compelled to give back to the organization and her community by volunteering with Children International. She is one of a network of 13,000 volunteer mothers around the world whose help stretches the sponsorship dollar further by carrying out communications between poor sponsored families and
Children International.
Volunteer Mother Helps Lead Her Family and Community From Poverty
Children International's Sponsorship Program has helped three generations of María Elena's family.

“Volunteer mothers are important to help reach the poor in my community. I have volunteered so long that people know who I am, and that I know firsthand how sponsorship can help their family,” said María Elena.

Volunteer Mother Helps Lead Her Family and Community From Poverty
María Elena helps train new volunteer mothers on how
to work with families.
Now that helping hand reaches a third-generation of María Elena’s family. Her 5-year-old granddaughter, Kerly Quinllin, is a sponsored child.

“We work hard every day because we have to help my daughter and her husband who have fallen on financial hard times. Right now, they and their daughter are living with us, but we hope they can have their own home one day.”

James R. Cook, President and CEO of Children International says the organization cannot function without the loyal team of volunteer mothers, “Volunteer mothers are our eyes and ears in the barrios and villages where they live. They make it possible for us to do our work so efficiently by helping us communicate to a large group of people who don’t have access to telephones or the ability to travel to our community centers. They are a special group of people.”

About Volunteer Mothers in Ecuador:
Volunteer mothers directly assist sponsored families by coordinating medical appointments, distributing information, and assisting with the education, health, family assistance and Youth Programs. Children International provides community volunteers with leadership training and classes in human relations, writing, grammar and reading. Providing these services has improved their self-development and quality of participation in the agency's activities. Volunteers are provided with medical insurance that covers medical and dental services.

About Children International:
Established in 1936, Children International is a nonprofit organization with its headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. Children International’s programs benefit over 300,000 poor children and their families in 11 countries around the world, including Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Zambia and the United States. If you would like to help, Sponsor a Child today at www.children.org.