National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 5

During a terrible rainy season, a family headed by a young girl had to evacuate their home. Her younger brother insisted on going back for his bear, saying, "It has a heart on it and means somebody loves me." They rescued the bear, and minutes after they left the house, it was washed away by the rains. Another small girl in Zambia, ostracized at her school for having AIDS, told her teacher her bear was her only friend. It was buried with her when she died."

—Knitting for Peace (Betty Christiansen)

During National Adoption Month, you can begin a special craft that would mean more than you could know to an orphan who lives in a country affected by HIV/AIDS. The Mother Bear Project provides knitting and crocheting patterns for a labor of love to benefit a child who has no family of their own.

“It’s something they can hold onto and love,” says Children's Hope (Ethiopia Program) adopting mother, Victoria Reese. When Emily Rice in the New York office spread word to her families of the Project, Victoria shared the idea with her mom who was on board immediately. “My mom lives a little more than an hour away, but she has completed one and was willing to come visit and show me how with the pattern.”

The Reese family decorated their bears with Redskins colors. Together with her sister, her family has been brought together through the experience, for the greater good.

“I want these children to know they were not forgotten,” says Victoria.

For more information on the Mother Bear Project, visit their web site at
www.motherbearproject.org.