By Zach Johnson | Director of Development
A Message from Bethel's founders:
Dear Bethel friends,
We are celebrating 16 years of service to the children with Visual Impairments in China. When we started, we had to envision what Bethel has grown to become.
Now 16 years later, Delphine and I met with a family who adopted a little girl from Bethel. She was preparing for an audition at her school play. Another one of our Bethel teenage boys is now on his high school track team. Another just rented her own apartment and is finishing college. One works in a successful restaurant in Beijing. And another Bethel graduate just gave birth to a beautiful girl.
All these are normal things in life. But it took a whole team of care givers, teachers, specialized educators, adoptive families and donors to make it possible. As they say in Africa "it takes a whole tribe to raise a child". Well, for our children, you are part of the tribe that made it possible for them to grow into independent young adults. Nobody makes it through life on their own. We couldn't be more thankful that you are part of our children's story. Thank you for being their tribe and thank you for your generous support.
We wish you blessings in the new year.
From Guillaume, Delphine and the Bethel Team
Bethel Zhenghzou Project Expansion
Our Zhengzhou Project was Bethel’s first satellite project site that was opened inside the Zhengzhou Social Welfare Institute. The orphanage partnered with us by giving Bethel two classrooms and two apartments, where we provide 24/7 foster care and education for up to 14 visually impaired children. The pioneer project has been such a success that during this past quarter, Bethel and the Zhengzhou SWI opened a third classroom providing specialized education for the blind and visually impaired teenagers living at the center.
Bethel’s New Jingdezhen Project
Bethel’s main center is located in Beijing, where we provide foster care, medical care, and education to both orphans and children from lower income families who receive Bethel’s services on scholarship. To expand, we launched our first pioneer satellite in Zhengzhou (above). The project was a cost effective way for Bethel to positively reach many more blind and visually impaired children, whom would otherwise have limited opportunities. Because this model has worked so well, we are now excited to announce that Bethel is currently training teachers for our new Jingdezhen project. This will be Bethel’s fourth satellite project site, and will be operational early 2020. We would not be able to do it without your support!
Thank You
On behalf of the Bethel team, we’d like to thank you for being so supportive in our ongoing mission of helping orphans who are blind and visually impaired. We truly believe that this unique population deserves every opportunity to be cared for, loved and fulfilled in their life. You are helping them build the foundation to their dreams.
In our next update, we will send you our goals for 2020 and our 2019 annual statistics. If you need any information about Bethel, or would like to sponsor a child directly, please email me at zach@bethelchina.com I will leave you with photos from our Bethel Christmas party we had at Jindingxuan’s restaurant on December 24th. Thank you for your continued support of Bethel, we could not do it without you- may you be blessed in the new year!
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