Children's Food, Healthcare, Shelter and Education Fund

Improving life for chldren and families worldwide is the mission of Aid For Kids. Currently, the focus is on humanitarian aid projects in Vietnam under the direction of Joy MyLien Degenhardt and supporting projects in Haiti, Africa and El Salvador. Aid for Kids, also known as the Degenhardt Foundation, is a 501(c)3 organization and all donations are tax deductible.

Beach Basketball Cu Lau Cham Style

Aid for Kids is the first and only NGO (charity) to provide services to Cu Lau Cham - one of the island in the China Sea off the coast of Vietnam. Projects include dental and medical missions, a book and toy library, volunteers to teach English, arts and crafts and games. The children were having a great time with all activities - and the women who have nothing else to do except work - wanted to have some fun. The staff developed a "Beach Basketball Game" - which is very creative, too. It is simple - two teams, two stools and two baskets are needed. One of each team members stands on a stool holding a basket - which is movable. There is no dribbling - but the rest of the rules are the same as conventional basketball. As you can see, the whole village turns out to attend the games and everyone has a lot of fun. People of all ages are now playing "Basketball on the Beach" on this small island in the China Sea. Maybe this is the way basketball should be played. See video at YouTube.

Blanket America

The Aid For Kids Foundation has partnered with Blanket America to provide free fleece throws to people in need in our state. For every person that signs up for the free newsletter of Blanket America they will donate a fleece throw to the Aid For Kids Foundation. Participants can unsubscribe at anytime to the newsletter. We will then distribute the throws throughout the state through various nonprofit groups. There is no limit to the number of throws we can receive. This is the link that people will need in order to sign up: http://blanketamerica/content/maine-kids. The process takes less than a minute.

Rachel's Bridge

The Schultz family is in the beginning stage of raising money to build a small foot bridge to benefit Rachel‘s birth family and the surrounding community in a very isolated area in Soc Trang Province (Southern part of Vietnam). After meeting our daughter’s birth parents in a rural area outside of Soc Trang, we were deeply moved that we wanted to help them and their very poor community. We wanted to do something to make our daughter’s birth family’s live a little easier and safer life, to give them hope that they are not invisible, and that people do care about their situation.

This area is very remote, with a tributary of the Mekong Delta cutting through this community creating large transportation obstacles. There is no adequate, safe transportation over this muddy, deep cut in the land. The only way to cross it, presently, is by a “monkey bridge”. Joy Degenhardt with Aid for Kids suggested that we might consider having a small foot bridge built over the tributary to ease the burden of carrying any kind of supplies, not to mention babies, young children or the elderly having to cross on what exists at this time. We would like to see this project become a reality.

UPDATE February 2012

Thanks to your generous support the “Rachel’s Bridge” project is really taking shape! After releasing the “Rachel’s Bridge” video on Youtube we have raised about $5,000. This money has allowed us to send Joy Degenhardt of Aid for Kids.org to Soc Trang to talk to the authorities there about the bridge project. As a result, Joy received very favorable support from the government for us to proceed with raising the money we will need to see this bridge built.

Joy has reported that they are envisioning a cement bridge 82 feet long and 8 feet wide. The estimated cost of the bridge project is about $15,000. We have another $10,000 to go to meet our goal! The government will have a local construction company create a design for the bridge since they are familiar with the area and a local company will do the construction. Since it is important to do the construction during the dry season, our goal is to raise the funds needed by October or November 2012 so construction can begin as soon as possible. The local people from the village will be involved in the preparation and construction, participating within their individual abilities and skills. Hiring local citizens will provide needed income for their community and will help keep our cost of construction down.

Our desire for this bridge has always been to not only benefit Rachel’s birth family but also the entire community. The report supports this desire and estimates that this small cement bridge will benefit about 1,500 people in Rachel’s family’s village and the surrounding area.

There are many important benefits to replacing the monkey bridge. The new bridge will provide a safer and quicker way for children to get to school from outlying areas, especially during the rainy season. Many of the children cannot swim and during times of flooding there are incidences of children drowning if they fall off of the monkey bridge. The bridge will also provide a safer and easier way for families, young and old alike to get to town and the local market and back home carrying their supplies. It will be strong enough to support foot traffic, motorcycles and small motorized utility vehicles which will enhance their opportunities for commerce.

We would love to have you partner with us in the building of this bridge. Please contribute to Rachel’s Bridge (direct Pay Pal link to the right) to see this dream become a reality.

Thank you so much for your support. You are participating in affecting the lives of a community that lives with much hardship in an area that is not on the radar of the government or other groups to help them.

Contribution or more information on "Rachel's Bridge" contact:
Joy Degenhardt (Aid for Kids) joy@aidforkids.org or Nancy Schultz at rachelsbridge@gmail.com.

Ambassadors of Vietnam: July 7th  to July 20th, 2012.

Dear Vietnamese adoptees and families with Vietnamese children: You are invited to return to your homeland for a unique cultural experience.  This special conference, “Ambassadors of Vietnam,” will have attendees representing many adopted countries coming together to learn about the Vietnamese people and their rich culture.  Each attendee of this conference will come away with a deeper understanding and have a better appreciation for the history, music, arts and food of their birth country. See Flyer [pdf].

Attendees and their families will be traveling throughout Vietnam, beginning in Hanoi, visiting beautiful Halong Bay, continuing on through Hoi an and Hue and ending in Ho Chi Minh City. This special conference, “Ambassadors of Vietnam” will cover 4 areas:

1. The rich history, culture and ethnic heritage of Vietnam –Enjoy traveling through Vietnam and sightseeing at various historical sights.

2. Delight in the traditional music and wonderful foods of Vietnam – Tantalize the senses with a cooking class & listening to ethnic music.

3. Blessing current Vietnamese orphans –Visit orphanages and interact with the children.

4. INTERNATIONAL VIETNAM – Make a difference, be an ambassador representing your adopted countries.

After 14 days and 13 nights you and your family will now become a bridge to Vietnam by becoming a cultural ambassador of your country. You will be prepared to promote the Vietnamese culture to the world and increase the Vietnamese relationship of your adopted country to Vietnam.

Please join us in this truly unique event, July 7th to July 20th , 2012.

I encourage you to share this invitation with anyone you believe would be interested in attending the conference. For more information, please contact at: joy@aidforkids.org. I look forward to welcoming you all from around the continent to come to Vietnam in 2012.

The "Other Maine" Project

The “Other Maine” Project (formerly known as “Clothes for the County” is a project providing good quality new clothing, school supplies, books, back packs, and other needed merchandise to the rural poor living in Aroostook and Washington Counties in northern Maine. The name was changed recently as the program is a lot more than just clothing now. The “Other Maine” Project was chosen as Northern Maine is often spoken of as the other Maine as it is as different from Southern Maine as it can be. There is such poverty as the lumber and paper mills have mostly closed leaving only agriculture and service agencies for job opportunities. It is one of the most depressed areas in the United States, even before the current economic depression. It is often the coldest place in the nation and we are so isolated – from four to six hours north of Portland.

The project began three years ago when I was at a conference. Two gentlemen over lunch asked if we could distribute their over-runs and unsold inventory – it was brand new and they just could not throw it out – as they knew that many people could use it. They were from Southern Maine, a company that personalizes top quality clothing, office supplies and other advertising merchandise for industry and for companies like McDonalds, TDAmerica, Hannaford, Tyler and many other organizations. Soon 16 pallets arrived (over 180 boxes) of merchandise to be distributed. We had no place to put it as our office is very small, but the owner of our office building allowed us to temporarily store it in an empty office and to line the halls until we could distribute it. Read the full story...

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