Humanitarian Parole announced

Secretary Napolitano Announces Humanitarian Parole Policy for Certain Haitian Orphans

house is clean, laundry is done, bags are packed, now we're just waiting for the phone call. I hope it comes soon!!

Update from Chances for Children

Earthquake Relief Efforts - UPDATE

In a week filled with devastation, despair, sadness and frustration there were a few hours of hope! Hope – when so many in our community donated so much, hope when friends worked tirelessly on our behalf to help locate air cargo space and RELIEF when today a plane was not only confirmed but donated. Chances for Children is forever grateful to Ray Croghan, a C4C Board Member, who made it all come together with his time and monetary donation. In addition, we are grateful to Robert Sarver, who directed the The Phoenix Suns Charities to make a large donation allowing us to helicopter our supplies directly to Lamerdelle. And finally a HUGE thank you to all of you – if you are receiving this email, you helped to achieve our goal of delivering over 5,000 pounds of supplies to our team in Haiti. We have received so much and we are so grateful.

Here is an update on our Relief Efforts

Early this week a supply of food, water purification tablets and formula will arrive in Haiti to provide enough food and clean drinking water for the next few weeks.

The U.S. Embassy has also distributed water and milk to the village of Lamerdelle.

The week of January 25^th Chances for Children will fly 5,000 pounds of supplies destined for Haiti. This food, water, formula, medicine and supplies will last for at least 4 months. Our next step after this will to begin collecting in-kind donations and prepare a container to ship to Haiti once the ports are open.

Finally, as it relates to adoptions in process, there is also some potential good news on the horizon. JCICS is working with the U.S. government to encourage our government to expedite the processing of all adoptions in process. Craig will be flying to Washington DC this week to meet with congress people and to bring this situation to the media’s attention. Let’s all work together to encourage our congress people to focus their efforts on making this happen.

And finally, the grim reality in Haiti - supplies are finally coming into the country, but it’s still a long ways from providing the water, food and medicine that is needed. Our team in Haiti reports that approximately 3 million Haitians have been affected by this tragedy. The situation at the airport is deteriorating and reports state that unloading supplies can be dangerous. Many roads are impassable, there is still no water, power or phone service – although some satellite phones are working. The country is low on fuel and propane so generators that produce power may also stop functioning. At the orphanage in Lamerdelle we have lost generator capacity. Our water source has been contaminated and the only method of cooking for us is now over open flame. And this is just our story – multiply this by 3 million. Buildings are in ruins, debris and bodies still line the streets and there are thousands of people without food, water, shelter or medical treatment. The road to a stable environment is still very steep and littered with obstacles.

We ask that you continue to support our neighbors in Haiti and keep them in your thoughts and prayers. If you know someone who hasn’t yet donated to assist in the relief efforts, encourage them to do so either through our efforts or by donating to one of the other charities providing assistance within the country. As a reminder here is a link to our earthquake relief campaign and our website.

http://chances4childrendonations.blogspot.com/

http://www.chances4children.org

Thank you for all you have done to help the children in Haiti.

Kathi and Craig Juntunen

more updates

Hi everyone -- I just received this email:

We have reason to believe that all children whose adoptions were in process prior to Tuesday will be able to come to the United States as soon as the logistics of the travel can be figured out. In order to receive the appropriate visas we need the following documents sent ELECTRONICALLY to me as soon as possible...

it continues on with what I need to send. Wow. I'm going to start packing bags just in case.

Supplies to head to our orphanage

Here is the latest:

Chances for Children Has the plane!! Actually, we now have 2 large cargo planes reserved- Haiti here we come with 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of supplies. Thank you to everyone who helped find air cargo space - especially the heros- Rob P, Micky B and Ray C!!!

Updates

It has been a busy weekend online. We have received numerous emails about getting Valencia home. She is fortunately at the end of the process and is just awaiting a US Visa. Organizations involved in adoption contacted the secretary of state, asking to allow children in orphanages a visa to enter the United States. The state department has created a website for all of us adopting from Haiti to register with them -- essentially entering in our information, who we're adopting and how to contact the orphanage. They say that once communication lines are back up and running they can start this process. And last night the Haitian Ambassador to the US said that Haiti has released these children to leave -- it is just a matter of the receiving country to allow them to enter.

It is very encouraging news and we are preparing (and hoping) for a phone call that Valencia is on her way to the states. We have seen this happen with a few other children today and yesterday from other orphanages on the news. If this does happen we have no idea how much notice we'll get but I don't think it will be much. I will try to get a post on the blog, but I'm making no promises :)

Earthquake in Haiti

As many of you have seen there has been a horrible earthquake in Haiti. We've been checking our adoption forum all evening for word on our orphanage. The U.S. side was finally able to get a hold of the orphanage and everyone is ok. Thankfully the orphanage is self-sufficient. They stockpile food and supplies and water. That will help them with the oncoming days of limited to no travel in Haiti. We have been worried all evening so this is great news. Here is what they posted:


So sorry not to post her sooner. It has been hard to connect with Gina and Lucien. But we did manage to exchange emails. Everyone at CEJ/FEJ is safe - that is the best news we could have received. However, there is significant damage to the transit house and some damage at the creche. All the children are fine. It will be some time before we have the actual assesment of the building/road/infrastructure damage. We are all so very saddened by this latest and worst disaster. Personally, I just don’t understand why so many horrible things happen in Haiti. It is very distressing. As most of you know who have been to Haiti - there is no way the shantys and shacks you pass could have survived this magnitude of an earthquake. I can’t even begin to imagine how PAP looks and how difficult it will be for rescue teams to get into areas. Please keep all of Haiti in your prayers.

On another note - we believe Valencia now has her passport, which means we are waiting for the visa appointment. The earthquake will definitely slow things down, but I am happy to wait as long as Valencia is safe.

November

Here are some pictures from our November -- whew, I'm almost caught up.

Beckett started crawling this month just before Thanksgiving.

We took a trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire and hiked to a waterfall.

This is how Nala spends her day -- all day every day.



These are pictures from our Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania. It was FREEZING but the kids were able to play out in the leaves one afternoon. They had a great time together.