invisible Needs

He is 10 years old, with few memories of his past.
Too much happened too long ago now, to remember clearly.
This happens often with foundling children.
They are lost, taken into care in a government facility,
And no one thinks to ask questions of what they remember or know.
And time erases the few details that were once there.
As many of our young boys, this one has been a handful for his former caregivers.
He was treated harshly and restrained in ways that should not have been allowed.
He was put on medication and diagnosed with mental illness.
 
I won’t fault those trying to care for him
Not enough training…
Little understanding of trauma and no counseling given.
And as the child suffers, his trauma increases. And his behavior becomes violent.
He is angry and unloved. And so he lashes out. In frightening ways.
It’s a cycle. And often terrifying to those involved.
 
This is the second boy in the past few weeks,
that came to us diagnosed with a serious behavior disorder.
JR was one of them.
But JR came into our care to die…
so the behaviors were not significant.
And as we watched God do an amazing miracle in the life of JR,
I am reminded how God’s ways are so much higher than our ways.
 
Surgery for JR was an impossibility for us. Someone sponsored his operation.
Cardiologists and surgeons were skeptical of his surviving surgery.
He did not even need a mechanical ventilator as prescribed.
Nurses and doctors scoffed at his recovery.
He defied all possible complications and was home in 8 days.
He was running and playing yesterday, dancing with the other boys.
And it is with awe that I watch God’s hand move on our children.
 
These children need us.
Sometimes the need is clearly physical. Like open heart surgery.
But sometimes, the need is emotional and psychological. And spiritual.
Invisible. But just as desperate. And just as life-threatening.
 
Both these boys need continued care- on levels that are intense and intimate.
Without this care, they will not heal, not grow, and not become who God intended.
 
When you support us financially, you are investing in the lives of our children.
You are allowing us to provide the care they need.
From counsellors to social workers to teachers and caregivers.
You are making a way for them to stay in our home so we can love them.
 
Your support of this home is VITAL.
Your supports provides love.
And there is hope in love.
 
We now have three homes open- all for children and youth who, without our care, will never become the men and women God intended. Consistent monthly funding and support is critical and desperately needed. Please get involved and help save these precious children.

-Charity Graff
Executive Director

From Heart to Hand

On May 10 2019, four boys aged 10-13 from Virginia hosted a charity basketball event to benefit Gentle Hands Orphanage in partnership with a non-profit called Touching Heart.
The idea started after one of the boys, Jaden Keltz, visited Gentle Hands in August, 2018 with his family during trip to the Philippines. While there, Jaden and his sisters played basketball and other games with the children while their mother, Elaine Espinola Keltz, interviewed Executive Director, Charity Graff, for the television program she produces in the US, called 'Capital Connect' based in the Washington, DC area. Jaden's family became interested and inspired to keep in touch and find ways to help Gentle Hands.

Back in the states, Jaden decided to work with Touching Heart, a non-profit organization which teaches children the joy of giving through service. Through their Kids On A Mission program, Jaden asked three friends to help take the lead on planning, organizing and emceeing a basketball event to benefit the children at Gentle Hands. For five months, the boys had planning meetings, weekly conference calls and outreach in their community. They sought sponsorships through local businesses and promoted attendance through their schools, through their sports programs and in their neighborhoods. Their goal was to raise awareness for the needs of children at Gentle Hands and show the world that children can have a huge impact in making a positive difference
in the lives of other children.

Their event brought about 100 people together, mostly kids, to play basketball games, bid on silent auction items and learn more about Gentle Hands and how children can help other children through service events, like the kind facilitated by the Kids On A Mission Program through Touching Heart. Their guest speaker included Andrew Sanderson-Singson, a Filipino American high school student who will be attending De La Salle University as a Green Archer basketball player in the fall of 2019. The boys raised over $2000 to benefit the children at Gentle Hands Orphanage.

Jaden Keltz and his family hope to visit the children at Gentle Hands again soon!