I dreamed of being a mother since I was a small girl. I couldn’t wait to dress and rock my own real live babies. I practiced on Cabbage Patch Kids. But nothing can prepare you for the heart stretch that happens when you become a parent.
Everything changes. You become the softest and the scariest person at the same time – one minute you gently kiss downy hair on a tiny head, the next you are ready to pounce on anyone who would harm your child and tear them apart with your bare hands.
But what I can’t comprehend is the millions of babies who have no mother or father to shelter and protect them.
Orphans.
Today I’m opening my eyes to the large number of orphans in the world and the need for willing people to adopt them. According to the World Orphans website, there are an estimated 163,000,000 orphans in the world. Did you catch all those zeros?
I’d like to introduce you to someone who is doing something about it. This is Beth Cupitt and she runs an amazing organization blog called Give 1 Save 1.
Beth, for those readers who don’t know about Give 1 Save 1, tell us the purpose of your organization.
We exist to simply provide a stage for people to raise funds towards their international adoptions. We are currently supporting Africa, Haiti, and Asian adoptions. Each family gets the donate button for a week and we simply ask everyone to give a dollar towards that adoption. It really can alleviate some serious stress that comes with adoption.
How did you get started?
I started with our own adoption. There are lots of blogs that have HUGE followings and I thought, “Man, if one of these ladies would just ask their members to give us a single dollar our whole adoption could be paid for.” But I understand that blogs have to stick to their topic and all that. So I figured I’d have to build an audience from the ground up and ask them. So that’s how it started. I just started blogging away and it’s been growing steadily ever since.
Do you have your own adoption story?
I do! We are in the waiting phase. We are waiting for a phone call that could come at any time and tell us who our child is, which is a wild thought! We are waiting for a boy 0-2 or a girl 0-5 from Ethiopia.
How many families has Give 1 Save 1 helped?
Oh, goodness, around 40 families so far. We used to do one a week (Africa), but now we’ve added Asia and Haiti, so there are up to three families a week now.
Can $1 actually help?
Absolutely. Some people do give more, but lots of people give a dollar. The ball really gets rolling when people share. The more people you tell through blogs, emails, Facebook, and Twitter the more dollars the families bring in.
Does all of the money go directly to these families?
It does for the most part. We link directly to their Paypal account, so I don’t even know how much they get (they have to update me). Paypal does get their chunk, but we’ve found it to be the most convenient and practical way to get money to the families quickly, and they often do need it quickly. There’s no overhead cost for me personally and all of our bloggers, including myself, are volunteers.
How do you choose the families to help? Is there an application process?
There is an application that I email. We read about the families and ask them to make a video. We choose based on several factors. One is the video. We love to see a fun video and find that if it’s a fun one or a touching one people will share it. Sharing = bigger donations and we really like to see families have a great week. Another factor is need. Financial situation, health and number of children being adopted, and where families are in the process are all taken into consideration.
If there are any families out there thinking about adoption, can you offer any advice?
Pray like crazy! Adoption is so full of uncertainties and tragedy, but there is beauty in taking the leap of faith. Joy will come from the ashes.
Thank you Beth for sharing! So people, do you want to open your eyes to the orphans? One way of doing that is by clicking over to Give 1 Save 1 and donating $1. Seriously. $1. It’s that easy. Head over and watch some of the videos these families have put together about their adoptions. I dare you not to be moved.
Give 1 Save 1 is the featured service organization this month. You can come back anytime this month and find a link to them by clicking the Give 1 Save 1 button on the sidebar.
Tomorrow we’ll continue talking about adoption with a guest post from Missy at It’s Almost Naptime, where she’ll talk about her journey to adopt. Come back, you don’t want to miss it!
