Hope is what we do…..

Hope is what we do…..

by | Mar 27, 2025 | News

Recently I read in a leaflet from another charity: ‘HOPE is what we do…’  That sentence stuck with me. ‘HOPE is what we do’, expresses exactly what we also stand for! Heart for Children is about action, about doing! Helping children wherever possible, so that they can grow up healthy, receive education, learn skills. Above all, it is about giving protection, at home, at school and online. But it goes even further: either there is HOPE, or there is NOTHING, because only HOPE gives life!

(I am reminded of Luke 24: 21-32)

I am so pleased to be able to report that thanks to the generosity of all Heart for Children supporters – and a few of our donors’ exceptional generosity! – we have already collected almost R50000 for our 2025 project so-far, i.e. the canvas enclosure that we want to install at the

Guardians of Hope | Place of safety

for babies and small children.  For more information about this, click here:

Appeal 2025 | Bread on the water

Praise God!  I am sure we can reach our target of R59000 for this within the next two months or so? God bless you for anything that you can afford to give! (There is no obligation to reveal your name but remember that in this case we cannot issue with the 18a certificate for your donation which entitles you to a tax benefit). To donate now, please click on the link below.

DONATE | Heart for Children

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Appeal 2025

by | Feb 19, 2025 | News, newsletter

In a previous newsletter from ‘Heart for Children’ we informed you that this year we want to help ‘Guardians of Hope’ in East London who are taking care of orphaned and/or abandoned babies and small children. We received the following letter of appeal from Philip Nicholson who is a member of the board of both ‘Heart for Children’ and ‘Guardians of Hope’.

Appeal for Sponsorship of Canvas Coverings

Guardians of Hope’ is a dedicated place of safety in East London, providing care for vulnerable children who have been abandoned or surrendered at birth for adoption. Our mission is to meet their physical, spiritual, medical, and psychological needs comprehensively. We strive to spread hope within our community, ensuring that vulnerable children receive the care they deserve and that our community is aware of our presence and support. Our commitment extends to providing a loving home environment for 30 vulnerable children, and we actively work towards family reunification whenever possible. In cases where reunification is not feasible, we support adoption processes, ensuring that the children find a nurturing and permanent loving family.

The facility comprises a large house, a living area for the director and her family (the Brenkmans), small classrooms for pre-school education, and outdoor play facilities. A large courtyard roof was recently installed to provide shelter for the children. It doubles as an entertainment venue for functions as well as birthday party functions for young families, which provides a valuable income stream for the home. Two sides of the covered area are 12m and 14m respectively, which are open to the elements. During inclement weather, the entertainment area becomes virtually unusable, and functions must be cancelled at short notice, at great inconvenience to the parties involved.

The attached quote from an established and reputable business, Border Canvas, is the lowest negotiated with various competitors, and represents a very reasonable investment to install canvased roll-up covers on both sides, as it will be done at cost by the supplier. The target amount to be raised is R59 000. Once the entertainment area is fully covered, the outdoor play facility will also be usable during periods of rain and functions can be planned without the risk of cancellations.

Thank you in advance for partnering with us in this worthy cause. To see some pictures, please click here:

Appeal 2025 | Bread on the water

To make a donation now, please click here: DONATE | Heart for Children

Yours in Christ,

Philip Nicholson

Board Member

+27834114785, East-London

It is time for Christmas carols!

by | Dec 7, 2024 | News, newsletter

In the past we used to send all our donors and sponsors a small gift around this time of the year, usually a CD with Christmas songs and carols, hoping in turn to get an (extra) donation for the children and the ministry. Afterall, Christmas is the season of giving!! How times have changed. The ‘post’ has all but disappeared and I wonder if people still know what a CD is…. anyway, we just have to adapt to the circumstances, not so?

In our house, Christmas does not pass without us listening to the CD:  “The Christmas Way” by the Oslo Gospel choir! I so much want to share this with you now. I am sure that any copyrights on this have come to an end, which means that we can freely pass this on now. I hope you are able to take the time to listen to this on your device with your earphones and your eyes closed. Just click on the small arrow left in the red box. If you are (also) blessed, like we are every year, please send us your (extra) donation for the benefit of our orphans and abandoned children:

DONATE | Heart for Children

We are grateful for any amount you can afford to give!

(In addition to our own homes that we are supporting, as a special project for next year, we also want to try and give some substantial support to the Guardians of Hope in East-London. This is a safe house for babies and very small children. See video further on).

 

Christmas Carols

by the Oslo Gospel Choir | The Christmas Way

Drive safely, enjoy the festive season and stay blessed! 

Annette  0834696875

Henry      0836297690

 

 

Heart for Children Newsletter 24.10.2024

by | Oct 27, 2024 | News, newsletter

Newsletter: Heart for Children 24/10/2024

Isaiah 40:31: “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

We know this promise by Yahweh to the people of God by heart, yet we do not accept His promise fully. This is the time of year when we complain that we feel so tired. So much has happened during this year, like wars, natural disasters, politics, and, closer to home, the various challenges in our own lives. I believe we can only confirm that what happens in our personal lives is what affects us the most. Some of us struggle with our health, or experience financial constraints. Looking back at the past year we may realize that in most cases we have tried to solve our problems in our own way. We have not yet reached the point where we fully let go and let God take over. I often think that we, as the children of God, become so embroiled in our own problems that we tend to peck in the dirt like chickens. Isaiah reminds us to wait on the Lord, who shall renew our strength. If we trust in Yahweh and get up from the dirt, we shall soar above our weariness. Let us search for Godly strength and encouragement in these last weeks before this year comes to an end.

Accomplishment for 2024

As we have reported before, God has been faithful, and Heart for Children collected sufficient funds to provide gas stoves to all homes of the Rehoboth Children’s village plus complete solar power for the education-, distribution- and activity center, respectively. This will make them less dependent on power from ESKOM so that most activities can carry on if there is a power outage.

However, our finances have dwindled to the extent where we are unable to meet our monthly expenses and regular monthly payments to those homes that we are supporting. We therefore urge you, our donors, to open your heart. Heart for Children needs your monthly financial support, otherwise we will have to cut back, which will be to the detriment of the children we support.

Proposal for a new project for this summer

Our financial director, Philip Nicholson, has recently been asked to join the board of the “Guardians of Hope” (GoH), an organization that facilitates rescue and assistance in East London toa maximum of ca. 30 babies and small children. The board of Heart for Children has considered a new project for the next six months collecting donations for GoH, providing for as much baby formula (milk), baby food and nappies as possible. Please take a few minutes to watch this video:

https://youtu.be/Kr5W3muo57c

For more information, you can also go to the GoH website: Guardians of Hope | Place of safety

Will you help? We will take pictures of the goods supplied, so that you can be assured of where your contributions are going. Please remember that this project is in addition to the homes that we are already supporting.  Here is what to do: Please make a (n) (extra) donation to Heart for Children. In the reference, please give your name, surname and the word: ‘hope’. That way we will be able to allocate your donation going to the ‘Guardians of Hope’ project. Please click here for more information on how to donate: DONATE | Heart for Children

May God bless you richly,

Henry and Annette Pool

0836297690, henrypool7@gmail.com

Henry’s Blog | Bread on the water

0834696875, annette.pool@gmail.com

NEWS | Heart for Children

 

 

Finished!!!

Finished!!!

by | Jul 20, 2024 | News, newsletter

I am sure that you are aware of the project that we had embarked upon for the Rehoboth Children’s Village. I am so proud to report that all the work that we set out to do to make the Rehoboth Children’s Village less dependent on Eskom power, has now been finalized. All 17 homes in the village now have gas cooking! The homes already had been fitted with solar geysers and to this we added the lightbulbs with batteries in every room that keep on shining for hours if the power goes off. We supplied full solar power to the activity center which includes the cooling- and food distribution center. Finally, we also replaced the faulty inverter of the existing solar power installation of the school.

Message from the Rehoboth Children’s Village (on behalf of ca. 80 children): Thanking you all so much for this amazing support. Both Gas and Solar. What a blessing. Bless you guys and BIG hugs from us. Alfons & Yvonne van Galien

Below are some pictures that we want to share with you! 

Above and below: Full solar installation for the activity center (includes cooling and food storage&supply).

Below are some pictures of the education centre and the improvement to the solar installation!

(After inspection, Henry saying: the solar installation at the education center could do with an extra 2 more solar panels, situated elsewhere, away from the trees. Unfortunately, Heart for Children has used all the funds that were available).

Make a donation: https://heartforchildren.co.za/donate/

Feedback of our help to the Rehoboth Children’s Village

Feedback of our help to the Rehoboth Children’s Village

by | May 23, 2024 | News

It has been a while since we gave you some feedback. First, before I forget again: Alfons and Yvonne van Galien of the Rehoboth Children’s Village would like to personally thank each donor and sponsor of Heart for Children that contributed to the R200000 that we collected for the children of the village. I am so glad to be able to report that, so far,

  • All 17 children’s homes in the village now have a full gas stove!

  • All the stoves have been installed and certified by an approved supplier. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a rather large cost factor.

  • 20 x 9kg gas bottles were purchased as well.

  • All lights in the homes were replaced with 56 LED back-up lights. These will keep on giving light for a few hours after the power goes off.

The cost for the above was almost R115000. We are all satisfied that this would enable the children’s homes to still function well in case of a power failure or load shedding.

The intention is that the remainder of the money be spent on adding pure solar power to the children’s village. Note that in the office, solar had already been installed. The solar of the school and education center had also been installed already but did not function due to a faulty inverter.

  • The faulty inverter at the school/education center has now been replaced for a little more than R10000 which included installation and certification costs.

This means that, so far, the office and the school & education center in the children’s village are now covered with power, especially in case of load shedding. What remains is the activity center of the village which also includes the clinic and the cooling/freezer room. There is a quote for a complete 3kW solar system servicing this building for R80750. We want to approve this expenditure but if you did the sums: yes, indeed, this is just ca. R5750 above our budget. However, considering such a large project, this is not really that much. I am sure we all wish to bring our help to the Rehoboth Children’s Village to a successful end. I just realized that we are really doing miracles, right here! We can do this. I am sure of it. I will also donate an extra R500 for this. May I once more ask for your assistance as well, please? Just click here, and maybe you can give as reference: your name + Rehoboth.

DONATE | Heart for Children

(Please remember that we also still need your regular monthly contributions to keep up with our monthly assistance to the safe houses that we have committed to!)

Note that we have sent all donors of Heart for Children the certificate for the tax year ending 29/2/2024. Please let us know if you have not received it. Just send e-mail us or send us an SMS (for our addresses and numbers: see at the end of this letter).

Thanking you for any contribution and wishing you God’s richest blessings!

Annette Pool

annette.pool@gmail.com

0834696875

 

Henry Pool

henrypool7@gmail.com

0836297690