History of GivingTuesday:  GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good.  It was born and incubated at the 92nd Street Y and its Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact in New York City. GivingTuesday is now an independent nonprofit and a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.  Learn more at https://www.givingtuesday.org/

UKRAINE UPDATE NOVEMBER 2022

Disabled Children’s Fund works to help children in need who might be overlooked by the rest of the world. With your help, we can keep making a difference!

We continue to be horrified at the plight of disabled children in war-ravaged Ukraine. As you may have seen from recent news reports, it is already very cold there, and much of Ukraine’s heating infrastructure is damaged or destroyed. Our partner Mission to Ukraine (MTU) has not fled; they continue to work to bring help and hope. With reduced ability to fully heat their homes, Ukrainians need layers of warm clothes to survive.  On GivingTuesday 2022, you can help make a difference for children and families who were already dealing with the challenge of having disabilities, and now have seen their world seemingly turned upside down.

When MTU alerted us to this need and asked if we could help, the outpouring of generosity was truly breathtaking.  First, a wonderful group, African Women of the DMV (DC, Maryland, & Virginia) came forward to help. These wonderful folks, who themselves have all come from other countries, feel very blessed to be in America, and wanted to help. They partnered with the great people of Mount Oak Church in Maryland, who then recruited friends, family, co-workers and neighbors. The result was a total of 37 large cartons and 5 contractor bags full of warm winter children’s clothing  These wonderful coats, hats, gloves and other items were either brand-new, or in the case of knit items, made just for this purpose by talented volunteers.

The initial 9 cartons were shipped by UPS to MTU’s stateside office in Indiana in October. But last month, out of a desire to maximize DCF funds, our President, Dr. Mary Campbell and her husband Clif, who leads the Missions Committee at Mount Oak, drove a truck and trailer with the second shipment of 28 cartons and 5 large bags to Indiana themselves. These items will literally help make the difference between life and death for innocent little ones.  This was an amazing team effort; many people also came in to sort, inventory and pack the clothing so that (for the cartons) MTU will not need to prepare inventory documents or repack into new boxes, which is a frequent problem with receiving bulk donations.

Please join us to help support these children on this GivingTuesday.

Thank you!