Sponsor a Child Today and Give Hope for a Better Tomorrow

I bet you would be shocked to know that every 30 seconds in the United States, a child is abused. And, that annually, there are over 100,000 abuse cases reported in Georgia alone. Many more children need a safe place to live, free from the threat of abuse in the night, or abandonment in the morning.

Since 1965, The Children’s Village at Christian City has been “home” to over 1,000 abandoned, abused, and neglected children! Christian City is a nonprofit, nondenominational organization that provides these special children a safe haven in a loving, family centered, residential setting. They also provide foster care placement in well qualified homes in the community.

The Children’s Village cares for children both by private placement and from the Department of Family and Children Services. With a focus on family, education and healing, Christian City is known and respected throughout the State of Georgia for providing a program of excellence. We minister to those who are dealing with life crisis, such as the death of a parent, divorce, or sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. The program’s family environment allows children from every background to have access to a traditional family unit and support systems to help mend their wounded spirits. The Children’s Village may be the only home some children ever know.

On a 500 acre campus in Union City, the children live in cottages with full time house parents. Each cottage functions as one big family including daily chores, homework, regular church attendance and traditional sit-down meals. Dedicated house parents are an important component of why the Children’s Village has so many successes in turning broken-spirited, angry or sad children, into productive, successful, good hearted kids. Many of these children grow up to become happy, healthy adults who serve the community as firefighters, school teachers, air line employees, or in the legal field. Sara’s story demonstrates this well:

Sarah’s father was in prison and her mother had the mental capacity of a third grader and was unable to care for her. She spent her adolescent years living at Christian City. Sarah says, “If it weren’t for Christian City, I don’t know where I would be. I came to Christian City at the end of my 6th grade…I was twelve. I had been living in and out of emergency shelters. My house parents treated me as their own child from the first time we ever met. Even if I was hard to get along with, they still loved me. We had a great life and were very connected as a family. My house parents encouraged me in my school work and in extra activities. When I was struggling academically, they hired a tutor. They were always there to help me with my homework, and then later to help me apply for a good college. I recently graduated from Goizueta School of Business and am planning to go to law school. I am where I am today, because of the positive influence of my house parents and of Christian City.”

Christian City has a new focus on fundraising through their Child Sponsorship Program, where you can Sponsor a Child for as little as $30 a month. This is an easy way to support The Children’s Village and is very simply done with a check, debit, or credit card. If you are able to give less than “a buck a day” on a monthly basis, would you please consider Sponsoring a Child Today?

For more information on The Children’s Village at Christian City access www.christiancity.org or call Heidi Becker at 770-703-2636.

The 3rd Annual Hollingsworth House Chair-ity Event Nov. 30th

The 3rd Annual Hollingsworth House Chair-ity Event will be held on Monday, November 30, from 5:00-7:30 pm at The Hollingsworth House in downtown Fayetteville, GA. This will be an elegant holiday affair with delicious food and live entertainment. The event will also feature live and silent auctions of extraordinary chairs and other works of art donated by local artisans.

This is a volunteer driven event and hosts include Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, Senator and Mrs. Ronnie Chance, and Senator and Mrs. Mitch Seabaugh, just to name a few.

All proceeds will help the children who live at Christian City have a wonderful Christmas. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased in advance by calling 770-703-2636.

To become a sponsor of the Chair-ity Event, please contact Heidi Becker at 770-703-2632 or heidib@christian-city.org or contact Belinda Fitch at 770-460-3165. All sponsorships include tickets to the event and recognition for helping less fortunate children to have a wonderful holiday season.

Christian City has been caring for abandoned and abused children in a family centered residential setting since 1965. Over 1,000 children have called Christian City “home.” For more information about this Chair-ity Event, please visit www.chair-ity-event.org. For more information about The Children’s Village, please call770-703-2636 or visit www.christiancity.org.
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A Chair-ity Event

On Monday night community leaders, businesses and many, many caring people came together to support The Children's Village at Christian City. I'm not sure how many readers know about all the great things that the wonderful folks at Christian City do for ALL ages.

As I talk to people in the community it's interesting to hear their thoughts on Christian City. While the vast majority understand the scope of their services, others only know part of the picture. Some think they take care of retirees or that it's a community of retirees. Some think it's a home for children. Some just think it's a community of Christians. Others think about Southwest Christian Hospice.

Well, Christian City is a place for retirees to live, it's a nursing home, it's a place for on-the-go seniors and it provides a nurturing home for children.

Christian City is open to those of all faiths. Here's a bit from their website that explains their focus on faith much better than I could: "While expressly Christian in orientation, Christian City does not discriminate in any way with regard to who can benefit from services and ministries provided. We minister to the physical as well as the spiritual needs of people as an expression of the Love of God to them. Our motto is “Loving People…Loving People.” It is our hope that hurting people will experience the love of God through us and be drawn closer to Him. It is also our hope that everyone served by Christian City enjoys an enriched and fulfilling life."

While they do have hospice services, they are separate from Southwest Christian Hospice (or, to note the correct name, Southwest Christian Care). Southwest is located in the middle of the Christian City campus, but the two are different entities, each doing wonderful things for many in their own way.

Christian City is also working on a new venture which is something I will be supporting completely. Once they complete the NEW Children's Village, they will be remodeling the old children's homes to provide a place for older special needs adults. I'll share more information about that in a later write-up. Right now I want to focus on the event we held Monday night.

Belinda and Craig Fitch, owners of the Hollingsworth House in Fayetteville, and Metro Catering, put on a fund-raiser to beat all fund-raisers. For the second year they opened their antebellum home to raise money to build The Children's Village. The pair worked tirelessly to help put the event together, donating hours and hours of time AND donating all the food and services for the event. These are truly two wonderful people who, to quote a friend, put feet with their prayers.

Numerous volunteers joined the effort to make the fund raiser a huge success.

The fun twist that made the event unique was the auction. Artists from across the Atlanta area donated chairs and stools they painted for the event. Patsy Gullet, Vicki Turner, Miles Davis, Debbie Beauregard, Greg Blair, Donna Rosser, Jim Whitlock, Cress Chance, Fiona Arlene Dennis and others found chairs and painted them specifically for this event.

The chairs were a hit!

In case you're wondering why I'm rhapsodizing about this event... Aside from the fact that it's a great event for a great cause, I'm on the volunteer committee and we're already starting to work on NEXT year's event. This year we had tremendous support from the artistic community, the business community and many community leaders. We raised a lot of money, but you know that when you're dealing with children, there's never enough! Next year, we want to raise the bar and do more for the children at Christian City.

I'd like to tell you more, but this has probably already taxed your reading limits. Please visit http://www.christiancity.org/ and find out more about Christian City. I'd also like to ask you to visit http://www.chair-ity-event.org/ to find out more about the chairs, the artists and our great sponsors. And, last but not least, I'd like to ask you to consider sponsoring a child at Christian City or making a donation of some sort to help the kids. Visit http://www.christiancity.org/ to find out how to help.

Hear are some links from the Christian City website:

Children
Our people reflect Christ's love by providing hope, restoring trust, mending hearts and bringing happiness to each child entrusted to our care.
Sponsor a Child
Atlanta Foster Care
The Children's Village
Transitional Living Program

Seniors
Our passion to radiate the love of Christ results in extraordinary service to Seniors on the entire continuum of care, because it's not our job - it's our mission!
Atlanta Assisted Living
Atlanta Independent Living
Atlanta Nursing Home
Atlanta HUD Housing
Other Senior Services

Photos:
1. Detail from Patsy Gullet's chair which depicted scenes from Fayette County
2. Debbie Beauregard donated a chair and two stools with whimsical animals and florals
3. Miles Davis painted a fabulous chair with an owl on the seat and a large moon on the back
4. Tyrone artist Jim Whitlock painted a bar and two stools with three different aircraft.

- Janet McGregor Dunn

Christian City Named Georgia's Best Management Company

Christian City was presented the award for "Best Management Company in the State of Georgia" at a recent 2008 Southeastern Affordable Housing Management Association luncheon held at the Airport Hilton. Paul Baker, Director of the Retirement Division at Christian City accepted the award from Valerie Todaro, CEO of Georgia HAP (Housing Assistance Payments). Over 1,000 residents live on Christian City's 500 acre campus which offers quality homes in a community environment for those on limited income, active retirees, seniors in need of assisted living, nursing and rehabilitation and Alzheimer's disease care. The Children's Village at Christian City provides safe, family centered homes with full time houseparents to abandoned and abused children. Located in Union City, Christian City is a nonprofit, nondenominational organization and is always in need of volunteers and donations. For more information on Christian City call 770-703-2636 or access www.christiancity.org.

Pictured (l-r) are: Christian City's Shirley Myers, Kaye Fogg, Paul Baker, Director of Retirement Division accepting the award from Valerie Todaro, CEO of Georgia HAP Administrators, Christian City's Paula Brown and Jeanette Payne.

THE HOME FOR CHILDREN/CHILDREN'S VILLAGE AT CHRISTIAN CITY CALLS ON COMMUNITY WITH SPECIAL NEEDS FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY

Christian City, a nonprofit, nondenominational organization serving less fortunate and neglected children as well as seniors, the elderly and the infirm, is calling on the community for financial donations, gift cards, and pantry items. The following is a list of needs for the Home for Children/Children's Village:

Cereal
Batteries (AA, AAA, C, D)
Paper towels, plates and napkins
Cereal
Boxed Drinks (100% Juice)
Canned Fruit
Boxed Dinners
Peanut Butter, Jelly
Chips
Toilet Paper and facial tissue
Laundry Detergent – powdered or liquidSoaps (hand or bar)
Cleaning Supplies
Canned Fruit
Crackers, chips, snack cakes (individually wrapped)
Gift cards to local stores such as Wal Mart, Target, Kroger, Ingles

Christian City, located in Union City, relies on community support to continue to meet the needs of the children in their care. To make a donation, sponsor a child, become a volunteer or for more information on the Home for Children and the new Children's Village under construction, please contact Phil Kouns, Chief Operating Officer of Children's Services at 770-703-2641 or access http://www.christiancity.org/