RICHMOND, Va. -- ChildFund International is an 80-year-old organization born in Richmond, but their support is worldwide.
Their goal is to keep families healthy, educated, skilled and safe. And every year staff in these communities create a list of real needs.
"So we gather what the real needs are and put it together in a catalog,"ChildFund International President and CEO Ann Lynam Goddard explained. "So if you buy say, for example, a goat, which is one of the most popular items in our catalog we deliver an actual goat to a community to a family it’s not a symbolic gift, it’s a real gift."
Other real needs items include livestock like cattle, sometimes chicken, pigs, bikes to help kids get to school, COVID 19- supplies and especially clean water.
"So handwashing stations, the place where we can pump water so there’s a sink and the soap everything, in communities can use it to wash your hands and keep themselves clean," Goddard said.
Anoinette Essa, who was born in Liberia, said she knows how simple items like a goat can make a real difference in the life of a family.
"So this is a real need to put food in the hands of families, so they can feed their kids. That is a real, real need," Goddard said. "I’ve seen the goats, I’ve seen the chickens they produce eggs they produce milk. I’ve visited families who are also, where they got a gift from the catalog, then they also gave back the time... So it’s really realistic things that families need every day to survive on normal days but even more so now during the pandemic."
The catalog is online, there are incentives, in-kind gifts, and other ways to support Childfund International, including the monthly sponsorship.
For more details visit https://www.childfund.org/ or call 1-800-776-6767.
