Who will you be celebrating this Father’s Day?
Kids all over the country will be waking up their dads with special cards, gifts and coupons to “take it easy for the afternoon.”
Wives will be cooking their husbands special lunches or taking dad out to eat.
And so many of us will be making calls to our fathers to simply say, “I celebrate you.”
But, today, what about those kids who grow up without knowing who their dad is?
What about those kids who grow up in international orphanages because their parents are deceased? Or are unable to care for them?
Who will they celebrate today?
In many children’s homes, the model of care is based on “family groups” or “host parents.”
Kids will be housed in cottages either based on age, gender or special needs and are assigned to a house mom or dad that will serve as their surrogate parents. Sometimes kids will follow the same host mom or dad for their whole lives. Other times, they’ll get re-grouped ever couple of years. If you visit a children’s home, you’ll often hear women referred to as “Mom ____” and men called “Daddy___”
Last month, I had the opportunity to visit two of Our Courageous Kids’ partner children’s homes in Kenya. I also had the chance to visit with several house moms and dads.
One of the most special parts of the trip included taking 8 teenage and college aged kids who’d grown up in an orphanage in Kenya on a 3 day retreat. Several staff from the center joined us. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know them better too!
Over the course of the weekend as staff, kids and volunteers from Our Courageous Kids alike, we played games together, ate together, took hikes together and shared sessions with one another about what it means to transition out of residential care as a young adult. 
One of the big take-aways from the weekend was how much the staff members love the children in their care. Even if they are not biologically theirs, there’s still so much love and positive energy directed toward their future. They have big hopes for their future!
One of the dads that works with the teenage boys shared with me:
“I wants my boys to always know how loved they are and have all the resources they need for their future, especially college.”
And isn’t this what every dad hopes for their sons and daughters?
This is where Our Courageous Kids comes in. We want to give Dads who mentor kids at these centers hope, hope to know that there’s more parents out there cheering their kids on too! That’s where you come in . . .
Specifically, we want you to help us create funds for education so that youth as seen in this picture (and countless others) can know they their studies will be taken care of no matter what they choose to do.
Most all we want the kids to believe this: that just because they grow up in a children’s home, it doesn’t mean that they will be forgotten when they age out of their institutions (usually around age 18).
I’d love you to join me in this effort in honor of your loved ones this father’s day TODAY or this week. Make a gift today to honor the dads in these kids lives. Make a gift to champion a young adult’s college education fund. Join our family circle. Be an honorary dad to a kid in Kenya or Honduras.
Check out our donate page by clicking here!
Happy Father’s Day to all!
-Elizabeth Hagan
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