Imagine you are 18 and you know you have to leave the place you call home. Everything you know is gone, and you have to stand on your own two feet – feet, that you don’t even know how they work.
This step is the hardest thing any child from an orphanage must take one day. Both, the orphanages and C4C, are working together for years already to prepare these new adults for the big challenge of integration – both emotionally and practically. And just recently, several homes have reached out to us for help:
Because departing children usually move into unfurnished apartments or dormitories, they need help furnishing their apartments. Although the homes are trying to help the affected teens, mostly in the form of Christmas presents, with some small essential household items, items – cutlery, pots, mattresses – in most cases this is not nearly enough to start a new life. Therefore, any help in this regard is always extremely welcome.
So we did not hesitate and contacted Alza, the leading online retailer in the country, with a plea for help. Alza didn´t miss a beat, they responded extremely quickly and sent to the orphanages some very useful domestic helpers: microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners, blenders, sets of knives, hair dryers, irons, dish sets, mops, kettles and toasters.
Alza’s help has eased the step into the unknown for several newly departed young adults who will have to face more than one obstacle in the coming years.
“We here at Chance 4 Children would like to send a BIG THANK YOU to Alza,” says Petra Erguvanli, coordinator of C4C´s Springboard to Life program. “They responded in a flash and with exactly what the children leaving their homes needed. Thank you so much!”
The director of children´s homes in Klánovice Dana Kuchtová also sends a note appreciation to Alza:
“I would like to thank Alza very much, both for me and for our children who are leaving our children´s home. You have made everyone very happy,”
The children´s home in Nové Strašecí responded likewise:
“I would like to thank Alza for their material help and support of kids leaving the orphanage. They have a lot of trouble at the beginning of their journey, with all the necessary paperwork and authorities and of course they have no money to spare. At this point, any sincere help is much needed and wanted. We all thank Alza for joining a great project to help those departing pioneers from us with their first steps out of institutional care,” said Mgr. Milan Čížek, statutory representative of children´s home in Nové Strašecí.
It is only the first step of those new adults, but one of the most important ones. We at C4C keep our fingers crossed for all the children that will follow to meet people with warm hearts and giving spirits!
But it doesn´t take a market leader to make a difference – YOU too can help us to help!
All our activities are provided free of charge to orphanages, old folks homes and hospitals. We are supported only by you! Please consider becoming a member of the “Friends of C4C” by clicking here.
We need your support to continue to change the lives of disadvantaged children for the better, and we appreciate it immensely! Thank you.
Author: Petra Erguvanli
