About
Background | Objective | Vision | Income | Action | Future
Background
The vision for the Hayati Children’s Foundation came after the Shibley family’s travels to various developing countries. Upon traveling to both Mexico and the Dominican Republic, the Shibley family saw firsthand the troubling conditions of two struggling orphanages in both countries. In an attempt to help out these organizations the family made a large lump sum donation to each orphanage. For the past few years, the Shibley family has been directly involved in many charitable events and fundraisers. The family wanted to find a way to continue to support both the orphanages they encountered in their travels as well as find a way to eliminate G&A and overhead costs; this was the catalyst to the creation of the Hayati Children’s Foundation.
The First orphanage we sponsored was located in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Children in the orphanage were provided with three daily meals and attend school from pre-school through grade 12. Clothing and after school programs including arts & crafts and music were also provided to the children. This facility accommodates over 200 children; though the children do not sleep there, local families take the children in at night and provide them with a bed to sleep in. This facility now receives donations from many outside sources, including churches and private donors, so the HCF determined that our funds could be allocated to more needy organizations. Although we no longer sponsor the orphanage in Santo Domingo, we still keep in touch with them and receive updates on the children’s progress and well-being.
Love in Action is a home where children whom have suffered neglect or were in high-risk home environment are placed with the purpose of providing them with a temporary and safe shelter. They are located on Mount Tepehus (te-pay-wah) in the town of Chapala in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. This part of town is one of the poorest in the area with a high percentage of gang activity, drug and alcohol problems and single parent homes. They presently house 48 children with ages ranging from 4 months to 16 years old. In addition to this, they also provide day care services for single mothers from the neighbourhood. The school-aged children attend a local public school while the younger children are taken care of on-site. There are also four special-need children that attend a local special education facility in Chapala.
Objective
To provide funds to specific orphanages in developing countries to enable those living in the orphanage to have a better quality of life, proper nutrition and an education and training to enable them up support themselves once they reach age of majority.
Vision
Our vision is encompassed by the following 5 points:
- To provide proper facilities to house both the children and their caregiver.
- To provide training of skills to the children so when the children are old enough to leave the orphanages they will be self supporting through an ethical line of work.
- To ensure the children receive proper food, to make sure basic nutritional requirements are met.
- To provide the children with clothes, toys, art supplies, etc., to allow them to feel a sense of joy in their life.
- To enhance the education of both the children and their caregivers.
Income
The primary source of income to the Foundation will be from hosting a number of fundraising events each year. These events will include a poker tournament, a wine and cheese function and possibly a bowling and/or golf tournament. The directors of the foundation are responsible for both creating and implementing the events.
Overhead for the foundation is virtually non-existent; therefore, all the money from the events will go directly to benefit the children in the orphanages.
Action
The orphanage in Chapla is called Love in Action (LIA) and the HCF provides them with, on a monthly basis, a cash amount equal to around one third of their monthly operating budget. There are strict instructions that the funds shall be used for the operations of the orphanage and for the health, well being, clothing, education, feeding and caring of the orphans.
LIA must provide all receipts of goods purchased for the center and demonstrate that our funds are being used adequately. LIA has informed the HCF that the children in the orphanage shower once a day and are provided with 2 very basic meals.
For safety reasons the children do not leave the facility unless necessary (school, medical emergency, under staff supervision etc.) thus most training of skills and trades are done in-house. LIA and the HCF have spoken to expatriate (Canadian and American) residents in the area to donate their time to teach and educate the children on various activities. Some examples in the past are teaching the children English, painting, drawing, sewing and various sports.
It is the goal of the HCF to ensure that the meals received at the LIA are more nutritious, the personal hygiene of the children is severely improved and that the other basic needs are implemented. This is done through constant communication with the staff at LIA. Although the HCF’s primary goal is the relief of poverty we are also big advocates on the advancement of education. Besides dedicating our monthly cash donation, the directors also send children’s and coloring books to the orphanages (at our own expense). We believe that properly educating the children will give them a better chance to be able to support themselves once they reach the age of majority and thus aid the HCF in its attempt to relieve poverty.
Future
As we grow, we are continually seeking to add additional orphanages to our support list. This is done through extensive research and background checks to ensure that our funds are properly allocated. The HCF is a member of the Figtree Foundation and will be looking to create joint ventures with other organizations within Figtree. This will allow us to expand our knowledge and resources in order to help more orphanages around the globe.
