The Child Well Being Initiative

Please pray for the children of Alberta. Once upon a time, in a very rich province, a group of women discerned some amazing facts. They learned that children were going to school hungry and that children and babies were sleeping in church basements because they didn’t have a home. They were told that 77,595 children live in poverty. The women were members of The United Church. They said, “It is never a child’s fault that they live in poverty. We’ll help them.” Next, like women for generations, they rolled up their sleeves, found men, teens and children willing to help, and began.

In a couple of years, they have raised awareness about this horrific problem, using petitions, letters, essays, art, stories, poetry, workshops, articles, greeting cards, even bird houses! They’ve had fun and they’ve cried sometimes, too. They circulated patterns for “Hope,” and ended up with almost 300 hand stitched rag dolls! The intention was to create 83, one for each MLA, but they were fun to make, so women’s shelters, media and high profile Canadians concerned about child poverty also received one.

This week, as the world celebrates the U.N. International Day of the Child, the Child Well-being Initiative asks for your prayers as we meet the premier, present the dolls and the writings of children and teens. We want our leaders to lead us out of child poverty. We want hungry school children fed, affordable day care, a living wage, and affordable housing. We want the government to make child poverty a priority, as other provinces are doing. We want leaders to honour children. God bless the children. All of them.

Follow this link for more information.