Chang-mi group raising funds for performance in Korea

I don't often come to you soliciting funds. In fact, I don't think I ever have. But I can't think of a better cause than this one. Give me 5-minutes of your time and see if you agree.

"The performance of a lifetime" is how the fundraising page bills it. And I guess it would be. I can only imagine how amazing it would be for a Korean-American adoptee to return to Korea, performing traditional drumming and dancing in a former Korean war orphanage.

This is the opportunity available to the 17-members of the Chang-mi Korean Dance & Drum performance group based out of Minnesota. Participants are ages 5-19 and we've had the pleasure of seeing them perform for our adoption group, Families Through Korean Adoption. On their fundraising page they describe the opportunity like this:

We’ll have the chance to perform with a professional dance company in front of officials from Gwang-ju city and the South Korean government, as well as representatives from other countries.  More than that, we, as Korean adoptees and children of Korean adoptees, will be able to show the people of South Korean how we have integrated a piece of our and our parents’ traditional culture into our lives in Minnesota. 

Everyone in the group is adopted or the children of adoptees. Isn't that awesome?? The group was founded in 1984 and the main focus is for children to connect with other Korean-American adoptees and learn about their heritage and culture.

So here's where I ask you to open up your pocket book and help these kids out. The group has been invited to perform at the opening of the ChoongHyun Babies' Home Memorial in Gwang-ju. The memorial is based in a  former Korean War orphanage. The aim of the memorial home is to provide support for adoptees. There is a guest house where adoptees returning to Korea can learn about their culture, language and ChoongHyun will also assist in searching for birth families. 

This is such a wonderful opportunity for the performance group! I get goosebumps just thinking about how they must feel! They are raising $10,000 for airfare and travel expenses for the group, and additional funds raised will go toward costumes. They have 9 days to go to raise the funds (pledge drive ends March 1) and are more than half-way there. They'll even send handmade Korean hanji gifts to those who pledge $10 or more.

So dig in and share, would ya? One day, this could be one of our children. Here is the link to their fundraising page, Chang-mi Korean Dance & Drum: Performance of a lifetime.

Below are some videos of the group's performance at our adoption group last year. Aren't they wonderful?
 


http://youtu.be/KqN7NTZmGes



http://youtu.be/0AVhubZ7HpM

L: Help bring a Serbian prince to his forever family

Just stumbled across this great blog, Adventures of Axel and Ianna.

Their story is great and they are adopting a 7-year-old boy from Belgrade to join their family of four. 'L' also has Down Syndrome, as do their other two children. I love their blog and am excited for them to finally be united with 'L'.

It's also quite interesting to learn more about their process, as it's quite different from Korea's. They have accepted a referral, but do not yet know their son's given name, haven't seen his face yet, and do not even know the full condition of his health. They have a tentative date to meet 'L' on Nov. 21st.


They are in the final days of fundraising to bring 'L' home, and are raffling off a Nikon 3100 camera kit to raise the last $1500 they need. The raffle ends midnight, Nov. 15. Raffle tickets are $20 each. Click HERE to hop on over and help bring this family together!

(http://myianna.blogspot.com/2011/11/camera-giveaway-nikon-d3100.html)

Adoption Bug

Found this cool site called Adoption Bug. They have cute adoption themed apparel, but what I think is really cool is how they operate. The founders are adoptive parents themselves--she's a graphic designer and he has a background in printing.

One of my favorite things about this site though, is that they help raise funds for adoptive families through t-shirt sales. There's no out of pocket expense for the families (we are doing enough of that already!) and you can sell the shirts as aggressively (think door-to-door) or as laid back (send a few emails out to family) as you want.

Even if you don't use it for fund raising, you are sure to see a few things you'll want for yourself. We haven't used this service at all yet, but thought I'd share it with you anyway. If you try them out, let me know what you think!