For Immediate
Release
August
11, 2006
Contact
Person: Gael J.B. Orr, Executive Director
Email
Address: gael@hopeunites.org
Website: www.hopeunites.org
Telephone: 585-612-6633
HOPE Unites launches “Adopt-a-Rider” program
–
Sponsor a Child, Save a Horse, Make a
Difference
HOPE
Unites and Trinity Stables proudly announce its new child and horse
sponsor program, Trinity’s HOPE. Trinitys HOPE is a joint effort
between non-profit organization, HOPE Unites and Trinity Stables,
both businesses located in the community of Dansville, NY. The program was developed to
help support the HIV/Aids orphanage, Children of Zion Village, in
Namibia,
Africa. The orphanage is using
horses to develop self-esteem and confidence in the lives of the
children who live there.
The program is about involving individuals, families,
churches, 4-H or Pony Clubs into the lives of the African children,
and to let them “adopt a rider” and help to support the program that
has such positive affects on their lives.
The
Children of Zion Village lies On the banks of the Zambezi River in Namibia, Africa.
Home to 55 children, most of them orphaned by AIDS, Children
of Zion is a place of safety and love for children whose lives have
been filled with turmoil—but most of all it is a place they call
home. Humanitarian Aid
worker, Sarah Haver (a Trinity Stable’s riding instructor and a HOPE
Unites career missionary) went on staff with Children of Zion in
January 2006, after learning of the home’s struggles with their
horse program. Along
with teaching elementary school first and second grades, she helps
the children to care for and train the home’s fourteen horses, and
gives the children daily riding lessons. Miss Haver has seen miracles
happen through the horses—abandoned children, some of them former
slaves or HIV positive, have learned to trust and love the gentle
animals, and have gained confidence in caring for and learning to
ride and control them.
The children adore their horses and ride every chance they
get—their joy can be seen in a smile as they go over their first
jump, or heard in their laughter as they swim the horses in the
Zambezi River or gallop through the
bush. Horses are
unparalleled in their healing and therapeutic nature—this can be
seen every day at Children of Zion!
The
program is in need of further financial assistance as the horses are
extremely expensive to feed and care for. Veterinary emergencies are
frequent, and the horses continue to die because of the lack of
medicines and veterinary care, devastating the children. The home
also has very little access to proper riding equipment—the number
one wish of the kids is to have their own pair of riding boots. While they have received
some tack, the need is still great.
To
participate in Trinitys HOPE, people may donate either horse
supplies or funds, either as a one-time donation or sponsor a horse
and rider on a regular basis donating $25 a month per child. Monthly sponsors will
receive a packet of information, with a DVD, pictures and a letter
from their sponsored child.
Quarterly newsletters will keep sponsors updated and
semi-annual letters from the child will allow the sponsor to bond
with their child.
Correspondence is encouraged! Funds will be used for feed,
veterinary care and medicines for the child’s horse, necessary
equipment for the child, and a new horse fund. All contributions are
tax deductible and can be made online. Go to www.HopeUnites.org click on the Trinity’s
Hope link or quick link www.TrinitysHope.org If you would like to
visit Children of Zion Village and help with the horses or work with
the children, there is a team going there in January 2008. You may
get more information by contacting our offices at: 585-612-6633 or
by going to our website.
For
Immediate Release
October
20, 2005
Contact
Person: Gael Billyard Orr
Email
Address: gael@hopeunites.org
Website: www.HopeUnites.org
Phone: 585-612-6633
Channel 10 NBC Rochester
News
Group of Edison Tech students and teachers heading
to Gulf Coast to help with rebuilding efforts
2/28/06
They’re about to embark on a
lesson you can't learn in the classroom. 22 students from Edison
technical high school are heading to the gulf coast region Thursday
to help in the rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina. NEWS
10NBC joined the team of construction students Tuesday at Edison
Tech, as they got ready to leave Thursday. “I'm sleeping on the bus.
I'm sleeping on the plane, so when we get there, I'll be hyped up,”
said student Juan Gonzalez.
In Mr. Wild's construction class
it's all the talk but when Gael Orr from hope unites takes over the
talk ends. “I want to talk to you guys about what you're going to be
facing while you're down there.”
Down there is Biloxi, Mississippi.
Six months after Hurricane Katrina, it's still a disaster zone. But
after a year and a half of training at Edison Tech the students can
build walls and foundations and frame houses. “They could insulate
an entire house or the electrical kids could rough in the wiring for
an entire house,” said Wild.
“My anticipation is that they'll
be able to do about 3 times the amount of work that a normal team
would be able to do,” said Orr.
Electrical student Manny Hernandez
will be turning on the lights for people in Mississippi. “It'll feel
good to be able to bring light to somebody house you know what I
mean, so at night they won't be in the
dark.”
Classmates Juan Gonzalez and Jason
Douglas will construct homes. “I like doing this stuff. Construction
and helping out people,” said Gonzalez.
“I want to build the new roofs and
stuff like that,” said Douglas.
Each student knows they’ll also be
building a personal legacy of help. “Boy they're really touched when
they see they see that they've made a difference in someone's life,”
said Wild.
“You just won't feel the same
after seeing something like that. Personally seeing it, not just on
TV because it's a lot different,” said
Hernandez.
The group also includes 10
teachers, some of whom are driving down with all the tools. The
students will be in Biloxi for 10 days, working through Hope Unites,
nonprofit organizing rebuilding trips in the Gulf Coast.
The students and staff raised
$24,000.00 through donations over the past few weeks to pay for the
trip.
HopeUnites.org Heads Disaster
Response
Team
(Conesus, NY) Gael Billyard Orr,
co-founder of Humanity Outreach Partners Enterprises (HOPE), is organizing a team
of 20 Western New York volunteers
to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The team will work in a
relief center in Metairie, Louisiana a suburb of New Orleans,
one of the hardest hit areas of the storm. Ms. Orr reports that the
relief center has a hot meal feeding station serving 2,500 – 4,000
people 3 times a day, a food pantry providing approximately 4,000
boxes of food each day, and a vaccination and medical clinic which
sees about 300 patients.
The distribution center oversees, and is the staging center
for, donations which are being trucked in from voluntary agencies
across the United
States. Humanity Outreach Partners
Enterprises is dedicated to the Hurricane Relief efforts and is
planning on sending at least 10 more teams over the period of the
next year.
The
team members are:
Team
leader: Gael Orr Conesus,
NY
Co-team
leader: Charlie Hodges, Jamestown, NY
Paula
Annis, Hornell,
NY
Larry
Bolling, Westfield, NY
Mary
Cole, Fredonia, NY
Linda
Cooper, Cassadaga, NY
Tom
Cooper, Cassadaga, NY
Rachel
D’Angelo, Jamestown, NY
Brian
Dohl, Falconer, NY
Kathy
Eberle, Watertown, NY
Juli
Frederick, Little Valley,
NY
Bertamae
Ives, Cheektowaga, NY
Dennis
Krzyzanowicz, Fredonia, NY
Kristin
Nicholas, Rochester, NY
Candie
Payne, Kennedy, NY
Evonne
Phillips, Little Valley, NY
Ginny
Smith, South
Dayton, NY
Traci
Spencer, Ellington, NY
Juan
Vidal, Buffalo,
NY
William
Waldruff, Bergen, NY
Ms.
Orr received her Bachelor of Science degree in International
Business and a Masters of Human Resource Development from the
Rochester Institute of Technology. She and
Greg Forrester,
co-founded HOPE, an
organization dedicated to relief efforts and building projects. HOPE’s website can be found
at www.HopeUnites.org. Volunteers can register for
upcoming trips.
Monetary donations are welcome and are tax deductible. Ms. Orr can be reached by
cell phone on location at 607-345-2926 and is available on a limited
basis for phone interviews.
She will return to Conesus on Monday, November 1, and can be
reached at 585-346-3310.
__________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
