7th floor: Renovations included paint, tiling, wood flooring, ceiling tiles, windows, doors, and heating units for 17 dormitory rooms with bathrooms, a central hallway, and a large common play area.
Hearts Toward China
Hearts Toward China
AAI is thrilled to announce that we have finally reached our financial goal of $69,000 for the Hearts Toward China project, and we have just received our first referral of a child with special needs from the Xiangxi orphanage! We would like to thank everyone who helped us make this project a success, whether by donating their time or by supporting Hearts Toward China through their prayers and financial gifts. Your generosity has been a blessing to us and to the children in the Xiangxi orphanage.
Projects completed
Projects pending
8th floor: Funding has been raised to begin work in Spring of 2007.
Information about the Project:
Hearts Toward China was a humanitarian effort coordinated by Adoption Associates, Inc., along with friends and former clients, to bring materials, supplies, and building renovation to the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Social Welfare Institute, a remote orphanage in China’s Hunan Province. The Xiangxi SWI was established in 2000 and is a combined social welfare institute that houses childless seniors, special needs children, and young children. Two thirds of the 51 children in the orphanage have special needs and will likely spend the rest of their lives in the orphanage because of the severity of their disabilities.
The goal of the Hearts Toward China project was to completely renovate the seventh floor of the orphanage to make a separate living area for the children who had been living on the first six floors of the facility along with the elderly. The Hearts Toward China team spent five days renovating the seventh floor of the orphanage last October alongside Chinese nationals who had been hired to help with the project. They had their work cut out for them. The seventh floor of the orphanage included 17 dormitory rooms and a large community room that were connected by a 200 foot hallway. The nationals, however, had been working on the project since September and had completed much of the work before the team set foot in the orphanage.
Upon their arrival, the Hearts Toward China team jumped into the project by purchasing painting supplies and picking out the flooring for the bedrooms. After their purchases were made, the team taped around the outlets and windows. Then, they sanded down all of the walls and washed the dust off to prepare them for painting. Next, the team began to “cut in,” or paint, the trim around the ceiling. When the ceiling was painted, the team cut in the walls of the dormitory rooms. At this point, the men took on the project of painting the walls with rollers. After the painting was completed, the women removed the painting tape and cleaned the rooms to prepare them for the installation of the flooring. In one day alone, the Hearts Toward China team was able to sand and paint the entire 200 foot hallway of the seventh floor of the orphanage with two coats of paint.
Although the team did not participate in the installation of the flooring, the nationals were able to finish this part of the project on the day that the team departed. Since the team’s departure, the heaters were added, and after building shelving in each of the rooms, the orphanage hopes to move the children into their new living area by the beginning of the Chinese New Year on February 18.
For more information on the Hearts Toward China trip, please see the Hearts Toward China blog.
Photos of the Orphanage
Donation Progress
We have reached our goal of $69,000! Thank you for your support!
