Saturday, December 13, 1997

Perfect Christmas gifts: Kids Hope USA

By Mike McManus

"I can't read," complained Joe, a second grader. "I'm too stupid to read." But after two months with a KIDS HOPE USA church volunteer, Joe was reading. And to his surprise, he found he liked himself.

Michelle Buonodono had apprehensions about being a volunteer: "What am I?" she thought. "I'm not a teacher. I'm a dental hygienist. What do I have to offer?"

She had an hour a week to love Erica, age 8. That was more than enough for Erica, who watches the school clock counting down the minutes until her special friend arrives to take her out of class for an hour of private tutoring. The little girl jumps up when she sees Michelle and gives her a big hug.

On Easter, Michelle invited Erica and her mom, Ramona, for dinner with her husband and kids. Ramona could not stop watching how the dad interacted with his wife and children. Later she said, "Your husband is so good to you. He is so gentle and so good with your kids." She saw Jesus in him, which opened a door for Michelle to lead her to accept Christ.

To Lee Ingersoll, a counselor at Holmes Elementary School, the impact of KIDS HOPE USA is "unbelievable. A lot of kids we work with are so hungry for nurturing, affirmation, affection and encouragement. They get all of these needs met with a one-to-one relationship with a caring adult. Overwhelmingly, the kids show academic improvement, improved motivation and self-esteem. They experience success, which makes them more motivated and it snowballs."

He believes so much in the program that he helped get his own church involved, and then raised $2,300 of its $4,500 KIDS HOPE budget by taking a week to ride a bike 575 miles around Lake Michigan with people pledging X cents per mile.

The founder of KIDS HOPE, Dr. Virgil Gulker, is the most gifted Christian organizer of volunteers I have ever met. He is the creator of Love INC (In The Name of Christ), which mobilized 2,000 volunteers in Fresno alone, and in 200 other locations, to meet the physical needs of the lost and neglected. He created KIDS HOPE as a domestic ministry of International Aid, an agency providing $60 million of relief to needy children around the world.

His genius is an ability to make an overwhelming task saving America's "at risk" kids manageable by volunteers investing limited time. How is it done?

"Simple," he says. "We often look at problems and think they are so complex that I and the church can't do anything about them. But KIDS HOPE shows that it doesn't take experts. It takes people willing to give of their time and their lives."

Or, to put it differently and simply, KIDS HOPE is "one church, one child, one hour." One church commits to working with one elementary school. A teacher identifies one child who needs to be loved. The church finds and trains a volunteer to give one hour a week to the child.

Actually, Virgil is more demanding than that of any interested church. It must create an "Exploratory Team" of seven to ten people to give KIDS HOPE USA answers to two questions: Will the church have access to at risk children/families?

Will the church commit the resources to love children at least ten volunteers (including the pastor) giving a year of time to a child, of an hour a week? The Exploratory Team must include the pastor, leaders of worship, outreach, evangelism, and education a youth worker, two teenagers, a neighborhood school representative and two local single parents. The church must also be willing to hire a part-time person to oversee the project and pay KIDS HOPE for the training and management between $300 and $5,000 a year, depending on size.

So far, 33 churches, 643 volunteers plus 643 prayer partners are working with 643 kids. Your church could join in as a perfect Christmas present to needy kids in your town.

"There is no question that Jesus loves those children," says Virgil. "But Jesus can not hug them, smile at them, or say their name or listen to them. However, we can. To that child, we become Jesus."

Think of Kimberly. Before KIDS HOPE, she was "very shy and would not open up to people," says her mom. "By the end of a year with her church friend, she came out of her shell. She started asking questions in class. She had never raised her hand and would not try anything. She hated to read. After a couple of years, she loves to read. It is unbelievable."

To learn more, write KIDS HOPE USA, 17011 Hickory Lane, Spring Lake, MI 49456.