Big dreams and plans call for big goals. Our team put heads and hearts together and set a funding goal of $20,000 this Giving Tuesday with one-third going to Sparrow Services grants, one-third going to training, and one-third going to operating costs.

Seven special donors put their hearts together too and decided to open their pockets up wide to help us get there. These donors want to grow the giving by working together to match every dollar donated to The Sparrow Fund up to $10,000. What that means is that your Giving Tuesday donation will be multiplied right from the start, do twice the good, have double the impact!

We also want to give to you. We aren’t trying to convince you to give to us or pay you back in some way for donating. We just want you to know how grateful we are for you, the people who help us keep helping. And, very simply put, we love giving.

Our token of thanks for every Giving Tuesday giver of $50 or more

Your Giving Tuesday donation of $50 or more will be matched dollar-for-dollar and we’ll send you a printable set of Advent Story Cards created by the women behind Color + Kindness and Gather & Grow. These 25 cards will help you engage your little ones in a meaningful and manageable Christmas countdown, sharing big Bible moments that tell God’s story of why and how Jesus came on the very first Christmas.

Our token of thanks for every Giving Tuesday giver of $100 or more

Your Giving Tuesday donation of $100 or more will be matched dollar-for-dollar and we’ll send you one of our favorite things–a 2019 calendar created by our friend Rachel at Minipress with a hand-lettered Bible verse for every month. At the end of the year, trim each page for 12 6×6 art prints of Hebrews 11:1, Psalm 136:1b, Micah 6:8, Philippians 1:21, Joshua 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Psalm 37:4, Romans 8:37, Proverbs 3:5, Esther 4:14, Isaiah 43:1, and Proverbs 31:25.

Giving Tuesday is not until…well, Tuesday…but it’s not too early to get in on the goodness. Eat turkey. Eat leftover turkey. And, give whenever you want to give by clicking HERE and selecting “Giving Tuesday” in the dropdown list.

UPDATE

Click HERE to see what happened on Giving Tuesday 2018!

Our love searched the whole world for the you we adore.

It’s how it starts, a book we all want to read. A book with a message we all want to give our kids, a message that makes us take a deep breath.

You are valuable.
You are worth searching the whole world up and down for.
And, I am so glad I did.

Bestselling children’s illustrator Richard Cowdrey brings the words and underlying messages to life with playful color and adventure on every page. And, Valerie Westfall’s words empower parents to say I love you in a creative way to their child adopted domestically or brought home from every corner of the world.

Moms and dads have been reading it aloud to their babes before bed and have given the book as gifts to their children as they leave for college. It’s been given as a shower gift and purchased for university libraries for graduate students to better understand what a child needs and how important connection is.

It’s kind of wonderful. And, we’re thrilled that because of a generous donor’s belief in the work we do for children and families, we now have all remaining stock of this book to offer to you. 

To order your copy, click HERE. There is a form to complete and information about how to pay the $20 for it to be shipped to you. We also have a coordinating activity book available for an additional $5 featuring more creative ways to engage with the book and with each other.

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ORDER HERE

What others have said, in case you need a little more convincing:

“…a deceptively simple book that delivers a profound message of love and family.”
-Andrea Poe, The Washington Times

“…The enchanting story and wondrous illustrations draw on a child’s fascination with imaginary play—a powerful tool in developing their self-image.”
-Louise Bachtold, Phd., Professor Emeritus Human Development, University of California

“This is a book we know at first glance belongs in school and classroom libraries everywhere, as well as in the homes of adoptive families.”
-Teachers.net

“There are as many stories of adoptive families as there are children who joined their families through adoption. And while one book can certainly never encapsulate the myriad experiences that exist, Valerie Westfall’s Searching for the You We Adore comes as close as any book can. Lovingly and expertly illustrated by New York Times bestselling artist Richard Cowdrey, this book takes young readers on a journey—at the core of which is love.”
-Samantha Hines, Editor, My Three Sons – Best of Adoption Blogs

“Adoption is different for every family it touches, but the love and longing for a child is the same. This book puts that love in the spotlight as the message…and your child as the main character.”
-Amy McCollum, adoptive parent

“Beautifully written and illustrated, it will bring tears to your eyes. My children will never outgrow this book!”
-Leslie Wozniak, adoptive parent

“Searching for the You We Adore is a book that will be treasured, taken to heart, and become part of the tapestry of who you are, for it touches deep within the heart of a child, and also the adult.”
-Jody Capeheart, Educator and School Administrator

ORDER HERE

Maybe you’ve heard. Working in China right now is a little tricky. New countrywide policies for foreign nonprofits working there are leading a lot of nonprofits to pack their bags and head elsewhere. We’ve thought about that. And, frankly, it would make our lives a bit easier. But, we are not convinced that’s what we should be doing. In fact, we’re pretty convinced that we’re being called to press on in spite of it all.

This fall, we’re heading over there once again, going to three different cities, visiting caregivers and children they care for, and doing all we can to build new relationships and secure existing ones so we can keep on helping not just this year but for many years to come.

Will you stand with us to that end? We’ve got a bunch of different ways you can do that.

 

• SIMPLY GIVE. Click on DONATE and give. We need that so we can buy supplies and gifts to give to our Chinese friends.

 

• KINDLY ORDER SOMETHING. We have several fundraisers we’re running with–BE KIND shirts (accepting orders until September 10th!), Searching for the You We Adore books (exclusively from us!), and handmade wrap bracelets from friends in Beijing (75 sold already and more ordered and arriving September 6th!).

• SHOP FROM OUR PARTNERS. We’ve got a number of shops and businesses partnering with us in significant ways, donating a fixed amount per order or a percentage of sales. Shop purposefully and they’ll give to support our orphan care initiatives! Check them out HERE, and let us know if you have someone who might want to join the effort.

We love clever new ways to raise funds needed to keep on serving adoptive families. The Sparrow Fund Big Game Football Pool is one of those new ways. But, as we have been promoting it, we’ve realized something kinda important–a lot of you don’t know what the heck this is.

Oops.

Here’s the key to this whole deal: You don’t have to have experience with this sort of thing and understand it works to be a part of this. All you have to have is a desire to help us reach the goal of scoring $2,000 for our grant fund to support adoptive families AND maybe a little bit of playfulness. That’s enough.

But, in case you want a little more before you jump in, here’s a Cliff Notes version of how it works. We have created a chart that has 10 squares across the x axis and 10 squares across the y axis. One axis is one for the Patriots [insert cheers and boos here] and one for the Falcons [insert cheers and boos here]. Each of the 100 squares on the chart are available for a $20 donation to The Sparrow Fund until tomorrow night at midnight. Every person who donates to this will get to add their name inside the squares of their choice on the blank 100-square chart.

Before the big game, we will randomly assign each column and each row a single digit from 0-9. Each square will have a single digit for the Patriots and a single digit for the Falcons that will correspond to the last number in the score for both teams. So, a game score of 20 to 35 would correspond to a block labeled 0 and 5. A game score of 40 to 55 would also correspond to the block labeled 0 and 5.

At the end of the first quarter, halftime, third quarter, and end of game, whoever holds the square with the digits matching the last digits of the score at that time wins. If the score is 17-10 at the half with the home team winning, the person with the squares of 7 and 0 would win that portion of the game.

Make sense? Great. Jump on in and play along. We need you.

Still a bit unclear? That’s okay. Jump on in, fill out this form, we’ll coach you along. We need you too, and promise it will still be fun.

Here’s the game plan one more time:

• Head over HERE now and fill out this simple form with your name, email, and how many cell blocks you want to claim.
• Make your donation online right here at www.sparrowfund.org for $20 per cell.
• We’ll let you know what the next play is after that, but we promise it’s easy peezy.

 

Our most perfect design ever.

Inspired by the Chinese boys hosted in the Philadelphia area who sang this song over and over everyday after hearing it on their first Sunday in America.

They sang the words. Now, we’re wearing them.
Remembering the boys and all the boys and girls they represent as we do.

 All proceeds from sales of this shirt will go towards funding our orphan care initiatives.
our orphanage trips. supplies and gifts. new programs.

Details:

Shirts come in adult and youth sizes. The adult shirts are our favorite shirt ever— a super, super soft tri-blend. The youth sizes are a cotton/poly blend that is really comfy for even the most sensitive kiddos. We are currently offering soft holly berry red, evergreen, snowflake blue, and silver bells grey. Youth sizes are currently offered in holly berry red, evergreen, and silver bells grey.

How to get some for yourself:

• Complete the short form HERE with your name, mailing address, how many shirts you want in what sizes/colors, and all that good stuff.
• Pay for them ($20 per shirt plus shipping) via sending money to mraudenbush@sparrow-fund.org through your PayPal account (FYI – it’s the account for The Sparrow Fund, not a personal account…promise) or by donating via clicking the donate button on this website.
• Share, tweet, and text using hashtag #ohhappyday to help us spread the word about these super cute first day of school or birthday or adoption day or casual Friday shirts (this one is optional, of course, but most appreciated).

There’s a whole lot that The Sparrow Fund does nowadays to serve foster and adoptive families. We started in 2011 simply giving grants to families for the specific purpose of preadoption support, counsel, and medical reviews. But, we’ve grown a lot since then, responding to needs and walking in faith. Now, The Sparrow Fund not only gives grants but also provides training events and an annual marriage retreat and leads teams to serve at an orphanage in China.

But, those things cannot happen without funding; we’ve gotta build the nest. As you can imagine, building the nest isn’t an independent task; it takes a lot of people to build that nest so that we can help others as they build theirs through this thing called adoption.

All the businesses linked up below have joined us by making a really big commitment to donate 10% of their total sales during the month of May to The Sparrow Fund so that we can continue to serve adoptive families in a significant way.

Visit their sites, shop with purpose, and make that 10% something crazy.

Jewelry Design

Art and Design

Home

Clothing & Accessories

Special Gifts & Services

Sponsors for Building the Nest

To get the nest started…

Sparrow Sponsor

Norman L. Graham, Inc.

Norman L. Graham, Inc. is a premier builder of custom homes and additions in South Central Pennsylvania. From design to construction, every Norman L. Graham project is built with care and careful attention to detail. What better partner to build the nest than a company who is all about nest building.

Pearl Sponsor

Mervin Zimmerman Heating, Plumbing, & Air Conditioning

Merle Zimmerman Inc. has been serving customers as a family-owned business since 1968. The retail store and showroom near Lititz, PA, The Bath Barn, is a place to come to get questions answered, receive personal service, and be inspired by modern bathroom designs to make your dream nest a reality.

Rice Law Firm

Neal Rice became an attorney because he loves to help people. Being an attorney gives him the chance to do that every day. He counts it a privilege to walk alongside his clients as they journey through life including as they grow their family via adoption and care for their nest going forward.

Other Sponsors

Hey, it’s not too late to join the effort here and support adoption, the work of The Sparrow Fund, and allow us to tell the world that you do. Simply contact Wanda at The Sparrow Fund to learn about how you can be added to this post and future posts as part of Build the Nest 2015.

We’ve been busy behind the scenes around here. The team has been scurrying around gathering builders to join us to Build the Nest.

It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year–and basically TSF’s only organized fundraiser. It’s when we invite businesses to commit 10% of their total sales during the month of May to support adoption and the work of The Sparrow Fund or to sponsor the nest building through a one-time gift. Our original goal was to have 60 partners in place by the start this Friday. But, with only days away, we’re got about 30 right now. We’ve scratched our heads, paced our living rooms, and brainstormed about ways we can reach more small business owners, Etsy shop owners, authors, babysitters, high school landscapers who have a heart for adoption and supporting adoptive families. And, we’ve figured out the silver bullet.

The best way to reach them is through you.

See, your heart is in this. We know that. You read the blog posts and let the words on the screen seep into your heart and transform you. You recognize the need to support adoptive families as they grow their families and bring in children who have experienced loss. You recognize the gap that The Sparrow Fund fills in giving grants to adoptive families to get preadoption counsel and medical guidance as they seek to adopt. You recognize the value of the work we do as we lead teams to an orphanage across the world to serve children and those who care for them who need relationship and healing too.

And so, the best people to spread the word and recruit more builders is simply YOU.

Here’s what we’re asking today as Friday quickly approaches—Forward this post, share this opportunity with 3 friends—three, that’s not too much (though if you want to send it to a few more, we’re totally cool with that).

Here are the need-to-know deets—

The Sparrow Fund is committed to serving foster and adoptive families through both grants and ongoing training and support. The Sparrow Fund also leads teams to serve at an orphanage in China. This May, they are raising money so they can continue the work and spread the word about what they do. Build the Nest accomplishes both. Through giving 10% of your total May sales or sponsorship by way of a one-time gift, they will be able to continue their programs for the rest of 2015. And, as The Sparrow Fund works to promote those partnering with them and the partners share as well, everyone helps each other out, getting the word out about adoption, the work of The Sparrow Fund, and all the partners who are willing to say they support both.

Interested in being a part of it? Email Wanda directly at wanda@sparrow-fund.org, or skip that step and go right to the Google form at this link: http://bit.ly/1Fkuoen

Get building with us. We need you.