Medical Fund for Needy Chinese Children

Dear Donors,

We hope everyone had a great summer. At A Life a Time Foundation, we have continued to be active with our Boston Trauma Fund (the “Fund”), which we have reported on in some of our previous quarterly reports. The Fund was established in October 2015 to provide financial support to children who have the opportunity to come to America to receive free medical treatment at Shriners Hospital for Children, located in Boston. Those children accepted under this program have suffered severe trauma but come from families in China with minimal financial resources. Even though all of the medical treatments are free, these families still are not able to afford the related travel and living expenses. All proceeds from the Fund are provided to these children and their accompanying family members to cover their travel expenses to the United States and their living expenses during their stay. 

Currently, there are 17 children that have been accepted into this program with Shriners Hospital for Children.  Most of these children require a yearly visit to undergo skin grafting and/or functional/cosmetic reconstruction or installation/adjustment of their artificial limbs. Each child typically stays for a period of two to three months in the United States, with more complicated cases requiring stays ranging from six months to one year.

Our volunteers and donors in the Boston area have helped these children and their families tremendously - arranging travel plans and accommodations, visiting children and helping with living needs, such as providing transportation and helping with groceries while they are in the United States. In addition, these volunteers also organize fundraising activities.

Thus far in 2018, we have raised a total of $12,783.00 in donations, well below the $27,504.00 A Life A Time Foundation has spent to finance flight tickets, accommodations and living expenses for the children and their family members who have come or plan to come to Boston for treatments this year.  Taking into account three children that have had surgeries scheduled in 2018, we expect there will be insufficient funds in our Boston Trauma Fund by the end of the year to help additional children participate in this program.

We estimate that the Fund will need to raise $30,000.00 to support the children who already have surgeries or treatments scheduled for 2019 at Shriner Hospital for Children in Boston.  A Life A Time Foundation is targeting to raise the first $10,000.00 of this goal by the end of 2018. We sincerely hope our generous donors can join our fundraising effort to help us reach this goal.  You can donate through either the GlobalGiving platform or our direct Fund link.

Option 1: To donate directly at GlobalGiving:

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/a-life-a-time-chinese-orphans-children-medical-fund/  - Please note your donation is for Boston Trauma Fund

Option 2: To donate via A Life A Time Foundation – Boston Trauma Fund:

http://www.alifeatime.org/cn/projects/project_details.aspx?id=888

We also want to use this opportunity to give special appreciation to Qi, who has been a volunteer with us for over ten years. From the first child to come to Shriner Hospital for Children under this program to the 17 children currently in the program, often with at least two children in the United States at any given time, Qi has dedicated a great deal of her time to the Fund. Her work involves submission of medical records for potential candidates, treatment plan coordination, treatment schedules, travel plans and accommodation arrangements for children and their family members.

Sincerely,

A Life A Time Foundation