In June 2010, with the help of our founding Board of Directors, Audrey Looman, Mary Busalacchi, and Kelly Gilling, I incorporated Walking With Children, Inc., a Michigan nonprofit corporation.  We immediately began the long and arduous process of applying for federal 501(c)3 tax exempt status.

Many months, emails, forms, skype calls, and prayers later, we are VERY pleased to announce that Walking With Children, Inc. has received its official federal 501(c)3 nonprofit tax exempt status!

What does this mean to our friends and supporters?  The transition will be essentially invisible to you; I will continue as Executive Director of both organizations, and we will continue to provide the same life-changing services in Honduras through Caminando Con Niños.  But to those we serve, it means a world of possibility.  Walking With Children not only hopes to continue expanding our work in Honduras, but also identify ways in which we can best use our knowledge and experience in HIV/AIDS to help those affected in the U.S.

For clarity, we will refer to our U.S. organization as “Walking With Children,” while using the Spanish name “Caminando Con Niños” to refer to our Honduran partner NGO.

We wish to express our extreme gratitude to One Heartland, a U.S. 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, for generously acting as our fiscal sponsor for the past 4 years, enabling Caminando Con Niños to receive tax deductible donations from our wonderful U.S. supporters.  We could not be where we are today, serving over 1,500 people (nearly 800 children) affected by HIV, without the support of One Heartland and our U.S. friends and donors.

Thank you for your continued support, friendship and prayers as I begin this new chapter in my life and continued service to those affected by HIV.

Christine Frederick, Executive Director

Honduran Lenca Pottery

We hope our Grand Rapids, Michigan area friends will join us Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 11:30 – 3:00 p.m. at the unique downtown boutique Wealthy At Charles, 738 Wealthy Street SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan (www.wealthyatcharles.com) for a Honduran Lenca Pottery Sale. Executive Director Christine Frederick will be on hand at the store from 11:30 – 3:00 to answer questions, along with Program Director Carolina from Caminando Con Niños in Honduras.

The art of Lenca pottery is presently being restored by a small population of native Honduran women who have formed groups to create this unique Pre-Columbian art of their people dating back 1,500 years.  Each piece is hand-made using natural native materials from Honduras.

All are welcome to join us, browse, and learn more about Walking With Children.  Bring a friend and enjoy the afternoon in this vibrant area of Grand Rapids.  Sales of Lenca pottery will help orphaned and vulnerable children living with HIV, as well as the craftspeople in poor Honduran communities who depend on it for their livelihood.  If you cannot make it this Saturday, visit Wealthy At Charles at your leisure, as they will continue to sell Lenca pottery to benefit Walking With Children in the coming weeks.   Many thanks to our friends at Wealthy At Charles for their support!

Walking With Children embraces this goal.  Together with our Honduran partner, Caminando Con Niños, Walking With Children will:

1. Ensure women who are HIV positive reach the medical system in time to receive the proper treatment to prevent HIV transmission to their child;
2. Encourage all pregnant women to have an HIV test as soon as possible;
3. Educate beneficiaries about HIV and how to prevent transmission;
4. Follow HIV positive mothers after the child is born to make sure the child is getting appropriate medicine and receiving medical follow-up and HIV testing;
5. Educate beneficiaries about the importance of taking their medication to stay healthy and lower the risk of vertical transmission;
6. Counsel beneficiaries on self-esteem issues, making better choices, using pregnancy prevention strategies when they are HIV positive or under age, so behaviors that lead to HIV risk are reduced;
7. Provide formula for babies of HIV positive mothers to bridge the gap between 6 months of age (when government supplied formula ends) and 12 months (before infants can drink cow’s milk), and during times when government supplies are insufficient.

Working together with this global vision in mind, we hope to see an end to mother-to-child HIV transmission by the year 2015!