Brian O ‘Reilly, a frequent volunteer at Shepherd of the Hills in the Philippines, ventured to Nepal in November to visit the children of the Eco Home with Nepal Mission Coordinator, Kate Jewell.   Brian delighted the children by arriving with two yummy chocolate cakes! He stayed at the Happy Shepherd’s Cottage, enjoyed getting to know the kids, and dance with them at a Thanksgiving bonfire.

By working with our AirIntermed  in country coordinator Abhaya Khanal, Brian was able to arrange a day trip to Chandighar Cable Cars. The children and staff were delighted with their first venture swinging through the air up the mountain, were thrilled with the view of the Himalayas and deliciously happy with their lunch of momos and chicken burgers at 2600 meters!  Before returning down the mountain, Brian treated all to ice cream leaving the children with happy smiles and wonderful memories. 

Brian, all of us from the EcoHome thank you and look forward to your return!

Some of us aren’t able to go on trips across the world, but we CAN find it in our hearts to help children.  Through Airline Ambassadors volunteers hand delivering we get to experience the feeling of being there ourselves:

Sandy Ettinger, our AAI Board member, planned to join our mission to Nepal. When circumstances didn’t allow for him to join our team he thought deeply about how to help the children in this location where electricity was not reliable.   Education is critical for the children and suddenly he thought of “Solar Calculators” – they were light for easy transport and could be charged by the sun!  Dr. Kate Jewell, Director of our program hand delivered them on her November trip.  Imagine his delight to see pictures like the one below: 

In another example Jolene Bozich, retired United Airlines flight attendant, wrote to us and had beanie babies to donate.  She was thrilled to see the small toys she contributed in the hands of children in Nepal. They were hand delivered with love by our volunteers Teresa Nelson and Diane Gingellon the October trip!

Hello everyone,

How do I begin to say thank you for such a wonderful trip we all shared. You’ll never know what this means to me to have so many people share the love of all these wonderful children with. The trip is such a success because of all of us. Every year it just gets better with so many new faces and all of us who keep going back. I’ve said it before and I want everyone to know how much we are appreciated at Abatex and Soth.

We are the only group that helps the families at Abatex. Thanks to Jaimie Sheth and her foundation we were able to Bless these families with a feeding shelter. They asked for this so the families didn’t have to eat in the rain with no protection covering them. They feed the families 3 hot meals a week and would like to do more when the funds are there. They are doing a wonderful job building it. With all the storms and set backs, I think they did a great job so far. Keeping them fed helps keep the children off the streets begging and in school, there are many types of human trafficking and if we can help keep these children off the streets it would be wonderful. Education is the only way for them to hopefully make a better life for themselves. We also donated 3 huge bags filled with clothes, shoes, hygiene products, toys, school supplies and cases of treats from Delta. I’m hoping they can use this for Christmas gifts.

Shepherd of the hills is an awesome place for the children to grow up, it’s really becoming self sustainable. They have done so much and continue to grow in their endeavors. The new bakery and restaurant will be a great place for them to work, study a trade and earn money. Nathan and his family have given themselves to Soth and it really shows. Our donation this trip was the cement floor at the school and the beautifully painted butterflies. Along with everything else we did while we were there. We brought about 20 jars of peanut butter for them, lots of candy, cases of cookies from Delta, along with 2 huge bags of things needed. They put them away for gifts at a later time since there wasn’t enough for everyone to get something. We donated the money for the shopping trip with hopes of them picking out their own gifts. I think the children had a wonderful time and we all made some lasting memories for sure. The dancing was awesome, especially you girls for adding your dance in the show.

There are so many people to thank including all of you… A special thank you to Jaimie Sheth for building the feeding shelter for Abatex, it is such a great accomplishment for them. It was always just a dream and now they will be able to help more families. I believe God puts people in our lives for a reason… Hugo met Jaimie then he introduced her to me, we never met in person until this trip. It’s been a very special friendship from the beginning and I hope AAI will be blessed with more opportunities to work with Jaimie and her foundation. From all of us at Airline Ambassadors we appreciate everything you do Jaimie.  Thank you for joining us on the trip.

Another huge thank you to Dr. Meg and her team for all the work they did on all the children and the townspeople. This was the second time they have joined us.  Another miracle by Hugo, he introduced Dr. Meg to us and it’s been so great for Soth. It’s amazing watching them work from morning until night. I’m excited for Soth to have a room at the school with a dental chair and equipment for them to work out of. They will try and visit twice a month once everything is set up. Another huge blessing.

Angels of Hope is a non profit organization who always donates to my trips, those beautiful T-shirts, coloring books and angel cards were donated by them for the children at Abatex.  I’ve been working with Arnie and the staff there for a few years and they always amaze me with their generosity.  We received 100 T-shirts for them and I’m forever grateful in their continued support.  The children love the beautiful colors and the wonderful sayings on them “Making sure they do not feel alone”.

I’m looking forward to Jamie Parke leading the Spring trip, I know it will be a huge success. Dates will be announced soon!  Jamie has studied youth ministry and missions leadership in school and I feel she will be such a great person for this mission.  I still plan on leading the trip in October, together we will make a great team. Chris Davison will continue with the sponsorship program for AAI. This is a very important program since it raises money to help with the children’s education, food, and everyday needs.

Just to let you know that after everything was paid for we donated money to both Abatex and Soth. I had so many people send me money for their sponsor child and also for the feeding shelter. Thanks to everyone who joined our trip, we continue to spread our love in so many ways, it was a pleasure meeting all the new people and making new friends.

Donation to:
Abatex (it cost $450 a month to feed the families 3 meals a week)
$700 cash already gave (many people donated extra from previous trips)
$450 to be sent for the feeding shelter
$200 for his special education needs for Alexis (donation by Debbie J. and myself)
$100 for the little boy who needs medical care (donation by Heather W.)
Almost 3 months of feeding we donated
After I receive the money from the fundraiser I’ll send more ($1200 from this is for the money that was stolen)

Soth
$1900 We already paid for all the projects
$350 to be sent to help with what’s needed

I had a few people who gave extra and I’d like to say a special thank you:
Katherine Panucci
Christine Davison
Vicki Fuerstenau
Debbie Johnson
Gwen Stallworth
Linda Winslow
Heather Williams
Janine Treaty (my good friend who couldn’t make the trip)
Many of the sponsors sent money for their child
So many of my good friends and family donated so much (everyone knows how much these kids mean to me)
Many Delta FA’s who bought their work phones to donate
Delta for so many cases of cookies and allowing me 5 bags to check

 I think we did a great job in helping both Abatex and Soth. Thank you so much for your generous hearts and may you all have plenty of Blessings for you and your families.  I hope you all enjoyed this trip as much as I did.  It’s a long way to go but the rewards are so worth it.

Thank you so much for the wonderful trip, I’ll never forget the adventure we all shared and meeting everyone.

All my love,
Cheryl