Health
Starfish Foster Home (Xian, China)
The Starfish Foster Home receives newborns and infants from two orphanages in the Xian Province of China, nurses them back to health and helps them receive needed surgeries. To date, the foster home has taken care of 146 children and arranged more than 170 surgeries. They have also placed 63 children all over the world through international adoptions. The Little Heroes Foundation has awarded a grant to the Starfish Foster Home to support the ongoing, daily needs of the orphans. The grant will buy diapers, milk, food and hygiene supplies thereby helping to improve the living conditions of the orphans and ensure that they are taken care of and well fed.
IVUmed - Pediatric Surgical Workshop (Lusaka, Zambia)
IVUmed seeks to make urological care available to people worldwide. The Little Heroes Foundation has helped fund a pediatric surgical workshop in Lusaka, Zambia which provided 30 local children with surgical care for urological birth defects and injuries. During the process of treatment, IVUmed educated 25 medical professionals in surgical techniques in order to bring a lasting solution to the ongoing needs for urological care in Zambia.
HopeKids (USA)
Little Heroes has supported HopeKids of Utah. In December 2010, Little Heroes sponsored a Christmas party for HopeKids and their families. HopeKids' mission is to provide children and families suffering from life-threatening illnesses with events and activities. With the support of the Little Heroes Foundation each child from HopeKids received a Christmas present of their choice and each family went home with a basket of Christmas treats. Little Heroes Foundation believes every child deserves the opportunity to have fun and make friends, despite physical limitations.
Haiti Project
Following the natural disaster in Haiti, Nature's Sunshine and Little Heroes worked together to donate vitamins to the Hatian people. A few of Nature's Sunshine distributors volunteered to deliver the product to clinics throughout the disaster area to help ensure the people were getting the proper nutrients during the time of crisis. Little Heroes Foundation believes in helping individuals gain access to the necessities during a time of crisis.
Silver Shield (West Africa)
Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation (USA)
During the holiday season, Little Heroes Foundation contributed to the Children with Cancer
ChristmasFoundation party. Their mission is to bring encouragement, happiness, and hope into the lives of young cancer patients and their families. Little Heroes helped them accomplish this mission by supporting a two-day event for over 90 families that have one or more children with cancer. We contributed to a gift drive and party, providing these Little Heroes and their families with a little bit of Christmas cheer during the difficult times they face. Little Heroes Foundation believes that every family deserves a wonderful holiday season.
Education
Youth of the Year (USA)
Little Heroes Foundation awarded a grant to pay for the Youth of the Year Program at Boys and Girls Clubs of Utah County this year. This program promotes and recognizes service to Club and community, academic performance and contributions to family and spiritual life. The Youth of the Year candidate participates in competitions at the state and national level to receive awards and scholarships. This year Amanda VanWagenen (pictured to the left with Governor Herbert) received the Youth of the Year award in Utah County. Little Heroes Foundation believes this program inspires youth to reach their full potential despite the challenges that confront them.HALO Foundation (Kenya)
Little Heroes has given a grant to the HALO (Helping Art Liberate Orphans) Foundation, which provides orphans around the world with basic necessities such as food, water, shelter and clothing. Since its beginning in 2005, HALO has opened orphanages located in Missouri, Colorado, Mexico, India, Nicaragua, Kenya and Uganda. The grant provided by Little Heroes will go directly to support an orphanage in Kenya by providing supplies for the 28 orphaned boys living there. Nearly all of these boys lost their parents to AIDS. The Little Heroes Foundation is striving to give them the basic necessities they need and provide hope for their future through education.
West Ridge Academy (USA)
The Little Heroes Foundation awarded a grant to the West Ridge Academy, a home for struggling youth dealing with academic, social, emotional and substance abuse problems. The grant will specifically help fund the academy's Character Development and Addiction Treatment Program. This 10-month program focuses on helping youth acknowledge their addiction, accept responsibility, become aware of the long term effects of abuse, recognize triggers and avoid relapse. Since its founding in 1964, West Ridge Academy has served more than 25,000 students and continues to bring hope and healing to families.
youth development
Christmas Project (USA)
During the 2011 holiday season, the Little Heroes Foundation worked with Nature's Sunshine Products employees and other individuals to provide Christmas gifts for 33 local families in need. Gifts included needed items such as clothing (boots,
coats, gloves, pants, shirts, socks, pajamas, etc.), household items
(shampoo, soap, towels, cooking appliances and utensils, bed sheets and
blankets) and food packages (including flour, sugar,
oil, canned fruits and vegetables, rice, noodles, etc.). Little Heroes staff, board members and volunteers then gathered a few days before Christmas to wrap and deliver over 1,000 Christmas gifts to the families in need.
Refugee Youth Camp (Colombia)
The Little Heroes Foundation has awarded a grant to Eagle Condor Humanitarian to help build a Refugee Youth Camp in Nueva Colombia, a slum with an estimated 4.9 million displaced people. The Refugee Youth Camp will serve as a center for the "Seeds of Love" program which provides nutritional and educational activities as well as physical and mental health visits for over 100 children in the area. The program also teaches women in the area how to generate income and become self sustaining. Using the center, the "Seeds of Love" program will be able to have a permanent location to better serve the needy children in the community.
Friday's Kids Respite (USA)
The Little Heroes Foundation supports Friday's Kids Respite, an organization that provides care for children with special needs in order to help strengthen each child's family. On Friday or Saturday nights parents and families can drop off their child to be taken care of for the evening. Volunteers spend the evening one-on-one with a child and qualified nurses are in attendance to give children any needed medical attention. Friday’s Kids Respite sees children with Autism, Down Syndrome, brain damage, Epilepsy, Cerebral Palsy, and blindness. They also see children with very rare conditions like Opitz Syndrome, Cornelia de Lange Syndrome and Cri du chat Syndrome. Because of their qualified staff of medical personnel, Friday’s Kids Respite is able to provide a safe environment and special care for these children.
Kids in Crisis (USA)
The Little Heroes Foundation has contributed to the shelter at Kids in Crisis in Connecticut. Kids in Crisis provides free round-the-clock help for children, teens and parents of all socio-economic levels dealing with any type of crisis. Children suffering from any type of child abuse--sexual and physical abuse, neglect, psychological maltreatment and medical neglect-- all can receive help by phoning or arriving at the doorstep of Kids in Crisis. LHF supports a safe-haven for mistreated children to grow and learn.
Adoption Exchange (USA)
Little Heroes supported Adoption Exchange's Family Recruitment Program, which includes recruitment efforts to place children in foster care with a good family. The Adoption Exchange provides the connection between children who wait and families who adopt. With the support of the Little Heroes Foundation, the Adoption Exchange’s program provided services for 822 children waiting in foster care and connected 192 children with permanent homes in the first quarter of the fiscal year.
