Photo Friday: Our Top 5 “Daily Dad” Photos!

Welcome to Photo Friday! Each Friday, we share photo collections of our favourite shots from our sponsor sites around the world. 

There’s no one quite like Dad! He’s always ready with an outpouring of wisdom, a comforting hug, or a cheesy joke. This weekend in Canada, we’re honouring dads by celebrating Father’s Day. In anticipation of this important day, here are our top 5 “Daily Dad” photos, celebrating the ways dads are there for us on the daily.  

#5: Building Together 

For some, childhood is full of memories of Dad crouching next to us wielding the hammer to help with construction projects. From building a fort to a birdfeeder, dads are there to lend a hand around the globe. Oh, and they make sure we don’t hurt ourselves while we’re at it! 

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The Horodetska Family Starts Fresh

Poultry, pigs and potatoes: that’s what life looks like these days for the Horodetska family. The family of six lives near our sponsor site in Ternopil, and they’ve grown their home farm to include cows, goats and more. But it took a bit of time, and a few special gifts, to get there.  

Kateryna, the oldest daughter, began life with a cleft palate. Her mother, Oksana, was off on maternity leave, so her father Ruslan was the only income-earner.  

They owned a family cow, but that changed when Kateryna needed major surgery. Her parents sold the cow to cover the costs, and took out a loan for her rehabilitation. Those days were hard.  

That’s when Kateryna’s Chalice sponsor came into her life. With their daughter receiving benefits, the parents shifted focus to paying off their loan. They felt supported, and in time, became active Chalice community members.  

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Photo Friday: Our Top 5 “Beauty Of Nature” Photos!

Welcome to Photo Friday! Each Friday, we share photo collections of our favourite shots from our sponsor sites around the world. 

Temperatures are rising, the sun is shining, and it’s a great time to get outside and appreciate the natural beauty God has created. Our Top 5 “Beauty Of Nature” photos show off some of the beautiful landscapes where many of our sponsored children live, and remind us beauty is present in all corners of creation.  

#5: Splashing Around 

Most years at our Kawambwa site, schools host a celebration and meal before children go home for the holidays. 

One year, many children couldn’t go home. So the Sisters rounded up the kids onto a bus for an adventure.  

They took them to this beautiful Zambian waterfall and park, where they could splash around and get in a few selfies. 

“It has been a wonderful venture, as most of the children have never been to such places in their lives,” said site director Sr. Agnes.  

Even in tough situations, it’s still possible for nature to put a smile on our faces.  

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Hard work and the right support give Kurtis and her family a bright future

The youngest of three children, Kurtis is bright and determined to succeed. Kurtis and her family have endured many difficult times through the years, including losing her dear father to kidney failure when she was just a toddler. This placed a huge responsibility on her mother who now had to raise her three children alone on meagre wages as a daily labourer.

By the time Kurtis was in the eighth grade, her mother was no longer able to make ends meet on her own. Seeking help from neighbours, she borrowed money to keep her children in school, but as the bills piled up she worried she could lose everything she had worked so hard for.

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Our Top 5 “Sharing Your Heart” Photos!

Welcome to Photo Friday! Each Friday, we share photo collections of our favourite shots from our sponsor sites around the world. 

June is a special month for the Church, with many celebrations of God’s love for us. In gratitude for His love, we show that same love to others. As we all know, showing love can take many forms, from friendship to food. This week, our Top 5 “Sharing Our Hearts” photos show what love in action looks like! 

#5: Sharing Our Hearts With Our Friends

Friends are the people who bring joy and laughter into the everyday. We share our love when we support and encourage them. With friends like that, how can you not jump for joy? 

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Hard work pays off: Juan has a bright future

“I feel blessed to participate in the sponsorship program,” says 20-year-old Juan who is currently studying medicine in university. He has encountered many obstacles in his young life, but thanks to his sponsor and other Chalice supports he is very close to realizing his dream of working in the medical field.

Growing up in Chiclayo, Peru, his humble and hardworking family struggled to make ends meet. When he was eight, his father passed away, leaving them all devastated. But the following year things started to turn around when Juan was admitted into the sponsorship program and chosen by a sponsor. Slowly but surely their lives steadily improved.

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Photo Friday: our top 5 “Mary our Muse” photos!

Welcome to Photo Friday! Each Friday, we share photo collections of our favourite shots from our sponsor sites around the world.

May is the special month devoted the Blessed Virgin Mary. She has many titles, and a special one for Chalice is “Mother of Our Church,” celebrated this year on May 24. It’s dear to us because we are consecrated to her under that title. But Mary has some titles that you may never have heard of! This week our top 5 “Mary our Muse” photos celebrate how Mary’s intercession and inspiration leads our work around the world.

#5: Health of the Sick 

Improving access to quality healthcare has been one of Chalice’s key priorities since our inception. Sponsorship helps parents, children and elders afford check-ups and medications, and access to specialized therapies for disabilities. Our site partners have led the founding of hospitals, dispensaries and clinics. And of course, the number of sponsored children who have gone on to become doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are too many to count!

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Photo Friday: Our top 5 “flowers and showers” photos!

Welcome to Photo Friday! Each Friday, we share photo collections of our favourite shots from our sponsor sites around the world.

It’s the May long weekend! In Canada, temperatures are rising and flower gardens across the country are blooming into vivid floral works of art. We, however, must remember all of the rainy days we needed to make these spectacles possible. Our top 5 “flowers and showers” photos remind us that even drizzle can turn into beauty – and light can shine through the clouds after even the darkest of moments in our lives.

#5: Ready for the rainy season 

It looks sunny in this festive photo, but don’t be fooled. In the southern regions of Tanzania where our sponsor sites operate, the rainy season starts in October and can run through until the spring. These umbrellas are the perfect Christmas gift, as they help children keep their school uniforms and backpacks dry when they walk to school in the wet months.

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It takes a village

Judith, her daughter Eunice, and other children are incredibly grateful for the support following the devastating flood

Kokise village, located near the beautiful Lake Victoria in Kenya, boasts a strong, close-knit community. Along with the help of Chalice donors, this supportive group jumped in to support Eunice, a child sponsored through our Asembo site, after her family experienced a devastating flood last spring.

Eunice’s widowed mother, Judith, supports her seven children’s basic needs through buying and selling fish and selling extra crops grown on her property. Her farm and house were both very close to the lake. Last year during the rainy season, Lake Victoria’s water reached record levels and overflowed, claiming Judith’s home and land in a terrible flood.

Because boarding schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Eunice and her six siblings were all home the night of the flood. Thankfully, the entire family escaped unharmed.

The entire village rallied around Judith and her family. Because the land she owned is vulnerable to future flooding, the family was given a new parcel of land higher up, partly donated by a one individual and partly paid for by the rest of the community.

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Photo Friday: Our top 5 “sharing our gifts” photos!

Welcome to Photo Friday! Each Friday, we share photo collections of our favourite shots from our sponsor sites around the world.

This week, we’re marking National Week for Life and Family, an annual event in Canadian Catholic churches. The family is a place of sharing. When each member shares their gifts, their faith, their good works, their joys, and their hard-earned wisdom, the family grows into a little “church.” Our top 5 “sharing our gifts” photos celebrate how the families in our sites constantly demonstrate how to grow together into resilient, loving little churches.

#5: Sharing our time, talents, and gifts 

Abinash, from India, was born with a development disability, and was unable to attend his local school. He required full-time care, preventing his parents from earning daily incomes.

With the support of sponsorship, Abinash is now able to attend a school for children with disabilities, and lives on campus with caregivers. He’s made a lot of progress, and is now able to perform daily tasks such as washing and dressing without any assistance.

Abinash is lively, curious, and friendly. His parents are both skilled potters, and with Abinash’s needs being met at school, they’re able to pursue their work full-time. They believe that he will be able to take up pottery and help them with their business when he graduates!

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