Author Archives: Sarah

Vladimir flourishes in Paraguay with family and sponsor support

Defying all odds and surprising his doctors at every turn, Vladimir is a fighter. When he was born three months premature near our sponsor site in Asunción, Paraguay, Vladimir’s loving and faithful mother and grandmother were told upon his discharge from the hospital that he would likely only survive for a short eight months.

The doctors, however, didn’t consider the love and determination of Vladimir’s grandmother who used every resource available to her to care for her grandson. She poured her attention into Vladimir who thrived under her constant care. With faith and hope in God, the small family met and overcame every obstacle in their way.

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Photo Friday: Our top 5 “Grow Families” photos!

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

When a child enters the sponsorship program, the whole family benefits from the support. Families can grow together when they can all access nutritious food, health supplies, and send the sponsored child and their siblings to school. Knowing there is a regular source of support gives the family stability, confidence, and the ability to plan for future needs.

This week, our top 5 “Grow Families” photos celebrate God’s great gifts to us: our parents, siblings, grandparents and even our ‘families’ that aren’t related by blood. Through sponsorship, everyone can thrive.

#4: Building strong families 

Ethel is the president of her Family Circle at our Samar site in the Philippines. She lives with her husband and five precious children, three who are sponsored through Chalice! Thanks to the support of sponsorship, her children Liberato, Hazel, Erica, and Ella Jean are all able to attend school, while baby Aiden will have the support needed to grow up happy and healthy. Wanting to give back to the community, Ethel and her group-mates planted a garden at her children’s local school!
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Critical needs funding gives Tracey new life

With a mischievous grin and sparkling eyes, Tracey, a non-sponsored child living near our Tondo sponsor site in the Philippines, seems like any other active seven-year-old child. His antics keeps his parents on their toes as they smile with relief and whisper prayers of thanksgiving.

This typical rowdy behaviour brings his parents much joy because unlike most children, Tracey has faced many medical challenges in his young life. He was born with a congenital heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot, a rare condition caused by a combination of four heart defects. His parents knew that he would need surgery at some point and worried about how they would ever afford it. His father has only been able to find infrequent contract work, so the family of four survives on their grandfather’s meagre salary as a local police officer.

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Photo Friday: Our top 5 “new life” photos!

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

Easter is a time to celebrate new life! As the winter melts into spring and the first flowers unfurl from the earth, we are filled with hope. New life abounds in our sites in many forms, and our dedicated site staff work to nurture them all into an abundant harvest. Our top 5 new life photos celebrate the hope of Easter and a new and brighter tomorrow!

#4: Starting life out right 

Pregnant and breast-feeding moms need to be extra mindful that they are getting a complete diet rich in vitamins and minerals. In rural Kenya, mothers-to-be and new moms were facing malnutrition and it was affecting their babies. Thanks to generous supporters of Chalice’s nutrition fund, the Sisters who run our Mercy Care site provided 388 mothers with a complete package of nutritional staples they need to stay strong. All the pregnant mothers involved delivered healthy babies, and the babies gained weight properly. The breast-feeding babies were stronger, more active and healthy!  Continue reading →

Little things given with great love

Ten vulnerable families from our Neema site in Tanzania deeply appreciate the recent gift of their very own rooster and laying hens! The children in these families are lovingly cared for by elderly grandmothers and mothers with chronic illness who are unable to work. Each family’s new feathered friends brought them immediate relief. The hens provided nutritious eggs to supplement the children’s diets, and soon, began to produce new chicks that quickly grew. Excess eggs and surplus chickens were sold to neighbours, which gave the families extra funds to buy other much-needed items such as groceries, clothes, and medicine.

The children squealed with delight when they first saw their new chickens, and were eager to learn how to care for them. Soon, they were all expert egg collectors!

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Photo Friday: Our top 5 “going mobile” photos!

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

Many of the families that we serve live in distant, rural towns far away from the hustle and bustle of central cities. Unfortunately, this means that they lack quick access to essential services such as medical care. When faced with further difficulties such as lockdowns caused by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, families face prolonged periods of isolation from food supplies, doctors, and other nessecities.

Thankfully, with the support of our sponsors and donors, our sites are able to quickly adapt in times of turmoil. Mobile medical clinics and on-the-go nutrition programs allow families to receive timely care when it matters most, while mobile businesses give families a chance to become self sufficient! This week, we’re sharing our top 5 “going mobile” photos to showcase some of these incredible initiatives taking place at our sites.

#5: Medicine on the move

At our Mercy care site in Kenya, a mobile medical clinic funded by kind Chalice donors is making a world of difference for children located in remote areas. Sr. Franclit, who works at the site, says when the mobile medical clinic came to the area, the situation was dire. With no other way to access health care, skin infections and other illnesses were going untreated. “Now, the children are very healthy, they are getting enough food, and they are getting enough medicine,” says Sr. Franclit.

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Blessings blossoms with love, care, and sponsorship

Our Kawambwa site in Zambia strives to provide care to the local blind and partially sighted children with no other place to turn to for support. Our site’s Sisters partner with two specialized schools for the blind in Zambia that help children access quality education and life skills in a safe, warm, and loving environment. Blessings, who was born blind, never would have had access to an education without the support of her loving sponsor and the dedicated teachers at her new school.

Blessings is the youngest child in a busy family of five. Her father worked as a bricklayer, while her mother took care of the home. Her parents unfortunately didn’t have the means or knowledge to look after a child living with blindness, and struggled to manage Blessings’ disability.

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Photo Friday: Our top 5 “St. Joseph’s Day themed” photos!

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

St. Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus and husband of the Virgin Mary, is a model of loving fidelity for Christians throughout the world. Catholics believe that his prayers for us in heaven are so powerful, he was made the universal patron saint 150 years ago. To mark this special anniversary, Pope Francis declared 2021 the year of Saint Joseph. Today, March 19, is St. Joseph’s feast day. In Latin America, they celebrate Father’s Day today, too!

Besides being our universal patron, St Joseph is the patron saint of many paths of life. He is the patron of all fathers for his role in Jesus’ life, and for workers, artisans and carpenters because of his dedication to his skilled craft. He watches over travelers in remembrance of his journey to Bethlehem with Mary, and he protects migrants and refugees just as he did with his family when they had to flee to Egypt. Today, we share our top 5 “St. Joseph’s Day themed” photos to celebrate this beloved saint and ask for his prayers for the children and families at our sites. St. Joseph, pray for us! 

#5: Patron saint of migrants 

St. Joseph is the patron saint of migrants, and protects them in honour of their struggles just as he too struggled when fleeing from Egypt with Mary and Jesus. These children from our Santiago site in Chile give likeness to Mary and Joseph during a Christmas celebration! At our sites in Chile, we work with high populations of migrant workers from neighbouring countries who have been attracted to Chile’s growing economy.  Unfortunately, these families frequently do not succeed in finding work and struggle with poverty. Sponsorship allows children and families to find their footing in new communities.

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COVID-19: March 2021 updates and information

We at Chalice are closely monitoring updates on the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We are working diligently to ensure that our operations continue safely. We will continue to update all of our supporters with the most recent information we have regarding our response to COVID-19.

Current updates:

-We are still open during our regular hours, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. AST, Monday to Friday. As of March 16, 2021, most of our Canadian staff are currently working in our Bedford, Nova Scotia office with enhanced hygiene and physical distancing practices, but some may still be away from the office due COVID 19 related circumstances.

-All Parish appeals are suspended until further notice due to the Canadian government’s recommendation to limit social gatherings.

-All international staff travel is suspended until further notice.

-Our missions have been cancelled until further notice.  We cannot reasonably plan for our next mission until the pandemic has passed, international travel restrictions are lifted, and travel would not expose our Chalice family (in Canada and abroad) to an unreasonable level of risk.

-We are working diligently to ensure that all of our programs continue to run effectively, and that all donations and funds continue to be sent to our sponsor sites in a timely manner.

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Photo Friday: Our top 5 “Catholic Sisters” photos!

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

From March 8-14, we’ve been celebrating Catholic Sisters Week. We are privileged to partner with many congregations around the world who live out their charism to serve the ‘least’ of Christ’s children. We marvel each day at their dedication to prayer, which fills them with the grace and strength they need to live out their vocations through acts of service and sacrifice. 

It would be impossible for us to highlight and thank each Sister fully for their work and inspiration, but this week we’ve selected our top 5 Catholic Sister photos from our sites. Each one shows how they live the Gospel through their daily activities. Inspired by the well-known passages of Matthew 25, we celebrate how Catholic Sisters saw need, stepped in and…

#5: “…and you welcomed me.” 

Sr. Mary Grace is the site director for our Neema site in Tanzania and a member of the Sisters of the Visitation, a Vincentian order. She oversees the site’s sponsorship program, which includes the Neema Visitation Orphanage, which welcomes girls of all ages who stay until they can support themselves on their own. Many come back for visits when they move away, because the orphanage has always been home, and the Sisters their loving family. The orphanage includes a school and a chapel, where the girls are educated and enlightened. The Sisters support their daily meals with a garden and small animal farm.

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