 You Can Make A Difference For Rudi
Rudi is an energetic, friendly, soon-to-be fifth grader. She loves school and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Life hasn’t always been easy for this precious little girl with a big smile. But it’s better now. You can help make sure it stays that way.
In Rudi’s family, she was surrounded by recreational drug use, fighting parents, abuse, paycheck-to-paycheck poverty, and all of the distractions that can make it hard for a little girl to grow up – or force her to grow up too soon. Her education was an afterthought. If she got herself out of bed in time to catch the school bus, great; if she didn’t make it, not important. Breakfast, when she had any at all, was a piece of toast she fixed herself. No one really cared if she did her homework. Her teachers wanted to help the lonely little girl with the sad eyes, but without support at home, there was only so much they could do. No one expected much from her – not her parents, her teachers, or even Rudi* herself. She was just one of those mostly invisible kids growing up in a hard place that not many people notice. Children like her are often destined for an adulthood in which they repeat the cycle of dysfunction and family conflict when they become adults with kids of their own. In society today, there are lots of children like Rudi. You can’t help them all, as much as you might like to. But you do have an opportunity to touch the lives of Rudi and her brothers and sisters at Children At Heart Ministries, including Texas Baptist Children’s Home, Miracle Farm, Gracewood and STARRY. You see, Rudi’s life changed when she came to live with us. She became part of a real family that had great expectations for her. Loving house parents made sure she did her homework and for the first time in her young life, she saw success in the classroom. Her grades, once near failing, are mostly A’s and B’s. Her future has never been brighter. Best of all, she isn’t alone. She lives in a cottage with a playful group of girls about her own age. She calls her house parents Mom and Pop. She gets three healthy meals every day. And she knows that she has people like you who are praying for her and making a difference in her life. Rudi’s story before she came to us isn’t unusual. It’s rare to find a child who hasn’t had a rocky road in the classroom, whether its a boy at Miracle Farm, the child of a single mother at Gracewood, a youngster in foster care at STARRY, or a child living in a cottage at Texas Baptist Children’s Home. Today, all are headed toward success in school. And it wouldn’t be possible without you.
As we approach the start of the school year, we want to make sure Rudi and her friends continue to have the things they need to succeed. That means everything from school clothes to school supplies to tutoring (especially important for kids who have found themselves behind in the classroom). We invite you to be part of Rudi’s life by making a Back To School donation that can help defray the costs of preparing a youngster for school these days. Backpacks and books, shirts and shoes, pencils and paper are near the top of the list, of course. But there are often costs attached for field trips and extracurricular activities, all part of an enriched educational experience for a child like Rudi. This year, you can help make sure that Rudi has the encouragement she needs to continue to work hard and succeed. Her success will make a difference in her life today and it isn’t hard to imagine that it can make a difference for the generations that follow her. But it all starts with Rudi – and with you and your willingness to invest in a young life with so much potential. Your help today can help every child we serve realize his or her potential. And when you help, you can know with certainty that your hand up has made a difference for a child. School starts the end of August. When Rudi runs out of her cottage to catch the school bus on the first day of classes, there’s no dout she will have a huge smile on her face. We hope you will be smiling too, knowing that you have changed her life.
Please visit the Back To School donation page and help make a lifetime of difference for Rudi and other children in care.
* Rudi’s story is true. The name and photo have been changed to protect her confidentiality.
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