CHILDREN LONGING FOR HUGS CONGREGATION GIVES LOVE, MORE TO ORPHANAGE.Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer NEWHALL - Perched atop a barren bar·ren adj. 1. Not producing offspring. 2. Incapable of producing offspring. barren see infertility. barren adjective Gynecology Infertile, sterile, fruitless, inconceivable hillside in Tijuana, Mexico, La Hermosa Orphanage ORPHANAGE, Eng. law. By the custom of London, when a freeman of that city dies, his estate is divided into three parts, as follows: one third part to the widow; another, to the children advanced by him in his lifetime, which is called the orphanage; and the other third part may be by him is home to more than 60 children who have been abandoned on the street by parents too poor to care for them. Deserted and starving starve v. starved, starv·ing, starves v.intr. 1. To suffer or die from extreme or prolonged lack of food. 2. Informal To be hungry. 3. To suffer from deprivation. for love, the children are cared for by a church pastor and his wife who struggle to provide them food, shelter, medical care and education on a shoestring budget solely dependent upon donations. When members of the Valley Worship Center in Newhall learned of the orphanage's struggles, they swung into action. A group traveled to the orphanage about three months ago to compile a list of needs and wishes. This morning, at the crack of dawn, about 25 congregation members planned to return to the orphanage with a van filled with a television set, a cooler full of fresh food, clothing, blankets, school supplies and a wide assortment of cleaning supplies and personal hygiene personal hygiene person n → Körperhygiene f products like toothpaste toothpaste, n See dentifrice. , shampoo shampoo a cleaning agent, usually liquid, for hair; usually consists of a detergent and perfume. Some, usually referred to as medicated shampoos, contain therapeutic substances such as parasiticides, antimicrobials, ketatolytic agents, and antiseborrheic compounds such as selenium and soap. Hand-painted with colorful ducks, bears, giraffes and elephants, the church's 15-passenger van also will be donated to the orphanage. ``We wanted to reach out to children, and what better way than through this orphanage,'' said the Rev. Bill Carter, church pastor. ``We've been gearing up for this day for months. We had to limit the number of people who are going because the whole church wanted to go.'' During their daylong day·long adj. Lasting through the whole day. adv. Through the day; all day. Adj. 1. daylong - lasting through an entire day stay, church members will also take a group of children to Rosarita Beach and build a dining room at the orphanage. Church members who traveled to the orphanage on the first fact-finding mission say they expected to find poverty but did not expect the extreme destitution des·ti·tu·tion n. 1. Extreme want of resources or the means of subsistence; complete poverty. 2. A deprivation or lack; a deficiency. Noun 1. that defines much of Tijuana. ``There's such poverty there that parents turn their kids out on the street or drop them off at the orphanage because they can't take care of them anymore,'' said Betsy Meenke, coordinator of the church's efforts. ``The children there seemed very, very hungry for love. They just clung clung v. Past tense and past participle of cling. clung Verb the past of cling clung cling to us, and all they wanted was to be held and touched.'' While the material goods being donated by the church will make the children's lives more comfortable, Meenke said, the main gift church members want to share with the children is love. ``Material things are temporary,'' she said. ``But we can make an eternal impact on the children by sharing God's love with them. We want them to realize they are loved, they are not abandoned.'' Meenke's 20-year-old daughter Mindy said she returned to her Newhall home with a new sense of gratitude. ``I didn't expect conditions there to be that bad,'' she said. ``The houses were almost like cardboard, and there were a lot of dirt roads dirt road n (US) → camino sin firme dirt road n → chemin non macadamisé or non revêtu dirt road dirt n . When I got back here, I realized how much we take for granted.'' Carter's 25-year-old son Michael, who will lead the team of young people to the beach, said he too was struck by the children's meager mea·ger also mea·gre adj. 1. Deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty. 2. Deficient in richness, fertility, or vigor; feeble: the meager soil of an eroded plain. 3. existence. ``I grew up with a box of toys; they are growing up with one toy,'' he said. ``I thought since it was an orphanage, the kids would be clean and medically taken care of. Kids here just take that for granted. Going down there changed my whole perspective and made me a lot more grateful for my house and the love I have there.'' La Hermosa - which means ``the beautiful'' in Spanish - was founded in 1994 by Marcos and Martha Zabaleta after extreme flooding in Tijuana left hundreds of children alone on the street, said Judy Chavez, the church's bilingual bi·lin·gual adj. 1. a. Using or able to use two languages, especially with equal or nearly equal fluency. b. secretary. The couple began their efforts by taking food to the homeless children and eventually realized that a more permanent solution was needed, she said. They started the orphanage in their home and eventually bought a piece of land and built a larger facility. ``Money is a lot tougher to get down there, and they really should be commended for what they're doing,'' Carter said of the Zabaletas' efforts. ``If it weren't for the orphanage, these children would have nowhere to go.'' CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Valley Worship Center member Kayla Geotis, 10, packs food and other supplies for delivery by church members to La Hermosa orphanage in Tijuana. (2 -- color) The Rev. Bill Carter and church members will donate this van to a Tijuana orphanage today. (3) Church members mingle with some of La Hermosa orphanage's children on a previous visit. David Crane/Staff Photographer |
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