I am so pleased to be a co-coordinator of the Bridge of Hope program for 2011. Along with my friend and co-coordinator Marisa, yesterday Patrice Gancie, program director for Bridge of Hope gave us the good news... we have been chosen to be the co-coordinators for next year's hosting program-hooray! Having been hosts in 2008 and 2009, Marisa and I have a lot of good experience to share with the new host families.
This program offers Russian orphans the opportunity to spend about 1 month with an American family, usually in the month of July into early August. We will begin outreach to find host families this fall, with info meetings to be held in November, January and February.
Bridge of Hope for Russian Children is a cultural program in which the children live with a host family and go to summer day camp during the week. They also enjoy living with their host families at night and on the weekends, doing anything that families typically do- swimming, biking, arts and crafts, sports- you name it. Some kids like to watch cartoons and movies. When we hosted, our child preferred to run and play instead of sit and stay. It is now 2 years later and he is still a very active little boy!
To come to America for summer camp, the children and their escorts take a 3.5 hour car ride to the airport from their village in Far East Russia, fly about 9 hours to Moscow and then take another 9 hour flight to NY JFK airport. (They also fly into the DC, Virginia, NJ, and Chicago areas, depending on where the host families are located.) Once in America, they are greeted by their host family, who take them home for their summer camp experience. A group picnic and reunion is held during the hosting period so that the kids can see each other and the escorts can check in with them as well. Past host families also go to the picnic to reconnect with their Bridge of Hope friends.
Bridge of Hope is how my husband and I met our eldest son Sasha in the summer of 2008. We fell in love with Sasha right away and when we inquired whether or not he was available for adoption - eureka he was! It turned out that he had a younger brother who was too little to go to camp that summer. We were thrilled that Sasha had a brother because we always wanted to have more than one child, so this was divine intervention at its best. Their brotherhood would always be a bridge from the past to the present. They would always have somebody close by who understood what it was like to go from the groupa in Russia into their new family life in America.
And so our adoption story began that summer of 2008 through the Bridge of Hope summer hosting program. We completed the adoption of our two sons in the spring of 2009. Our boys have now been immersed in English, academics, sports and fun in America since May 2009 and they are thriving. In fact, they often give us a run for our money with questions, observations and lots of fun and silliness on a daily basis. We are truly blessed and thank the heavens every day that we decided to be a host family for Bridge of Hope.
Many people host just for the cultural experience of giving a school-aged child a wonderful camp experience. Others host because they hope to adopt an older child. Either way, the program needs host families every year. Applications are accepted each winter with referrals made in early spring and hosting is done in the summer. If you live on or near Long Island, NY, please contact me if you would like more information about this terrific summer hosting program. Or go to http://www.cradlehope.org/BOH/default.htm for more information.
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