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November 17, 2011
in Resources
There are many ways to celebrate National Adoption Awareness Month this November. Here are five more ideas:
- Cooking for Culture – There is just something about cooking that brings a family together. It’s a great time to try a new recipe that celebrates your family’s diversity. While preparing the meal together make sure to talk about different cultures, embracing wherever your child was born. Cooking a meal together is a great way to start the conversation about racial and cultural issues over great tasting food. If you would like to share recipes with other families, please contact Lauren Hacker and we would be happy to create a blog post about that for other families to view.
- Donate – Give a donation to a non-profit organization that supports orphan care or adoption. Some great places to donate would be, The Global Orphan Foundation, Project Hopeful, and ABBA Fund. This is a great way to advocate for families in the adoption process and children left behind.
- Start or Join an Adoption or Orphan Care Ministry – If your place of worship already has an Adoption or Orphan Ministry, that’s great – get involved! If they don’t, starting a ministry is an important way to bring awareness to the orphan crisis and need for adoption in our world. The first step may be to meet with the heads of your church to express your desire and passion to start such a ministry. Second, gather those who are interested and brainstorm to select the mission of the ministry and the leadership team. The purpose of the ministry could be to raise awareness, support, funding, or outreach. It could be more specifically related to adoption promoting international adoption, domestic adoption, and/or foster care. Please feel free to contact Lauren Hacker, our Adoption Ministry Coordinator, for more information.
- Have an Adoption-Themed Movie Night – Watching an adoption-related movie or reading an adoption-related book with your family. Make sure that the book or movie you select portrays adoption in a positive way – Try the VeggieTales movie, It’s a Meaningful Life or Kung Fu Panda 2.
- Attend a Support Group Meeting – At MLJ we offer some great support group opportunities. All MLJ Support Services groups are open to the entire adoption community, not just clients of MLJ. We offer an Adoptive Parents Support Group, While We Wait Group, and the Adoption Kid’s Club. There will be several offerings during the month of November and year round. Please make sure that you sign up for each group that you plan to intend, as groups may be cancelled due to low turnout. Please RSVP.
For the previous five ideas we gave, check out Celebrating National Adoption Awareness Month (Part I). We still have 5 more ideas to share with you, so check back this month!