From Local to International Levels, Groups Offer Funds, Schooling and Caring

Within hours, hundreds of thousands of children in the United States will be reveling amid mounds of toys. But for many other youngsters--both in this country and abroad--Christmas is only another day of want, hunger and perhaps despair.

The lot of needy children has changed little since Charles Dickens wrote in “A Christmas Carol” in 1843: “From the foldings of its (the spirit’s) robe, it brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. . . . ‘Spirits! are they yours?’ Scrooge could say no more. ‘They are Man’s,’ said the Spirit, looking down upon them. . . . ‘This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both. . . .’ ”

Here is a sampler of 10 channels through which you can aid needy children. The list contains but a handful of the thousands of worthy charities across the world that aid children. Included are religious and non-sectarian groups.

Some of the groups here are Los Angeles-oriented, others serve all of Southern California. Some operate nationally, some internationally, and there are groups that are active only in foreign countries.

In addition to receiving contributions from the public, most such groups get funds through governmental, church, foundation or other conduits.

Most of the organizations listed have an established reputation. However, inclusion implies no endorsement by The Times.

Contributions may be made by mail. For additional information, call the telephone number listed for each organization.

Southland-Based Groups Para Los Ninos, 845 East 6th St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90021, (213) 623-8446.

In 1979, Tanya Tull read a newspaper article about families living in decaying Skid Row hotels. A former social worker in Skid Row, Tull investigated and found conditions were as bad as described; she also found that many of the children were neglected or abused.

Tull started Para Los Ninos as a child day care center in a downtown warehouse. Now it is a social service agency aiding homeless and transient children and their families in Los Angeles’ central city, including Skid Row.

Major programs include a crisis center, child care and parent education.

Tull, now president of the board of trustees, says Para Los Ninos has a need for good used clothing (socks and underwear must be new), along with toys, books and other items.

Las Familias, 307 East 7th St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90014, (213) 614-1745.

Six years ago, Episcopal priest Alice Callaghan founded Las Familias, a community center in Skid Row. She wanted to provide a safe place for women and children, mainly immigrants living in near-by hotels, to spend the day.

In the first stages of operation, Callaghan and two co-workers relocated about 400 families from Skid Row hotels to more desirable areas of the city.

Last September, Las Familias moved to its current address. Its community center, open 11 hours a day Monday through Friday, continues to be a gathering place for women and children. Classes in English, parenting, nutrition and sewing are provided by outside agencies.

Callaghan is now focusing her attention on the problems of immigrant women working in what she calls “the sweatshops of the garment district.”

Children of the Night, 1800 N. Highland Ave., Suite 128, Los Angeles, Calif. 90028, (213) 461-3160.

Lois Lee founded Children of the Night in 1979 for male and female prostitutes 18 years and younger.

The organization, which has a staff of six, helps find lodging in shelters, such as Centrum of Hollywood, for young prostitutes who do not qualify for help elsewhere.

The organization says it is now looking for a building in a commercial area of the San Fernando Valley.

Project Concern International, 3550 Afton Road, San Diego, Calif. 92123, (619) 279-9690.

Founded 26 years ago by physician Jim Turpin, this San Diego-based organization operates in the United States, Mexico and other countries.

Project Concern International develops health-care programs, with the goal of making the programs self-sufficient.

Executive Director Henry Sjaardema says the group teaches health skills at the community level.

A field hospital set up for Vietnamese hill people in the 1960s by Dr. Turpin is still in operation, Sjaardema says.

Child survival is currently being emphasized by the organization.

Project Concern has aided about 8 million people since its beginning.

Sponsorship Organizations

These organizations take money donated monthly for a child and pool it with money donated for other children in the same area. By doing this, they are able to help in school construction, vocational training and providing clean drinking water in impoverished communities in the Third World and the United States.

Save the Children, 54 Wilton Road, P.O. Box 950, Westport, Conn. 06881, (800) 243-5075.

Save the Children is the oldest of the sponsorship organizations, started in 1932 to help the victims of the Depression

in Appalachia. Today it also works in 43 other nations. Save the Children emphasizes community work. It has won praise for care of orphans in Ethiopia.

World Vision, 919 W. Huntington Drive, Monrovia, Calif. 91016, (818) 357-7979.

World Vision was founded 37 years ago by Christian leader and film maker Bob Pierce to aid Korean War orphans. Today the organization supports 4,500 projects in 80 countries, including the United States.

Although World Vision is an interdenominational Christian group, President Robert Seiple says, “. . . Acceptance of our view has never been, nor ever will be, a prerequisite for receiving our help. We offer assistance with no strings attached.”

Among projects are food-distribution programs in Mozambique, where a famine-drought problem is compounded by a civil war, and in Ethiopia, a place of continuing famine.

Christian Children’s Fund, P.O. Box 26511, Richmond, Va. 23261, (800) 228-2205.

Dr. J. Calvitt Clarke, a Presbyterian minister from Richmond, Virginia, started the Christian Children’s Fund in 1938 to save starving Chinese children caught in the Sino-Japanese War.

The organization is Christian but will help any needy child in any of the 22 countries where it is active.

The Christian Children’s Fund emphasizes education as a way to break the cycle of poverty in Third World countries.

Foster Parents Plan, 155 Plan Way, Warwick, R.I. 02886, (800) 556-7918.

Foster Parents Plan emphasizes the person-to-person aspect of sponsorship by encouraging donors to correspond with their foster children. Farida Khan, research associate with plan, explains, “By writing to the child, the sponsor has the opportunity to see the child progress and to learn about the Third World and its problems.”

Each donor is sent a case history and photo of the foster child as well as information about the child’s country and culture. The donor then begins receiving mail from the child and progress reports from the field staff. Donors are also encouraged to visit their foster children.

U.S. Committee for UNICEF, Western Regional Office, 1640 5th Street, Suite 114, Santa Monica, Calif. 90401.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, founded in 1946 to aid the children of postwar Europe and China, now works in 119 countries.

A major goal in recent years has been to save Third World children from disease. Using new heat-resistant vaccines and a simple solution of sugar, salt and water to counter dehydration caused by diarrhea (a common cause of death for Third World children), UNICEF has been able to save the lives of about a million and a half children, a spokesperson said.

Defense for Children International, Case Postale 88, CH-1211 Geneve 20, Switzerland or Defense for Children International-USA, 210 Forsyth St., New York, N.Y. 10002, (212) 353-0951.

Mike Jupp, executive director of Defense for Children International-USA, describes the organization as “a world agency which monitors the abuse and exploitation of children--like Amnesty International.”

Begun in 1979, the International Year of the Child, the group is known for its dealing with politically sensitive situations where the rights of children are at issue. It monitors the treatment of Iranian boys in Iraqi prisoner-of-war camps and has started a Children’s Legal Center in South Africa to help children being held there as political prisoners.

Defense for Children International is headquartered in Geneva and has member groups in 80 nations. Annual memberships are $25 for adults, $10 for those under 18. Former President Jimmy Carter is a member of Defense for Children International-USA.

Covenant House, New York, 460 West 41st St., New York, N.Y. 10036, (800) 999-9999.

Covenant House operates in New York City, Toronto, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., New Orleans, Houston, Anchorage, Alaska, and the countries of Guatemala and Panama. In New York City, the group provides hot food, a place to sleep, clothing, medical care and counseling for about 25,000 street children a year.

Covenant House was started by Franciscan priest Father Bruce Ritter in 1972 after six runaway boys knocked on his apartment door asking for a place to stay.

Through its newest service, Nineline, Covenant House has extended its reach to most of the United States. Nineline, a toll-free telephone number--(800) 999-9999--is described by Covenant House as “a coast-to-coast hot line for troubled youths and their families.”

CHILDHOPE, 331 East 38th St., 6th floor, New York, N.Y. 10016, (212) 983-1422.

CHILDHOPE focuses on helping street children. Peter Tacon, formerly a UNICEF specialist on street children, is executive director.

CHILDHOPE plans to move its international headquarters, now in Guatemala City, Guatemala, to a different continent every five years to emphasize that street children are a worldwide problem.

The organization says it maintains a separate fund for its administration so that all of a donor’s money goes to the programs.

Child Workers in Asia, P.O. Box 317, Rajdamnern Post Office, Bangkok 10200, Thailand.

Child Workers in Asia is an agency that acts as a conduit for the sharing of information among field workers and non-government organizations working to stop the exploitation of children. It is active in Thailand, Malaysia, India, Nepal, the Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh, countries where exploitation of children is said to be particularly bad.

Child Workers in Asia was founded in 1979 by Panudda Boonpala of Thailand, an expert on child labor and child prostitution in East Asia. Headquartered in Bangkok, the organization prints a newsletter with the latest information on the situation in each country. It also prints and distributes educational comic books (a common way of spreading information in East Asia) for adults in health and social service agencies.

In addition, Child Workers in Asia assists police in tracking down and raiding sweatshops.

For a subscription to the Child Workers in Asia newsletter, send a money order for $6 to Taneeya Runcharoen, 59/409 Piboonwattana, Rama VI Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.

The Undugu Society, care of Missionaries of Africa, P.O. Box 53352, Washington, D.C. 20009, (202) 232-5154.

Father Arnold Grol, a Roman Catholic missionary from the Netherlands, started the Undugu Society for the street children of Kenya in 1975. ( Undugu is a variation of the Swahili word for brother.)

Considered the most successful program of its kind in East Africa and perhaps the entire continent, the Undugu Society today helps street children and their parents in addition to other community members.

About 60 small houses are home for 500 girls and boys.

Four schools provide three years of general education, after which the children begin vocational training with Kenyan artisans.

Parents of the children as well as the many prostitutes living in the Mathare Valley are offered a general education and the opportunity to learn income-producing skills. Loans are provided to start small businesses, and a community health program teaches sanitation and disease control. The address of the Undugu Society in Africa is P.O. Box 40417, Nairobi, Kenya.

Children’s Defense Fund, 122 C Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001, (202) 628-8787.

The Children’s Defense Fund emphasizes aid to poor, minority and handicapped children.

President Marian Wright Edelman presides over the group of specialists i n areas such as health, education and youth employment who compose the organization. They are involved in numerous areas--policy making, research, education, legislation and litigation.

The Anti-Slavery Society, 180 Brixton Road, London, England. SW9 6 AT. One area of concentration of the Anti-Slavery Society is child exploitation, which this London-based organization considers a contemporary form of slavery.

The Anti-Slavery Society is dedicated, in part, to combating exploitation of youngsters under 18 years for labor or other purposes. The society says that the problem may affect 40 million children, the majority of them living in India or Southeast Asia.

The society works with national governments and international groups such as the United Nations, to which it issues an annual report on various forms of slavery.