Caring for children and women at home and abroad
At JRM Foundation, our work focuses on two key things: health and education for children and women. Our support and efforts make the most significant impact in these fundamental areas of society. We are proud to report that our commitment and mission through several projects to support the wellbeing of children and women in Idaho, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Pakistan over the past year has been very successful. We encourage you to support JRM Foundation’s upcoming projects and share in some holiday cheer and lifting spirits for the New Year. It is a gift that never stops giving.
Continuing COVID-19 support
Considering the significant fundraising challenges that we have faced in the past year due to COVID-19, we remained determined to support our partner charities locally and abroad. This year in Idaho, we have supported initiatives aimed at food insecurity, COVID-19 relief, domestic violence, child abuse prevention, and rental assistance. In addition, JRM Foundation partners provided comfort and service to the most vulnerable in our communities, who have also faced overwhelming challenges. With the significant increase in homelessness, domestic violence, food insecurity, and mental health-related issues, we plan to continue ongoing support and partnership with our partners’ Aids for Friends, Idaho Food Bank, Family Services Alliances, CASA, and Shoshone Bannock Tribe.
Afghanistan relief
After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, JRM Foundation received extensive requests for assistance on the ground in Afghanistan and Afghan refugees in the United States. Fortunately, having acquaintances familiar with the situation, we provided some relief, albeit limited due to our funding capacities. In Afghanistan, we provided food and shelter assistance, as access to money became impossible for families living there. In the United States, we worked with local partners to provide winter clothing and essential supplies to newly settled refugee families. We are grateful we could provide relief and comfort to families facing enormous uncertainty due to displacement and extreme threats.
Children with Thalassemia major in Pakistan
In Pakistan, the JRM Foundation team met with local welfare organizations to provide blood transfusions to young children suffering from Thalassemia major. Thalassemia major is an inherited blood disorder that causes your body to have less hemoglobin than normal, requiring blood transfusions for severe cases. The Zhwandoon Welfare Organization, a registered NGO in Pakistan, provides access and services to the most vulnerable children in this region. We also offer financial support to assist in the organization’s clinical care and medical supplies, along with small toys and art supplies for the children to enjoy while undergoing this three to four-hour exhausting transfusion process. Complicating an already comprised health problem, some of these children also suffer from chronic malnutrition, detrimental to their physical and developmental growth. We hope our partnership with Zhwandoon to support preventative measures will aid in preventing Thalassemia major, as we focus on an awareness campaign encouraging Thalassemia major screening throughout the region. Through this partnership, our goal is to provide short-term and long-term support while improving the quality of healthcare service to these children and their families while reducing the number of cases.
Nepal update
In Nepal, we have continued our support for the Waku-9, Solokhumbu clinic. Located in a rural mountaintop village, the clinic provides healthcare services to local Sherpa communities and neighboring villages. We have a full-time service provider who operates the clinic as access to the more extensive hospital care is restricted for various reasons. Even though we could not host a medical mission to the region this year, we continued with the necessary upgrades to the clinic to equip it with needed supplies. We hope that the upcoming year will be a better one for all of us. We plan to return to Nepal with a team and continue our commitment to the clinic.
Our education initiative in Nepal was rewarding for our teachers and students at the Mahendrgram school and our partner graduate students from the University of Minnesota. The graduate students provided help in establishing a curriculum focused on understanding the role of technology in education in the local region. In addition, they published a research paper in the International Journal of Technology in Education and Science (IJTES) to elaborate on the project and share some findings from their time on the ground. The study focuses on the value of collaborative, university-school relationships to foster buy-in among teachers to integrate technology for increased student learning.
Happy New Year!
JRM Foundation is grateful for your support and excited to share some incredible opportunities that make a difference in all our work as we head into the New Year. We invite your continued support and, more importantly, your participation. Idaho is still vulnerable from COVID-19. The issues that continue to demand our immediate attention are mental health, education, food, and housing insecurity—each exasperated by the pandemic and continue to be so. Stepping into the New Year, we wish you all excellent health, safety, and peace.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to benefiting women and children in Idaho and abroad.
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