Pathways to Children Newsletter

Quarter 1, 2015

 

A report on recent Pathways to Children activities and our future plans for 2015.

PUBLIC HEALTH ALUMNI GROUP VOLUNTEER TRIP TO KOLKATA

We just returned from Kolkata with alumni from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.  The alumni are at the top in their field so we were very flattered when they were extremely complimentary of Pathways to Children’s Jan Seva preschool, mother’s job training program, the two clinics (women and children’s) and the program for special needs children.  They found our partner in Kolkata, Society of Indian Children’s Welfare (SICW) highly focused and doing great things.  They could see what a wonderful reciprocal relationship we have and how much Pathways is doing to help and empower children and their mothers who are living in extreme poverty.

The alumni, along with Mayo Clinic and Mercy Hospital System, supplied our clinics with thousands of dollars worth of much needed medical products.  In fact, they donated so much that we were able to donate the extra to Dr. Devi Shetty’s Hospital in Kolkata.

Roger Bakke from ReSound Minnesota generously donated 18 state of the art hearing aids, and Arnab Bakshi from ReSound Kolkata donated his time and expertise to customize and fit the hearing aids to the children of the Pathways To Children’s special needs program in the Jan Seva School.  Read more about the impact of the ReSound Donation today!

 

For a day by day of their trip, please visit http://umnsphalumni.blogspot.com today!

 

 

FUTURE PROGRAMS IN KOLKATA

One result of the U of MN School of Public Health alumni trip is a joint venture to develop a field experiences for graduate students to do research projects at Pathways “Jan Seva” school and clinics in Kolkata.  We are looking for a grant to sponsor the travel expenses of two graduate students for the summer of 2015.  The students will do research on essential information needed to thoroughly evaluate the progress and effectiveness of Pathways sponsored programs in Kolkata. Also suggested was developing mini training lessons for the mothers in areas on topics such as; family planning, spousal abuse, nutrition and sanitation.  All in all, Pathways has a great working relationship with the U of MN School of Public Health and we are looking forward to future trips and the development of graduate student field experiences.

 

 

VOLUNTEER TRIP TO BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

Pathways has another very exciting partner, The Rochester Sisters of St Francis Mission school and clinic in Bogota, Colombia.  We are taking our first group of volunteer students to Bogota in November, 2015. The students are from the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis.  It will be Cristo Rey’s first international volunteer mission trip and they are very excited to partner with Pathways.  Together with Cristo Rey and the Sisters in Bogota we are developing comprehensive pre trip curriculum to include studying human rights, and the history and culture of Columbia and a mutually beneficial experience on the trip.

For more information on the Rochester Sisters of St Francis Mission in Bogota, please visit: https://www.rochesterfranciscan.org/what-we-do/mission-in-colombia.html.

Thank you for your support of Pathways to Children Foundation.  Without your assistance, we would not be able to continuously grow and help and empower children living in extreme poverty to change their world.

Warm regards,

Grace Strangis

Executive Director

Pathways to Children Foundation