Hello,

I want to share a story about my daughter and her friend who raised money through a lemonade stand to send to Georgia. I have 2 children who we adopted from Georgia. Our son, Josh, was adopted in 1996 at the age of 2 weeks and we spent 5 weeks in Georgia to finalize the adoption. We lived with a Georgian family while we there, had the opportunity to meet many Georgians, and enjoyed their wonderful kindness and hospitality. They are amazing people and we want to help them in so many ways.

My daughter, Georgia, was born in Feb 2000 and we returned in May 2000 to finalize her adoption. The adoption rules had changed since 1996 and we were not allowed to leave Georgia for a few weeks after the adoption was finalized. On that trip, we returned home after a week and in June, I flew to London to meet an escort from Georgia who brought our daughter. Our children are wonderful and we feel very blessed that they are our children.

Our daughter Georgia who is eight decided to have a lemonade stand last week to raise money to send to Georgia. Fortunately, because of Georgia being in the news lately, most people understood the need of Georgians and their stand was a success. They raised $200. and after researching different organizations to send the money to I came upon your web site. I was so impressed with what you are doing and the fact that my husband and I can relate to many of your experiences in Georgia we will be donating to your foundation next week on line. Georgia’s friend, Claire, also helped with the lemonade stand and because her father works at Microsoft, (we live in the Seattle area) the company will match the donation. So in addition to our donation, you should expect a check from Microsoft in the following few months for $200.

I have included a photo of my daughter's stand. Georgia is the one on the right and her friend Claire is on the left.

We will continue to raise funds whenever possible and send it to your foundation.

Keep up your wonderful work!

Nancy