History
How It All Began...
Thanks to Actress Gina Limbrick for her voice-over work for ACN
ACN continues to focus on the needs of today's children...
In 2001, Dr. Klein led a group of international boarding school students to Romania, where they were introduced to the country's homeless, physically challenged, abandoned, and HIV-positive children. Romania was selected as a destination for this school service trip because it was relatively close to the school, and because one of the largest numbers of pediatric AIDS cases in Europe can be found there. Once the student group returned to Switzerland, Dr. Klein founded a school club aimed at assisting the children they had just met. The club was named Assisting Children with AIDS, or "ACA."
ACA's research revealed that while the Romanian government would like to see all of its abandoned children in foster care, many children with special needs, e.g., abandoned children with HIV/AIDS, proved difficult to place. These children unfortunately had to remain in orphanages. Wishing to be in compliance with the government's foster care policy, ACA became determined to find an apartment that could be converted into a foster home for 2-3 children who would otherwise not be placed, identify a Romanian NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) that could oversee the day-to-day management of the foster home, raise enough money to purchase, renovate and staff the home, and then, with the assistance of Romanian medical and social work professionals, identify and acquire the release of children from an orphanage who would best benefit from a foster care experience. Quite a challenge for a high school service club! A total of US$21,750 was raised, and this put into motion the plan to attempt to bring "normalcy" to 2-3 abandoned HIV-positive children who had been institutionalized since infancy.
After renovating the foster home, ACA donated it to a Romanian NGO that had agreed to manage the home as long as ACA remained the financial sponsor. With these arrangements in place, the foster home officially opened its doors in March of 2003 for two abandoned girls. The two grew into three girls and ACA honored its role as financial sponsor, raising approximately US$19,000 each year to cover the foster home's administrative and operational costs and staff salaries.
Three years after establishing the foster home, Dr. Klein not only decided to expand ACA into a larger and more far reaching organization called Assisting Children in Need (ACN), but also transformed the foster home into an independent living center that would benefit not only the three children who had grown up, but also other older teens needing to transition from welfare to self-care. While ACA was the first school service club to become an ACN Chapter, it wasn't long before another international school and a prestigious U.S. liberal arts college joined the effort, as well. ACN is now registered as a 501(c)(3) U.S.-recognized public charity. Not only did Dr. Klein's family enthusiastically support ACN, but also a loyal friend and supporter, Mr. Curtis McGraw Webster, became ACN's Executive Vice President and Financial Director.
Too many abandoned children believe that their circumstances will never change and that no one cares about them. ACN does care, and with your support their circumstances will change. Together we can address the needs of abandoned children with life-threatening diseases, disabilities, or handicapping conditions, as well as the needs of institutionalized young people who strive for self-care rather than welfare. While wonderfully different in so many ways, all of these abandoned children have at least two things in common: they are all discriminated against in one way or another, and all are children in need of our support.
Feeling alone, it is hard for many abandoned children to make sense of a world they feel does not care about them. This is where you and ACN step in: making a difficult road more maneuverable for those who find life's journey too lonely and frustrating. As more and more people become interested in the work ACN does, what we have accomplished in Romania becomes possible in other parts of the world.
Join us!
If you are interested in supporting our efforts in Romania, and/or are interested in assisting us in supporting the needs of abandoned children in other parts of the world, or even wish to start a Chapter of ACN, please refer to the relevant sections of this website or contact Dr. Klein directly by email (fklein@assistingchildreninneed.org).
Next Section: Projects.
Contact Us
Assisting Children in Need (ACN)
600 Cameron Street
Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
Tel: +1 703 340 1677
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