An invitation to expanding horizons
...
[8-2-01]
We have received this note from Ms. Stephanie
McPhail, a member of First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown, NY, with
the request that we share it with the circle of folks who visit the
Witherspoon web site. This is not an undertaking of the Witherspoon
Society or of the Presbyterian Church, but we're happy to share
information about such opportunities.
Dear friends and families,
I am sending you this e-mail before I go to church
today because I am very concerned about a large number of our foreign
high school applicants who are supposed to start school in the USA as
early as next week and who to this day still have no host family to live
with during the upcoming school year.
We are asking for the help of all our caring previous
host families and friends to help us locate host families for up to 20
boys and girls, ages 15-17 who are still waiting to be invited to stay
with a host family while they attend high school in the USA. As of
today, they have no home to go to. The boys and girls come from the
following countries: Japan, Brazil, Germany, France, Albania and
Mongolia. All the boys and girls are well screened and deserving
candidates who have sometimes been planning this program for a few
years. For many who will be entering the 12th grade, this is their last
chance for them to participate.
Please, check our web site and tell all your nice
friends, neighbors and acquaintances at work, at church and at
get-togethers. Our goal is to locate a good home for each at least 3
weeks before school starts.
In advance, I thank you for your caring and look
forward to hearing from you.
Please, contact Ms Stephanie McPhail at (631) 475-2468
or (703) 670-6664 and look up our web site: http://members.aol.com/rmdisc/welcome.htm
Email StephDMDiscNY@aol.com
In response to our inquiries, Ms. McPhail added these details:
We have host families located in all areas of the United States. At this
time we have families in Texas, California, Virginia, Ohio, Georgia, New
York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and many other areas. If
there is a family that would like to host but we happen not to have a
coordinator in their area then we will find/train a coordinator for
them.
A coordinator is someone that acts as a liaison between the Host Family,
School, Student and DM Discoveries in order to make sure that monthly
paperwork is completed and also make sure we are aware of everything
that goes on with our students.
Coordinators are paid a very small amount and host families
receive $50 per month tax write off from the IRS(charitable
contribution). Host families are required only to provide their student
3 meals a day and give them a bed to sleep in. They can share a room
with a child of the same sex and a host family need only have 2 people
(e.g. mom and child, father and child, mom and dad etc).
Children come with $150 per month to spend on going out and buying
clothes and doing whatever teenagers in the area do. Anything else a
host family does for their student is up to them.
Children come from many different church affiliations - Muslim,
Catholic, Protestant, Hindu etc. All of our students are eager to learn
about their host families' religion and the difference between our
cultures in all of its aspects. It is part of the learning process!
Our company is a small company started by my mother who was an Exchange
student herself and later came to the US as a military bride. Her love
of horses and the environment brought her to volunteer in many different
areas to include wildlife rescue and equine studies. When she decided to
begin her own foreign exchange company she mostly wanted to show foreign
teens the beauty of the US, not only natural beauty but also the
beauty/warmth of the American people, the love of the
environment/outdoors and animals - the same beauty she saw (and fell in
love with) when she came to this country. Each child that we choose to
be on the program must have good grades, good emotional stability and be
open minded. Our Mongolian students love the outdoors and speak
about their favorite times of visiting the country side with their
parents. Students from all of the countries we work with tend to be
attracted to us because of our original goal - to teach foreign teens
about the US and the environment etc.
