Children International Inaugurates New Center to Help Poor Children in Zambia

LUSAKA, Zambia, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Child poverty in Zambia represents a significant daily struggle for the many children suffering from it. It takes many hands to provide relief and many hearts to ease its suffering.

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Celebrities and everyday Americans – people from all walks of life – came together to provide relief to over 5,000 impoverished children in Lusaka as they contributed to the construction of a state-of-the-art Children International community center that was recently inaugurated.

President and CEO of Children International Jim Cook said, "We are grateful to our generous contributors for supporting our mission to help impoverished children in Zambia. The new center will provide the children of the community with the opportunity to be healthier, more educated and live a more full life."

The new Lusaka Hope Center – Kansas City Community Center will provide the opportunity for children and their families who live on less than a dollar a day to live a healthier more fulfilling life.

Supporter Mary Emmett made a generous contribution toward the purchase of the land where the new center now sits. Without her help, impoverished children would be left without vital medical care, dental care, medicine – even a safe playground to play. Apart from making the center a reality, Emmett, whose family has helped to fund two of Children International's three community centers in Zambia, also supports 9 children there, all of whom she was able to visit during her trip.

The center also houses a library, medical clinic, dental clinic, computer room, pharmacy, playground and meeting rooms.

Other contributors to the center include:

1. Actor Neil Patrick Harris, who supported the Neil Patrick Harris Children's Library,
2. Kansas City Friends, which made a major donation for the construction of the building,
3. Raymond Steiner, who funded the medical clinic and,
4. Erica Mohr and Megan Miller for their gift for the Youth Activity Center.

The Lusaka Hope Center – Kansas City Community Center is Children International's third center to open in the city. The organization currently serves over 13,000 children in Zambia, providing them a chance to see a doctor, visit a dentist, receive educational support and have a safe place to meet and play – all luxuries in a desert of poverty.

About Children International:

Established in 1936, Children International is a humanitarian organization with its headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. Children International's programs benefit more than 335,000 children and their families in 11 countries around the world, including Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Zambia, Honduras, India, the Philippines and the United States. For more information about Children International or to sponsor a child, visit www.children.org.

SOURCE Children International