HERE’S MY DREAM!

To start, I want to tell you my story. My amazing parents, Dana and Mike Mccroskie, adopted me from China when I was 5 months old and not without difficulty. In the beginning, they tried using a different agency that originally brought me to them. Further into the process, and after continuous delays, my parents started to worry if my adoption would even be possible. That’s when they contacted an agency called Children’s Hope International. And hope is exactly what they gave us. Within a month, my parents were able to travel to China to open their arms and hearts to me for the first time.

This moment has opened my life to tremendous opportunities. I recently graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry with minors in Biology and Business. Throughout college, I pitched for the Columbia College Softball team, volunteered regularly with American Red Cross, participated in on-campus clubs like Pre-Healthcare and Science Club, and was a part of the Student Ambassadors for CC and the Missouri Department of Higher Education. Today, I work at North Kansas City Hospital while preparing my application to medical school. I am job shadowing, volunteering, and working on receiving all the hospital experience to make myself a competitive applicant.

Children’s Hope has given me so much to be thankful for, and that includes my little sister, Ellie. We welcomed Ellie into our family when we adopted her from China in 2004. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to immerse myself in both American and Asian culture, and it has led me to achieve my larger than life vision thus far. It has always been a dream of mine to give back to the organization that has opened the door to infinite possibilities.

Children’s Hope is currently looking for volunteers (who have ties to adoption and the adoption agency) to help the orphan children staying in Alenah’s Home. Alenah’s Home is a specific foster and rehabilitation care center in Beijing that houses children, many with special needs including cerebral palsy, down syndrome, autism, and children who need organ transplants. Helping others through the adoption process is something that I’ve held close to my heart my entire life and is a passion that continues to grow. To show my gratitude, I wish to return to China to help care for the children who are in a situation similar to mine, so that I can show them that they have hope to hold onto.

My goal is to spread information about the children in Alenah’s Home to help them find their forever families, while volunteering and using my abilities to give back to them as much as possible. I also hope to lay a foundation for a volunteer program that others can follow in the future. I have begun the fundraising process so that I can achieve this dream and ultimately change the children’s lives, as well as mine, for the better. I hope to travel to China this summer with Children’s Hope International’s Executive Director, Melody Zhang.

Even if you are unable to donate, I ask that you please share my story so that others have the opportunity to learn about Alenah’s Home in hopes to find those families who are excited to open their homes and hearts to adoption.

    Thank you for your time and donations!

For more information about Childern’s Hope and Alenah’s Home, you can go to this website: https://childrenshope.net/.