Dear friends --

The following three letters are from our recent effort and trip to bring two residents home, Anna and Sassoon, who have long been institutionalized. 

Thank you for your part in making this happen.

We are grateful,

Natalie

April 10th, 2012

Dear friends,

As most of you know, I am in Armenia with Bridget (board member) and Juliet (volunteer, supporter, friend).  We just completed a three-day training designed to prepare the staff to bring Anna and Sassoon home from the psychiatric clinics/institutions.  It has been a long but satisfying three days as we have honed our analytical skills, addressed our fears and concerns, problem-solved around challenging behaviors and worked to be of the same mind. 

Near today's end, we created schedules for Anna and Sassoon's first day(s) at home.  And we thanked the staff for the arduous task that they are undertaking.  And I can say that we all left with smiles on our faces.  Of course, our nerves were frazzled as well -- for tomorrow is Sassoon's homecoming.  It has been five years since he has lived in our home.  What a journey that will be -- for him and for us.  What a gift.  It is almost too much for me to even imagine tonight.  But my heart is full -- and I am grateful for the chance to try again. 

We will bring Anna home on Thursday.  It is going to be a full week -- as we learn to live out the skills we have only talked about in the training.  But I think the staff is as ready as they will ever be.  And the time is ripe. 

In the meantime, we have been graced with such beautiful hours with the residents.  They are radiant, well, happy.  We celebrated Easter together with a trek to a local church where we lit candles, and listened to the haunting Armenian chants.  We came home to a long table full of pilaf, hard-boiled eggs, juice, wine, bread, lavash, fried fish, spinach, greens, herbs, cheese, cakes.  We celebrated.  We toasted. 

After dinner the residents surprised us with a choreographed dance.  They wore lovely costumes and danced for us.  We couldn't stop smiling.  They were so proud, and rightly so.  So careful in their movements.  So beautiful.  You can't imagine.  There was something so intimate in watching the residents dance, especially those who struggle with physical disabilities.  It was an honor to partake in their dance -- to be invited in. 

It is a good time to be here.  I always love arriving as the trees are bursting into bloom and the earth is starting to come back to life.  I love the frequent rains and the dust of snow on the surrounding mountains. 

Thank you, a thousand times, for your part in making this work possible.  Thanks for holding us in your sustaining hands.  May tomorrow be a day of true homecoming for Sassoon.  And may the next day belong to Anna. 

We know that the next days, weeks and months will not be easy -- but may they continue to be an honor for us, for the staff, for all those who stand around us. 

May it be so.  Keep us in your hearts. 
 
With gratitude,
Natalie (for us all)

April 12th, 2012

Dear friends,

Sassoon is home.  After five years in a clinic, after a myriad of failed and thwarted attempts to bring him home, he is finally and safely home.  His first day at home was yesterday and what a precious day.  As we left the clinic he was pulling my arm, pulling the other staff member's arm...  He was so anxious to leave. and understandably so.  When we got outside, he lifted his head (which was often lowered in the clinic) and started to look around.  On the way home, he kept saying, "Wedding.  It's a wedding."  Juliet mentioned that it was probably like a wedding day to him. 

We were all able to be there at home with him for much of the day.  He ate a meal with the residents -- slowly remembering some of them.  He even danced with them during the dance class, with energy, with joy.  Later, he was a bit disoriented as to where his real "home" was and at one point took my hand, led me to his room and started to put his shoes on.  He said, "Take me home," and I told him that we were home.  That this is his home.  His bedroom.  He looked up at me surprised, happy and said, "Yes, really?"  Yes, really.  Sassoon, you are home. 

And today Anna came home -- just a few hours ago.  We haven't seen her yet -- as it seemed better for her sake to have a quiet and calm first day at home with less faces, less chaos.  But she is home -- and doing well. 

We can barely believe that this is real.  After hoping for so long, after losing hope so many times, after all these years, it is almost impossible to believe.  But tonight all thirteen residents will sleep under the same roof.  They will all sleep near their warm hearth.  May it be so tomorrow and the next day.  May we be able to sustain this effort.  May this dream come true day after day after day. 

And may each of you be blessed somehow by this grace -- may it be felt from afar, from your corner of the world. 

With gratitude,
Natalie (for us all)

April 14th, 2012

Dear friends,

Today is our last day in Armenia.  Bridget and I will go to Warm Hearth in a few hours to celebrate Roman's birthday and to have one-on-one conversations with the residents.  This is something they always love -- and I always enjoy as well. 

Sassoon is doing well and adjusting home.  He is being treated for a skin condition that he developed in the clinic, which is uncomfortable, but hopefully that will be healed soon.  Despite that condition, yesterday he was looking at photographs of facial expressions (happy, sad, angry, content, frustrated, etc,.) which we use to help him identify his feelings.  He pointed to an angry face and repeated someone's name whom we do not know.  But then he pointed to the happy face and said, "Sassoon." 

Anna is also doing well thus far, too.  She had a difficult last few months in the clinic due to the impending transition of coming home.  Transitions are hard for her, which we have known.  But she is affectionate.  She is trying very hard.  She is glad to be home.  She is playing ping-pong in our basement, joining the other residents in some activities, and beginning to tell us about her time in the clinic.  It will take awhile for both she and Sassoon to stabilize -- but we are hopeful that in time they will heal from some of the pain of the past years and that we will know how to love them concretely, how to care for them safely. 

Keep us in your thoughts and hearts and prayers, especially our staff here.  The next few months will be crucial.  We will keep you posted. 

With gratitude,
Natalie

Dear friends,

I am attaching our spring newsletter.  We're heading to Armenia in early April!  Read more about that trip and our expectations in the newsletter. 

Here is an excerpt below. 

We are grateful for each of you, and for the way you care for our residents. 

Kindly,

Natalie (for us all)

A New Foundation, A New Hope

The Garden House construction is complete and we are ready to welcome Anna and Sassoon home in April.  After an Easter celebration with the residents and an intensive three-day staff training led by Natalie (founder) and Bridget (founding board member), we will drive the winding roads to pick up Sassoon and Anna.  Juliet Setian, a volunteer and donor, will be traveling with us, strengthening and supporting this delicate effort. Together we will do our best to prepare the staff to care for these two residents.  We will prepare our hearts once again to meet the challenges that are an inevitable part of this work.  We will prepare Sassoon and Anna as well.  It is a time of change but this is a change we have long awaited.  The hope is that the Garden House will be a transitional living space for any resident with more intense behavioral needs.  We have well-laid plans to provide the support and care that Anna and Sassoon will need.  These include: a greater staff to resident ratio, positive behavior support plans, visual schedules, and much more.  We have worked hard.  We have tried to learn from our mistakes.  We have built a new foundation. May it be strong and  well-laid.  May it withstand and support the pressures, the weight, and the soul of this new Garden Home.

• Spring_2012_Vol_26_pdf__556_KB.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

In seedtime learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.  (William Blake)

It is striking to me that the new year, the time to begin again, occurs midwinter when nights are longest and feast days have just passed.  In this season, the daylight hours are a promise of what is to come as they are only beginning to lengthen again toward the balance of equinox.  It is in this quiet space that we consider both the past year and the year to come. 

In seedtime learn

Each year has its seasons of learning, its seedtime.  This year we brought Alya, our Armenian Country Director, to the United States.  We wanted to see the daily routine and management of various group homes in order to strengthen our own ability to manage difficult behaviors and residents with complicated diagnoses.

While I missed going to Armenia this year (we couldn’t manage both) and seeing our dear residents, it seemed fitting to allow her the extraordinary chance to see other group homes.  Because ours was the first - and only - long-term group home in Armenia, she had never had the opportunity to see another.  Our time together here was rich and sparked a renewed commitment to bring Anna and Sassoon home from the clinics in the spring.  (Read more on page 3 of the attached Annual Report.)

While observing different group homes, we felt validated in that the most important components of a loving group home are in place at Warm Hearth.  We were exposed to new ways of caring for individuals with particular behavioral challenges.  We were reminded that the struggles we face are by nature part of this work and are not endured by us alone.

In harvest teach

In 2011, we enjoyed the gifts of each particular season and helped our residents do the same.  As in any endeavor, and in any human life, there were unexpected losses and surprising bounties along the way.   We - resident, staff, donor, volunteer - experienced both, as did each of you, I imagine.

Many of our residents began their third and final year of study at Yerevan State Humanities College.  They have thrived in this setting and we look forward to their graduation day in 2012.  We continue to think of ways in which we can achieve movement toward further integration into the community after graduation - whether in work, service, art or play.  We look forward to how this will enrich and strengthen our residents’ lives. 

In winter enjoy

I spoke with our residents an hour ago. It is the eve of the Armenian New Year and they are staying up late, reveling in the celebration with its tasks and merriments, talking about their gifts, enjoying one another.  It bring me so much joy to hear their voices full of anticipation, full of hope. 

As Blake urges, winter is a time to enjoy the work of the year, the bounty of the harvest.  They are doing just that.  In this spirit, I want this report to do the same.  We have so much to be grateful for, in large part because of each of you.  So in these pages, I want to share with you our seeds, our harvest, and our winter that you might also learn, teach and enjoy.

Blessings to you and yours,

Natalie Bryant-Rizzieri

• Annual Report 2011 (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

I have attached the winter newsletter for your perusal and enjoyment.  In addition, I have included a portion of the text below. 

On behalf of the residents and staff, we would like to wish you all a blessed season.   Our residents look forward to celebrating - and thank you for your part in making that happen. 

Sincerely and with gratitude,
Natalie (for us all)

Ground is Broken

In September, we reported our newly-laid plans to build a garden house.  The garden house will be a small and simple building in our backyard (design pictured here).  In the beginning, it will provide a structure and a safe place to care for our residents with more intense needs.  Anna and Sassoon, two of our residents who have been in clinics, are the inspiration for this garden house.  Though there have been delays, construction is now underway and we hope to be ready to welcome Anna and Sassoon home in March of 2012.  Our vision is that the home be a transitional space for any residents with special needs whether that be Anna and Sassoon in their transition from the clinic, a resident who is looking to increase his or her independent living skills, or a volunteer who would benefit the residents by staying onsite.  We are so grateful for this opportunity and the possibilities it holds for our residents.  In the meantime, we are also finishing our basement and making it a therapeutic and welcoming place where any resident can take some time away from the larger group to rest, relax, or be calmed.  We are hopeful that these changes, along with behavior planning, and a new staffing structure will be the keys to a successful transition home for Anna and Sassoon.

Read the full newsletter by opening the attachment. 

• Winter Newsletter 2011 (PDF)
  

My name is Shahd AlShehail, and I'm a GlobalGiving field intern who visited all our partner projects in Armenia! .. I'm happy to update you about the project you donated to ...

While volunteering for the Peace Corps at an orphanage in Armenia, Natalie saw a need for a long-term care to mentally-disabled adults that have outgrown orphanages. She knew that in a culture that hides the mentally disabled and considers them shameful, their only other option would be old soviet psychiatric hospitals. This is where Friends of Warm Hearth comes in to provide a brighter future to Armenian adults with disabilities.

We walked into the house in the suburbs of Yerevan where 11 residents live, and were immediately greeted by three smiley faces, Gayane, Davit and Roman.

As we toured the house with Alya, the Country Director, and Brian, a Peace Corps volunteer we witnessed the unique aspects and techniques used in the group home. Residents attend University during the day to learn vocational skills such as carpet weaving and gardening. At home, they are able to immediately practice these skills in the crafts room, the garden, or the carpet weaving room. In the evening, they engage in different fun activities from singing to dancing to puzzle making (Roman’s favorite!). And two times a week, the residents have group therapy sessions with a professional psychologist, in which they openly talk about their thoughts, feelings, and issues surrounding their respective disabilities.

Alya spoke to us candidly about the struggles they’ve had raising awareness within the government about mental-disability. Under Armenian law, there is no distinction between physical disability and mental disability, and very little funding for either. As you can imagine they face the same struggles within the community. “We take our residents on trips around the country, they are fun and the residents really look forward to them! But they are also a great way to help promote the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in the community.”

The residents were really excited to share their photo albums with us and perform some traditional Armenian songs, which was quickly turned by Agape and Davit to a great dance party!

Friends of Warm Hearth is so much more than a group home. The resident receive specialized care, live in an inclusive nurturing environment, and learn important vocational skills. In the future, Alya hopes to expand “I dream of having a big home one day, with different groups of residents, living within similar levels of capabilities, and interacting with each other in a large communal place.”

We left the house with a sense of gratification, knowing that all your donations are going to a great project.

Continue your support to them here 

some of the crafts made by the resident

Gayane sharing a poem she learned at college

Dear friends,

I'm honored to keep you up-to-date on the happenings at Warm Hearth.  This quarter (and hence, the newsletter) has been chock-full of the good, even the glorious, and the ugly (or disappointing).  Please find (and read!) the attached newsletter. 

And while you're here, I wanted to share our residents' new handicrafts at http://smallcornerstore.blogspot.com/.  Each different craft is located on a separate page.  Just click on "older posts" at the bottom of each screen to view another craft.  They are beautiful, if I may say so myself.  The residents and their crafts. 

Thank you for caring about our home and our residents.  We are all most grateful. 

Blessings to you and yours,

--
Natalie Bryant-Rizzieri
Founder, Executive Director
Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.  
www.friendsofwarmhearth.org

Providing Holistic Care for Orphans with Disabilities in Armenia 

****

Sometimes our life reminds me
of a forest in which there is a graceful clearing
and in that opening a house,
an orchard and garden,
comfortable shades, and flowers
red and yellow in the sun, a pattern
made in the light for the light to return to.
The forest is mostly dark, its way
to be made anew day after day, the dark
richer than the light and more blessed
provided we stay brave
enough to keep going in.



By Wendell Berry

Links:

• Our Residents' Handicrafts

• Autumn Newsletter (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

As you know, many of you, our attempts to help Anna and Sassoon (two of our residents who have spent more times in clinics/institutions than in Warm Hearth Group Home) have been thwarted time and again. Many of you have given so much in an effort to bring them home.  What has looked like the answer in the past has disappointed.  We've tried to move forward, to bring them home, and time and again our footing has been precarious. And we have slipped and fallen. And they have suffered, still, in the institutions. 

As a last-ditch effort, Alya, our Armenian Director, came to the USA in July to see different group homes, in the hopes that we would learn some skills and be encouraged in regard to caring for residents like Anna and Sassoon with greater behavioral challenges.  The trip was full – and we did learn a lot — all of us.  But by the end, we were not sure if it would end up meaning a homecoming for Anna or Sassoon. 

It seemed like we were at a dead-end.  And I wasn't sure there was any way to even back out of that place and look for another road. 

I reckoned with what it means when there is nothing more to be done — nothing more one can even imagine to do that would relieve the suffering of one's beloveds.  What does grace even mean in those places?  These were the questions I asked.  I still ask them, because they are still unanswered for many people. 

But for Anna and Sassoon, there is more than a glimmer of hope. And it is not hard to see the grace in that.

A couple weeks ago now, I asked Alya to consider bringing Anna and Sassoon home one more time.  It was a question I had to ask -- but with open-hands -- because Warm Hearth has become more and more Armenia's.  And in response, Alya proposed building a garden house in our backyard for Anna and Sassoon, consisting of two bedrooms and a bath.  This garden house would be a place Anna and Sassoon could go when they were struggling to provide space and to protect them and our other residents. 

The board joyfully deliberated and has approved the decision to move forward.  We are in the process of getting zoning approval to build this garden house and we hope to start construction in October so as to be done before the heavy-handedness of Armenian winter.

I was (and still am) incredulous.  It's taken awhile to sink in, to recover from the beautiful shock of being handed hope again. 

All the answers are not in place, nor will they ever be.  We hope this works as a long-term solution for Anna and Sassoon.  We hope this with all our hearts as we (and especially Anna & Sassoon) are turned around from that dead-end place and looking down a new road. 

With gratitude,
Natalie (for us all)

Dear friends,

I've attached our summer newsletter for you to enjoy.  The following is an excerpt from the newsletter:

To Be of Use 

Our residents have no shortage of gifts, beauty, energy and insights.  We work hard to provide outlets for their gifts, that they might be of use in the world.  They have so much to offer and their lives are enriched through giving and working, as ours are as well.  One outlet we have created is a new online store (site listed on page 2) where our residents’ unique handicrafts are showcased and available for purchase.  In Marge Piercy’s poem, “To Be of Use,” she speaks to the importance of this aspect of Warm Hearth’s mission: 

The work of the world is common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. 

But the thing worth doing well done

has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

Greek amphoras for wine or oil,

Hopi vases that held corn are put in museums

but you know they were made to be used.

The pitcher cries for water to carry

and a person for work that is real.

Sincerely and with gratitude,

Natalie (for us all)

• Summer 2011 Newsletter (PDF)
  

Dear friends -

It is with an incredulous heart that I write to you. 

Our little group home in Armenia, that serves residents who are beloved to us, has received Armenian government funding beginning in 2012.  We…have...received…government…funding…for…our…residents… 

The government commitment to our home is to provide between 52 and 60% of our current operating budget (excluding state-side expenses). 

This is a small miracle. 

And it means so many things. It means that your gifts and work and passion have taken root in a way we dared to hope they would in the mental health system of Armenia.  It means a great leap toward sustainability.  It means a great advance in human rights in Armenia.  It means that some measure of justice has taken root in Armenian society on behalf of people with disabilities.  It means that the government values individuals with disabilities and believes, along with us, that a better life is possible for people with disabilities.  And that they are willing to fight for this, too. 

It means a letting go.  It means a chapter closes and another one opens. 

It means, we hope, some greater possibilities for Anna and Sassoon. 

It means rejoicing.  It means we continue on. 

A few hours after receiving this news, I opened a card from Susan Barnes, someone who loves our residents.  The front of the card says: A mountain is moved by carrying away small stones.  (Chinese Proverb) 

Susan then wrote:

I think…this larger system of injustice in Armenia that has years of history at its root is a giant mountain.  But, my hope and prayer is that each one of us -- who take the residents on trips, who donate money to the home, who sit on the Board, who sell their art, who buy their art, who research the laws, who translate the documents, who provide training, who provide structure and kindness in the home, who do so many little things -- is removing a stone.  We are each removing a stone.  It is good, significant work.  Even if the mountain in front of us is big. 

I don't understand why Anna and Sassoon are still in the clinic, despite all your efforts and the efforts of many.  It is not just.  And there are no easy answers.  But, I do believe that our work is to continue to carry away the stones we can today. 

One day, I don't know when, the mountain will be moved.  In the meantime, I hurt with you, with them, as I can from so far away. 

And I will do what I can to move stones with you and with the international family of stone carriers you've assembled. 

This acquisition of government funding is one great large stone that has been moved – and by the hands of many of you – our family of stone carriers. 

I am grateful for you.  Let's rejoice together, spread out around the world, as we are. 

With honor and joy,
Natalie


---

Natalie Bryant-Rizzieri
Founder, Executive Director
Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Tel. (480) 921-1181
Armenian Tel. (374) (10) 39-81-50

Address: PO Box 4784; Sunnyside NY 11104

www.friendsofwarmhearth.org

Providing a Group Home for Orphans with Disabilities in Armenia

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--

Every action begins with strengthening the spirit. 

- C. P. Estes

Dear friends,

Our spring newsletter is attached and vailable for your perusal.  We hope you enjoy the news about our residents and the people all over the world who uphold them.  Thank you for being a part of the circle that surrounds them.  By the hands of many, a few are upheld.  We are honored and grateful to work with each of you. 

The following is an excerpt from the newsletter:

On the Darkest Nights: The Ways We Celebrate

Armenians know how to celebrate and our residents are no exception.  On some of the darkest nights of the year, they come together, prepare a feast and open their home to friends.  They make special cakes and fruit platters.  They decorate the home and light up their corner of 3rd Village.    Christmas is celebrated from December 24th through January 6th.  By the end of such lengthy festivities, our residents and staff have the satisfying fatigue of being full-hearted.  We hope that you were just as blessed this past winter.  As if life wasn’t full enough already, our residents also took their handicrafts (many of which were Christmas decorations) to local exhibits (see photo). There they were able to show the community the beauty that is theirs, and the beauty that they have learned to make.  They also celebrated with a few trips into the city!  It is a gift to be able to create light in the midst of dark seasons. Our staff and residents do this well. They are committed to the practice and each year our traditions grow and develop as a true family’s.  As spring is rounding the corner and daylight extends with every passing day, we move toward the outside world and harbor the joys that were cultivated through the winter.  Thank you for your gifts and donations which make such joy possible.

Sincerely Yours,

Natalie (for us all)

Links:

• www.friendsofwarmhearth.org

• Spring 2011 Newsletter (PDF)
  

Dear friends and supporters -

Here is an excerpt from our 2010 Annual Report.  To read more and to see the full report, please open the attachment.

A letter from the founder

This year I was present for both Anahit’s and Davit’s birthday celebrations.  Anahit and Davit received gifts  from the staff.  For both occasions, there was a beautiful layered, homemade cake on the table.  And instead of a candle, we had sparklers!

It is a tradition at Warm Hearth that everyone present speaks their wishes for whomever we are celebrating.  I heard both whispers and confident toasts as Anahit and Davit were wished long lives, much love, and for their respective dreams to come true. 

Almost always, the one who is celebrated sheds a few tears.  They are tears of joy, for the most part.  But, does not every joy carry with it a bit of longing that almost feels like sadness?  I wonder if they long for the love of their families so acutely in those moments. 

Do they think of the loneliness they have carried with them most of their lives?  Or, do they think of the friendship that now belongs to them?

At the first birthday celebration after Warm Hearth opened, I remember wondering if that resident might break open from so much joy, from so much wonder.  I wondered: should we not celebrate so vibrantly?  Should we tame the celebrations for their sake?

I do not think a person can be given too much love.  So, I believe the answer is no.  Celebrate vibrantly!  Shower them with blessing.  And one day, they might realize how worthy of celebration they really are.  One day - when their celebrations at Warm Hearth outnumber the previous ones and their stories are re-read to include lifelong love.

    Sincerely Yours,

        Natalie Bryant-Rizzieri

• Final_2010_Annual_Report.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear friends at Global Giving -

We at Warm Hearth are so grateful for the way that you have all chosen to honor and bless our residents.  Thank you for the generosity in December.  Thank you for your kindness that extends to our residents in Armenia.  Thank you for believing in them.  Thank you for taking part in their journey toward healing and integration. 

I talked to all the residents this morning.  After days and days of celebrating New Year (as is typical in Armenia), they are happily exhausted.  They had many visitors over to their home.  They sang.  They were each given a gift.  They feasted.  They made merry.  I wish all of us could have been there to see their joy, to see the house that has become a beautiful home. 

There is so much grace in what we have come together and made possible. 

Our cup runneth over. 

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Natalie Bryant-Rizzier

Founder & Executive Director

A supporter recently asked me what kind of vocational preparation and career building education exists at Warm Hearth and how we approach the issue of what will happen to our residents in the future. 

It is an important question. 

We do have vocational preparation right now.  Almost all of our residents are enrolled in a three-year university program for individuals with special needs, which is the first program of its kind in Armenia.  Our residents are able to choose between two majors: carpet weaving (an ancient Armenian art) and gardening. 

In addition to the university courses, we offer vocational courses in our own home to facilitate their independent living skills and to increase their quality of life.  Some examples of these courses include: managing and counting money, and basic cooking. 

Our residents are all orphaned individuals with disabilities over the age of eighteen.  When they graduated from high school they were required to leave the state-run orphanages and had nowhere to live except the large psychiatric institutions.  This is why we started Warm Hearth. 

In regard to our residents’ future, the truth is multi-faceted.

Some of our residents will probably never be able to live independently due to the severity of their disability. 

Others have this potential, to be sure, and we would love to see them on their own some day.  However, this is a complicated issue since society is still such that they are marginalized and not readily accepted in the community.  Armenian society is also very family-oriented and it would be perceived as strange for an individual or two to live alone.  Even healthy individuals rarely choose this option.

Aside from societal reasons, living on their own might also be a very difficult emotional endeavor.  In fact, some of the residents that are closer to being ready to live on their own don’t want to leave at this time.  They would struggle with loneliness due to the fact that they have lived in orphanages their entire lives and have literally been surrounded by people. Our residents, by and large, enjoy sharing rooms with others and having a lot of people around.

I hope that when the day comes that our residents feel ready to move on that both society and we can support them in this.  It is a goal of ours, and part of our mission to see them flourish and live as independently as possible.  In the meantime, we are committed to providing them a home as long as is necessary, desired, and in some cases, for life. 

Dear Friends,

• Autumn Newsletter (PDF)
  

August 12th, 2010 Dear friends,

It has been almost a week since coming to Armenia.  We have come, this time, in full-fledged summer.  I'd like to say that summer is waning and with it, the heat.  But it seems like it is holding strong. The residents have that summer sun-kissed look about them.  The house is surrounded (literally) by flowers and vines heavy with grapes.  The flowers and bushes that they have planted open wide in the twilight and early morning light - before the heat overtakes them.  

Most of our residents seem so contented and well.  Since last I was here there have been so many changes in our residents and in our home.  The first day as I walked slowly around the home, drinking it all in, I was struck by how sacred the last year has been.  Time can be such a sacred thing, can it not?  

Since I was here last, the residents have been attending college.  In fact, they are already gearing up for their second year, which begins on the first of September.  We were able to talk about their days at the college, the friends they have made, their specialties.  I was able to see some of the handworks they have made, which are quite incredible.  I'll attach some pictures soon for you to see.  You won't believe it.  

We've celebrated two birthdays since we've been here - Davit's and Anahit's.  Anahit was so overjoyed at her celebration that she was moved to tears.  This isn't an uncommon thing for our residents as they still don't take advantage of a day that celebrates their lives.  We have partaken of the most delicious layered cake with chocolate shavings, made by the community assistants.  One of the traditions of Warm Hearth is to go around the room on someone's birthday and to say your wishes for that person for the coming year.  How precious to be privy to that conversation - to hear their loving wishes for one another.  After cake and coffee, we had a sing-a-thon and they sang songs both old and new, Armenian and English.

I've been able to watch them hard at work making beautiful crafts and carpets (we have our own looms now!).  I have loved seeing them in their kitchen cleaning up after meals, taking part in their livelihood.  

I have also visited both Anna and Sassoon, in two respective clinics, this week.  All that there is to say has been said before.  We want the best for them.  We don't know how to provide it for them always.  Erik, our friend and trainer from last year, arrives this weekend.  I am hopeful that our time with him will be life-giving and that this life will extend to Sassoon and Anna somehow or another.  Sassoon has deteriorated quite a bit due to such a lengthy stay in the clinic.  As I showed him photographs today of the other residents, his former orphanage in Kapan, himself, even, he was unable to recognize most of the people and places.  Last year this was not the case.  He barely spoke today.  He looked long into my eyes.  And into the eyes of Alya, our director here.  We looked back.  And held his gaze.  And his hand.  There was not much else to do.  

The water in living wells does not stagnate; the more you tear from your heart the more of it you keep. -      Andrei Voznesensky

I hope that Voznesensky’s words are true.

There is much to tell.  As the days pass, I will write more.  Tomorrow we are headed out of town to spend the day and picnic and sit under the sky, and drink in the clear village air.  We are all looking forward to it.  We feel your presence here.  We look around the home and know how much you are with us through your gifts, your contributions, the light in the residents' eyes.  Thank you.  From all our hearts.  

With love and gratitude, Natalie (for us all)

--

August 20th, 2010 Dear friends,

The days have passed too quickly. It is always this way when days are brimming. Our time here has been precious. It always is. This time I have had the pleasure of bringing my husband and baby along with me - which has been beautiful as I've longed to integrate my two families into one even if for the briefest time. This has also made for longer days than is even usual (hence fewer and delayed letters to you). It has, however, been worth it as the joy in letting these two families of mine co-mingle has been a dream I've long held in my heart.

My residents, the children of my heart, are well. We talked yesterday about things both difficult and lovely. We talked about their struggles and their joys. They are infinitely proud of their one year at the college in the special program and are excited to go back on the first of September. Some of the works of their hands have been handed over to me - as gifts and to show to those of you whom I am able. I will try to bring them carefully home. I look forward to sharing them.

As I mentioned, we had a day-long excursion to Arzni, a wooded spot outside of Yerevan with springs of fresh water. The water is clean and healing and people come from miles to drink of the water, to heal their ailments. I love the way that Armenians here have such respect for clean water and maintain such attachments to place. This is something that we have lost in the United States, in many ways, and it is refreshing to me. We enjoyed a few puppet shows (the puppeteers came along with us, making the whole day possible), some Armenian barbeque, fresh cake... We danced to music under the trees, walked along the paths to the water springs. A group of us went to explore a nearby church. It was good to spend the day together, to rest together, to laugh and sit together.

We also had the training for our staff since I last wrote. Erik Logan, our trainer from last year, came to continue the training. We are grateful for his generosity - the way he gave of his time and experience and heart. We are also grateful for our staff - the way that they listen and seek to understand, even when it is hard to see another perspective. We are grateful to our translator - dear Anna - whose laugh and goodness and kindness make the trainings what they are. The training was hard in that we had a lot of questions, a lot of concerns about how to best care for our residents...and there was much to trudge through. But trudge we did and I'm grateful for the patience on every side. I do believe that our staff will be better equipped to care for our residents as a result of these efforts and conversations.

The work continues. It takes sometimes all the strength that we have, all the courage we can muster up, all the patience in the world (or so it seems). I am not alone by any means in taking these steps. In fact, the people who are here from day to day living next to our residents, loving them, knowing their particularities, their dreams and fears, they are taking steps, climbing mountains each day. They are the ones extending their hands, extending hope, to our residents. They are the hands of God in this world, as are you who make their work possible in your myriad of ways.

I have said before and will say again that somehow through and because of Warm Hearth, I am blessed to know some of the very best people in both the United States and in Armenia. I have the privilege of working beside people I consider to be heroes, people with the greatest and largest hearts. When I sit around a table here, with the residents, and with those who work on their behalf in Armenia I cannot help but be moved by these lives that I am privy to partake in. The same overwhelmingness has occurred to me in the States as I have sat with many of you, read your letters, received your gifts.

My cup runneth over as do the springs in Arzni.

I will write more soon of our time together and decisions that were made....

With love and gratitude, Natalie (for us all)

Links:

• See more photos from the recent visit here.

Dear friends,

I have attached our summer newsletter for your perusal. I hope these stories find you well. We are grateful for each of you and your contributions to Warm Hearth.

Blessings, Natalie

• Summer Newsletter - Attachment (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

It has been too long since I have written. For this, I apologize. This is due to the fact that my personal life has been more hectic than ever before. Suffice it to say that a cross-country move, three local moves and having a baby in the last year have taken a toll. If tolls can be good and bad, then and only then, is that an apt metaphor.

This time around Warm Hearth has been one of the constants in my life and it has been a joy to watch the way that life there has found its rhythm. I am in awe of the way the staff members are creating a beautiful home life with the residents, not for the residents. It is a joint effort and a creative act, as any one who has tried their hand at “home life” knows. It is full of making art and making meals, cultivating the soil of our garden, growing flowers, sharing songs, having visitors, sharing our vision, reaching out for strength and reaching in.

As Warm Hearth becomes a place with roots in the community and on that little plot of land in 3rd Village, I have to hope that this is transforming for our residents. Having uprooted myself this past year, I have thought much about the need we as humans have for roots, and how little our residents have known what I have known in my life, to say the least. It is hard to believe that this home we have started on their behalf will be theirs, we pray, lifelong.

Anything lifelong is rare especially in the world of group homes and for individuals with disabilities and mental illness, – in our country and none less in Armenia. Heck, anything lifelong is rare no matter who you are or where you live. And it is not easy to make the lifelong happen. In some ways it is silly to even claim it as one’s vision, but we do.

Our Anna, who had been home and well for a year (after a long stay in a clinic), is now in a short-term clinic yet again. And we are trying to figure out how to care for her, how to make this home hers. The same goes for Sassoon. Most of you know these stories. They are stories that continue, that circle around, that leave us joyful and sorrowful both, time and again. This is an unwieldy life we live. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that.

I’m heading back to Armenia in August. Erik, our friend who came to the home last year and one with a wealth of experience in group homes is coming as well to aid our staff, to consider with us, to sit with us in these struggles. We are grateful for him. This time I’ll also be bringing my husband and baby. It will be their first time to Warm Hearth and I look forward to watching our little family be folded into my family there, to those brief weeks where my two families are one. Some of my roots are there, in 3rd Village, as unlikely as that seems.

Sometimes the surprises of life are our richest portions, combining the bitter with the sweet.

Thank you for listening, for walking with us on what often seems like a circular journey. May you know you are a part of all of this. And may you be well as you journey in your own homes.

With gratitude, Natalie Bryant-Rizzieri

Dear friends of Warm Hearth,

Our residents have almost completed their university classes for the spring and then summer will be in full force. We have great plans for summer time, including putting some finishing touches on our garden, making carpets with the new looms given to us by another local NGO, and spending time in the community.

Our residents have enjoyed a wonderful semester, showing their handicrafts at local exhibits, hosting visitors from abroad in their home and studying hard. We are so proud of the progress that they have made.

In August, our founder and an international trainer will be heading to Armenia for a few weeks. We are looking forward to that time of project evaluation and staff development.

As we look toward the future, we are considering sustainable options for our home, including a day care center. Please keep us in your thoughts and hearts as we consider our options carefully and try to make the best decision for the sake of Armenian orphans with disabilities.

We are grateful for your support and kindness. Our work would not be possible without you.

Blessings,

Natalie Bryant-Rizzieri (for us all) Founder and Executive Director

Dear friends,

Happy Spring.  You'll find our most recent newsletter attached.  Thank you for taking the time to read it and to follow our residents' lives.  We are honored that you are with us on this journey. 

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.  I always appreciate hearing from you. 

Sincerely & With Gratitude,

Natalie Bryant-Rizzieri

Links:

• Archives - Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

• Spring 2010 Newsletter (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

I have attached our most recent newsletter as well as the 2009 Annual Report. Enjoy the news from Armenia and the description of our residents' lives and accomplishments, heartaches and joys over the past year.

Thank you for your conviction that Warm Hearth is important work. Thank you for joining us.

I sincerely hope that each of you are well. I hope you had a blessed Christmas and New Year season, as did our residents.

Yours, Natalie (for us all)

• Winter Newsletter (PDF)
  
• 2009 Annual Report (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

As we near the year's end, the day's shorten and the night's lengthen. I have slowed my pace. Early this morning, as I walked these Brooklyn streets, I noticed that only a few trees still have leaves clinging to their branches. These last leaves cling desperately. In fact, they have already withered. It seemed an analogy for the need to let go, to let what has been done be done, to lay still and quiet for awhile in preparation for another year.

I don't think it is time to yet to plan for the next year, for that would misuse the season of quiet, the season of waiting. And these moments come too infrequently in our world.

So, as I wait and think about Warm Hearth, the past year, and this season of quiet ahead of us, I pause to give thanks for all that has come to be this year.

We were able, after long suffering, to bring Anna home from the clinic. We were able to open our doors to another resident, Davit, who had been on the streets. Our residents started university classes. We lost a beloved staff member who made a change in her career, but gained another.

On this side of the globe, we were able (many of us) to meet together, to strive for a better life for our residents, to problem solve, to celebrate, to gather, to give.

Our home is now full. Each bed is taken. And our hearts are taken as well, by these dear residents and one another. It is beautiful to me the way that we become bonded together, we, who work toward a common goal.

I wait, along with you, for the next chapter in the life of Warm Hearth. I hope for further healing for our residents, greater independence, better care for Sassoon, deeper societal changes toward those with disabilities. But I pause, with you, and know that we will go the way that opens, as the Quakers say, in the coming year. And for now, we can breathe and give thanks. 'Tis the season for this anyhow.

With Gratitude, Natalie (for us all) Founder & Executive Director Friends of Warm Hearth

Links:

• Recent photos of our residents

Dear supporters & friends,

I hope you enjoy the latest autumn newsletter regarding our residents and the progress of Warm Hearth.

Thank you for your sustained care and interest in our residents.

Sincerely,

Natalie (for us all)

• Autumn_2009_Vol_17_pdf__476_KB.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

I have attached the most recent newsletter for your enjoyment.

Thank you for your time and care.

Sincerely & With Gratitude, Natalie

• Summer_2009_Vol_16_pdf__440_KB.pdf (PDF)
  

May 25th, 2009

Dear friends,

Many of you know that after my last trip to Armenia, the hope was that our staff would feel confident enough and have acquired the skills necessary to bring either Anna or Sassoon home. They are our “special two” who have been in a clinic for too long…. We had a training that was designed to this end in April, but it still felt like a pipe dream.

The week after I left Armenia, during a staff meeting, they determined that they did in fact feel ready, that it was time to try again. For Anna. I waited so long for that moment, two years, in fact. And when the news came, I cried for the hope of it all, and for all the days that I had given up hope, and for Anna, for myself, for our staff, all our residents, for the way our lives are inextricably wound together in a way that is sometimes miraculous and sometimes excruciating.

The last month has been a flurry of preparing for her to come home. We have strategized about responses to her behaviors. We have tried to build up strength. We have tried to impart courage to one another. We have tried to inspire one another. We have been afraid. We have been happy.

She was due to come home this Wednesday, May 27th.

But last night, I woke at 4 a.m. I could not sleep for the life of me. I finally gave in to the wakefulness and climbed out of bed. When I checked my email later this morning, there was a message from Alya (our director in Armenia), at 4:07 am, telling me that Anna was home two days early. After two years, my friends. After two years.

She came home early because her behavior had spun out of control in the clinic. She is afraid as well. She is vulnerable. She is over-medicated and it will take awhile to sort through all of these complications. These days are intense ones, for Anna and for our staff. I feel like I’m holding my breath. It is not going to be easy. But it is another beginning, and beginnings are always hard.

And there is hope, in this beginning. For Anna. For us all. In second (or third or fourth) chances.

Keep us in your thoughts and close to your hearts. With love & gratitude, Natalie (for us all)

PS - Here is a photograph of Anna from the last month.

-- Natalie Bryant Rizzieri Founder, Executive Director Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Tel. (480) 921-1181 Armenian Tel. (374) (10) 39-81-50 Address: P.O. Box 1037; Tempe, AZ 85280

www.friendsofwarmhearth.org

Providing Holistic Care for Orphans with Disabilities in Armenia

If you would like unsubscribe from the Warm Hearth mailing list, please reply to sender and write “Unsubscribe” in the subject line of your response. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you.

****

I have always known that one day I would take this path though yesterday I did not know it would be today.

-Ariwara no Naribari

Dear friends,

I just returned from a trip to Armenia and wanted to thank each of your for your tireless support and courage. Please see the attached newsletter for the latest updates from our home, for a glimpse into the lives of our residents. And feel free to be in touch with ideas or questions. I welcome your input and enjoy corresponding with each of you.

Thank you for your time, for listening to our story, for being such an essential part of it.

Yours,

Natalie Bryant Rizzieri

• Spring_2009_Vol_15_pdf__428_KB_.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

What a full week this has turned out to be. As we speak, it seems another tree or flower blossoms. Yesterday I was walking with a friend and we came upon wild lilacs. It is a beautiful time to be here, to see snow in some parts of the country, rain in others...to experience such a distinct shift in the seasons.

Today we had an excursion to the town of Spitak to visit Mother Teresa's orphanage there. I had never been and neither had the residents. We both wanted to meet the residents there and to give something to them... All of the residents (from our home and theirs) became friends quickly. It was a joy to watch friendships begin, to see another place that reaches out to the same people in this country, and to draw strength from shared joys and struggles. We face many of the same difficulties and so I found solace in that. Mother Teresa's orphanage opened right after the earthquake and the children who were handicapped by the earthquake have grown up and will stay in this place for their entire lives. They do not take new residents (I tried before opening Warm Hearth!) but perhaps as a result, it feels like a family there as well.

On our way over and through the snow-covered mountains, I again wished that you could have been there. Our residents were singing, befriending the driver, making jokes and pointing out gorges, lakes, mountains and villages to one another. I leaned my head back as they sang and drank in a few deep breaths of mountain air and told myself: Remember this. Never forget it. Remember this joy, their joy, your joy.

We have come so far. I couldn't help but think of our first long journey together from Kapan over snowy roads when we opened the home. I couldn't help but look back, knowing that we have been blessed to have made it thus far. I also couldn't help but look forward and wonder where we will still go together.

I hope that the way forward will bring a solution and healing for Anna and Sassoon. They remain in the clinic. It has been so long now. And while on some days, I know that they are there for good reasons, I also know that it is not *good* that they are there. And in this way, we are at an impasse with them. There is a chance that our training next week (a specialist from the Seattle area joins us tomorrow) will provide help for our staff to the extent that we can try to bring one of them home. But there is also a chance that we will not be able to.

When I visited them a few days ago, Sassoon asked me over and over to take him home. I told him I could not, over and over. He then went through a list of everyone he could think of who might be able to take him home and for each question, I had to say, "he/she cannot take you home." Finally, exhausted (as was I), he looked down and let out a huge sigh and said, "God will take me home." Oh.

I carry them in my heart, though, and ask that you carry them as well. It is too heavy to carry alone. And at each juncture, I hope that this will be the one that allows for some large change for them, that allows for them to be at home again...even if it is in a different home.

May it be so. Miracles have happened before.

Sincerely and with Gratitude, Natalie

Dear friends,

As I expected, it is the cusp of spring here in Armenia. Rain is falling gently outside. There is occasional thunder. And I'm on my way back to my room after a full day at Warm Hearth. How do I even begin?

Well, as you know, we have six new residents, who welcomed me like they had always known me, who are at peace, it seems, and living well with the others. I was shown every nook and cranny of our renovated 3rd floor....which is homey and warm and freshly painted. The garden ground was recently plowed and the trees there will soon break. Agappy, a new resident, was especially proud of the garden.

Oh, there is too much to tell.

All of our residents had displayed the best of their artwork and handicrafts around the house and I spent hours looking through sketchbooks, and fingering ceramics, and seeing what they have creatively done with the packing-styrofoam. The two work-rooms look like small art halls and the time and love spent in those rooms is evident.

I listened as the residents said a prayer before their meal. I smelled fresh khachapoori (an Armenian cheese pastry) and watched a community-assistant pull it out of the oven and serve it to the residents. I took all the shy smiles that Yulia gave me across the room, the chorus of "eat, eat" from each of the residents, coffee that Sargis (another new resident) made for me and proceeded to force me to drink it alone so that I could have a moment of peace, he said. :)

We ate together and laughed together. And had an afternoon dance-party in the living room after each resident had sung as many songs as they could conjure up, and recited as many poems as possible... You should have seen Davit dance, our newest resident who came to live with us off the street after his mother recently died. He would just jump up and down in one place, clapping his hands, beaming, and saying “opa” in a sing-songy voice Precious.

In the afternoon, there is a rest hour and each resident goes to his or her room. I took the opportunity to lay down upstairs as well to ward off some of the jet lag. As I fell asleep, I could hear the residents in the next room singing a soft lullaby (I learned later that they had sung it for me). I laid in such a warm bed, with a quilt made by one of you, surrounded, as it were, by you there and those I love here...and rested in the beauty of what we have done together.

I wish you could have been there. My hands are sticky from so much holding. Yours would be, too.

With love and gratitude, Natalie (for us all)

Dear friends,

The last few days have been full of good news, glimpses of spring. As you have been so kind to share in our winters, and in times of difficulty, so shall you share in the joys.

I wandered along at the arboretum this morning, in Superior, Arizona….and all the trees are about to break into bloom. They’re pushing their fists, full of blossoms, to the sky. And it is incredible to watch something that has almost burst into the world, but hasn’t quite. I highly recommend wandering around during these spring days and watching the world unleash it’s fury of color on us.

As I walked along, I thought about all the ways we are brought to life again. I thought about how I have been brought to life by news from Warm Hearth this week.

Let me share. We have a new resident, whom our staff hope to bring home today. He is twenty-two years old and has lived on the streets with his mother for much of his life. His mother died last week and as Alya, our director said, “Now he is alone in the world.” Well, not quite. Because we can take him. We can bring him home. We cannot undo all the suffering but we can add some joy to his young life.

That is springtime.

A glimpse of how what we give multiplies and is multiplied came yesterday…. Last year, a donor gave a few thousand dollars for our residents to receive comprehensive dental care. They went to a clinic in Yerevan and along the way, our residents carved their place into the hearts of the dental care staff. The staff have brought gifts and food over to the home many times. They have come for Christmas celebrations.

They also offered free care for our residents in the future. Free. To watch our Warm Hearth staff and residents make their own connections in the community and then to see the community respond, this is also springtime.

Thank you for watching as the cycle of life circles around and around within our home and our residents’ lives. I hope for springtime for each of you.

With all my heart, Natalie

*I've attached a most-recent photo of our residents and many friends of Warm Hearth.

“If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you.”

Dear friends,

I’m getting ready for another trip to Armenia in late March. And looking forward to meeting our new group of residents and seeing those I have long loved. I’m also looking forward to sharing your gifts and spirit and stories… I have a suitcase full of beautiful clothes for the residents, nursing journals for the psychiatric hospital, a hand-knit blanket, sheets and towels. I think it is part of my work to connect our residents back to you, as you are connected to them, to work on completing the circle.

Jean Vanier started group homes around the world for people with developmental disabilities, and has a book entitled “Becoming Human” that articulates the heart of Warm Hearth. What I most admire about him is his posture. He doesn’t see himself as the healer or the strong one. He says: “the one who is healed and the one who is healing constantly change place.” Again, we are encircled and part of a circle when we give and receive, when we work and rest. And I have to say that nothing is more true in this work, which is really just life, which brings us down to earth and toward heaven all in one breath, if you will.

What I mean by this work we are engaged in really being just *life* is expressed again by Vanier:

The belief in the inner beauty of each and every human being is at the heart of {Warm Hearth}, at the heart of all true education and at the heart of being human. As soon as we start selecting people and judging people instead of welcoming them as they are – with their sometimes human beauty, as well as their more frequent visible weaknesses – we are reducing life, not fostering it. When we reveal to people our belief in them, their hidden beauty rises to the surface where it may be more clearly seen by all.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here. I know that those of you who have followed and nurtured and grown this work/life have already experienced this reality. I know that you sense the threads that tie you to our residents and that you see their beauty and their strength and courage. I guess what I really wanted to share is that they also sense the threads that tie them to you…they know they are loved. They take so much joy in the fact that you know their names. Somehow this small fact makes a large difference.

So, thank you. And bless you. May we constantly change places between healer and healed. May we remain in the circle.

Sincerely & With Gratitude, Natalie

Dear friends,

I have attached our Winter newsletter & the 2008 Annual Report. If you would like a black & white print copy of our Annual Report, please let me know.

Thank you for following the stories of our residents and the growth of our home. Thank you for making it possible.

Sincerely & With Gratitude,

-- Natalie Bryant Rizzieri Founder, Executive Director Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Tel. (480) 921-1181 Armenian Tel. (374) (10) 39-81-50 Address: P.O. Box 1037; Tempe, AZ 85280

• Newsletter_Vol_14.pdf (PDF)
  
• 2008_Annual_Report.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

The year is coming to a close. The days are getting shorter. But, Sunday is Winter Solstice and there will be the reversal of these lengthening nights. Then the days will become longer and longer still. Sol means "sun." And sistere means "to stand still." Let us stand still and watch and wait and hope as the sun stands still, at the farthest point from our place on earth, knowing that it will come back around. And there will be light.

T.S. Eliot, in "East Coker," he has this beautiful verse which I have been reading over and over lately.

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.

The faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. Advent is a time of waiting and the whole earth feels it, whether or not one celebrates the Christian calendar. Winter is a stripping time. It is a time where the earth, in our hemisphere, rests and waits and is stripped down. It is a time of emptiness. And we rest. And we sit still. Solstice. We sit still so that we know what to plant, when it is that time again. We sit still, on this stripped land, so that we know what should fill us, when it is time.

Time. It is almost January of 2009. To me this is significant because it was in January of 2009 that I was supposed to hand over all Warm Hearth responsibilities. It has been three years (almost) that we have been open. And before we even opened, I thought this was a good amount of time to allow for sustainable growth...to hand over the reigns before Warm Hearth became over-reliant on any of us here. And before I became over-reliant on holding the reigns. To me, sustainability is another word for justice. So, handing over Warm Hearth was and is a way to create more justice in the world. But it is hard, as a dear friend said recently, "to begin something unsustainably and then coax it in this direction."

Our route changed along the way when we decided that in the long run it would be better for our residents if we stepped away from our former implementing arm (Mission Armenia) and began our own Armenian nonprofit. I still think this was the best idea, but it calls for a few more years of the same kind of support, from our end here. From Friends of Warm Hearth. From many of you. So, January of 2009 does not mean stepping back in the same way I thought it would. I am still stepping back as more and more of the decisions are made by our Armenian directors. It is good. It is right. But it does feel strange to become the one "sitting on the bench," as my dad put it the other day. The world needs bench-warmers, though. And that is my place these days, to be there when I am needed. To cheer from the sidelines. And to continue to find the financial resources needed to allow our new nonprofit time to be strengthened.

I don't know how all of these thoughts come together: Winter Solstice and the turning of the earth, the coming of more sun; Advent, and the arrival of hope; the disarray of the world around us, even still; the turning of time; the waiting that we abide within which is the faith and the hope and the love; and Warm Hearth's journey toward sustainability, and hopefully long-lasting justice. Maybe it is that it is ok to not know in this turning of the seasons. This is a dark time when we know not how it will all unfold, or what will arrive.

I don't know. But there is yet faith and hope and love in the waiting. I hope you can find it too. I hope you can sit still along with the sun this weekend. And know that you are not alone, as you wait.

May you be blessed as you celebrate this Christmas season. Today, somewhere halfway across the world, our dear residents are having a party. They are singing, reciting poems and conducting a play for guests. They are creating much joy! Somehow, that celebration is also ours.

With love and gratitude, Natalie

-- Natalie Bryant Rizzieri Founder, Executive Director Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

November 13th, 2008

Dear friends and family,

We have five new residents at Warm Hearth. That makes thirteen. We have eleven people living full time in our home, and two in clinics whom we remain committed to through weekly visits. Our residents were thrilled to welcome these new people into their home and to share meals with them, bedrooms, and bathroom sinks. They already had them in their hearts, at least some of them. On the day that four of the new residents visited for the first time, Yulia gasped with joy. Alya said that she was "too-too happy" because she was reunited with a long lost friend, someone who had cared for her in another orphanage, a sister of her heart. They are together now, living again under the same roof, picking up, it seems, where they had left off. We never dreamed…

One of my favorite photographs from the first day that the new residents were with us was one of about four of them gathered in the bathroom, brushing their teeth at night (see the photo below). I thought of my siblings and those evening rituals and what it means to share life with a myriad of people both different and similar to you. There is something so organic and natural about sharing a bathroom sink with someone you live with and it made me happy to think that we were finding a way to sustain and nurture a home-like environment while adding to our numbers.

Within a little more than a week of coming to our home, Agapy (who is also Yulia's long lost friend) began to feel unwell. Our staff took her to the hospital to discover that she needed to have her appendix removed immediately. Thankfully the staff acted quickly and Agapy's healthy & life were saved. She will stay in the hospital for a week to recover and then come home. In the meantime, we are struggling to finagle with the hospital because she is without a birth certificate or papers of any kind. That is typical for an orphan, but my goodness!

It is hard for me to be so far from all of these quick strides of growth…but it is as it should be in the sense that Warm Hearth is well cared for by those who will be able to carry it on far far into the future, farther than I could (or should) ever carry it being non-Armenian. I am more than satisfied with how our staff envisions Warm Hearth and creates such a loving home. We who hold this end up, still have our part, and it is not small. Rather, it would be impossible without you…without generosity and prayer and everyday help. But it would also be impossible without our staff, our residents, our directors in Armenia who have made such beauty possible. Let us never forget to thank them as well, even if it is just in our hearts.

With love,

Natalie

Dear friends & family,

It is with tremendous joy that I introduce a few of our new residents to you through this autumn newsletter. In addition, we've finished our renovations and are enjoying this season of fullness that mirrors the season of autumn. I am partial to the season of autumn, to the changing leaves, to the crisp air (which we have too little of in the Arizona desert). But even here in Arizona, we can feel the tilt of the earth, the coming of winter. And most definitely, the coming of winter is felt in Armenia! Thankfully, this year, we will have a full and warm house where our residents (new and old) can experience what it is to love and be loved.

Thank you for making so much beauty possible in this small corner of the world....

Enjoy the newsletter, and as always, feel free to write or call if you have thoughts or questions.

With gratitude, -- Natalie Bryant Rizzieri Founder, Executive Director Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Tel. (480) 921-1181 Armenian Tel. (374) (10) 39-81-50 Address: P.O. Box 1037; Tempe, AZ 85280

www.friendsofwarmhearth.org <http://www.friendsofwarmhearth.org>

Providing Holistic Care for Orphans with Disabilities in Armenia

****

Compared to my heart's desire the sea is a drop.

-Adelia Prado

• Autumn_2008_Vol_13_pdf__1.3_MB.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

Though time seems to pass too quickly, each day continues to contain the true and rooted things that make up a life. Our residents and I are waiting for the "new residents" to come to our home, which should happen in the next couple of weeks. "Home" is a true and rooted thing. Our staff and I wait for this tremendous joy of welcoming new residents. We also know the stress of opening our home and hearts up to still more people. It will be good when they are settled into their new beds and the first meal is over and the dishes are washed. It will be good when the first obstacle of this new chapter is overcome. We will all then sleep well & hard & long.

But for now (and again), we wait. And we wait with hope. In a sense, we are harvesting hope after a season of tilling and growth and putting down roots.

This month holds a third trip for me to San Francisco and for the first time, Los Angeles. I will be gathering together with those of you who have cared for Warm Hearth. And that is always a joy. I told a friend today that on these trips I feel like I give my heart away every time I speak about Warm Hearth. And that is true. And while tiring, that is also the beauty of it because it allows *this* home to belong to all of us. So, I wait also with hope that this coming time will be one of joy and honesty and coming together. I hope that the arms of Warm Hearth stay open and wide both here and abroad.

There is a woman whom we know little about who lives in one of the clinics currently. We only know enough about her to want to bring her to our home. She is unable to walk and appears to have downs syndrome. She has gentle eyes. The way that she has found her way into our minds is mysterious and the path weaves back and forth. Not knowing much about her story, we do not know yet if this will be possible. But what is amazing to me about this possibility is that it came about through the words of a friend and regular supporter of Warm Hearth. We had talked about this woman before - and when it came time to think about new residents, my friend suggested her. I spoke with our director in Armenia who is going to consider it carefully. I trust her to do so. And we will see how it unfolds.

In a world that is sometimes driven by numbers and figures and people in high-places, it is good to recall that it doesn't always have to be this way. There is beauty in the fact that the direction of Warm Hearth is defined by people - our residents, staff and supporters.

That is a sign of hope to me. And I hope to you.

Stay close by to us.

With Gratitude,

-- Natalie Bryant Rizzieri Founder, Executive Director Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Dear friends,

The day is coming to a close, and I slowed to the thoughts below, and thought I might take the time to share them with you, you who have safeguarded & cared so deeply for Warm Hearth....

We prefer to endure any agony of isolation rather than to merge and extinguish our selves in an abstract "humanity" whose fate we should hold dearer than our own. (Annie Dillard, For the Time Being)

Warm Hearth renovations are almost complete – and they will allow for us to invite 8-10 people home. To invite people home, to have created a home for them, this is going to be such a great joy.

It also marks a new chapter for us. We have never "selected" residents for our home because of the grassroots nature of our beginning. We knew our first group of residents intimately – they were and are the reason we started Warm Hearth. So, as we think about beckoning new residents into our home, into our lives and hearts, we pause and realize the weightiness and joy of the decision.

When we think about accepting some residents, we also have to think about excluding others – and then the need for places like Warm Hearth becomes painfully evident. And it gives me a renewed vigor to keep moving forward, to keep taking steps toward sustainability and a societal movement away from unnecessary institutionalization.

Perhaps it is equally important for us to take a deep breath and realize that we are doing what we can. And change happens one step at a time.

Warm Hearth has always asked much of us – it has asked for courage. It has asked for hope. It has asked for us to slow down at times, and to speed up. It has asked us to try and try again. It has asked us to make decisions without knowing all that we might expect to know in the face of such a decision. It has asked us to love, to forgive, to be gracious. It is, after all, a very human place.

At this very moment, I think it is asking us to look with great tenderness at the vast need that we will soon face as we look for our new residents. It is asking that we see all of these individuals, who experience the poverty of being unloved, as perfectly human, as part of us.

And so, to deny one of them a home, which will be a necessity because we don't have the space, is to deny a part of ourselves a home.

May we see our connection to one another this clearly – though it is hard, for I am not sure there is another way to finding hope & healing – someday healing.

Sincerely,

Natalie Bryant Rizzieri

Thank you to each of our donors for caring about our home & believing in our residents.

I wanted to share with each of you some of our summer news! Thanks to your generosity, we are expanding to include new residents.

Read about our summer days in the attached file.

Sincerely & With Gratitude, Natalie

• Summer_2008_Vol_12_pdf__420_KB.pdf (PDF)
  

Dearest friends & supporters -

As I alluded to in my last letter, we at Warm Hearth are stretching our limbs, trying to reach further and higher and wider to include more residents and to offer always better care to those we already have in our home and in our care. As of three days ago, July 1, this means that we began operating under our new foundation "Jermik Ankyun (Warm Hearth) Foundation" in the Republic of Armenia as opposed to under the umbrella of another nonprofit, Mission Armenia. Mission Armenia has been vital to our beginning and we are quick to say that we would not have been able to do this without them. But there comes a time, and the time has come, to step out on our own...recognize what makes us unique and go confidently in that direction. That is what I hope and believe that this transition means for us. Please keep our directors there in your hearts, prayers and thoughts as they take risks - both personal and organizational - on behalf of those whom we all hold dear.

In the midst of this and as a result of my recent trip with Bridget over the seas and back in Armenia, we are also renovating/finishing our third floor. We plan to new residents, each of whom either is already living in the psychiatric institutions or is destined for them. We hope to welcome them by the autumn. After 2 1/2 years of being open, we feel like we are at a place where we can welcome new residents into our home.... The ground is sure enough beneath our feet. Thank you for being patient with us, and for trusting our timing. Because some of you have asked, the initial renovation project (which doesn't include heating and plumbing) is currently estimated to cost $29,600. We have already raised $25,000 of that amount and are hoping to send the rest soon so that we can get the roof raised, as they say, before winter sets in.

We have enjoyed the summer influx of visitors and volunteers as well. Our residents and staff have been able to participate in activities and trainings. People have come and visited from far and wide. And as you know from walking with us for the last 2 1/2 years, this always is a gift to us. Know that you also are always welcome to come, to stay awhile in our home, to give what you have to give - whatever that might be, and to receive and appreciate all that Warm Hearth offers, in all its humanness, commonness, and dailyness. But this is where beauty and mercy are most often found.

May you know and find that same mercy this day, wherever you are.

With much gratitude and love, Natalie

MOST RECENT NEEDS:

**In order to raise money for our renovation project, we are selling packets of greeting cards with paintings by our residents. They are $15 each and if you are interested, please let me know by phone or email. (My phone number is listed below.)

**A desktop computer and monitor for our new foundation (no more than 3 years old and in working condition).

** Used/old cell phones which can be mailed to the post office box below (Warm Hearth receives monetary compensation for these).

-- Natalie Bryant Rizzieri Founder, Executive Director Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Tel. (480) 921-1181 Armenian Tel. (374) (10) 39-81-50 Address: P.O. Box 1037; Tempe, AZ 85280

Here are some recent photos from the trip to Warm Hearth.

Dear friends & family,

It has been too long since I last wrote. I know this mostly because I am back in Arizona and have yet to catch you up on the happenings at Warm Hearth. Bridget joined me for a whirlwind few days but we were able to get a lot accomplished and it was a gift to have her company. Our days were brimming with conversations with residents, staff, volunteers, supporters...

We did not bring Anna or Sassoon home from the clinic. This was a hard decision to make and given that the stakes are so high for these two, I cannot say it was a "good" decision, but it was the best one we could make. We did, however, spend some time trying to come up with a long-term solution for them which would entail opening a new home (or more than one new home) for residents with different needs. The model would distinguish between levels of functioning & behavior problems and place residents with these certain criteria in mind. This plan and model that our staff is interested in creating was born out of our experiences with Warm Hearth. And so it is particular to our resources and needs in Armenia. It belongs to Armenia. It belongs to our staff. That is a beautiful thing to me. So, we might be diving into new plans and homes over the next couple years....so that we can provide long-term care for our Anna & Sassoon & others like them....

We had rich time with the residents and staff. We heard about the residents' dreams & vocational goals & were even able to establish an individualized vocational plan for each of them. In conversing about this we learned that Alina, our artist, whom we expected to say that she wanted to paint or draw, said: "For work, I want to help people. If a person feels bad, this is who I will help." We learned that Davit wants to be the director of a kindergarten and that Roman wants to become a photographer. We are excited to work with each resident to create a more meaningful life for himself/herself...along the lines of the passions and skills they already have. Our staff and our residents have security and safety and they have their feet underneath them, pretty solidly now, so it is a time to walk (sometimes it feels like we are running) and grow and expand our home & the lives of our residents.

Gayane's 28th birthday coincided with our trip so we had a special celebration with her. All of the staff were there. We had cake and juice and candles and silly spray! We danced and toasted and laughed. Gayane opened gifts and received all the visitors with such gratitude. Near the end of the party, and near the end of the toasts, she became so overwhelmed with it all that she became tearful. Slightly embarrassed, I think I relieved her embarrassment a bit by saying, "O Gayane, you're just like me." Everyone chuckled and she smiled. Because it is known that tears pretty freely flow from my eyes. She was crying tears of joy and gratitude. Even in joy, there can be something bittersweet, and she probably felt that, too, as did I...and probably Bridget, and perhaps our staff. That we could all come together and give her this day, hold it out to her, and partake of it ourselves...was a beautiful thing. Shortly after, Roman turned on the music and we danced until we were tired. It doesn't get much better than that.

Thank you for all you do to make days like this one possible. I wish many of you could have been there to see this with your own eyes, to see this long-held dream in flesh & blood. I'll try to send photographs soon... And in the meantime, continue to keep us in your thoughts & prayers. Hold us all close. There is more to be done. And we don't want to go at it alone.

With love & gratitude, Natalie (for us all)

Written on May 6, 2008

Dear friends & family,

I have been in Armenia for three days now...and it feels like much longer as the days have been full & long. But good. Very good. The sun is setting and the sky is cloud-filled and the wind is blowing harder than perhaps I have ever heard it blow. It is howling and whipping around the building and things are flying off the balconies above me. The sky is full of dust, which has something to do with the beautiful sunset, I think.

I have seen many people whom I love. And I have already seen the residents three days in a row. The first thing I did was go to the home, after changing some money to take the bus out to 3rd Village. I wrote to my family & husband very quickly the first night, telling them that it was pure joy. That day. And when this journey has so often been riddled with hard decisions and sadness, that stands out to me. The residents and I laughed and they showed me all that they have done and learned in the last year. Davit would not let go of my hand and kept saying, "Natalie jan (dear), tsavd tanem (I take your pain)." He did not really mean it literally and now as I reach for the words to explain the meaning, it is harder than I thought. But it meant something like - "Oh, there is pain in this joy. And I take it. I take yours. And I'm so glad you are here." I suppose that is the way it is with proverbs and sayings. They take on a life of their own.

Today was quite full of meetings. Our staff shared their concerns. I shared my gratitude with them. And then I was able to listen while they discussed the individual care plans for each resident -- discussing the last month's progress, anecdotal and loving stories...and the ways that they hope the residents will continue to grow. It was really a beautiful thing to hear their hearts for the residents, to see the care they put into this work, and to hear the stories of the residents. One resident has been working toward not interrupting others. Another toward having more gratitude. It made me think of family life and how we are shaped with love. I hope that is what Warm Hearth is for them. I think that it is.

We also are moving toward some organizational changes and hope that we will soon have a foundation or NGO in Armenia dedicated solely to Warm Hearth. Today I met with the founding board members of what we hope will soon be a legal entity. Each of the board members has given to Warm Hearth in many ways, most of them since the very beginning. I asked each of them to share what Warm Hearth meant to them, how they had contributed to the home...and then I just sat back and was able to listen to the amazing ways that our resident's lives and needs have shaped them. And as I shared with them, in turn, I thought about the same - how much I have been shaped and changed by this crazy-beautiful thing called Warm Hearth.

So, things are good on many fronts, here in Armenia. Bridget will arrive this weekend and together we will begin to face the future and possibilities for our two dear residents who are *still* in the psychiatric clinic. That will be the part of this trip that is the most trying, of course. It will be hard to face heir questions if we ourselves do not have answers. I have some small hope that perhaps we can bring Sassoon home...with a one-on-one caregiver. That is my hope. With Anna, I do not know.

*I do not know.* We have said that so many times along the way. The journey has both been long & short. The road has been wide & narrow. It continues to be the same. And we will continue to walk it. Thank you for walking with us, as always. I still mean that just as much as I did in the beginning. You are one of my greatest solaces. And your hope is my hope.

With Gratitude & Love, Natalie

Dear Friends,

I've attached the most recent newsletter for your perusal. Thanks to Jessica & Berj for helping with the mailing. It is always a joy to work with others who care about Warm Hearth.

I also have some recent pictures of our residents. I received these recently from our Program Manager and was struck by how much love is behind the eye of the camera, capturing the spirit of each of the residents. I hope you will see the same as you view them. They are a celebration of the kindness and warmth that has become Warm Hearth. View the photos at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BYs2TJo5YsXJg

I leave for Armenia in one week & look forward to being with the residents & staff. Thank you all of you who make each part of this endeavor possible.

I hear that the residents saved their money and purchased a video camera for the house, which they had long wanted. So, I'm sure we'll have some laughs with the camera while I'm there.

Keep us close to your hearts as we (Bridget & I) seek, yet again, to find a viable and long-term *good* solution for two residents who are still in the psychiatric clinic.

Blessings to each of you & with gratitude, Natalie

• Spring 2008 Newsletter (PDF)
  

The days pass quickly and before too many more pass by, I wanted to share about what has been happening at Warm Hearth. Bridget (our Associate Director) and I will soon return to Armenia for most of May. We are returning to see the residents and staff after missing them so. We also are returning to look hard (yet again) for ways to help the two of our residents who remain in psychiatric clinics…

These two residents, as many of you know, have been in the clinic since last April and despite our efforts, we have yet to find a better alternative for them. We are doing everything we can to make sure that they are not transferred to Vardenis Tun-Internad or the other large institutions.

There is a small chance that we will be able to try to bring one of them home in the next month. That is my hope. This particular resident was able to live in Warm Hearth for ten months in relative peace and safety until one of our staff members (with whom he was very close) left. So, we are doing our best to establish a regime and a “care-plan” that will give him what he needs to stay home and safely. Thank you to those of you who have helped with this. I have received so much support and expertise in regard to this resident. I couldn’t do it alone.

In the meantime, the other six residents have had their own joys and sorrows. They have enjoyed the vocational and life-skills lessons and are showing more and more of an interest in caring for themselves, their friends and their home. Our staff has commented many times recently about the most beautiful changes they see in the lives of the residents. I receive small glimpses of this when I call and hear the strength in their voices, the laughter in the background, the stories of their trips and classes and celebrations.

After a lifetime of neglect combined with their disabilities, many of our residents have struggled, recently, to maintain their physical health. The numerous trips to hospitals this last year has surprised me, but thankfully each of them has been treated and is either cured or continually being treated with the best help we are able to find within Armenia. It is a challenge, but so many people have come around us. And have helped us to give our residents the best that we have. I am grateful for that. As are the residents.

Many of you may have heard about the political unrest in Armenia following the most recent election, which some of the public deemed fraudulent. If you are interested in following this story, there is an online independent journal called ArmeniaNow.com, which is both reputable and thorough. Thankfully, at least on the outside, the country seems calmer and our residents are safe and happy in the “third village” which lies at least 20 minutes from the center of the capital. Thank you for your care and concern about them.

We remain blessed beyond measure by the love that each of you shares with us. Mother Teresa once said that “love has no other message but its own” and I sense that in the gifts and thoughts and help that you give to us, each in your own way. I sense that in the way that your gifts come from far and wide, and in so many different forms from so many different kinds of people. I hope that we, at Warm Hearth, will also continue to walk in the way of love, giving no other message than love itself to each of you, to our residents, our staff and the world close around us.

**I've attached a photograph of this past New Year's celebration. These are our residents singing and performing songs and poems for their visitors.

I have the honor of being asked, and quite often, “what can I do to help?” I meet people, day in and day out who want to contribute to our home, our residents’ lives, our efforts.

One of my favorite parts of this work is matching what people have to give with our needs. It is a great joy to be able to watch, and closely, how giving and receiving transform all of those involved.

Sometimes what we need is an empathetic ear. Sometimes we need an outside and professional opinion on a care plan for a resident or a reference for a neurologist for one of our residents. Sometimes our staff needs volunteers to visit and give them a reprieve in their day and work. Sometimes we need financial support or simply a few kind words.

Sometimes our residents need someone to pay special attention to their piece of art. Sometimes we need people to just acknowledge that we are tired, and offer to pick up the pieces, even just for a short time.

We need people. We need people who are willing to be present, “to touch those to whom [they] give.” (Mother Teresa) We need people to be gentle and fierce. We need people who will fight hard for the rights of our residents, for the provision of their needs. We need people to carry some of the suffering that our residents have carried for their whole lives.

It is hard to stare suffering in its face. And sometimes I feel compelled to protect our friends and supporters from the suffering that inevitably comes through and in this work. But then we are all more alone. And besides, if the suffering is not known, we will never find ways to overcome it, however slow it may be.

There is a quote by Euripides, the Ancient Greek playwright, which speaks to this willingness to be a part of life. Euripides says:

“You who sit there in utter misery, look up and show your friend your face. There is no darkness bears a cloak so black as could conceal your suffering. Why wave your hand to warn me of the taint of blood? For fear your words pollute me? I am not afraid to share your deep affliction with you…”

May we not be afraid. So much depends on this.

“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve or save the world and a desire to enjoy or savor the world. This makes it hard to plan a day.” (E. B. White)

Bridget Anderson, our Associate Director, recently moved to Nigeria & continues to be involved in Warm Hearth’s growth & sustenance. Today she sent me this quote by E.B. White. It speaks to the efforts, motivation and tension of Warm Hearth & of the wider world.

The tension is felt in our home in Armenia as the New Year approaches. New Year is a significant and special holiday in Armenia and is celebrated for an entire week, beginning with the old date for New Year (January 6th). We want our residents to savor this celebration and have done what we can to make sure this will happen!

But at the same time, some of our efforts must continue to extend to three of our residents who have been in and out of the hospital this year…two of whom will remain hospitalized during the New Year. We cannot abandon either effort. But it is hard to hold them both: to “savor and improve.” To “enjoy and save.”

We care that Warm Hearth be a true and revolutionary way of life for our residents. We also care that Warm Hearth be a place that creates a space where the world can be enjoyed and savored by our residents, of course, but also by the extended family of Warm Hearth.

I hope that being a part of Warm Hearth, in whatever capacity you are, provides a balance of improving the world and drinking deeply of the beauty that has been created. I hope it means this for our residents and staff as well.

May this effort, upheld by many of you, be an ever so slight moment of harmony where these two ways of abiding in the world can be joined together.

That is my hope for each of you today as we enter the holiday & Christmas season.

With Gratitude, Natalie Bryant Rizzieri

Dear friends,

This morning when I opened my in-box there was evidence of care and concern from so many of you. I am astonished, once again, at your kindness.

And I wanted to share the good news.

Not only had we received $6,600 over the weekend for the central heating system in Warm Hearth (the total cost is a little over $8,000), but I had answers to my final questions about the estimates/company that has been designated to do this work along with a final figure.

Thus, I was able to send the wire transfer of funds today with a sigh of relief and confidence that a quality system will be installed for a fair price. Our residents will soon be warm, through and through.

Thank you. I don't know of any other group of people so responsive and genuine. Thank you for being a part. Yes, thank you. What more is there to say.

With Gratitude, Natalie (for us all)

Dear friends,

I realized recently that I begin most reflections on Warm Hearth by orienting myself with the season. There is a rhythm to the year that must bring some solace, to which I almost *must* connect myself before writing about our group home. And today as I began my work, I did the same thing. I looked at the weather in Yerevan, Armenia and it is 37 degrees Fahrenheit. It is getting cold during the night...and I am worried because we do not have heat in our house right now.

When we opened the home, Bridget and I bought two large gas furnaces from Iran. They heat the home well and it is quite comfortable even in the throes of winter. But due to a new law, we are not allowed to use those heaters any longer & must install central heat. We are on our way to making this happen & have been shuffling through the laws, boiler estimates, gas valves & switches and exchange rates. Many of you have helped with this, have offered expertise & insight, for which I am grateful. And like I said, we are moving as quickly as possible and will hopefully begin installation next week.

But in the mean time, our residents are still cold. And when I pull the blanket over me at night I think about them, and how many blankets they probably have atop their bodies...and how it probably still is cold.

And from there I think of how, no matter how much you love someone you cannot always protect them as you would want to. But we keep trying -- and that is all we can do. I cannot say how many times I have come to this in the "life" of Warm Hearth...but it seems a rock-bottom truth. I keep arriving here, in roundabout ways. And it makes me think of Rilke's words from "The Visionary," a few of which I will share....

How little are the things with which we wrestle. What with us wrestles, how much greater is!

If only we would let ourselves be conquered as things are overcome by a great storm, we would expand in space and need no names.

When we victorious are, it is over the small things, and though we won, it leaves us feeling small.

...

The secret of his growing lies in this: by being totally defeated and disarmed by even greater forces and their cause.

I hope that we keep growing -- even if it means these moments of what feels like defeat. That is what I hope. And that each of you is well. And warm.

With Gratitude,

-- Natalie Bryant Rizzieri Founder, Executive Director Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Thank you to all of you who have given to our home.

Thank you for your kindness towards Warm Hearth's residents.

Your donation makes it possible to provide a life for our residents outside the psychiatric institutions in Armenia.

Your support is a vital part of our operation and is also sustenance to our hearts, as we know, through your gift, that we are not alone in this endeavor.

If you are interested, our Annual Report is attached. This chronicles our growth, the healing of our residents and our story from beginning to present day.

Thank you again for your support.

Kindly,

Natalie Bryant Rizzieri Executive Director & Founder

• fwh_2007_annual_report.pdf (PDF)
  

Often projects are placed in categories, however arbitrary they might be. Though I lean toward focusing on Warm Hearth as a home as opposed to a project of any sort, there are times when we must be identified by our focus and values.

So, more than any other category, I consider Warm Hearth to be a human rights project. We care about the health of our residents, yes. And we do advocate on their behalf. But mostly we care about ensuring that they have the rights any human being should have. They have the right to loving care, to shelter, to healthful food, to peace, to community, to equality in society and to dignity, to name a few.

When I consider Warm Hearth as a human rights project I am implicitly saying that our residents deserve to receive human rights irregardless of whether they have a disability or not. Their disabilities are impediments to realizing their rights.

Our residents are not in need of “charity” in the sense that it is usually used today, with connotations of helplessness and a hierarchy of abled versus disabled, us versus them. They are, and always will be fully human and should not be considered “misfortunates”. In the same way, we should not consider ourselves their rescuers. Inherent in this approach is a kind of subtle condescension that I would like to avoid.

Rather, our residents have the same rights as any one else and the distinction is just that they might need assistance in realizing those rights and obtaining equal treatment in society.

Within this framework, our residents do not so much need support as access to that which they are already entitled. They do not need charity. They need equality. This might seem like splitting hairs, but I believe it is a posture that offers more dignity to our residents and clarity to the issue of disabilities and society. Sometimes changing words and frameworks does alter our perspectives, over time.

In light of this, I will end with a definition of disability that Warm Hearth uses. This definition exhibits, if considered carefully, the small distinctions that move us away from harmful assumptions about people with disabilities.

Our definition of disability:

“Limitations in carrying out activities of daily living and to participating in the social, economic, political and cultural life of the community.

Such limitations may arise from:

- a physical, sensory, intellectual, emotional or other personal condition such as a long-term health problem;

- societal stereotypes about such human conditions,

- ways of organizing social, economic, and built environments that, in their effects, exclude or impede the participation people with such conditions.

(taken from The Roeher Institute, Toronto, 2001)

Summer has come and gone. The Warm Hearth residents welcomed visitors, volunteers and professionals from all over the world. Together they worked towards sustaining and improving the group home.

Two trainings in occupational therapy and crisis management gave our staff an increased understanding of group home care. Both were successful and appreciated by the staff.

A group of quilters from Enterprise, Oregon completed eight handmade quilts for each of our residents which will be shipped to Armenia soon.

A church in Racine, Wisconsin gathered art supplies, medications and monetary donations totaling almost $3,000 for our home and residents.

An Armenian community from San Francisco visited the home on their yearly “pilgrimage” to the homeland and made a commitment to return again next year. They raised another $3,000 for the home.

Birthright Armenia painted the first-floor interior of the home. During this project, some volunteers worked on art projects with our residents.

The residents took a two-week vacation to the southern Syunik Region of Armenia to visit the orphans with whom they lived for many years.

A Peace Corps Volunteer organized a day-trip for the residents to the favorite summer destination, Lake Sevan. Together they enjoyed the beach, the sun, good food and company.

Our residents’ lives are full and we continue to try to provide a home for them with care that integrates the body, mind, and soul. We are grateful for the numerous ways in which people have involved themselves in the lives of our residents and joined hands to work towards growth and healing in the lives of our residents.

Warm Hearth is grateful to be connected both to the local community in Armenia and to the broader international community. This summer some exciting developments are unfolding.

In August, Lee Ann Odabashian Williams, an occupational therapist from the U.S. with Armenian heritage, will conduct a staff training.

A wonderful and incredibly talented young doctor, Dr. Hovhannes Manvelyan (MD, PhD, DSci), has offered to provide medical support to our residents. He is newly-appointed Chief of Neurology at one of Armenia's best hospitals, is on faculty at the Medical School, and is a recent Fulbright alumnus. He's been busy trying to convert Armenia to evidence-based medicine.

David Mitchell, a former Peace Corps Volunteer & Art Therapist, will be conducting a staff training on "Crisis Management".

Birthright Armenia, an organization that brings committed Armenians from all over the world to volunteer in Armenia, has a group of 20 volunteers who will help paint the first floor of our home.

These developments, to name only a few, speak to the collaborative effort of Warm Hearth.