The Morning Sun Center of Hope

The Morning Sun Center of Hope

Founded	January 2007
Founder	Bart & Deirdre Daniel
Focus	Healthcare
Location	Henan Province, China
Area served	China
Method	Donations and Grants
Key people	Bart Daniel, co-founder Deirdre Daniel, co-founder
Website	www.mschope.org

The Morning Sun Center of Hope (MSCH) is a non-profit organization located in the Henan Province (China), and is focused on meeting the needs of at-risk children in China. Founded by Bart and Deirdre Daniel in January 2007, MSCH targets institutionalized orphans and indigent special-needs children.

Due to Funding Issues, The Morning Sun Center of Hope has been closed.

History and Background

China is going through rapid economic development. With one of the world’s fastest growing economies, urban China is experiencing an amazing transformation into a modern society. However, rural China, with a population of almost 1 billion, lives in poverty and access to primary healthcare is limited. Healthcare is limited by financial issues, geography and a lack of providers. While the limitations of the healthcare system are experienced by many, children are perhaps the most vulnerable population and are placed at risk. As a result, many indigent parents are forced to abandon their children in the hope that the State Run Social Welfare System will bring them within its fold and provide adequate medical care. The Morning Sun Center of Hope was started to address these issues.

China has a significant orphan population, and even though the number of orphans is not officially published, according to a 2004 UNAID’s estimate, China has 20.8 million orphans. Orphanages have a high disproportionate share of special needs children. Vitamin deficiencies, such as folic acid, cause a higher than average rate of neural tube defects. With the average rural income less than $1,200 per year, the cost of obtaining healthcare places a tremendous financial burden on families. Because of this, parents are sometimes forced to abandon the child with the hope that the state-run orphanages will support them and provide adequate healthcare. While there are 60,000 domestic and international adoptions annually, this represents only 0.75% of the institutionalized orphans. Despite the best efforts of the Chinese government to deal with this issue, there is still a large orphan population that goes underserved.

Founders

Bart and Deirdre Daniel came from the United States to China in 2003, where Bart worked for several years as CFO of United Family Hospital, a chain of healthcare facilities serving foreign nationals. To address the situation facing millions of infants and children, Bart left his extensive career in the healthcare industry, and the Morning Sun Center of Hope was founded to support these challenges in China.

Origin of name

The name Morning Sun Center for Hope came from Chairman Mao Zedong talking about the opportunities that lie with the children. He says,

"The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed on you. We must help all the young people to understand that ours is still a very poor country, that we cannot change this situation radically in a short time, and that only through the united efforts of our younger generation and all of the people, working with their own hands, can China be made strong and prosperous within a period of several decades. The establishment of our socialist system has opened the road leading to the ideal society of the future, but to translate this ideal into reality needs hard work”

This hope recognizes that hard work is necessary to move a society forward, and MSCH has placed that hope in the children and community it serves.

Mission

The mission of MSCH is about HEART: Healthcare for children in need, Embracing the need for respect and understanding, Alliances with the host country, Responsibility to society in how the organization operates, and Tomorrow, meaning setting up MSCH to be sustainable for generations to come.

Milestones

January 2008: The Morning Sun Center of Hope started.
September 12, 2007: The Morning Sun Center of Hope formally launched its Infant Nutrition Program.
May 15, 2008: The Morning Sun (Zhengzhou) Children's Charity Hospital started.
May 25, 2008: First batch of patients arrive.
September 2008: Because of lacking fund, the hospital program did not succeed and the Morning Sun of Hope Zhengzhou charity hospital had to be closed.

Notes and references

The Morning Sun Center of Hope