Andrea Faris Roberts of Gaithersburg, Maryland, is PEOPLE magazine’s 2010 Readers’ Choice Hero. PEOPLE editors chose five heroes and left the sixth award up to on-line voters in their Hero of the Year contest. Reece’s Rainbow, an international Down syndrome orphan ministry, helps kids from all over the world with special needs get adopted. The non-profit organization assists with adoption grants, advocacy and birth family support. Faris Roberts received over 30% of on-line votes, clinching the Readers' Choice award.
Faris Roberts, mother to two boys, one of whom has Down syndrome, started Reece’s Rainbow in 2004 as an outreach program to new moms of babies with Down syndrome. In 2006, the vision grew and Reece’s Rainbow expanded to assist international adoptions. To date, Reece’s Rainbow, named after Faris Robert’s son Reece, has helped over 350 children with Down syndrome and other special needs get placed into families both in America and Canada.
Families can raise funds through Reece’s Rainbow to help with the cost of international adoption and are assisted and encouraged throughout the adoption process. In other countries children with Down syndrome and other special needs are typically abandoned at birth and left without the love of a family. Some kids are transferred from baby homes to institutions after the age of four. Reece’s Rainbow is an advocate for marginalized orphans, an estimated 145 million around the world.
When asked about the award, Faris Roberts said, “I’m thrilled about the doors this will open for our waiting children, thrilled for the hopeful new donations and thrilled for the families who will be connected with very deserving children."
The Christmas Angel Tree Project, a program to raise awareness and funds over the holiday season, has just begun. Go to Reece’s Rainbow website to get more information.
To find out more about Andrea Faris Roberts and Reece’s Rainbow and to see a gallery of waiting children go to www.reecesrainbow.com.
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