Upper Highway Baby Home - Save and Give 2021

Nancy is the Founder and CEO of MPowrx Health and Wellness. Since graduating with her PhD in Biological Sciences in 1995, Nancy has spent the last 27+ years pursuing her passion - to develop and market science-based products that make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. When she’s not thinking (dreaming) about how to deliver innovative products to more people worldwide, Nancy is mentoring young entrepreneurs starting their own ventures, hiking and snowshoeing in the Rocky Mountains, golfing, gardening and spending as much time as possible with her husband and two adult children, as well as family and friends. 

On November 30th, 2020, during the emerging 3rd wave of Covid-19, Nancy’s long-time friend (“KoKo”) set out on a journey to South Africa, along with her partner (“Kono”), her daughter Kristin and Kristin’s husband (Cody) and their three kids. The family was going to meet for the first time their soon to be adoptive son/brother/grandchild - Sonni -an 18-month-old boy that was in the care of the Upper Highway Baby Home (UHBH).By this time, the family had faced more than a year of delays in finalizing their adoption due to travel and other restrictions from the Covid-19 pandemic. A short window of opportunity presented itself in December 2020 and the family quickly set out for South Africa. During their time in South Africa, they spent several weeks bonding with Sonni and everything looked like it was going as planned. Then, suddenly the South African government imposed a strict lock-down in their area and the family was forced to isolate at their B&B near the UHBH foster home, while making arrangements with the South African and Canadian governments to finalize the adoption and get the documentation in place to travel back to Canada. After many stressful weeks of delays in processing documents and uncertainty due to the surging pandemic, the family got the green light to return home! On January 10th, 2021, they all arrived safely in Canada and started the New Year with a huge sense of relief and joy. Sonni was home and their family was complete, at last.

Nancy was struck by this family’s love and devotion for Sonni - a vulnerable young boy from a far away country, who they had never met in person before (only through videoconference) and who had been cared for so deeply by the UHBH.

"I wanted to learn more about this organization," Said Nancy. "The more I read about UHBH and its founders, Kerry and Gary Stanton, and watched the family’s journey unfold, the more I was touched by their experience and this special organization. I wanted to do something to help the UHBH in their cause to help give vulnerable babies a chance for a better future."

Below is a snapshot of the UHBH mandate and social issues they are facing as shared on their website (https://upperhighwaybabyhome.co.za):

• An estimated 40 000 babies are abandoned every year in South Africa, of which only 3000 are saved. The rest die alone after being abandoned in fields, thrown into rivers or toilets etc.  A further 10 000 babies are placed for adoption, mostly by young mothers who have been abused or are in a situation where they have no means to bring the babies up in a healthy and stable environment. 
• The government facilities to support these babies are very poorly resourced and oversubscribed. Many babies end up in informal orphanage type situations with little hope of thriving and leading a productive life.  Many do not survive the first two years and for those that do, they will stay in an orphanage for their entire childhood. They are then forced to leave with no support as soon as government grants are stopped.  
• This further exacerbates the situation and in most cases the cycle of neglect continues for generations as these youngsters themselves become parents from as young as 14 years old.  South Africa truly has a crisis that is not receiving sufficient attention!
• Upper Highway Baby Home is a non-profit organization that takes care of vulnerable and abandoned babies while they wait for their forever adopted families. They believe every child deserves a family that loves them, and this is especially important in the formative years. The need for facilities to love and house abandoned babies in South Africa, and facilitate adoption into loving families, is dire. 

Help Nancy to support the Upper Highway Baby Home by purchasing a Good Morning Snore Solution mouthpiece. If you purchase by December 20th, 2021 and use the coupon codeHIGHWAY at checkout, you’ll receive 15% off your purchase, and we’ll donate $2 to the Upper Highway Baby Home.

To learn more about the Upper Highway Baby Home go to their websitehttps://upperhighwaybabyhome.co.za/ and facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/uhbabyhome