Our programs have had a tremendous impact on the lives of our previously sponsored students, a few of which we have been able to observe over the long term. We have seen youths that come from families who have never had a family member graduate high school who are pulling 3.0 grade point averages (often just to be able to be part of our demo team), and making plans for college. Although they come from environments where teen pregnancies and becoming a burden on the welfare system are the norm, these youths are very energetic with big goals. They are already in leadership positions helping to transform the lives of others from similar situations.
We have seen situations where all of a sponsored student’s siblings are in jail or on probation, yet the sponsored student is able to separate himself from that environment and not only stay out of trouble but become a productive and helpful member of society.
We commonly observe these youths befriending other youths in our program who are from completely different social backgrounds. The lines of social and economic status have completely been erased. These youths are as comfortable interacting with youths from exceptional economic backgrounds as if they came from that background themselves. This is highly unusual at the ages we see this; it occurs in youths of all ages, but is especially unexpected in those of teenage years.
We’ve seen the full spectrum of these youths — some just needed a gentle push, others have needed a great deal of attention to make a lasting difference in their lives.
We have observed tremendous positive results with those suffering from stress disorders such as PTSD and Fibromyalgia. Seniors in our programs have experienced many physical benefits which help enable them to live independently.
We expect the Sheng Chi Foundation to have a big impact, not only on these individual s but also on the lives around them and society at large. Every time we can influence someone to have a positive role in society rather than a negative one, our work has paid off in a very beneficial way.