Give To The Max Helping International Adoption Agencies
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- For the fifth straight year, it was Give to the Max Day in Minnesota.
And it appears that all the charitable giving was more than the website could handle. So many people went on to the website to donate, that it crashed around 1 p.m. Thursday.
Apparently, $9 million had been donated at that time of the crash.
On Thursday, I learned how families trying to adopt children overseas are among the people who will benefit from the giving.
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Over the last 15 years, Zina Bulger has helped get hundreds of children out of orphanages and into the homes of people who want to be parents.
She is the director of European Children Adoption Services in Plymouth.
"We have families who are adopting three and four children at the same time because they are siblings," she said.
It is one of several adoption agencies accepting donations online during Give to the Max Day.
"This is one type of...nonprofit organization that has really been suffering for several years, because international adoption was changing," Bulger said.
Families looking for some financial help for the adoption of a child have placed photos and videos online to help tell their stories.
Five years ago, Renee Thomas and her husband adopted a little boy from Russia. They're now trying to adopt his biological little brother, but their efforts have been delayed by a government ban in that country.
"You know, it is such a rewarding process to give a child a home, so it might seem insurmountable, it might seem really tough, it does get trying at times, but when you get a child home, and give them a home, it's all worth it," Thomas said.
Last year, Give to the Max Day raised $16 million for more than 4,000 charities and schools. To donate, go to GiveMN.org.
