Dear friends,

I have attached the most recent newsletter for your enjoyment.

Thank you for your time and care.

Sincerely & With Gratitude,
Natalie

Attachments:

• Summer_2009_Vol_16_pdf__440_KB.pdf (PDF)
  

May 25th, 2009

Dear friends,

Many of you know that after my last trip to Armenia, the hope was that our staff would feel confident enough and have acquired the skills necessary to bring either Anna or Sassoon home. They are our “special two” who have been in a clinic for too long…. We had a training that was designed to this end in April, but it still felt like a pipe dream.

The week after I left Armenia, during a staff meeting, they determined that they did in fact feel ready, that it was time to try again. For Anna. I waited so long for that moment, two years, in fact. And when the news came, I cried for the hope of it all, and for all the days that I had given up hope, and for Anna, for myself, for our staff, all our residents, for the way our lives are inextricably wound together in a way that is sometimes miraculous and sometimes excruciating.

The last month has been a flurry of preparing for her to come home. We have strategized about responses to her behaviors. We have tried to build up strength. We have tried to impart courage to one another. We have tried to inspire one another. We have been afraid. We have been happy.

She was due to come home this Wednesday, May 27th.

But last night, I woke at 4 a.m. I could not sleep for the life of me. I finally gave in to the wakefulness and climbed out of bed. When I checked my email later this morning, there was a message from Alya (our director in Armenia), at 4:07 am, telling me that Anna was home two days early. After two years, my friends. After two years.

She came home early because her behavior had spun out of control in the clinic. She is afraid as well. She is vulnerable. She is over-medicated and it will take awhile to sort through all of these complications. These days are intense ones, for Anna and for our staff. I feel like I’m holding my breath. It is not going to be easy. But it is another beginning, and beginnings are always hard.

And there is hope, in this beginning. For Anna. For us all. In second (or third or fourth) chances.

Keep us in your thoughts and close to your hearts.

With love & gratitude,
Natalie (for us all)

PS - Here is a photograph of Anna from the last month.


--
Natalie Bryant Rizzieri
Founder, Executive Director
Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Tel. (480) 921-1181
Armenian Tel. (374) (10) 39-81-50
Address: P.O. Box 1037; Tempe, AZ 85280

www.friendsofwarmhearth.org

Providing Holistic Care for Orphans with Disabilities in Armenia

If you would like unsubscribe from the Warm Hearth mailing list, please reply to sender and write “Unsubscribe” in the subject line of your response. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you.

****

I have always known that one day I would take this path though yesterday I did not know it would be today.

-Ariwara no Naribari

Pictures:

• Anna - April 2009 (JPG)

Dear friends,

I just returned from a trip to Armenia and wanted to thank each of your for your tireless support and courage. Please see the attached newsletter for the latest updates from our home, for a glimpse into the lives of our residents. And feel free to be in touch with ideas or questions. I welcome your input and enjoy corresponding with each of you.

Thank you for your time, for listening to our story, for being such an essential part of it.

Yours,

Natalie Bryant Rizzieri

Attachments:

• Spring_2009_Vol_15_pdf__428_KB_.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

What a full week this has turned out to be. As we speak, it seems another tree or flower blossoms. Yesterday I was walking with a friend and we came upon wild lilacs. It is a beautiful time to be here, to see snow in some parts of the country, rain in others...to experience such a distinct shift in the seasons.

Today we had an excursion to the town of Spitak to visit Mother Teresa's orphanage there. I had never been and neither had the residents. We both wanted to meet the residents there and to give something to them... All of the residents (from our home and theirs) became friends quickly. It was a joy to watch friendships begin, to see another place that reaches out to the same people in this country, and to draw strength from shared joys and struggles. We face many of the same difficulties and so I found solace in that. Mother Teresa's orphanage opened right after the earthquake and the children who were handicapped by the earthquake have grown up and will stay in this place for their entire lives. They do not take new residents (I tried before opening Warm Hearth!) but perhaps as a result, it feels like a family there as well.

On our way over and through the snow-covered mountains, I again wished that you could have been there. Our residents were singing, befriending the driver, making jokes and pointing out gorges, lakes, mountains and villages to one another. I leaned my head back as they sang and drank in a few deep breaths of mountain air and told myself: Remember this. Never forget it. Remember this joy, their joy, your joy.

We have come so far. I couldn't help but think of our first long journey together from Kapan over snowy roads when we opened the home. I couldn't help but look back, knowing that we have been blessed to have made it thus far. I also couldn't help but look forward and wonder where we will still go together.

I hope that the way forward will bring a solution and healing for Anna and Sassoon. They remain in the clinic. It has been so long now. And while on some days, I know that they are there for good reasons, I also know that it is not *good* that they are there. And in this way, we are at an impasse with them. There is a chance that our training next week (a specialist from the Seattle area joins us tomorrow) will provide help for our staff to the extent that we can try to bring one of them home. But there is also a chance that we will not be able to.

When I visited them a few days ago, Sassoon asked me over and over to take him home. I told him I could not, over and over. He then went through a list of everyone he could think of who might be able to take him home and for each question, I had to say, "he/she cannot take you home." Finally, exhausted (as was I), he looked down and let out a huge sigh and said, "God will take me home." Oh.

I carry them in my heart, though, and ask that you carry them as well. It is too heavy to carry alone. And at each juncture, I hope that this will be the one that allows for some large change for them, that allows for them to be at home again...even if it is in a different home.

May it be so. Miracles have happened before.

Sincerely and with Gratitude,
Natalie

Pictures:

• singing_in_the_van.jpg (JPG)
• warm_hearth__spitak_orphanage.jpg (JPG)
• our_new_Davit.jpg (JPG)

Dear friends,

As I expected, it is the cusp of spring here in Armenia. Rain is falling gently outside. There is occasional thunder. And I'm on my way back to my room after a full day at Warm Hearth. How do I even begin?

Well, as you know, we have six new residents, who welcomed me like they had always known me, who are at peace, it seems, and living well with the others. I was shown every nook and cranny of our renovated 3rd floor....which is homey and warm and freshly painted. The garden ground was recently plowed and the trees there will soon break. Agappy, a new resident, was especially proud of the garden.

Oh, there is too much to tell.

All of our residents had displayed the best of their artwork and handicrafts around the house and I spent hours looking through sketchbooks, and fingering ceramics, and seeing what
they have creatively done with the packing-styrofoam. The two work-rooms look like small art halls and the time and love spent in those rooms is evident.

I listened as the residents said a prayer before their meal. I smelled fresh khachapoori (an Armenian cheese pastry) and watched a community-assistant pull it out of the oven and serve it to the residents. I took all the shy smiles that Yulia gave me across the room, the chorus of "eat, eat" from each of the residents, coffee that Sargis (another new resident) made for me and proceeded to force me to drink it alone so that I could have a moment of peace, he said. :)

We ate together and laughed together. And had an afternoon dance-party in the living room after each resident had sung as many songs as they could conjure up, and recited as many poems as possible... You should have seen Davit dance, our newest resident who came to live with us off the street after his mother recently died. He would just jump up and down in one place, clapping his hands, beaming, and saying “opa” in a sing-songy voice Precious.

In the afternoon, there is a rest hour and each resident goes to his or her room. I took the opportunity to lay down upstairs as well to ward off some of the jet lag. As I fell asleep, I could hear the residents in the next room singing a soft lullaby (I learned later that they had sung it for me). I laid in such a warm bed, with a quilt made by one of you, surrounded, as it were, by you there and those I love here...and rested in the beauty of what we have done together.

I wish you could have been there. My hands are sticky from so much holding. Yours would be, too.

With love and gratitude,
Natalie (for us all)

Pictures:

• 37mar2009.jpg (JPG)
• armine.jpg (JPG)
• gayane_natalie_sarkis.jpg (JPG)

Dear friends,

The last few days have been full of good news, glimpses of spring. As you have been so kind to share in our winters, and in times of difficulty, so shall you share in the joys.

I wandered along at the arboretum this morning, in Superior, Arizona….and all the trees are about to break into bloom. They’re pushing their fists, full of blossoms, to the sky. And it is incredible to watch something that has almost burst into the world, but hasn’t quite. I highly recommend wandering around during these spring days and watching the world unleash it’s fury of color on us.

As I walked along, I thought about all the ways we are brought to life again. I thought about how I have been brought to life by news from Warm Hearth this week.

Let me share. We have a new resident, whom our staff hope to bring home today. He is twenty-two years old and has lived on the streets with his mother for much of his life. His mother died last week and as Alya, our director said, “Now he is alone in the world.” Well, not quite. Because we can take him. We can bring him home. We cannot undo all the suffering but we can add some joy to his young life.

That is springtime.

A glimpse of how what we give multiplies and is multiplied came yesterday…. Last year, a donor gave a few thousand dollars for our residents to receive comprehensive dental care. They went to a clinic in Yerevan and along the way, our residents carved their place into the hearts of the dental care staff. The staff have brought gifts and food over to the home many times. They have come for Christmas celebrations.

They also offered free care for our residents in the future. Free. To watch our Warm Hearth staff and residents make their own connections in the community and then to see the community respond, this is also springtime.

Thank you for watching as the cycle of life circles around and around within our home and our residents’ lives. I hope for springtime for each of you.

With all my heart,
Natalie

*I've attached a most-recent photo of our residents and many friends of Warm Hearth.

“If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you.”

Pictures:

• March_7_2009.JPG (JPG)

Dear friends,

I’m getting ready for another trip to Armenia in late March. And looking forward to meeting our new group of residents and seeing those I have long loved. I’m also looking forward to sharing your gifts and spirit and stories… I have a suitcase full of beautiful clothes for the residents, nursing journals for the psychiatric hospital, a hand-knit blanket, sheets and towels. I think it is part of my work to connect our residents back to you, as you are connected to them, to work on completing the circle.

Jean Vanier started group homes around the world for people with developmental disabilities, and has a book entitled “Becoming Human” that articulates the heart of Warm Hearth. What I most admire about him is his posture. He doesn’t see himself as the healer or the strong one. He says: “the one who is healed and the one who is healing constantly change place.” Again, we are encircled and part of a circle when we give and receive, when we work and rest. And I have to say that nothing is more true in this work, which is really just life, which brings us down to earth and toward heaven all in one breath, if you will.

What I mean by this work we are engaged in really being just *life* is expressed again by Vanier:

The belief in the inner beauty of each and every human being is at the heart of {Warm Hearth}, at the heart of all true education and at the heart of being human. As soon as we start selecting people and judging people instead of welcoming them as they are – with their sometimes human beauty, as well as their more frequent visible weaknesses – we are reducing life, not fostering it. When we reveal to people our belief in them, their hidden beauty rises to the surface where it may be more clearly seen by all.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here. I know that those of you who have followed and nurtured and grown this work/life have already experienced this reality. I know that you sense the threads that tie you to our residents and that you see their beauty and their strength and courage. I guess what I really wanted to share is that they also sense the threads that tie them to you…they know they are loved. They take so much joy in the fact that you know their names. Somehow this small fact makes a large difference.

So, thank you. And bless you. May we constantly change places between healer and healed. May we remain in the circle.

Sincerely & With Gratitude,
Natalie

Dear friends,

I have attached our Winter newsletter & the 2008 Annual Report. If you would like a black & white print copy of our Annual Report, please let me know.

Thank you for following the stories of our residents and the growth of our home. Thank you for making it possible.

Sincerely & With Gratitude,

--
Natalie Bryant Rizzieri
Founder, Executive Director
Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Tel. (480) 921-1181
Armenian Tel. (374) (10) 39-81-50
Address: P.O. Box 1037; Tempe, AZ 85280

Attachments:

• Newsletter_Vol_14.pdf (PDF)
  
• 2008_Annual_Report.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

The year is coming to a close. The days are getting shorter. But, Sunday is Winter Solstice and there will be the reversal of these lengthening nights. Then the days will become longer and longer still. Sol means "sun." And sistere means "to stand still." Let us stand still and watch and wait and hope as the sun stands still, at the farthest point from our place on earth, knowing that it will come back around. And there will be light.

T.S. Eliot, in "East Coker," he has this beautiful verse which I have been reading over and over lately.

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.

The faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. Advent is a time of waiting and the whole earth feels it, whether or not one celebrates the Christian calendar. Winter is a stripping time. It is a time where the earth, in our hemisphere, rests and waits and is stripped down. It is a time of emptiness. And we rest. And we sit still. Solstice. We sit still so that we know what to plant, when it is that time again. We sit still, on this stripped land, so that we know what should fill us, when it is time.

Time. It is almost January of 2009. To me this is significant because it was in January of 2009 that I was supposed to hand over all Warm Hearth responsibilities. It has been three years (almost) that we have been open. And before we even opened, I thought this was a good amount of time to allow for sustainable growth...to hand over the reigns before Warm Hearth became over-reliant on any of us here. And before I became over-reliant on holding the reigns. To me, sustainability is another word for justice. So, handing over Warm Hearth was and is a way to create more justice in the world. But it is hard, as a dear friend said recently, "to begin something unsustainably and then coax it in this direction."

Our route changed along the way when we decided that in the long run it would be better for our residents if we stepped away from our former implementing arm (Mission Armenia) and began our own Armenian nonprofit. I still think this was the best idea, but it calls for a few more years of the same kind of support, from our end here. From Friends of Warm Hearth. From many of you. So, January of 2009 does not mean stepping back in the same way I thought it would. I am still stepping back as more and more of the decisions are made by our Armenian directors. It is good. It is right. But it does feel strange to become the one "sitting on the bench," as my dad put it the other day. The world needs bench-warmers, though. And that is my place these days, to be there when I am needed. To cheer from the sidelines. And to continue to find the financial resources needed to allow our new nonprofit time to be strengthened.

I don't know how all of these thoughts come together: Winter Solstice and the turning of the earth, the coming of more sun; Advent, and the arrival of hope; the disarray of the world around us, even still; the turning of time; the waiting that we abide within which is the faith and the hope and the love; and Warm Hearth's journey toward sustainability, and hopefully long-lasting justice. Maybe it is that it is ok to not know in this turning of the seasons. This is a dark time when we know not how it will all unfold, or what will arrive.

I don't know. But there is yet faith and hope and love in the waiting. I hope you can find it too. I hope you can sit still along with the sun this weekend. And know that you are not alone, as you wait.

May you be blessed as you celebrate this Christmas season. Today, somewhere halfway across the world, our dear residents are having a party. They are singing, reciting poems and conducting a play for guests. They are creating much joy! Somehow, that celebration is also ours.

With love and gratitude,
Natalie

--
Natalie Bryant Rizzieri
Founder, Executive Director
Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

November 13th, 2008

Dear friends and family,

We have five new residents at Warm Hearth. That makes thirteen. We have eleven people living full time in our home, and two in clinics whom we remain committed to through weekly visits. Our residents were thrilled to welcome these new people into their home and to share meals with them, bedrooms, and bathroom sinks. They already had them in their hearts, at least some of them. On the day that four of the new residents visited for the first time, Yulia gasped with joy. Alya said that she was "too-too happy" because she was reunited with a long lost friend, someone who had cared for her in another orphanage, a sister of her heart. They are together now, living again under the same roof, picking up, it seems, where they had left off. We never dreamed…

One of my favorite photographs from the first day that the new residents were with us was one of about four of them gathered in the bathroom, brushing their teeth at night (see the photo below). I thought of my siblings and those evening rituals and what it means to share life with a myriad of people both different and similar to you. There is something so organic and natural about sharing a bathroom sink with someone you live with and it made me happy to think that we were finding a way to sustain and nurture a home-like environment while adding to our numbers.

Within a little more than a week of coming to our home, Agapy (who is also Yulia's long lost friend) began to feel unwell. Our staff took her to the hospital to discover that she needed to have her appendix removed immediately. Thankfully the staff acted quickly and Agapy's healthy & life were saved. She will stay in the hospital for a week to recover and then come home. In the meantime, we are struggling to finagle with the hospital because she is without a birth certificate or papers of any kind. That is typical for an orphan, but my goodness!

It is hard for me to be so far from all of these quick strides of growth…but it is as it should be in the sense that Warm Hearth is well cared for by those who will be able to carry it on far far into the future, farther than I could (or should) ever carry it being non-Armenian. I am more than satisfied with how our staff envisions Warm Hearth and creates such a loving home. We who hold this end up, still have our part, and it is not small. Rather, it would be impossible without you…without generosity and prayer and everyday help. But it would also be impossible without our staff, our residents, our directors in Armenia who have made such beauty possible. Let us never forget to thank them as well, even if it is just in our hearts.

With love,

Natalie

Dear friends & family,

It is with tremendous joy that I introduce a few of our new residents to you through this autumn newsletter. In addition, we've finished our renovations and are enjoying this season of fullness that mirrors the season of autumn. I am partial to the season of autumn, to the changing leaves, to the crisp air (which we have too little of in the Arizona desert). But even here in Arizona, we can feel the tilt of the earth, the coming of winter. And most definitely, the coming of winter is felt in Armenia! Thankfully, this year, we will have a full and warm house where our residents (new and old) can experience what it is to love and be loved.

Thank you for making so much beauty possible in this small corner of the world....

Enjoy the newsletter, and as always, feel free to write or call if you have thoughts or questions.

With gratitude,
--
Natalie Bryant Rizzieri
Founder, Executive Director
Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Tel. (480) 921-1181
Armenian Tel. (374) (10) 39-81-50
Address: P.O. Box 1037; Tempe, AZ 85280

www.friendsofwarmhearth.org <http://www.friendsofwarmhearth.org>

Providing Holistic Care for Orphans with Disabilities in Armenia

****

Compared to my heart's desire
the sea is a drop.

-Adelia Prado

Attachments:

• Autumn_2008_Vol_13_pdf__1.3_MB.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

Though time seems to pass too quickly, each day continues to contain the true and rooted things that make up a life. Our residents and I are waiting for the "new residents" to come to our home, which should happen in the next couple of weeks. "Home" is a true and rooted thing. Our staff and I wait for this tremendous joy of welcoming new residents. We also know the stress of opening our home and hearts up to still more people. It will be good when they are settled into their new beds and the first meal is over and the dishes are washed. It will be good when the first obstacle of this new chapter is overcome. We will all then sleep well & hard & long.

But for now (and again), we wait. And we wait with hope. In a sense, we are harvesting hope after a season of tilling and growth and putting down roots.

This month holds a third trip for me to San Francisco and for the first time, Los Angeles. I will be gathering together with those of you who have cared for Warm Hearth. And that is always a joy. I told a friend today that on these trips I feel like I give my heart away every time I speak about Warm Hearth. And that is true. And while tiring, that is also the beauty of it because it allows *this* home to belong to all of us. So, I wait also with hope that this coming time will be one of joy and honesty and coming together. I hope that the arms of Warm Hearth stay open and wide both here and abroad.

There is a woman whom we know little about who lives in one of the clinics currently. We only know enough about her to want to bring her to our home. She is unable to walk and appears to have downs syndrome. She has gentle eyes. The way that she has found her way into our minds is mysterious and the path weaves back and forth. Not knowing much about her story, we do not know yet if this will be possible. But what is amazing to me about this possibility is that it came about through the words of a friend and regular supporter of Warm Hearth. We had talked about this woman before - and when it came time to think about new residents, my friend suggested her. I spoke with our director in Armenia who is going to consider it carefully. I trust her to do so. And we will see how it unfolds.

In a world that is sometimes driven by numbers and figures and people in high-places, it is good to recall that it doesn't always have to be this way. There is beauty in the fact that the direction of Warm Hearth is defined by people - our residents, staff and supporters.

That is a sign of hope to me. And I hope to you.

Stay close by to us.

With Gratitude,

--
Natalie Bryant Rizzieri
Founder, Executive Director
Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Dear friends,

The day is coming to a close, and I slowed to the thoughts below, and thought I might take the time to share them with you, you who have safeguarded & cared so deeply for Warm Hearth....

We prefer to endure any agony of isolation rather than to merge and extinguish our selves in an abstract "humanity" whose fate we should hold dearer than our own. (Annie Dillard, For the Time Being)

Warm Hearth renovations are almost complete – and they will allow for us to invite 8-10 people home. To invite people home, to have created a home for them, this is going to be such a great joy.

It also marks a new chapter for us. We have never "selected" residents for our home because of the grassroots nature of our beginning. We knew our first group of residents intimately – they were and are the reason we started Warm Hearth. So, as we think about beckoning new residents into our home, into our lives and hearts, we pause and realize the weightiness and joy of the decision.

When we think about accepting some residents, we also have to think about excluding others – and then the need for places like Warm Hearth becomes painfully evident. And it gives me a renewed vigor to keep moving forward, to keep taking steps toward sustainability and a societal movement away from unnecessary institutionalization.

Perhaps it is equally important for us to take a deep breath and realize that we are doing what we can. And change happens one step at a time.

Warm Hearth has always asked much of us – it has asked for courage. It has asked for hope. It has asked for us to slow down at times, and to speed up. It has asked us to try and try again. It has asked us to make decisions without knowing all that we might expect to know in the face of such a decision. It has asked us to love, to forgive, to be gracious. It is, after all, a very human place.

At this very moment, I think it is asking us to look with great tenderness at the vast need that we will soon face as we look for our new residents. It is asking that we see all of these individuals, who experience the poverty of being unloved, as perfectly human, as part of us.

And so, to deny one of them a home, which will be a necessity because we don't have the space, is to deny a part of ourselves a home.

May we see our connection to one another this clearly – though it is hard, for I am not sure there is another way to finding hope & healing – someday healing.

Sincerely,

Natalie Bryant Rizzieri

Thank you to each of our donors for caring about our home & believing in our residents.

I wanted to share with each of you some of our summer news! Thanks to your generosity, we are expanding to include new residents.

Read about our summer days in the attached file.

Sincerely & With Gratitude,
Natalie

Attachments:

• Summer_2008_Vol_12_pdf__420_KB.pdf (PDF)
  

Dearest friends & supporters -

As I alluded to in my last letter, we at Warm Hearth are stretching our limbs, trying to reach further and higher and wider to include more residents and to offer always better care to those we already have in our home and in our care. As of three days ago, July 1, this means that we began operating under our new foundation "Jermik Ankyun (Warm Hearth) Foundation" in the Republic of Armenia as opposed to under the umbrella of another nonprofit, Mission Armenia. Mission Armenia has been vital to our beginning and we are quick to say that we would not have been able to do this without them. But there comes a time, and the time has come, to step out on our own...recognize what makes us unique and go confidently in that direction. That is what I hope and believe that this transition means for us. Please keep our directors there in your hearts, prayers and thoughts as they take risks - both personal and organizational - on behalf of those whom we all hold dear.

In the midst of this and as a result of my recent trip with Bridget over the seas and back in Armenia, we are also renovating/finishing our third floor. We plan to new residents, each of whom either is already living in the psychiatric institutions or is destined for them. We hope to welcome them by the autumn. After 2 1/2 years of being open, we feel like we are at a place where we can welcome new residents into our home.... The ground is sure enough beneath our feet. Thank you for being patient with us, and for trusting our timing. Because some of you have asked, the initial renovation project (which doesn't include heating and plumbing) is currently estimated to cost $29,600. We have already raised $25,000 of that amount and are hoping to send the rest soon so that we can get the roof raised, as they say, before winter sets in.

We have enjoyed the summer influx of visitors and volunteers as well. Our residents and staff have been able to participate in activities and trainings. People have come and visited from far and wide. And as you know from walking with us for the last 2 1/2 years, this always is a gift to us. Know that you also are always welcome to come, to stay awhile in our home, to give what you have to give - whatever that might be, and to receive and appreciate all that Warm Hearth offers, in all its humanness, commonness, and dailyness. But this is where beauty and mercy are most often found.

May you know and find that same mercy this day, wherever you are.

With much gratitude and love,
Natalie

MOST RECENT NEEDS:


**In order to raise money for our renovation project, we are selling packets of greeting cards with paintings by our residents. They are $15 each and if you are interested, please let me know by phone or email. (My phone number is listed below.)


**A desktop computer and monitor for our new foundation (no more than 3 years old and in working condition).


** Used/old cell phones which can be mailed to the post office box below (Warm Hearth receives monetary compensation for these).


--
Natalie Bryant Rizzieri
Founder, Executive Director
Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Tel. (480) 921-1181
Armenian Tel. (374) (10) 39-81-50
Address: P.O. Box 1037; Tempe, AZ 85280

Here are some recent photos from the trip to Warm Hearth.

Pictures:

• Warm_Hearth_Residents.jpg (JPG)
• Gayanes_Birthday_Party.jpg (JPG)
• Yulia.jpg (JPG)

Dear friends & family,

It has been too long since I last wrote. I know this mostly because I am back in Arizona and have yet to catch you up on the happenings at Warm Hearth. Bridget joined me for a whirlwind few days but we were able to get a lot accomplished and it was a gift to have her company. Our days were brimming with conversations with residents, staff, volunteers, supporters...

We did not bring Anna or Sassoon home from the clinic. This was a hard decision to make and given that the stakes are so high for these two, I cannot say it was a "good" decision, but it was the best one we could make. We did, however, spend some time trying to come up with a long-term solution for them which would entail opening a new home (or more than one new home) for residents with different needs. The model would distinguish between levels of functioning & behavior problems and place residents with these certain criteria in mind. This plan and model that our staff is interested in creating was born out of our experiences with Warm Hearth. And so it is particular to our resources and needs in Armenia. It belongs to Armenia. It belongs to our staff. That is a beautiful thing to me. So, we might be diving into new plans and homes over the next couple years....so that we can provide long-term care for our Anna & Sassoon & others like them....

We had rich time with the residents and staff. We heard about the residents' dreams & vocational goals & were even able to establish an individualized vocational plan for each of them. In conversing about this we learned that Alina, our artist, whom we expected to say that she wanted to paint or draw, said: "For work, I want to help people. If a person feels bad, this is who I will help." We learned that Davit wants to be the director of a kindergarten and that Roman wants to become a photographer. We are excited to work with each resident to create a more meaningful life for himself/herself...along the lines of the passions and skills they already have. Our staff and our residents have security and safety and they have their feet underneath them, pretty solidly now, so it is a time to walk (sometimes it feels like we are running) and grow and expand our home & the lives of our residents.

Gayane's 28th birthday coincided with our trip so we had a special celebration with her. All of the staff were there. We had cake and juice and candles and silly spray! We danced and toasted and laughed. Gayane opened gifts and received all the visitors with such gratitude. Near the end of the party, and near the end of the toasts, she became so overwhelmed with it all that she became tearful. Slightly embarrassed, I think I relieved her embarrassment a bit by saying, "O Gayane, you're just like me." Everyone chuckled and she smiled. Because it is known that tears pretty freely flow from my eyes. She was crying tears of joy and gratitude. Even in joy, there can be something bittersweet, and she probably felt that, too, as did I...and probably Bridget, and perhaps our staff. That we could all come together and give her this day, hold it out to her, and partake of it ourselves...was a beautiful thing. Shortly after, Roman turned on the music and we danced until we were tired. It doesn't get much better than that.

Thank you for all you do to make days like this one possible. I wish many of you could have been there to see this with your own eyes, to see this long-held dream in flesh & blood. I'll try to send photographs soon... And in the meantime, continue to keep us in your thoughts & prayers. Hold us all close. There is more to be done. And we don't want to go at it alone.

With love & gratitude,
Natalie (for us all)

Pictures:

• Bridget__Gayane.jpg (JPG)
• Davit_laughing.jpg (JPG)
• Gayane.jpg (JPG)

Written on May 6, 2008

Dear friends & family,

I have been in Armenia for three days now...and it feels like much longer as the days have been full & long. But good. Very good. The sun is setting and the sky is cloud-filled and the wind is blowing harder than perhaps I have ever heard it blow. It is howling and whipping around the building and things are flying off the balconies above me. The sky is full of dust, which has something to do with the beautiful sunset, I think.

I have seen many people whom I love. And I have already seen the residents three days in a row. The first thing I did was go to the home, after changing some money to take the bus out to 3rd Village. I wrote to my family & husband very quickly the first night, telling them that it was pure joy. That day. And when this journey has so often been riddled with hard decisions and sadness, that stands out to me. The residents and I laughed and they showed me all that they have done and learned in the last year. Davit would not let go of my hand and kept saying, "Natalie jan (dear), tsavd tanem (I take your pain)." He did not really mean it literally and now as I reach for the words to explain the meaning, it is harder than I thought. But it meant something like - "Oh, there is pain in this joy. And I take it. I take yours. And I'm so glad you are here." I suppose that is the way it is with proverbs and sayings. They take on a life of their own.

Today was quite full of meetings. Our staff shared their concerns. I shared my gratitude with them. And then I was able to listen while they discussed the individual care plans for each resident -- discussing the last month's progress, anecdotal and loving stories...and the ways that they hope the residents will continue to grow. It was really a beautiful thing to hear their hearts for the residents, to see the care they put into this work, and to hear the stories of the residents. One resident has been working toward not interrupting others. Another toward having more gratitude. It made me think of family life and how we are shaped with love. I hope that is what Warm Hearth is for them. I think that it is.

We also are moving toward some organizational changes and hope that we will soon have a foundation or NGO in Armenia dedicated solely to Warm Hearth. Today I met with the founding board members of what we hope will soon be a legal entity. Each of the board members has given to Warm Hearth in many ways, most of them since the very beginning. I asked each of them to share what Warm Hearth meant to them, how they had contributed to the home...and then I just sat back and was able to listen to the amazing ways that our resident's lives and needs have shaped them. And as I shared with them, in turn, I thought about the same - how much I have been shaped and changed by this crazy-beautiful thing called Warm Hearth.

So, things are good on many fronts, here in Armenia. Bridget will arrive this weekend and together we will begin to face the future and possibilities for our two dear residents who are *still* in the psychiatric clinic. That will be the part of this trip that is the most trying, of course. It will be hard to face heir questions if we ourselves do not have answers. I have some small hope that perhaps we can bring Sassoon home...with a one-on-one caregiver. That is my hope. With Anna, I do not know.

*I do not know.* We have said that so many times along the way. The journey has both been long & short. The road has been wide & narrow. It continues to be the same. And we will continue to walk it. Thank you for walking with us, as always. I still mean that just as much as I did in the beginning. You are one of my greatest solaces. And your hope is my hope.

With Gratitude & Love,
Natalie

Dear Friends,

I've attached the most recent newsletter for your perusal. Thanks to Jessica & Berj for helping with the mailing. It is always a joy to work with others who care about Warm Hearth.

I also have some recent pictures of our residents. I received these recently from our Program Manager and was struck by how much love is behind the eye of the camera, capturing the spirit of each of the residents. I hope you will see the same as you view them. They are a celebration of the kindness and warmth that has become Warm Hearth. View the photos at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BYs2TJo5YsXJg

I leave for Armenia in one week & look forward to being with the residents & staff. Thank you all of you who make each part of this endeavor possible.

I hear that the residents saved their money and purchased a video camera for the house, which they had long wanted. So, I'm sure we'll have some laughs with the camera while I'm there.

Keep us close to your hearts as we (Bridget & I) seek, yet again, to find a viable and long-term *good* solution for two residents who are still in the psychiatric clinic.

Blessings to each of you & with gratitude,
Natalie

Attachments:

• Spring 2008 Newsletter (PDF)
  

The days pass quickly and before too many more pass by, I wanted to share about what has been happening at Warm Hearth. Bridget (our Associate Director) and I will soon return to Armenia for most of May. We are returning to see the residents and staff after missing them so. We also are returning to look hard (yet again) for ways to help the two of our residents who remain in psychiatric clinics…

These two residents, as many of you know, have been in the clinic since last April and despite our efforts, we have yet to find a better alternative for them. We are doing everything we can to make sure that they are not transferred to Vardenis Tun-Internad or the other large institutions.

There is a small chance that we will be able to try to bring one of them home in the next month. That is my hope. This particular resident was able to live in Warm Hearth for ten months in relative peace and safety until one of our staff members (with whom he was very close) left. So, we are doing our best to establish a regime and a “care-plan” that will give him what he needs to stay home and safely. Thank you to those of you who have helped with this. I have received so much support and expertise in regard to this resident. I couldn’t do it alone.

In the meantime, the other six residents have had their own joys and sorrows. They have enjoyed the vocational and life-skills lessons and are showing more and more of an interest in caring for themselves, their friends and their home. Our staff has commented many times recently about the most beautiful changes they see in the lives of the residents. I receive small glimpses of this when I call and hear the strength in their voices, the laughter in the background, the stories of their trips and classes and celebrations.

After a lifetime of neglect combined with their disabilities, many of our residents have struggled, recently, to maintain their physical health. The numerous trips to hospitals this last year has surprised me, but thankfully each of them has been treated and is either cured or continually being treated with the best help we are able to find within Armenia. It is a challenge, but so many people have come around us. And have helped us to give our residents the best that we have. I am grateful for that. As are the residents.

Many of you may have heard about the political unrest in Armenia following the most recent election, which some of the public deemed fraudulent. If you are interested in following this story, there is an online independent journal called ArmeniaNow.com, which is both reputable and thorough. Thankfully, at least on the outside, the country seems calmer and our residents are safe and happy in the “third village” which lies at least 20 minutes from the center of the capital. Thank you for your care and concern about them.

We remain blessed beyond measure by the love that each of you shares with us. Mother Teresa once said that “love has no other message but its own” and I sense that in the gifts and thoughts and help that you give to us, each in your own way. I sense that in the way that your gifts come from far and wide, and in so many different forms from so many different kinds of people. I hope that we, at Warm Hearth, will also continue to walk in the way of love, giving no other message than love itself to each of you, to our residents, our staff and the world close around us.

**I've attached a photograph of this past New Year's celebration. These are our residents singing and performing songs and poems for their visitors.

Pictures:

• Warm Hearth Residents (JPG)

I have the honor of being asked, and quite often, “what can I do to help?” I meet people, day in and day out who want to contribute to our home, our residents’ lives, our efforts.

One of my favorite parts of this work is matching what people have to give with our needs. It is a great joy to be able to watch, and closely, how giving and receiving transform all of those involved.

Sometimes what we need is an empathetic ear. Sometimes we need an outside and professional opinion on a care plan for a resident or a reference for a neurologist for one of our residents. Sometimes our staff needs volunteers to visit and give them a reprieve in their day and work. Sometimes we need financial support or simply a few kind words.

Sometimes our residents need someone to pay special attention to their piece of art. Sometimes we need people to just acknowledge that we are tired, and offer to pick up the pieces, even just for a short time.

We need people. We need people who are willing to be present, “to touch those to whom [they] give.” (Mother Teresa) We need people to be gentle and fierce. We need people who will fight hard for the rights of our residents, for the provision of their needs. We need people to carry some of the suffering that our residents have carried for their whole lives.

It is hard to stare suffering in its face. And sometimes I feel compelled to protect our friends and supporters from the suffering that inevitably comes through and in this work. But then we are all more alone. And besides, if the suffering is not known, we will never find ways to overcome it, however slow it may be.

There is a quote by Euripides, the Ancient Greek playwright, which speaks to this willingness to be a part of life. Euripides says:

“You who sit there in utter misery, look up and show your friend your face. There is no darkness bears a cloak so black as could conceal your suffering.
Why wave your hand to warn me of the taint of blood? For fear your words pollute me? I am not afraid to share your deep affliction with you…”

May we not be afraid. So much depends on this.

“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve or save the world and a desire to enjoy or savor the world. This makes it hard to plan a day.” (E. B. White)

Bridget Anderson, our Associate Director, recently moved to Nigeria & continues to be involved in Warm Hearth’s growth & sustenance. Today she sent me this quote by E.B. White. It speaks to the efforts, motivation and tension of Warm Hearth & of the wider world.

The tension is felt in our home in Armenia as the New Year approaches. New Year is a significant and special holiday in Armenia and is celebrated for an entire week, beginning with the old date for New Year (January 6th). We want our residents to savor this celebration and have done what we can to make sure this will happen!

But at the same time, some of our efforts must continue to extend to three of our residents who have been in and out of the hospital this year…two of whom will remain hospitalized during the New Year. We cannot abandon either effort. But it is hard to hold them both: to “savor and improve.” To “enjoy and save.”

We care that Warm Hearth be a true and revolutionary way of life for our residents. We also care that Warm Hearth be a place that creates a space where the world can be enjoyed and savored by our residents, of course, but also by the extended family of Warm Hearth.

I hope that being a part of Warm Hearth, in whatever capacity you are, provides a balance of improving the world and drinking deeply of the beauty that has been created. I hope it means this for our residents and staff as well.

May this effort, upheld by many of you, be an ever so slight moment of harmony where these two ways of abiding in the world can be joined together.

That is my hope for each of you today as we enter the holiday & Christmas season.

With Gratitude,
Natalie Bryant Rizzieri

Dear friends,

This morning when I opened my in-box there was evidence of care and concern from so many of you. I am astonished, once again, at your kindness.

And I wanted to share the good news.

Not only had we received $6,600 over the weekend for the central heating system in Warm Hearth (the total cost is a little over $8,000), but I had answers to my final questions about the estimates/company that has been designated to do this work along with a final figure.

Thus, I was able to send the wire transfer of funds today with a sigh of relief and confidence that a quality system will be installed for a fair price. Our residents will soon be warm, through and through.

Thank you. I don't know of any other group of people so responsive and genuine. Thank you for being a part. Yes, thank you. What more is there to say.

With Gratitude,
Natalie (for us all)

Dear friends,

I realized recently that I begin most reflections on Warm Hearth by orienting myself with the season. There is a rhythm to the year that must bring some solace, to which I almost *must* connect myself before writing about our group home. And today as I began my work, I did the same thing. I looked at the weather in Yerevan, Armenia and it is 37 degrees Fahrenheit. It is getting cold during the night...and I am worried because we do not have heat in our house right now.

When we opened the home, Bridget and I bought two large gas furnaces from Iran. They heat the home well and it is quite comfortable even in the throes of winter. But due to a new law, we are not allowed to use those heaters any longer & must install central heat. We are on our way to making this happen & have been shuffling through the laws, boiler estimates, gas valves & switches and exchange rates. Many of you have helped with this, have offered expertise & insight, for which I am grateful. And like I said, we are moving as quickly as possible and will hopefully begin installation next week.

But in the mean time, our residents are still cold. And when I pull the blanket over me at night I think about them, and how many blankets they probably have atop their bodies...and how it probably still is cold.

And from there I think of how, no matter how much you love someone you cannot always protect them as you would want to. But we keep trying -- and that is all we can do. I cannot say how many times I have come to this in the "life" of Warm Hearth...but it seems a rock-bottom truth. I keep arriving here, in roundabout ways. And it makes me think of Rilke's words from "The Visionary," a few of which I will share....

How little are the things with which we wrestle.
What with us wrestles, how much greater is!

If only we would let ourselves be conquered
as things are overcome by a great storm,
we would expand in space and need no names.

When we victorious are, it is over the small things,
and though we won, it leaves us feeling small.

...

The secret of his growing lies in this:
by being totally defeated and disarmed
by even greater forces and their cause.

I hope that we keep growing -- even if it means these moments of what feels like defeat. That is what I hope. And that each of you is well. And warm.

With Gratitude,

--
Natalie Bryant Rizzieri
Founder, Executive Director
Friends of Warm Hearth, Inc.

Thank you to all of you who have given to our home.

Thank you for your kindness towards Warm Hearth's residents.

Your donation makes it possible to provide a life for our residents outside the psychiatric institutions in Armenia.

Your support is a vital part of our operation and is also sustenance to our hearts, as we know, through your gift, that we are not alone in this endeavor.

If you are interested, our Annual Report is attached. This chronicles our growth, the healing of our residents and our story from beginning to present day.

Thank you again for your support.

Kindly,

Natalie Bryant Rizzieri
Executive Director & Founder

Attachments:

• fwh_2007_annual_report.pdf (PDF)
  

Often projects are placed in categories, however arbitrary they might be. Though I lean toward focusing on Warm Hearth as a home as opposed to a project of any sort, there are times when we must be identified by our focus and values.

So, more than any other category, I consider Warm Hearth to be a human rights project. We care about the health of our residents, yes. And we do advocate on their behalf. But mostly we care about ensuring that they have the rights any human being should have. They have the right to loving care, to shelter, to healthful food, to peace, to community, to equality in society and to dignity, to name a few.

When I consider Warm Hearth as a human rights project I am implicitly saying that our residents deserve to receive human rights irregardless of whether they have a disability or not. Their disabilities are impediments to realizing their rights.

Our residents are not in need of “charity” in the sense that it is usually used today, with connotations of helplessness and a hierarchy of abled versus disabled, us versus them. They are, and always will be fully human and should not be considered “misfortunates”. In the same way, we should not consider ourselves their rescuers. Inherent in this approach is a kind of subtle condescension that I would like to avoid.

Rather, our residents have the same rights as any one else and the distinction is just that they might need assistance in realizing those rights and obtaining equal treatment in society.

Within this framework, our residents do not so much need support as access to that which they are already entitled. They do not need charity. They need equality. This might seem like splitting hairs, but I believe it is a posture that offers more dignity to our residents and clarity to the issue of disabilities and society. Sometimes changing words and frameworks does alter our perspectives, over time.

In light of this, I will end with a definition of disability that Warm Hearth uses. This definition exhibits, if considered carefully, the small distinctions that move us away from harmful assumptions about people with disabilities.

Our definition of disability:

“Limitations in carrying out activities of daily living and to participating in the social, economic, political and cultural life of the community.

Such limitations may arise from:

- a physical, sensory, intellectual, emotional or other personal condition such as a long-term health problem;

- societal stereotypes about such human conditions,

- ways of organizing social, economic, and built environments that, in their effects, exclude or impede the participation people with such conditions.

(taken from The Roeher Institute, Toronto, 2001)

Summer has come and gone. The Warm Hearth residents welcomed visitors, volunteers and professionals from all over the world. Together they worked towards sustaining and improving the group home.

Two trainings in occupational therapy and crisis management gave our staff an increased understanding of group home care. Both were successful and appreciated by the staff.

A group of quilters from Enterprise, Oregon completed eight handmade quilts for each of our residents which will be shipped to Armenia soon.

A church in Racine, Wisconsin gathered art supplies, medications and monetary donations totaling almost $3,000 for our home and residents.

An Armenian community from San Francisco visited the home on their yearly “pilgrimage” to the homeland and made a commitment to return again next year. They raised another $3,000 for the home.

Birthright Armenia painted the first-floor interior of the home. During this project, some volunteers worked on art projects with our residents.

The residents took a two-week vacation to the southern Syunik Region of Armenia to visit the orphans with whom they lived for many years.

A Peace Corps Volunteer organized a day-trip for the residents to the favorite summer destination, Lake Sevan. Together they enjoyed the beach, the sun, good food and company.

Our residents’ lives are full and we continue to try to provide a home for them with care that integrates the body, mind, and soul. We are grateful for the numerous ways in which people have involved themselves in the lives of our residents and joined hands to work towards growth and healing in the lives of our residents.

Warm Hearth is grateful to be connected both to the local community in Armenia and to the broader international community. This summer some exciting developments are unfolding.

In August, Lee Ann Odabashian Williams, an occupational therapist from the U.S. with Armenian heritage, will conduct a staff training.

A wonderful and incredibly talented young doctor, Dr. Hovhannes Manvelyan (MD, PhD, DSci), has offered to provide medical support to our residents. He is newly-appointed Chief of Neurology at one of Armenia's best hospitals, is on faculty at the Medical School, and is a recent Fulbright alumnus. He's been busy trying to convert Armenia to evidence-based medicine.

David Mitchell, a former Peace Corps Volunteer & Art Therapist, will be conducting a staff training on "Crisis Management".

Birthright Armenia, an organization that brings committed Armenians from all over the world to volunteer in Armenia, has a group of 20 volunteers who will help paint the first floor of our home.

These developments, to name only a few, speak to the collaborative effort of Warm Hearth.