("Charity Work and Affiliates")
"today thousands of adoptees enjoy the legacy of love that Bertha and Harry Holt pioneered through international adoption."
~ Helen Holt Stampe
HOlt Family Legacy
Founded by the Holts in 1956, the Holt International Children's Services handles over 1,000 adoptions per year from 12 different countries with 11 centers throughout the world, including Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Mongolia, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Uganda, and Vietnam (Dewan). "Today, Holt International is proud to continue finding families for children. Holt is the largest adoption agency, having united nearly 40,000 children with adoptive families in the United States." ("Holt International Children's Services")
Another Holt legacy is the Ilsan Center in Korea built by Harry in 1961 as an orphanage. It remains today as a center for children with special needs, serving over 300 young people. Molly Holt, the Holts' third oldest child, has devoted her life to working at Ilsan. She currently serves as the chairperson of Holt Children's Services in Korea. (Dewan)
"In addition, there is an elementary school located in Eugene, Oregon that is named after my mother, Bertha Holt Elementary School. The school wrote 'We are inspired by the vision of our namesake, Bertha Holt . . . . [O]ur program is designed to embody her legacy of care for children from all backgrounds and abilities. We are privileged to serve a very diverse community of students.' My mother would have been proud of the school." (Stampe)
The bigger legacy is in the many lives that the Holts impacted. According to Nancy Clough, ". . . [W]hat an amazing example they are of how the efforts of two humble people, who never sought the spotlight, can change hundreds of thousands of lives. How a little grain of faith and determination can move mountains. Bertha Holt said many times she wanted to be remembered simply as 'that lady who loved the Lord.' Everything they did was to help their fellow man. In today's world so much horror and intolerance is enacted in the name of religion, but they are examples of what love, compassion, and inclusiveness can accomplish in the name of the Lord."
Another Holt legacy is the Ilsan Center in Korea built by Harry in 1961 as an orphanage. It remains today as a center for children with special needs, serving over 300 young people. Molly Holt, the Holts' third oldest child, has devoted her life to working at Ilsan. She currently serves as the chairperson of Holt Children's Services in Korea. (Dewan)
"In addition, there is an elementary school located in Eugene, Oregon that is named after my mother, Bertha Holt Elementary School. The school wrote 'We are inspired by the vision of our namesake, Bertha Holt . . . . [O]ur program is designed to embody her legacy of care for children from all backgrounds and abilities. We are privileged to serve a very diverse community of students.' My mother would have been proud of the school." (Stampe)
The bigger legacy is in the many lives that the Holts impacted. According to Nancy Clough, ". . . [W]hat an amazing example they are of how the efforts of two humble people, who never sought the spotlight, can change hundreds of thousands of lives. How a little grain of faith and determination can move mountains. Bertha Holt said many times she wanted to be remembered simply as 'that lady who loved the Lord.' Everything they did was to help their fellow man. In today's world so much horror and intolerance is enacted in the name of religion, but they are examples of what love, compassion, and inclusiveness can accomplish in the name of the Lord."
Molly Holt at Ilsan Center
(Photos from Holt International Children's Services) |
"Holt International reaches out to orphaned, abandoned, and vulnerable children around the world, caring for them, nurturing them to health, helping them to have stable, loving families of their own."
("Holt History") |