The Words of the Ichijo Family
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The Words of the Ichijo Family |
Fran Ichijo is Artistic Director of Hope Garden Ballet Academy and Hope Garden Children's Ballet Theatre. She has been teaching Classical Ballet for over 30 years and has a BA in dance and art from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY. She has three children and lives in Gaithersburg, MD.
The Special Needs Ministry was formed in 2004 after True Father gave instruction to Dr. Chang Shik Yang, the Continental Director of the United States, to find and help match all the handicapped 2nd generation Unificationists in our movement. This event was precipitated by the matching (by their parents) and the Blessing of Kenji Ichijo and Sonya Yoder in July of 2003, in which Father was acutely interested as reported by Dr. Yang directly to the Ichijos. Dr. Yang asked the lchijos to take up this cause.
Yoshi and Fran Ichijo accepted the request to take up this ministry by Dr. Yang, and were asked to be part of the Blessed Family Department (BFD). Since 2004, the lchijos have had a website created for the Special Needs ministry, have tried to find all the Unification Church Blessed Families in our church worldwide with Special Needs children, and have helped facilitate meetings of Special Needs families. So far, there have been six matchings and Holy Marriage Blessings of Special 2nd generation Unificationists. Under the guidance of Reverend Hyung Jin Moon, the International President of the Unification Church, who spoke about special needs children more than a year ago, the Ichijos decided to change the "Special Needs" name to "Treasures of Heaven", as he said that he felt that these special kids are truly treasures who teach us so much, if we are willing to listen. He explained that his wife has a sibling with a handicap.
The main focus of the year is the annual horse camp retreat every August at New Hope Farms for any Treasures-of-Heaven families that want to come. They pay a camp fee, and we gather enough volunteers (2nd generation Unificationists) to have a ratio of two to one per Treasures-of-Heaven child. This benefits the Treasures-of-Heaven children, as well as the volunteers who give of themselves for three days to handicapped persons who cannot perform simple tasks by themselves. The parents take part in sessions and therefore get to have time together to share, laugh, cry and make plans to improve the lives of their children. The horses themselves work their own miracles as only horses can do.
We want to reach out to other Special Needs groups with this model of a workshop as it is very duplicatable and benefits all involved; we welcome everyone.
We also have encouraged the various Unification Church districts in the United States to organize themselves to have their local support groups and network with other groups who have so much to offer to help Treasures of Heaven families. State governments have wonderful programs of support for families of the handicapped, and many of our Japanese families are not aware of all the benefits that are out there. Treasures-of-Heaven Ministry is trying to help educate and make families aware of which state programs they can be a part. Yoshi has traveled to California and to Europe to visit and encourage families there and then went to Japan last year to visit "Fruits Basket", the name of a parallel Japanese ministry to special-needs children. By e-mail we communicate with families all over the world.
Our mission statement, taken from our website reads:
The Special Needs Ministry (hereafter referred to as Treasures of Heaven) strives to assist the parents with eligible Special Needs (hereafter referred to as Treasures of Heaven) children to get matched and Blessed in marriage.
Secondly, Treasures of Heaven strives to help parents with a special-needs child find the healing and grateful heart, especially those who struggle with a severely disabled child, through the association with other parents in the same situation. To this end, Treasures of Heaven strives to build a wide support group by sharing useful information and Mutual encouragement.
Thirdly, Treasures of Heaven strives to build a bridge between 2nd generation Unificationists and Treasures of Heaven children and thereby to appreciate the blessings they already enjoy and to try harder to become good citizens of Cheon II Guk (Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity / The coming Kingdom of God on earth, the world of peace).
To this end, Treasures of Heaven strives to urge 2nd generation Unificationists to volunteer to be mentors and partners for Treasures of Heaven children in various activities,. such as summer camp and as an occasional mentor and friend of the family.
One great benefit of the camps to my husband and me is to see our son Kenji attend a public Unification Church event and have a 2nd-generation Unificationist come up to him whom he met at camp. He is happy to be recognized and to be called a friend, to be accepted as he is. This has been our deepest joy as we and many Treasures-ofHeaven families have gone a lonely course of sadness and isolation, wondering what they did wrong, or how can they possibly help the Providence, when they have a child to constantly care for, even when the child is in his twenties.
One of our greatest treasures is our second generation, who have proven themselves over these past four summers that they can tirelessly give to an unfortunate soul who cannot take care of himself or herself, or who has never had a friend ever, or who cannot make sense of the world we live in. These 2nd generation Unificationists are amazing and we are so proud of them and grateful to them.
We believe that all Treasures-of-Heaven children can show us the way to a grateful heart. Even accomplishing the most simple task to them is a tremendous feat. If we can find the "attitude of gratitude," then we can progress spiritually. These kids can teach us that attitude if we just try for a moment to put ourselves in their shoes. These families deserve our support, but they also have a lot to teach us in general.
Go to the link below to learn more about Treasure of Heaven Ministry: www.familyfed.org/bfd/min/treasure/treasure.html