[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20371-20372]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           TRIBUTE TO 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF HOLT INTERNATIONAL

 Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, in the mid 1950s, Harry and Bertha 
Holt of Eugene, OR, saw a film about children in Korean orphanages who 
were in desperate need of help. Touched by what they saw, the Holts 
sent money and clothes to the orphanages, but they still felt the need 
to do more.
  As they thought and prayed about what to do, it dawned on the Holts 
that what the children needed more than money and clothes were 
families. So Harry and Bertha decided to provide that family. They 
decided to adopt eight Korean children. No matter what roadblocks were 
placed in the way of that decision--including the need to

[[Page 20372]]

get Congress to pass a special law--the Holts persevered. Soon they 
were the parents of eight new sons and daughters.
  The adoption was revolutionary. Previously, adoption was regarded as 
something to be kept secret. The Holts, however, proudly adopted 
children who were obviously not their birth children. In doing so, they 
showed that a family's love is greater than barriers of race and 
nationality.
  But the Holts story did not end with the adoption of their children. 
As word spread about what they had done, others sought their advice and 
asked how they could adopt. Just 5 months after bringing his new family 
home, Harry headed back to Korea to match other children with new 
families. In 1956, financed almost entirely by Harry and Bertha's 
personal funds, Holt International was born.
  Fifty years have now passed since Holt International was officially 
incorporated. Harry and Bertha are no longer with us. But their dream 
lives on. Today, Holt is the Nation's largest adoption agency, having 
united nearly 40,000 children with adoptive families in the United 
States. It is simply impossible to calculate how much happiness and joy 
have been brought into the life of those children and, in return, how 
much happiness and joy they have provided for their families.
  As a U.S. Senator from Oregon, which continues to be home to the 
headquarters of Holt International, and as the father of three adopted 
children, I am privileged to rise today to extend my congratulations--
and I know the congratulations of the entire Senate--to Holt on the 
occasion of their 50th anniversary. I stand ready to help them in any 
way possible as they continue their inspiring mission in the years 
ahead.
  Mr. President, I will conclude with the eloquent words of Bertha 
Holt, who said, ``All children are beautiful when they are loved.'' May 
all children be as blessed as those adopted by the Holts.

                          ____________________