That Was a Blast!

Our first ever Run 4 Gambella 5K Fun Run and 1-Mile Pet Walk was a blast!  There were dozens of runners and walkers that showed up, and the weather even cooperated with us.

It was so fun seeing so many runners completing their first 5K ever!  We had kids decorating t-shirts, and true to our word, we did not time the run (much to the disappointment of the high school boy who was the first to finish)!

Through donations made by the run and walk participants, we raised $1,220 for the people of Gambella.  This brings our total donations made this spring to $3,755 (including some checks that are not reflected in the ChipIn widget on the site)!  We continue to be humbled by the support of the community—thank you!

Come Change the World

Have you ever wished you could change the world?  Have you ever wondered if the money you give to different charities actually makes a difference?  Here’s a fun and easy way for you to truly be a world changer!

Come join us for our first ever “No Frills” 5K Fun Run and 1-Mile Pet Walk this Saturday, May 21, at 9am in Cornish Park in Algonquin.  Every dollar that is donated for this event is going straight to the village of Gambella, in Kenya, Africa. 

Gambella is a village that literally had no hope just a few short years ago.  The villagers had no clean water, no means to educate their children, they lived on about $.50 a day, and they have been the subject of violent attacks.  After just a few years of their partnership with Global Hope Network International (GHNI), and a small handful of partners like our neighborhood, their village has been transformed!  In fact, the change in the village has been so dramatic, that the United Nations, the Kenyan Government, and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been out to visit our village of Gambella, to find out what has given them so much hope.

The money that we are raising will be used to purchase more goats, to replace the animals that were stolen in an attack on the village almost two years ago.  The nutrition provided through the milk of goats, is crucial to the people in Gambella.  In February, we were able to provide 38 goats to the village, but we’d like to give more.  In addition, we will be creating a pool of money that the villagers will have access to in order to start income-generating businesses, like this tea shop that was opened about a year ago.

Join us on Saturday, and have some fun while you change the world!  Learn more and register on our run page.

$1020 Raised at Garage Sale

Our 2nd Annual Garage Sale 4 Gambella was a tremendous success, as we raised $1,020!   Special thanks to Mary, Beth, Michele, and Lee, for all of their time and efforts in planning the event, and for braving the cold each morning to sit outside during the sale.  I also wanted to thank everyone who donated items to the garage sale—we certainly could not have done it without you!  We do have a few more items (kitchen table, Bitty Baby with crib, etc) that we will try to sell on eBay or Craig’s List, so the total may go up some more.

The next and final fund raising event coming up is the No Frills 5K Fun Run and 1-Mile Pet Walk next Saturday, at 9am.  We’d love to see you there!  Read more about that at http://a4gblog.org/run.

Fundraising Updates

Our primary fund raising efforts for the year are in full swing.  Last year, the bulk of the money that we raised went toward building a storehouse (pictured below), so that the villagers would have a place to keep the crops they harvest safe and dry until they can be sold to local produce companies.  This year, we’re raising money to help the villagers replace more goats that were stolen during the raid on the village two years ago, and we’re also using the funds to have a pool of money to be available for micro loans for businesses for the villagers (businesses like the tea and chapati shop, and hotel that have already been successful).

We’re done with our first two days of our garage sale, and we’ve raised about $600 for Gambella so far.  That’s a respectable amount, and we want to do more!  We still have tons of great stuff (great furniture, clothes, books, and more).  This is a good opportunity to not only get a good deal on stuff, but also to help a poor village in the process.  We’re hoping the rain will hold out tomorrow, so that we can reach our goal of $1,000 raised from the garage sale.

Our “No Frills” 5K Fun Run and 1-Mile Pet Walk is also coming up in two weeks, on Saturday, May 21.  We’re very excited about this inaugural event, and would LOVE to see you out there!  Name your own “entrance fee” (in the form of a donation of any amount to Gambella) for this event.  So far we’ve raised over $600 for this event.  Check out our Fun Run page for more information: http://a4gblog.org/run.

2nd Annual Garage Sale 4 Gambella

We are having our 2nd annual neighborhood garage sale for Gambella!  All proceeds will go to the village of Gambella, in Kenya.

If you have an interest in donating items, please contact Mary via email

(garagesale@a4gblog.org).

Date/Time: Thurs, Fri, and Saturday 5/5 - 5/7; 8am - 3pm
Location: 321 Lincoln St, Algonquin, IL

We’re Cleaning Ambulances to Raise Money for Gambella

Our group will be cleaning ambulances this coming Sunday, April 10, beginning at 9am.  The ambulance company pays us for each vehicle that we clean.  We need to clean 18 vehicles by the end of the month, and we could use your help.  Come help us, and enjoy some fun conversation, as we talk about the things that have happened in Gambella since they became involved with GHNI, as well as what their future holds.

The ambulance company is Rescue Eight, and they’re located at 1520 Industrial Drive, Suite C, Lake in the Hills, IL.  See the map below.

View Larger Map

We hope to see you there!

Another Live Video Call with Gambella!

We will be doing another live video call with our adopted village of Gambella, in Kenya, on Wednesday, February 16th.  You are invited to join us to meet some of the people from the village.  We’ll also spend some time talking about adopting a village, and about the Transformational Community Development model that Global Hope Network International uses.

If you are at all interested in adopting a village of your own, this event is for you!

Where:

Algonquin/LITH Main Fire Station
1020 W. Algonquin Rd.
Lake in the Hills, IL 60156

When:
Wednesday, February 16 - 9:00 PM (inconvenient time due to the time difference with Kenya)

Merry Christmas!

As the holiday season falls upon us, I find myself with a bit of time to pause and reflect on the things I am thankful for.  Right up at the top of that list, is our partnership with Gambella.

What an amazing privilege it has been to be a part of this partnership.  I love working with our neighborhood families, and watching their eyes light up as we talk about Gambella, and plan our fund raising efforts.  It’s so cool to see the excitement in other friends and neighbors who have donated financially, or given us items to sell in a garage sale, where all of the proceeds went to Gambella—they get it, and realize that they are literally helping to change the world!  And how about that first video call we did over Skype, using a satellite modem from the village?!  None of us who were there will ever forget that.  Seeing and hearing and interacting with the people of Gambella for the first time—and seeing the school that did not exist before Gambella’s partnership with GHNI—literally took my breath away.

The highlight of my year, however, was having the opportunity to actually go to Gambella this summer.  It was so fun to spend a week with the people of Gambella!  Even though I couldn’t speak more than a few words in Borana (and most of them couldn’t speak more than a few words of English), by the end of the week I felt as though Gambella was home.  Here I was (that’s me with my arm around Boru in his winter coat), in a village that quite literally had no food a few years ago, and I was working side-by-side with the villagers, building a storehouse (pictured below)—which was funded entirely through our neighborhood partnership with them—so they can store the surplus crops they grow until they can eat them or sell them.  Not bad for a village that up until a few years ago had never farmed, and is located in an incredibly arid area!  Even now, planning is underway to complete the clinic that was started last year, and to launch the goat loan program that we raised money for at the end of last year.  Any additional funds that are raised this year will be used for purchasing more goats for that loan program.  These goats are vital to the villagers, as many of them still have one meal a day, and that meal is nothing more than about 4oz of goat milk!

These people are the poorest of the poor, and with the hand that life has dealt them, they have every reason to throw in the towel and call it quits.  Instead, they were dancing, and singing, and had huge smiles on their faces—in short, they were full of hope.  Because of the support of people like you, this village has hope; not only this village, but nearby villages, and even the entire region.  The U.N., the Kenyan government, and many NGOs have taken notice of the change in Gambella, and have made trips to the village to observe.

I believe what I am most grateful for, is the change in me.  I’ve always wanted to live fully alive, and I strive to do that, but I can honestly say that nothing makes me feel quite as alive as I do when I am doing something for this partnership with Gambella.  Thank you for being a part of my journey.  May you have a blessed Christmas!