I’m off on the adventure of a lifetime! I want to Help a Hurting World…
It’s time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the coming year. Michigan Decorations is winding down for the year and things are getting wrapped up, but I need your help with the next adventure. I’m calling on you, as my family, friends and business partners, to help me help others.
I have made a commitment to go to Cameroon and help a grassroots organization, The Women’s Circle for Social Action and Aid. I am leaving Feb. 4 and returning April 28, 2010. I’ll be helping women to start up businesses, assisting in innovative agricultural methods, building solar cookers and solar fruit dryers.
I will be working with Celestine Y., who helps women in six remote villages. She had a dream for her community and found a building that would be her home and community center.
A group of dedicated women organized a non-profit organization and have bought a computer and sewing machine to teach vocational skills, and have purchased benches for women and children to sit on during school classes. It is tremendously committed people like Celestine and her group who are changing Africa. I feel very lucky to be invited to work with them.
I am collaborating with Chris and Sue Skellenger, founders of 11 Oaks here in northern Michigan, who are working to increase the food security of the world’s poorest people using gravity-fed drip irrigation and recycled water. This system enables people to grow vegetables when there is no rain.
Please go to 11 Oaks to learn about the great work they’ve already done. It is through ll Oaks that I am requesting any financial assistance you can offer. There is a simple link for donations on the website. Contributions are tax deductible under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue code! ID # 20-5939192
To keep in touch with our work in Cameroon visit http://www.michigandecorations.com/blog