Building a new kitchen in Naivasha
Donation protected
[Updated 5/25/17 .... if you already donated, please see update at bottom!]
Grace Race friends,
Last year you helped us to raise over $17,400 to expand the classrooms at the Academy in Naivasha Kenya. Much of this was done through our GoFundMe campaign - see https://www.gofundme.com/cdu89be4.
This was a very successful effort. The students in Naivasha and the staff there are so grateful for what you have given them; you have brightened their lives in a very tangible way. You are part of a community that is helping boys and girls in Naivasha, Kenya "one step at a time" to receive education and job skill that will help them to be successful adults. The Grace Race Fund and its local partner Grace Community Church of Chelmsford have a wonderful and unique partnership with Bishop Kimemia and his team in Naivasha, a relationship that goes back over 15 years. Over the years we have, through 11 years of the Grace Race road race/walk and more recent fund-raising efforts, raised money to buy land, build the Academy, and allow it to grow to point where it is today, with over 180 students boarding there. Many of the students are orphans, supported through Grace Community Church's ONEChild sponsor program (http://www.gracecommunity.org/onechild/).
We hope this year you will consider helping us again. My mother and I visited Naivasha last August and we had a nice visit with the staff at the Academy. See the slide show I made here. One of the concerns Bishop Kimemia and the staff cook raised with us was the kitchen they use now to cook for all of the student and staff has served them well, but is no longer large enough to accommodate the growing student body. The humble little kitchen building is shown in the photo at the top of this page. The hard-working staff is in dire need of a larger kitchen building and an expanded set of cooking pots and utensils to feed everyone three meals a day. This is a high-priority need! The estimated cost for a new kitchen with adequate size and equipment is $6000 - a modest sum by American standards. A generous $2000 donation that came in earlier this year from a local Grace Race supporter got us off to a great start, so we are now focused on pulling the community together to raise the remaining $4000 to complete this little project. We know we can do it, but we need your participation.
Please consider supporting us so that the kids who are working hard to earn their high-school diploma or vocational training certificate can stay well-fed and nourished while they learn! The kitchen will be very simple and basic, but is so crucial to the daily life at the Academy. What they have there now is just not sustainable. Even a small donation of $30-$50 will be a blessing, and every dollar counts toward this goal. If you have friends or family members that might want to give to this worthy cause, please do forward them the link to this GoFundMe campaign.
Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful consideration of this opportunity to help Kenyan kids in very visible and practical ways. We appreciate you!
**** Update 5/25/17: I just bumped up the goal from $6000 to $9000 based on the fact that we successfully reached our original goal of $6000, thanks to the support of many generous people. What a blessing this new kitchen will be for the students and staff at the Academy! Great work, everyone! This money is on the way to Kenya next month. I know that as we expand our reach to the community here in the Boston area, others who find out about the project will want to help out, so it makes sense to keep the campaign open. Money raised at this point, beyond the $6000 level, will go toward expanding the infrastructure for the vocational training classrooms. Vocational trades to be taught at the Academy include carpentry, welding, auto mechanics, computers/IT, and tailoring. Please pitch in to help provide a solid education, job skills training, and brighter future for these kids! They greatly appreciate your partnership and compassion.
*****
Sincerely,
John Feehrer, for the Grace Race Fund team
Grace Race friends,
Last year you helped us to raise over $17,400 to expand the classrooms at the Academy in Naivasha Kenya. Much of this was done through our GoFundMe campaign - see https://www.gofundme.com/cdu89be4.
This was a very successful effort. The students in Naivasha and the staff there are so grateful for what you have given them; you have brightened their lives in a very tangible way. You are part of a community that is helping boys and girls in Naivasha, Kenya "one step at a time" to receive education and job skill that will help them to be successful adults. The Grace Race Fund and its local partner Grace Community Church of Chelmsford have a wonderful and unique partnership with Bishop Kimemia and his team in Naivasha, a relationship that goes back over 15 years. Over the years we have, through 11 years of the Grace Race road race/walk and more recent fund-raising efforts, raised money to buy land, build the Academy, and allow it to grow to point where it is today, with over 180 students boarding there. Many of the students are orphans, supported through Grace Community Church's ONEChild sponsor program (http://www.gracecommunity.org/onechild/).
We hope this year you will consider helping us again. My mother and I visited Naivasha last August and we had a nice visit with the staff at the Academy. See the slide show I made here. One of the concerns Bishop Kimemia and the staff cook raised with us was the kitchen they use now to cook for all of the student and staff has served them well, but is no longer large enough to accommodate the growing student body. The humble little kitchen building is shown in the photo at the top of this page. The hard-working staff is in dire need of a larger kitchen building and an expanded set of cooking pots and utensils to feed everyone three meals a day. This is a high-priority need! The estimated cost for a new kitchen with adequate size and equipment is $6000 - a modest sum by American standards. A generous $2000 donation that came in earlier this year from a local Grace Race supporter got us off to a great start, so we are now focused on pulling the community together to raise the remaining $4000 to complete this little project. We know we can do it, but we need your participation.
Please consider supporting us so that the kids who are working hard to earn their high-school diploma or vocational training certificate can stay well-fed and nourished while they learn! The kitchen will be very simple and basic, but is so crucial to the daily life at the Academy. What they have there now is just not sustainable. Even a small donation of $30-$50 will be a blessing, and every dollar counts toward this goal. If you have friends or family members that might want to give to this worthy cause, please do forward them the link to this GoFundMe campaign.
Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful consideration of this opportunity to help Kenyan kids in very visible and practical ways. We appreciate you!
**** Update 5/25/17: I just bumped up the goal from $6000 to $9000 based on the fact that we successfully reached our original goal of $6000, thanks to the support of many generous people. What a blessing this new kitchen will be for the students and staff at the Academy! Great work, everyone! This money is on the way to Kenya next month. I know that as we expand our reach to the community here in the Boston area, others who find out about the project will want to help out, so it makes sense to keep the campaign open. Money raised at this point, beyond the $6000 level, will go toward expanding the infrastructure for the vocational training classrooms. Vocational trades to be taught at the Academy include carpentry, welding, auto mechanics, computers/IT, and tailoring. Please pitch in to help provide a solid education, job skills training, and brighter future for these kids! They greatly appreciate your partnership and compassion.
*****
Sincerely,
John Feehrer, for the Grace Race Fund team
Organizer
John Feehrer
Organizer
Westford, MA
