Help Lieseli and Friends rebuild Bringolo Church

HELLO!! Follow Liesel’s Journey on Facebook @

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577049106392&mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=sPbbJuaocZIliFoC&share_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252Fshare%252F1BuScFqiZW%252F%253Fmibextid%253DwwXIfr#

We are Raising Money to Build a 400 year old church in a small town in Brittany. It burnt down in April of 2024. Please read on:

Hi everybody! This is Liesli! She is the mascot for our GoFundMe page. She and her pet mom Andrea, and her friends Maryann and Paul are hoping to raise money for the Town of Bringolo located in Brittany -the western, celtic part of France. We are asking for donations of any size to help fund the rebuilding of the community’s centerpoint: their beloved church which burned down in April of 2024.

The four of us: Liesli, Andrea, Maryann and Paul, will be riding our bikes across northern France from the Rhine River at Saarbrucken to Bringolo –around 1,200 kilometers—in an effort to raise awareness of Bringolo’s need for funding to rebuild their church. Alongside Liesli, we will be posting progress on our journey --with a special focus on the pets and other animals we encounter along the way! We will be documenting and posting Liesli’s encounters with others along the way –the furry ones and the human ones!

The church In Bringolo had stood at the center of town for over 400 years, and suddenly the church, the heart of this rural community, lay in ashes. Though Catholic- the church building belongs to the people of the Town of Bringolo and not to the Vatican. So, this small town of only about 600 people is now struggling to fund the rebuilding of their church.

The church was the hub of just about every activity in town -a town whose people have been so kind, so caring and so genuine in their concern for Andrea after the sudden death of her husband, Jenu.

X/Twitter has an aerial video of the damage to the church here (copy & paste into a search engine): http://xcom/CatholicArena/status/1782650558546870585

So how did Liesli get involved in fund raising for rebuilding the church in Bringolo?

Well, in 2023, Andrea (pictured here with Liesli) and her husband Jenu adopted Liesli from a center that cared for unwanted and abused animals. For years Andrea did not want a dog in their home because she had been deathly afraid of dogs her entire life. She relented when Jenu once again plead is case for getting a dog. And with Jenu’s steady hand and her friend Maryann’s guidance interpreting dog behavior and reassuring her, Andrea slowly came to feel comfortable around Liesli –then as time passed she came to like Liesli. Well, next Andrea came to adore Liesli and to love her so much so that they are now are never apart! And through this time, Andrea and Maryann became very good friends.

Tragically, only a few months after Andrea and Jenu adopted Liesli, Jenu died unexpectedly. Andrea and Liesli were alone -but together! So many of the people of Bringolo were so kind, so helpful, so understanding and so genuinely concerned about how she was doing, that one day Andrea and Maryann discussed what they could do for the people of Bringolo. And of course, the answer was plain: the church had burnt down, and the town really needed to raise funds for the reconstruction! They came up with the plan to Ride across France to raise awareness of the need in Bringolo!

This is Liesli with Maryann, my younger sister. We have always been close and I have gotten to know Andrea quite well since she and Maryann became close friends. I asked if I could join them in their ride across norther France, and they kindly agreed!

And I was glad that Liesli seemed to agree too! We are planning to ride from Freiburg on the Rhine River, across northern France, all the way to Bringolo which is in the middle of Brittany… we will be posting pictures and our thoughts, impressions and ideas along the way.

Liesli looks like she’s eager to get started! We will start posting on July 3, 2025! Please follow along with us, and if you can afford to do so, please help the good people in Bringolo rebuild their church. But if you cannot, please follow us as we love the exchange thoughts, ideas and experiences!