A World of Worry: A Kitchen Burns
Donación protegida
RANDOLPH & CHRISTINE: RISING FROM THE ASHES
(Click on the video to see the extent of damage)
This is about Christine and me. And a lot of other people.
It’s about a living educational project we began in Portland, Oregon. With no profit motive, we started working with international students in 2000. Providing minimal living expenses --- food, lodging, internet, utilities --- student guests made their home with us.
Our work had been thriving when a midday kitchen fire broke out while we were at church on December 10, 2017. No one was hurt, but the fire stopped us in our tracks.
It had been a promising moment when we’d welcomed our first guest on April 13, 2000 --- a young lady from Sapporo, Japan who’d come to study English. Since then we’ve housed more than three hundred guests from nearly thirty nations --- all treated as family.
On the day of the fire a young student from Oman placed the 911 call, and the firemen were there in literally one minute, quashing the blaze. But in the end, blackened studs were all that remained.
We long to get back to our work. It’s important to us all as one family under God, and our efforts at ‘grass roots international relations’ are right on target.
We had hoped to resume long before this.
But now, in May of 2019, though repairs near completion, we’ve lost seventeen months of income, and utilities companies are threatening shut-off --- while we’re still without revenue, unable to reopen our home. Apart from my small social security check, the house is our only livelihood.
That’s the reason for this emergency ‘Go Fund Me’ effort.
We want to rise from the ashes; expand. There are thousands more students who can benefit. There are thousands of generous, high-minded people interested in advancing international understanding, ideals; ultimately, world peace.
Greater opportunity awaits.
Five thousand dollars will get us back on track in short order.
Twenty thousand would enable us to get this effort on a growth track. These are hopeful times.
Could you help with a donation --- five, ten, fifty dollars --- more if you like? Anything will help.
Please share this with your friends and family.
Sincerest thanks.
Randolph L. Remmel
05/12/19 Portland Oregon USA
Early days on the porch with some home stay students.
Early days in the living room.
And...
Once upon a time in the kitchen.
What we do best: A moment in our history. Present, clockwise from left foreground, are students from Taiwan and Saudi Arabia; Randolph; a guest from Morocco; Christine; and guests from Thailand and Taiwan.
After the fire we used Grandma's home for cooking and meals. Not only was there no kitchen at our house, but an entire third of the dwelling was without electricity and could not be legally occupied. We began losing most of our livelihood starting on Dec. 10, 2017.
A cross-cultural Christmas
The father of one of our Saudi guests sent Christmas gifts that year that included both Christine's dress and the traditional robe and headgear (shemagh) that Randolph is wearing. Clockwise from Christine are three young ladies from Taiwan and two young gentlemen from Kuwait.
Our last outing before the fire. A guest from Saudi Arabia is wisecracking to Christine's ninety-year-old mother as they lead the pilgrimage. Just behind them, with the sun in her eyes, is the granddaughter of a close family friend, and left to right in the background are gentlemen from Taiwan, Bolivia, Oman, and Japan.
This was the 2017 installment of our traditional autumn excursion to the pumpkin patch, where everyone decides on a pumpkin for turning into a jack-o'-lantern after dinner.
Rodin's 'The Thinker' had nothing on the imaginative jack-o'-lantern's carved by students and guests from Bolivia, the U.S., Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan. (The 'parentally aged' individuals, left to right, are Randolph, Christine's Mother, Ursula; Christine, and a close family friend.)
(Click on the video to see the extent of damage)
This is about Christine and me. And a lot of other people.
It’s about a living educational project we began in Portland, Oregon. With no profit motive, we started working with international students in 2000. Providing minimal living expenses --- food, lodging, internet, utilities --- student guests made their home with us.
Our work had been thriving when a midday kitchen fire broke out while we were at church on December 10, 2017. No one was hurt, but the fire stopped us in our tracks.
It had been a promising moment when we’d welcomed our first guest on April 13, 2000 --- a young lady from Sapporo, Japan who’d come to study English. Since then we’ve housed more than three hundred guests from nearly thirty nations --- all treated as family.
On the day of the fire a young student from Oman placed the 911 call, and the firemen were there in literally one minute, quashing the blaze. But in the end, blackened studs were all that remained.
We long to get back to our work. It’s important to us all as one family under God, and our efforts at ‘grass roots international relations’ are right on target.
We had hoped to resume long before this.
But now, in May of 2019, though repairs near completion, we’ve lost seventeen months of income, and utilities companies are threatening shut-off --- while we’re still without revenue, unable to reopen our home. Apart from my small social security check, the house is our only livelihood.
That’s the reason for this emergency ‘Go Fund Me’ effort.
We want to rise from the ashes; expand. There are thousands more students who can benefit. There are thousands of generous, high-minded people interested in advancing international understanding, ideals; ultimately, world peace.
Greater opportunity awaits.
Five thousand dollars will get us back on track in short order.
Twenty thousand would enable us to get this effort on a growth track. These are hopeful times.
Could you help with a donation --- five, ten, fifty dollars --- more if you like? Anything will help.
Please share this with your friends and family.
Sincerest thanks.
Randolph L. Remmel
05/12/19 Portland Oregon USA
Early days on the porch with some home stay students.
Early days in the living room.
And...
Once upon a time in the kitchen.
What we do best: A moment in our history. Present, clockwise from left foreground, are students from Taiwan and Saudi Arabia; Randolph; a guest from Morocco; Christine; and guests from Thailand and Taiwan.
After the fire we used Grandma's home for cooking and meals. Not only was there no kitchen at our house, but an entire third of the dwelling was without electricity and could not be legally occupied. We began losing most of our livelihood starting on Dec. 10, 2017.
A cross-cultural Christmas
The father of one of our Saudi guests sent Christmas gifts that year that included both Christine's dress and the traditional robe and headgear (shemagh) that Randolph is wearing. Clockwise from Christine are three young ladies from Taiwan and two young gentlemen from Kuwait.
Our last outing before the fire. A guest from Saudi Arabia is wisecracking to Christine's ninety-year-old mother as they lead the pilgrimage. Just behind them, with the sun in her eyes, is the granddaughter of a close family friend, and left to right in the background are gentlemen from Taiwan, Bolivia, Oman, and Japan.
This was the 2017 installment of our traditional autumn excursion to the pumpkin patch, where everyone decides on a pumpkin for turning into a jack-o'-lantern after dinner.
Rodin's 'The Thinker' had nothing on the imaginative jack-o'-lantern's carved by students and guests from Bolivia, the U.S., Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan. (The 'parentally aged' individuals, left to right, are Randolph, Christine's Mother, Ursula; Christine, and a close family friend.)
Organizador
Randolph Remmel
Organizador
Portland, OR