Thursday, September 17, 2009

Really Good News

If you read all the way to the end of yesterday's post, you saw that I have some really good news. No, I didn't secretly already swim the Channel in record time. But just as good, or better.

I got word a couple of days ago that the Tuthill Fund is making a $10,000 donation to the school building project in Angola! The Tuthill Fund is an endowment fund committed exclusively to international mission projects associated with the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ (the regional grouping of churches my church is part of). The donation must be approved by another governing board, but that's pretty assured.

So we now have $32,358 toward the building of the school in Waku Kungo, Angola!

Of course, the goal here is $50,000. That is how much it will take to build a wonderful new school building where hundreds of children (and some adults) can get the education they need and deserve. Many of you who are reading this blog have helped get us up to the $32,358. Thank you!

If you have not donated yet, this would be a fabulous time to do so - practically as I am swimming! To donate online with a secure credit card transaction, all you have to do is go to www.SwimMikeSwim.com and click on the "donate" link. You can also just write a check to "SwimMikeSwim" and send it to Second Congregational Church, 318 N. Church St., Rockford, IL 61101. Every cent of your donation goes directly to help build the school in Waku Kungo.

One more thing, in case any of you are looking for a nice way to use several thousand dollars at your disposal. Our Angolan partners wisely want to wait until all the money ($50,000) is in hand before they start construction on the school. This gives them considerable cost savings in construction. I am confident that we will soon get to $40,000 in donations, but it sure would be nice to be able to give our partners the full $50,000. So, anybody want to loan us, unsecured at no interest, another $10,000 as we work to bring in the remaining donations after the swim? If you have the means and the interest to do so, just send me an email (jmichaelsolberg at gmail dot com), and we can discuss it.

Thank you everyone for your support as I face (tomorrow!) the challenge of my life, so that the kids of Waku Kungo can face the challenges of their lives through education.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

OH MY GOODNESS!!! What fantastic news, Mike, on the fund raising amount. On a second note, God speed you through those waters safely. I've been asked by many people this week from Westminster to our church when it's happening and now I'll give the news. You've trained so hard and it's been a pleasure to ride this journey with you. May you reach the end as you've planned! Peace man!

Lauren said...

Wonderful wonderful news!! :)