Wow. $50,000. Where I come from, that's a lot of money. The most amazing thing is almost all of it has come from small donations. The average donation was $145.82. The median was fifty bucks! (Those numbers don't include the very important $10,000 gift from the Tuthill Fund.)
If you read my previous post, however, you know that I, and we!, are not done yet. Because of changes in government policy, our Angolan church partners need to build a bigger school than originally planned. The new six classroom school will cost $70,000. So that is the new (and final, I promise!) goal.
I am very open to new ideas of how to bring more people in on the fun of helping to build a school in Waku Kungo, Angola - a school that will serve 630 people who otherwise would have little or no access to education. With an average donation of $145.82, we need 134 people to discover the joy of giving to such a wonderful project. Can you recruit one or two or ten of them? With our help, about 630 kids like this...
...can face the challenges of their lives, through education.
3 comments:
I guess it helps to be an ultramarathoner in fundraising as well as swimming. I predict you will have this money in no time!
Mike,
The following is an excerpt from an e-mail from my 85 year old uncle. He lives in North Carolina. I thought you might want to contemplate what he said:
"We have an African immigrant in church who has been conned by unscrupulous people over there. It pains me to say this but if Mike wants to lay all questions aside and provide motivation for continued support, you may want to tell him that this old man suggests he provide a complete and detailed explanation for the need for additional funds and also the details of why he knows this will not happen again. Also at this point folks will be wondering if all is well so he should also give a complete accounting of all funds donated to this point. Have any actually been forwarded over there? What has been done with them etc., etc. In other words a complete accounting. It's painful, but we live in an age when fraud is rampant and for his own sake and good name he should welcome this advice. If you have no problem in forwarding this message to him, please do so. God keep you."
I hope this helps.
I hope your body handled the swim well and you didn't have any repercussions from it.
Thanks Debbie. Legitimate concerns and good questions from your uncle. I'll write a post about the finances, and accounting.
Peace,
Mike
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