Clothing Sale Complete

 A little rest before work!

 The tables of clothing!

Our enthusiastic volunteers. 

Our first official fundraiser for Sthobela is complete. We are so blessed with community that partners with us when we get crazy ideas like collecting and selling a dump truck load of used childrens' clothing :-) We are so grateful for the many, many, many donations that rolled in and tumbled out of the church office, for those who showed up to dump, jump in and sort the giant pile of clothing, and for those who came out to buy...and help sell our clothes. In the end we made over $1100 for our community. We also made a pretty massive donation to the the Crisis Nursery in Saskatoon....kids benefiting both locally and internationally! One of the most incredible things was to watch how excited our kids got in participating. They were so excited to see the donations grow and to invite some friends to help them sort. The morning of they were excited to share information about our community with shoppers and collect donations. It was a lot of work but so rewarding to engage as a family.

With our first fundraiser behind us we are now looking to partner with other families to help support this community on a monthly basis. I will be the first to admit that this makes us uncomfortable. It would be so much easier just to cut a check every month and move on; however, as we receive stories of the kids that are now entering the care point in Sthobela to receive food and care we realize advocating for this village is so much more than providing financial support. We have been privileged to play a part in the story of these children. We pray for them and the workers who support them as a family. We hear of their remarkable stories of overcoming trauma. Our hearts break when we hear of the injustice and recognize the inequality so prevalent in our world. We are challenged to reflect on how we are spending the resources we are entrusted with. Our kids are being exposed to poverty and injustice and are realizing the power they possess, even as kids, to make a difference. Advocating is so, so much more than merely giving financially and in many ways failing to provide others with the same opportunity that we have been given is in many ways selfish. We started this journey to provide our family with a meaningful connection to the birth country of our daughter but I can see that it is already evolving into much more. If you are interested in joining us on this journey, whether it be financially, through prayer or creative fundraising ideas. I would love to hear from you.