thank you so much to EVERYONE who has donated to His Safe Haven!
Talby has been so excited to see all the donations come in for these kids in Liberia.
seriously… it’s SO COOL!
i love knowing we are all working together to help!
Really!  think about it! we are making a difference!  YOU are!
giving is important and changes things.
and it feels awesome!

🙂

talby is raising $5400 to fund the housing for a year of the HSH foster homes.
she is at 46% of her goal right now.
and just that already is awesome!!
but she’s not stopping till she’s made it.  she’s persistent.  i like that.

so let’s see if we can do more.
for them!
i mean… can you look at those faces and say no to helping them?
i can’t.

how about a great big giveaway of rad awesomeness to help the cause?

each $10 donation is good for one entry to win this prize.
Everything here is from our Craft Weekend Sponsors!

items in this prize package are: bracelet – 31Bits, headband – Natalie Creates, coffee cozy – Knitty Bitties, cute clothespins – Raising Up Rubies, chevron infinity scarf – Sorta Southern, necklace – Jennifer Dahl, photo book & stickers – Studio Calico, sign – Red Letter Words, bracelet –  Turquoise Tomato, book – Courtney Walsh, key fob – Pitter Patter Art, notebook – Pencil Shavings Designs, print–  Jennie Horne, print – Lori Danelle, earrings – Ike & Co., desk calendar – KatyGirl Designs and chapstick holder – Gabriel’s Good Tidings

How awesome is this prize?!

but wait…. what about TWO prizes?!
double your chances to win!!

i mean how FABULOUS is this?!!

items from this prize are from: recipe cards – Katy Girl Designs, bracelets – Ike & Co, photo book – Studio Calico, blank journal – Curly Girl Designs, polka dot scarf – Sorta Southern, snowman – Allen Deisgns, sign – Red Letter Words, book – Jenny Doh, hello – Say Hello Shop, print -Recipe for Crazy, small bag – Jenna Lou Designs, earrings – Made by Maggie, book & journal – Dayspring, tea towel – Lemonade Makin’ Mama, mug rug –  Knitty Bitties, necklace – Jennifer Dahl Designs, cute clothespins – Raising Up Rubies, sign – Little Branches, necklace – Daisy & Dots and necklace – Wifey Singer

To enter to win one of these AMAZING prize packages go to Talby’s Fundraiser page and donate.

– each $10 donation is worth one entry.

– be sure to use your name when you donate – not anonymous.
   because i can’t send a prize to anonymous.  🙂

– if you donated last week that counts too.

so if you donate $20 then you get entered twice, $40 = 4, $100 = 10 and so on.

you know… that math stuff.
🙂
Please read Talby’s post about His Safe Haven if you haven’t so you can read about what she is passionate about and why she wants to help.
All of these donations go towards His Safe Haven housing funds.

THANK YOU for caring about the children of His Safe Haven with us.

Winners chosen on MONDAY FEBRUARY 23!

when i went to Liberia in July my friend Pam said “hey… my friend christina is on the same flight as you! hook up with her”
i was nervous and tempted to say nothing at all.
but i was more nervous of the navigating the liberian airport by myself.
(if you have never experienced an airport in africa… it’s nearly impossible to describe the chaos)
SO… we texted in the airport in New York and there she was… my new friend.

she helped me survive the airport exit with out losing any bags to “helpers” because she is awesome.

she was in Liberia to check in on the foster homes that she runs with her organization called His Safe Haven.
halfway through the week she came and we visited all of the foster homes and met the kids.
what a blessing!

Later after being home a few months, Talby asked me if there was a way she could help in africa.
ummm…. YES!
we thought of different option & decided that maybe raising money for Christina’s organization would be a good way to help.
Talby wanted to do it on her own so i have put her fully in charge.
without further ado… Talby has the mic

🙂

My name is Talby Duerksen.  I am 13 years old and Megan is my mom.  She is letting me use her blog to tell you about a group this is important to me.  It is called “His Safe Haven“, a group that strives to improve life for abandoned special needs children in Liberia.  Special needs children in Liberia are often abandoned because their families do not think they have any worth. When I learned that I felt very sad.  His Safe Haven finds foster home for the children that are brought to them.  I have enjoyed loving children with special needs, being with them and making them smile.  I realized there so many children who are in need in so many ways.  I have all I need, plus much more, but those kids don’t.  So I asked my mom if we could start a fundraiser to help the kids at His Safe Haven.  I emailed Christina and asked her lots of questions that i had about Liberia and her program.

This is Christina and her family.

T:  Since you live in the US, how do you check in with the foster parents back in Africa?

C:  I travel to Liberia every 3 months to check in with my team and foster moms and evaluated all the children.  I usually do ongoing training every trip and bring much needed supplies.  I also talk on the phone with Josephus in Liberia (he is my Program Coordinator), and text a lot to check in daily!

T:  When you find a child, what is the process that you go through to put them into a foster home? 

C: No matter how a child is placed into our program, we must notify the government, who then sends a social worker out to try and locate and/or document the child’s history.   They interview all our foster moms to make sure the are equipped to care for the children, then we get a ‘Child Placement’ form to make the placement official.  This helps the government keep track of the abandoned children and monitor their care under His Safe Haven.  We try and find a ‘Child Sponsor’ for each Haven Child that will help fund the cost for caring.   Our Sponsorship Coordinator then will send quarterly updates or pictures to each sponsor to keep them updated on ‘their’ sponsored child.   

T:  What are your plans for His Safe Haven in the future?

T: What is one way we can help you at His Safe Haven with donations?

C: We value any donation but if you wanted a specific project…  another big need is house rent.  We rent all our homes at $75/month for 6 months at a time.  We have found that renting our homes gives the kids a safer environment.  Our moms that are willing to be trained are on the extreme poverty level, so they typically have dirt floors and no good access to clean drinking water, and are typically in very dirty areas.  So this is why we must rent our homes.  Raising money to help with this cost would be wonderful.

After hearing about the need for renting homes for the kids, my mom and I set a goal to raise enough money for all the homes for one year.
6 foster homes at $75 a month = $5400

Any amount you donate will make a difference.   🙂

 

Please CLICK HERE to go to my Crowd Rise Fundraising page to Donate.

ALL the money will go directly to His Safe Haven.

 

I am excited to be able to help all the kids at HSH.  I dream about getting to travel to Liberia with my mom and getting to meet Christina & all the kids she helps.  But until I get to go I want to help where I can.  Thanks for reading this and for donating!

Thank you for your support to His Safe Haven!

– Talby
**** this is MEG again… Just wanted to say how inspired i was by Christina’s work in Liberia.  She is a mother of five and didn’t let that stop her from helping in a BIG way.  And many years since she began they are very close to moving their family to Liberia! They will create a beautiful community together with their foster moms, the children they care for and SO MANY other Liberians.  I can not wait to go back and see how their program grows!  They will bring joy to so many special needs kids!! It’s already awesome and it’s just going to get better! ****

 

UPDATE: See the giveaway on THIS POST that is for anyone who donates to HSH.  🙂

i can’t believe World Water Day has come around already AGAIN.
i realize in saying that how much i take for granted having clean water every where i go.
and i haven’t thought about Diana and her dream nearly enough.

today is World Water Day.
The Adventure Project is partnering with One Day’s Wages in fundraising for training well mechanics.
One Day’s Wages is matching every donation up to $75,000! 
whoa.
that is so awesome.

i started a fundraiser page and it is so easy to give.

i also made a pretty big goal to reach but i know that YOU KNOW we are so fortunate.
how can we NOT give to women like Diana who are trying so hard to change things for their community?!
she saw what needed to change and she stepped up and is she is changing it!

THAT IS  A W E S O M E.

she is a brave and amazing leader.

i hope you will give today to help Diana train people in her community to fix the broken wells.

clean water is the way to bring change.
it brings health and opportunity.
it changes lives.

Give any amount you want… it gets matched!
there is NO AMOUNT too small  (or too big either)
$1 for $1

• $20 helps one person gain access to clean water.
• $100 helps a whole family.
• $1,500 helps an entire community– with the match!

i would LOVE to see us help THREE communities!

TODAY IS THE FINAL DAY TO HAVE YOUR DOLLARS MATCHED.

Today is an AWESOME day to do something amazing!

this is a great post by the leader of One Day’s Wages… please read!

and i LOVE this page on the The Adventure Project’s site that has so many stories of those who are already trained well mechanics!  We raised money for that last year!
it might make you tear up when you see their faces… i did.

bottom line… we have the ability to help…. so we should!

were going to get a latte today?
give $5 to ODW instead and brew your own coffee.

were you going to stop by Target for a few “necessities”?
give $25 to ODW instead because we all have enough stuff already.  😉

were you going out to dinner and a movie tonight?
give $50 to ODW instead and grab a redbox and pop some popcorn at home.

LET’S DO THIS!

CLICK HERE to make your donation to One Day’s Wages and The Adventure Project.