Holiday shopping ideas to support the orphanage

What do you know? It’s snowing in Ontario – and it is starting to look a lot like Christmas!

I’m super happy to tell you that we’ve already sold 325 bookmarks in our annual drive, but our goal is to sell 400. Help us reach our goal and share info about the bookmarks with your friends and colleagues. They make great stocking stuffers, Secret Santas, gift toppers and gifts for colleagues, friends, family. Each one cost $10 and you can order them from this blog using paypal. They’re really cute and ALL of the money raised will go directly to the orphanage to help send the children to school.

We’ve also got some other crafty goods for sale to help us raise funds. Check it out:

Poetic Art

Roxane Tracy of Poetic Art is giving proceeds from the sale of her African-inspired art to the orphanage. Her work is a perfect match for the orphanage, depicting the challenges and triumphs of women and children. Take a minute to look at her work – it’s gorgeous. She is selling prints for $40 and greeting cards for $5 each or 4 for $15. http://www.poeticartgallery.com/

Yoga bags for a good cause
Our friend and supporter Aynsley Morris (@aynsilly) has handcrafted these really amazing bags for yoga mats. She did some in African prints, and some other designs, including one white with daisies. The yoga bags are $20 donation. She also made eye pillows with flax seed and lavender – great for meditation, blocking out light when you’re sleeping or if you get headaches like I do. We’re asking for a $10 donation for those. Aynsley donated the material and so ALL of the money raised from these purchases will go directly to the orphanage.

Last but not least
Please do think of our children this holiday season. Right now they will be just finishing up their semester at school and gearing up for a few weeks off over the holidays. The kids don’t really celebrate Xmas, except, hopefully, this year they will have an opportunity to have a big feast. They’re happy kids, and we are helping to give them a world of opportunities by paying for their education.

Please do consider the orphanage when making your holiday donations this year. We don’t have charity status yet for tax receipts – but stay with us because we aim to have that in place for this time next year.

Thank you for your support - Happy holidays!

Bookmarks for Babes are back!

Last year, you may remember that the beaded bookmarks kicked off the fundraising efforts for the orphanage. At that time, I was trying to figure out how I might raise $500 to bring to the orphanage on my volunteer trip. Turns out, people ordered the bookmarks in droves and $4,000 was raised. And so the Nzirambi Fund was born!

A year in the making

I’m a little more prepared this time around and have been working on them all year. I also have a small army of really awesome volunteers who have been helping me make them (@nancyjt), helping to put ribbons on (Monica, Cindy, Marie-Helen), and others helping to sell them. Barbara Strang took some amazing photos (like the one posted here), and Lawrence designed a new card to attach to them.

Hundreds of bookmarks have already been delivered – we have Aynsley Morris (@aynsilly) selling them in Ottawa, Jessica Taylor in Calgary, Tenesha Clarke in Brampton and Nancy in Niagara. Our friends at Honey Fig will also be selling them at the Yonge Street store.

Want to buy one now?

You can order bookmarks on this blog by using the paypal box in the right column. Let us know what colour you like – they come in pearls, pinks, blues, greens, purples or mixed colours. Or say: “surprise me” and we’ll pick something out for you. Be sure to include your address so we can mail them to you.

Boomarks are a $10 donation. Each one will have a card on it that says: “All of the funds raised from the sale of this gift will go toward the boys and girls at the Nzirambi Orphans Talent Development Centre. Thank you for your support.”

Last year, people bought them as gifts for friends, colleagues, teachers, family, etc. They’re also really great stocking stuffers!

Want to sell bookmarks?

If you are keen to help us sell some to your family, friends or co-workers, please do let us know.

Where your donation goes

All of the money raised will go directly to the orphanage and pay for the children to go to school. By helping these children obtain higher levels of education, they will be able to escape the cycle of poverty. We're helping to make dreams come true for these children.

Thanks, as always, for your support.