Pilates for babes

We've half sold out the pilates class, but we have some spots left, so I thought to share this poster Lawrence did. If you are interested to come, please register online at twtvite/pilates4babes or you can reserve your spot by making a donation on the "Pilates" paypal button on the right side of this blog. Hope you can make it!
Check it out:

Pilates for Babes

Very excited to tell you about a pilates class fundraiser for the orphanage being hosted by Sandra Brunner and Chang'e Studio -- a very cool yoga/pilates studio in Leslieville.

Here are the class details:

When: Saturday, July 17

Where: Chang'e Studio, 1114 Queen Street East.

Time: 2-3p.m.

Cost: Minimum $20 donation

Who: Hosted by Marie/ @karmacakedotca, Sandra/ @wallabina and myself @karensnider

Hashtag: #babes

Goal: Through a series of pilates and yoga classes, our goal is to raise $700, which is the cost to send one of our children to school.

Space is limited - so you must purchase your ticket in advance. Look to the right of this blog and you will see a paypal button for Yoga/Pilates. You can reserve your space by making a donation there, or you can pay at Chang'e.

Can't make the class and still want to donate? Of course, please do! There is a button for you on paypal under Yoga/Pilates.

I've been to a few of Sandra's classes and when it comes to your abs, this woman means business! So come and get your sweat on and while you're at, we can help the orphanage. It's a good thing!

Baby Carolyn and a New Playground at the Orphanage

I just got an update that the orphanage has another new baby. This one is named Carolyn. She is five-months-old and her mother died of malaria. A welfare officer came to the orphanage to ask that they accept her because her family was unable to cope with her.

This means there have been four new babies to the orphanage in the last few months. Another child’s mother died during childbirth; one mother was mentally ill; and yet another was born to teenage parents who did not have the means to care for the child.

The orphanage is growing at break-neck speed. People in the community are becoming more familiar with it and so the number of children is growing. These are children who otherwise would have been left for dead or left in families that could not care for them.

The UK sponsors are beginning to build a 5th little house to accommodate the orphans and the house mothers. So while their family grows, thankfully, so is there living space growing!

I also received these new photos that show the children playing on their new playground equipment donated by the local Rotary Club. The equipment was once in a public space, but it was getting vandalized. The children lucked out when the Rotary Club decided to give it to the orphanage. These children don't get to play very much and they don't have a lot of toys. So this is a very big deal!

What’s coming up this summer

Thought to put out an update and let everyone know about a few activities we’ve got coming up this summer. The first is going to be a charity garage sale. We’ve been gathering tons of great stuff donated – everything from TVs to cameras to Guitar Hero accessories.
We’re going to hold the garage sale in Pickering at my parents house (big driveway).

Hold This Date!
When: Saturday, July 10 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Where: 2346 Meriadoc Street, Pickering
Who: The garage sale is being hosted by myself, Monica Kahindo and Cecile Peterkin
What: As I mentioned above, we’ve got some really great stuff. We’ll also have some coca-cola memorabilia, great books, stuff for kids.
Hungry? We’ll host a BBQ at noon

Also coming up – Yoga for Babes!
This week, I’m meeting with an instructor from a yoga/pilates studio in Leslieville because they are planning to host a “by donation” pilates and a yoga class this summer! Very exciting stuff. I’ll reveal the studio once the dates are set. How awesome is this – so many of us are doing yoga and pilates anyways, so this way we get to work out and support the orphanage at the same time. I’ll keep you posted.

Mother’s Day wrap-up

I’ve been waiting until I collected all of the funds from our Mother’s Day card fundraising project before sending you an update. Our goal was to raise $1,000 by selling the cards. We did better than that! We raised nearly $2,000.

Two thousand dollars is enough to cover the costs of sending three of our children to a full year of high school. It’s almost enough to cover a full year of Veronica’s university tuition as well.

Special huge thank you to everyone who helped us surpass our goal. So many of you were out there selling bookmarks, cards and accepting donations for us – your support was phenomenal.

I wanted to give a special thank you to Aynsley Morris (@aynsilly). This girl sold more than 50 cards on her own, one at a time. I’ve heard she’s quite the fast-talking salesperson! Thank you so much, Aynsley – we’re lucky to have you on our team of volunteers.

We’ve got some other great fundraisers in the works – a yard sale in the summer, as well as a pilates/yoga class. I’ll keep you posted and hopefully, we can get you involved.

Thanks again everyone!
Sincerely,
Monica Kahindo and Karen Snider

HoneyFig

I wanted to share with you some news about our newest supporter, HoneyFig, a gorgeous little shop near Yonge and Sheppard that sells beauty and body care products.

Thanks to Michelle Samuels who works there HoneyFig is now selling our bookmarks for $10.

I went by the store to bring some spring-coloured bookmarks and saw they have a display set up on the main counter with the bookmarks and a photo of some of the boys from the orphanage. It looks incredible! And it's inspiring to see such a great shop get behind this cause.

A huge thank you to HoneyFig, Michelle and all of the women who work there, for your support in helping us to support the Nzirambi Orphan Talent Development Centre and ensure these children can go to school.

If you haven't been to HoneyFig, definitely stop in. They carry top-of-the-line and all-natural products: frangrance-free, nut-free, soy-based...you name it! And it's not only body and beauty products, they sell hair accessories, jewellery and beautiful soy-based candles (which I bought for my mom for Mother's Day - in lilac, her favourite flower!).

Check out their products online.
HoneyFig is also on Facebook

A special thanks for a “twitterific” gift

For those of you on Twitter, you probably know about Scott Stratten, aka @unmarketing. He's “kind of a big deal on Twitter” and he tweets a lot - in fact, he’s tweeted more than 40,000 times.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with Scott on a few occasions. It was his birthday a few weeks ago and I thought that as a proud father, Scott would appreciate the greeting cards that we have been selling to raise funds for the orphanage.

I knew I would see him at Digital Leap (hosted by Stephen Thomas Ltd, Ted Hart and The Royal Conservatory ), where he was a presenter, so I gave him the card then.

Later that evening, Scott told me (in 140 characters) that Digital Leap organizers are making a donation to the charity of his choice as a gift for his presentation. He decided to give his donation to the orphanage.

The donation came at a good time. Monica and I have begun filling out the forms to obtain charitable status and the night before Digital Leap, we were especially overwhelmed. When we got Scott’s message, it was a reminder that we’re doing the right thing. That good people want to help us help these children.

So we’ll keep pushing to raise funds for the orphans. Our goals are reasonable: we aim to raise $10,000 every year for the next three years. Our funding will go toward an education fund to pay for the children’s secondary and post-secondary education. Without higher levels of education, these children won’t break free of the cycle of poverty they are currently in.

And they deserve the chance. These kids are so strong – some of them have lived their entire lives in the orphanage. There are 77 children at the home, ranging in age from newborns to teens. The mere fact that these children have survived the poverty - that over the years has left many of them ill with malaria or malnourished for long periods - is a feat in itself.

By supporting the education fund, not only are we giving the children a chance at success, but we are alleviating the stress of the day-to-day grind on the orphanage. That means there will be more funding for medicines, nutritious foods and salaries for the heroic housemothers who care for the children 24 hours a day.

A special thank you to Scott and Digital Leap for helping these children reach their goals.