We are so grateful for all of our donors and the creative ways they give back and help us continue bringing hope to children in need throughout Africa! Today we are featuring Elizabeth…
Earlier this year, after learning about orphans in the Ukraine and making a trip to VOH Mwanza in Tanzania, 11 year old Elizabeth from Calgary, Alberta decided she wanted to do something to give back.
At her own initiative, Elizabeth created a fundraiser she called “Power Off for Poverty.” The idea was to have children from her school (Dr. Oakley School) to “power off” their entertainment and electronics and collect pledges to support VOH Mwanza.
When she presented this idea to her school during assembly, she received overwhelming support—every single student volunteered to participate as well as her teacher, Ms. Langman, who partnered with her to help with the project.
Elizabeth created her own webpage (http://poweroffforpoverty.com) and sent a letter out to friends and family describing the initiative and asking them to take part by making pledges.
Elizabeth herself, pledged a full 24 hours, and the rest of the students pledged their own times as well and received pledges for their efforts.
In total, the students “powered off” for an amazing 514 hours and raised over $3,000!
Elizabeth’s plan is to repeat the same project next year and hopes to get more schools involved.
Her father had this to say:
“We are really proud of Elizabeth because she has so much empathy and understanding of the importance of doing things for the greater good of humanity. This all came about because she was so stirred by hearing about orphans in the Ukraine a couple of years ago (and specifically about attachment disorder in those kids). At that time, she started plotting with her friends as to how to help. The visit to Mwanza and to the VOH cemented the Power Off For Poverty campaign plan in her mind. She was really impressed with the folks at VOH Mwanza and how much they obviously care about the children there. One thing she appreciates after visiting VOH Mwanza, is how much thought goes into the way in which the orphanage runs and how successful they are at helping those children overcome the incredibly difficult challenges they face. I have listened to her tell our friends about the family-style model at VOH and how the kids acquire life skills, go to school, and in some cases have even gone to University. It is amazing how much she absorbed from that visit in Mwanza. I go to Mwanza once or twice a year and will try to take her with me there again in a year or so, as I know she would like to visit again.
Your organization does amazing work that pays tremendous dividends for society. We are very happy that our daughter decided to put energy into supporting VOH and, yes, we are proud that she wanted to do that. She plans to do this again next year and will try to recruit more schools to participate. So, this year is kind of a trial run for the campaign.
Thank you for helping make it possible for Elizabeth to realize her dream to help orphans. Your organization is such a terrific fit for what she wanted to do and that makes it easy.”
We are so grateful for Elizabeth, her heart, and her efforts to help us continue bringing hope to children in need!
You can visit her website here: http://poweroffforpoverty.com
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