Thanks to Rob Jones, and Photo Walkers Around the World, we raised $10,000 for the “Springs of Hope Kenya” Orphanage
Rob Jones pulled off a Christmas Miracle, and he doesn’t even know it. First, a quick background: Rob runs Towner-Jones Photography based up in Washington DC, and when I started my Worldwide Photo Walk a few years back, Rob contacted me asking if he could help by setting up and running an t-shirt shop with the proceeds going to “Springs of Hope Orphanage” in Kenya (which was built from the ground up in part by donations from some of the wonderful people who read this very blog).
Anyway, Rob’s idea was a hit, and last year alone we raised more than $7,000 to feed and cloth the wonderful kinds at Springs of Hope Kenya. This year, Rob set a goal of $10,000, but we got the store up a little late (my fault) and we were at around $7,000 once again, but Rob wouldn’t settle for that, and he personally kicked in another $1,500 and he got a good friend of his, Troy Breidenbach (president of IGT America (igtamerica.com) to donate the remaining $1,500 to reach our $10,000 goal for the orphanage.
Timing is everything
Here’s where Rob’s Christmas Miracle kicks in. Last night my family went to our church’s annual Christmas Play, and at the end our Pastor asked if the folks there could find a way to kick in a little that night to help the Springs of Hope because there had been two recent break-ins at the orphanage, one of them being a violent break-in (he didn’t elaborate), but they wanted to add more security, including a security system, to help protect the children and staff.
Molly Bail, the director of Springs of Hope in Kenya, was visiting our church last night, and she was out front selling hand-bags made by the children and staff to raise money for the orphanage. I hadn’t seen Molly yet (didn’t even know she was there), but I saw her after church and was able to tell her that $10,000 was on its way (even more than they needed), and she was just overcome.
I have a favor to ask
This never would have happened if not for Rob, and for Troy Breidenbach, and for those of you around the world who brought the official Worldwide Photo Walk t-shirts, and I am just so very grateful to you all. That being said, I have a favor to ask. Could you join me here in thanking Rob for working and managing this t-shirt project for years now, so at the end of it all, we don’t just have photos to show for it—-we have something that makes in a real difference in the lives of some very deserving children’s lives. Just leave Rob a quick comment here, or visit his blog and thank him there , or I’m sure that Rob would even appreciate it more if you visited SpringsOfHopeKenya.org and sponsored a child, or you could pick up a holiday gift for them (shown below) that won’t cost you very much, but these gifts of food mean more than you can ever know.
Merry Christmas everybody!
Thanks to Rob and Troy, and even my friend Janine who sends a donation to Springs of Hope every single month, and thanks to you all for coming to the rescue once again, and being a part of a little Christmas miracle.