Networking at SFF Annual Board Meeting

Last Thursday, May 5th, we were afforded a priceless opportunity to network with entrepreneurs from over 50 nonprofits ranging from the smallest grassroots effort to those with budgets nearing 3+ million dollars. The common denominator we all shared was the Segal Family Foundation (SFF) www.segalfamilyfoundation.org. Barry Segal, founding father and patriarch of SFF, himself a highly successful and renowned businessman, has had the vision and desire to benefit humanity by investing his wealth and resources in charitable organizations whose efforts are in keeping with his foundation’s mission. This mission is: “to find our niche where we can help deserving people and improve the quality of their life…perpetually. Our foundation tends to focus on Sub Saharan Africa where parts of the continent have not benefited from the modernization that has happened throughout the world. We would like to find areas where we can help, whether it be in education, jobs, economy, health, sports, or most important, birth control.”

In an effort to fulfill the SFF mission and their commitment, the SFF board of directors invited us to “learn, participate, and network” at a 12 hour annual working meeting with other invitees from all over the world who have varying charitable interests. It was a privilege to meet every like-minded person in attendance. We mingled and lunched with people who, like Barbara Bush of Global Health Corps www.ghcorps.org is mobilizing a youthful group of emerging leaders to Elizabeth Scharpf of Sustainable Health Enterprises www.SHEinnovates.com which jumpstarts sustainable businesses to improve the quality of life to Twesige Jackson Kaguri www.nyakaschool.org who authored the book, The Price of Stones, which explains his enormous efforts to build a school for AIDS orphans in his remote village in southwestern Uganda. No one in attendance was unapproachable and all of us were willing to share advice and experiences both positive and negative. This was “collaboration” at its best!

To say that this opportunity to network was a “valuable experience” for us would be a vast understatement. The knowledge in fundraising, economic development, health and community outreach that we gained from this meeting has increased our focus, confidence and knowledge base exponentially. It has caused us to redouble our efforts to ensure that the faith you, our donors and supporters, place in us makes a difference in the lives of those we serve.

We have repeatedly said that while financial support is a cornerstone to our success, the in-kind services, emotional encouragement and expertise of our supporters is every bit as important. This networking occasion was the opportunity we originally sought with our initial meeting with Barry, Dolly, Martin Segal and Andy Bryant. They did not disappoint us. The details and the contacts we now have as well as continued promised guidance from SFF are immeasurable and we will make every effort to use this information wisely. We are anxious to revisit the Limpopo Province community this July and prepare for our renewed efforts. Thank you for remaining HFL’s staunch supporters and “Stay Tuned!”

PEOPLE WE WANT YOU TO KNOW..

Many interesting people have come into our HFL lives over the past few months and we are eager to introduce them to you and share the impact they have had on our HFL lives.

This past January, Casey C. joined the Hope for Limpopo team working as our first college intern. He is a senior Business Management student at Westfield State University with a concentration in marketing and management. Casey brings many valuable skills to the table including a working knowledge of computers, web and social networking and a youthful approach to volunteerism and social service. In turn, we are providing him with course credits focusing on hands-on non-profit experience, knowledge and skills in time-management, effective communication, team collaboration, merchandising and marketing. Through his efforts we hope to see Casey launch HFL’s first online store in the next few weeks.

Other than our generous donors, Meryl P. and Laura V. may be considered as having the largest potential impact on the success of Hope for Limpopo, Inc. to date. Meryl and Laura are Social Media Campaign Specialists who work for Verndale, an award-winning full service digital agency (www.verndale.com) located in Boston, MA. Through Verndale, we have been given the opportunity to update our web presence and bring our viral marketing to a whole new level. Within the next few months we hope to introduce a unique opportunity for our supporters to become visible collaborators in HFL’s mission. We are beyond ‘adrenalized’ with the prospect that we will be inviting you all to become our true partners. Please watch for our site launch coming soon.

We have quickly learned that not all foundations are open to reviewing unsolicited requests and many require an ‘invitation’ to apply. A huge “thank you” goes out to Bob H. who recommended to the Paul Newman’s Own committee that Hope for Limpopo, Inc. be allowed to submit a grant application for a generous Paul Newman’s Own grant. Please know that we would gratefully acknowledge and unquestioningly accept any similar invitations for grant application submissions.

Of course no nonprofit could survive without generous financial donors such as Mr. Barry S., however, sometimes a significant opportunity accompanies the financial donation. We are pleased to have been invited to attend the annual meeting of his foundation on May 5th in NYC. We are looking forward to this valuable networking opportunity and for the chance to “learn, share, collaborate and act on the issues facing our projects in Africa”.

There are no words to express the gratitude we feel for the unimaginable opportunity Oprah and her staff gave us in order to further the HFL cause. Sadly, we are not allowed to acknowledge anyone related to the Oprah show with any “material goods”. Therefore, in honor of our special staffer friend Becky A, we have plans to begin a program called ‘Becky’s Buddies’ which will supply comfort dolls to our child abuse survivors. More on this later.

We are tempted to acknowledge the myriad of supporters who have reached out to make a difference in the lives of the women and children of the Limpopo Province of South Africa, but we fear that we would fail to recognize someone. Surely you know who you are and we hope you understand that you are a part of something very important and that we appreciate your efforts.

"Goodbye 2010"

First we must extend a heartfelt “Happy New Year!” to all of HFL’s ardent supporters and express our appreciation to all who have helped to make 2010 a most exciting and forward-thinking experience.

Because of your generous 2010 contributions, this year we were able to provide funding for a new roof for the Vhutshilo Mountain School addition as well as new roofing for the rondavel of a mother and her child who suffer from bronchial illnesses.

On October 1, 2010 the house keys were officially turned over to Freda who was the recipient of the HFL donation which helped to build her new house and allowed her to escape from a life of physical and sexual abuse. Masikhwa Tshilidzi, TVEP’s Access to Justice manager, graciously invited us to the ceremony and though we were unable to attend, we heard that HFL was given considerable credit and praise for the role we played in this life changing event. How proud our HFL donors must be to hear this happy news!

In November we were especially pleased to provide the funding which allowed a TVEP representative to accept an invitation to participate at the WHO/UNIFA conference in Bangkok, Thailand. This ‘invitation only’ meeting focused on universal access to female condoms and was considered quite significant to the TVEP organization since an estimated 650 South African women die each day from preventable AIDS. This meeting was an important human rights step for all South African women and for the recognition of TVEP on an international level.

2010 saw the addition of monthly sponsors for 7 Vhutshilo Mountain School children. Sponsorship provides a child with educational costs, school supplies, 2 nutritious meals per day, transport to and from school, clothing and medical support. We were especially happy to see that groups of friends/workers have begun to band together to support a needy child. In this particularly difficult economic time, a ‘group’ donation removes the burden of a monthly $50 fee from the shoulders of one donor and allows several friends to participate for the benefit of a common child.

We ended 2010 on a high note with the gracious donation of 30 precious dresses created and donated by Karen Callini and her 2 grandaughters, Julia and Sabrina. The local press featured this family on their front page as an example of heartfelt holiday giving. Hope for Limpopo’s optimistic expectation has always been that ‘givers’ would find some way to be a part of HFL and we would be bonded together in ‘giving’. We’ve always believed that most people want to help whether it is with a monetary donation, a kind word, an action, or simple support for what we do. We open our arms to everything. This was a perfect example of what we hope for…something small that grows. As a result of this article we now have several eager people who wish to join efforts in making ‘baggies with pockets’ for our underprivileged VMS boys. Please consider taking the time to view the article. The story is truly inspirational!

And how can we recap 2010 without mentioning our invitation to be recognized by Oprah as Inspirational Audience Guests on her last Oprah’s favorite things gift-giving show? The experience was both humbling and revolutionary. The event has catapulted us into uncharted waters but we continue to keep our HFL goals foremost in our minds. We’ll continue to reveal our strategy and plans for many of the gifts as we progress. Thank you to the many people who have congratulated us and we can only say, “Stay tuned!”

We’re quite excited to reveal that Verndale, a full-service digital agency out of Boston, has offered to help us revamp our website and introduce us to social networking skills allowing us to use our website to its full advantage. Watch for changes in 2011 and check out Verndale’s link which will soon be added to our Favorite Links page.

Speaking of our favorite links, we’ve recently added friend and award winning author Cristina Kessler’s link to our Favorite Links page. We are grateful for her support and friendship. Her children’s books about Africa have no equal!

In our final “Good-bye” to 2010 we must remind you that 99.96% of the money donated to HFL this year has gone straight to our South African charities. We expect to continue this tradition in 2011. Thank you All!

12/3/10 "Oprah Show"

By now many of you know that as a result of beginning the Hope for Limpopo journey, Jo Ann and I were invited to be ‘Audience Guests’ on Oprah’s “Inspirational Heroes” show which we taped on Nov 16th and which aired on Nov 22nd. If the subject of this audience group held true, then we would have expected to see every one of HFL’s supporters sitting right next to us in that audience. It is because of each and every one of YOU who have stood beside us with words of encouragement and acts of selflessness that we (ALL) have been able to leave our heart prints on those women and children in the Limpopo Province who are so much less fortunate than ourselves.

We are pleased to say that we stood toe to toe with Oprah and that she is as kind, genuine, and compassionate as she appears to be on television. Her entire staff stands as testament to her generosity and kindness for every one of them was also pleasant and considerate signifying their own contentment with their jobs.

We are pleased to say that this ‘Oprah exposure’, while not exactly the national exposure we had hoped to get for HFL, did indeed open other doors for us. The local television, newspapers and social networking groups have supported us and allowed us to spread word of HFL’s mission.

And so we move on in the hopes of embracing more friends who believe that we can generate an attitude of zero tolerance towards all forms of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, HIV and AIDS stigmatization in the Limpopo Province of South Africa through education of the children and planned program implementation for all victims.