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.
