Showing posts with label Rotary District 5960 Grant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rotary District 5960 Grant. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Taking it to the Streets

SAID goes to the streets with a
mobile library program
Street Girls Aid goes into the streets with a new mobile library program. The van, books, supplies and staffing are part of an Empowerment of Young Girls and Mothers Living in the Streets project funded in partnership with International Child Solidarity (ICS). Books were purchased from the Ghana Book Trust and also sponsored by a recent Rotary delegation from the United States.

Margie's passion for libraries is
only surpassed by her passion
for people and building relationships
As part of the recent Rotary Foundation District Grant, a team of our volunteers brought resources and tools related to mobile libraries to help build capacity within the Street Girls Aid staff at the earlier request of the Executive Director, Vida. Several of the volunteers spent time building relationships with the SAID staff and then sharing resources. The capacity building related to not only mobile libraries, but library management and our volunteers were passionate about the resources that they shared. Their passion caught fire and the staff were pretty fired up and ready to tackle this new initiative.
This is what capacity building
looks like - Holly sharing resources

Another component of the grant allowed the team and Vida to make some critical connections with both the Ghana Book Trust and the Osu Children's Library Fund about library management resources for NGOs in Ghana as well as access to some fabulous books written by local Ghanaians - the connections were powerful and it will be exciting to see them flourish. Already, two weeks after we are gone - the mobile library is out on the streets, and while we only had a small part of that - it is exciting to see the impact of capacity building, and the power of connections.

One of the hundreds of books purchased locally
by authors from Ghana as part of this project
For more information about supporting literacy and empowerment of girls, children and moms living in the streets contact Vida Amoako, Executive Director at streetgirlsaid@yahoo.com or send a message to our site from the contact us box in the sidebar. Look for an announcement soon about the 20th Year Legacy Celebration festivities! 20 years of Serving Street Children - Impacting Generations


Enjoy these photos from the first day on the streets with the mobile library:






Monday, October 28, 2013

Rotary District Grant Awarded

The team is taking pre-orders for goods
made by the girls at Street Girls Aid

Books will be purchased in Ghana
for the libraries that the
girls and volunteers
 will build
Books will be available in
libraries within the creches
for the girls and their babies
Rochester Rotarians District Governor Elect Karel Weigel and Judy O'Fallon, grant mentor, presented Austin Rotary Club President Scott Anderson with the District 5960 Grant check on October 28, 2013 for $12,000 for The Ghana Street Girls Grant Phase 3.

Kathy Stutzman from the Austin Rotary Club and PDG Cathy Smith from the Fridley/Colunbia Heights Rotary Club will be leading a team of volunteers who will be leaving for Ghana on January 24th 2014. Updates about the team and the on-the-ground work they will be doing in Accra will be posted as they prepare for the experience.

The team will have a planning meeting on November 2nd at 2:00 at Family Means in Stillwater, MN Skype options are available and need to be pre-arranged.

Opportunities for engagement will be discussed at the November 2nd Team  meeting for people and organizations who want to support this effort and yet,
During Phase 2 (the planning phase) the girls were asked
to respond to this question...how would you answer the question?
may not be able to travel to Africa to work with Street Aid and the girls.
 


Opportunities include sponsoring libraries, sets of books to stock in the libraries, purchaing goods that the girls make, sponsoring the travel team...the opportunities are endless!  If you are interested in learning more about how you can support this project, send an e-mail or contact one of us through the blog and a team member will connect with you.
Kathy Stutzman, Scott Anderson, Karel Weigel, Judy O'Fallon
present the District 5960 grant of $12,000 to the Austin Rotary Club

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Street Girls Aid Newsletter December 2012

Dear Partners and Friends,

As we enter the Christmas season we want to use this opportunity to thank you all. Please enjoy reading our newsletter. Next year we will be approaching you for comments to help us improve upon our newsletter.
looking forward to better times in the coming year. Merry Christmas to You all. Thank you for being part of the vision of S.Aid - Serving Street Children and Impacting Generations.

Warm greetings of the season to you all. KIND WISHES

Vida Asomaning Amoako
Director 


Dear Partners and Friends,
As we enter the Christmas season we want to use this opportunity to thank you all. Please enjoy reading our newsletter. Next year we will be approaching you for comments to help us improve upon our newsletter.
looking forward to better times in the coming year.Merry Christmas to You all. Thank you for being part of the vision of S.Aid - Serving Street Children and Impacting Generations.Warm greetings of the season to you all.

KIND WISHES
Vida Asomaning Amoako
Director 


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

What Do You Want Out of Your Life?


What a day...working on a mentoring process, the electricity went down in the middle of the day - which eliminated the sound and flurrying papers from the fan...but then it got HOT! When we went in to see the girls who were sewing the handmade goods that many of you have ordered, we walked out drenched.

So many life lessons today we could fill a book, but "What Do You Want Out of Your Life?" as one of the topics of discussion was a highlight...oh my goodness we are learning so much! After work we went to eat at a local chicken joint down the street, swam a little, shopped a little and got right back to preparing for tomorrow - which will be a drill down on mentoring part II.

Too many thoughts and words are in my head and are tumbling out of my ears, so I will simply post some of the sights from today...enjoy...and keep those comments, "likes" and "shares" happening - it helps to keep us connected to our friends and family.


                                  





               
Our pizza hut
            














Wednesday, November 14, 2012

All our bags are packed

All our bags are packed and we're ready to go...almost. Our flight leaves tomorrow and will get us into Accra, Ghana on Friday night where we are looking forward to some of our Rotary and Ghanaian friends waiting to pick us up and get us settled in. Big day ahead on Saturday as we work through the list of things to do to get ready for Monday when we begin working with the Leadership Team at Street Girls Aid.

For information about Street Girls Aid follow this link:

http://www.said-ghana.com/

Thank you to all of you who supported this project, we will use this blog as a means of keeping everyone up to date pending electricity and internet - so stay tuned and we will keep you posted -

Medasi

Cathy Smith and Kathy Stutzman