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

Serving Street Children...Impacting Generations....

The goodies are on their way...For those of you who ordered items made by Street Aid...here they are! And they will soon be in your hands. If you did not order anything but want to after you see these wonderful items, we are bringing a nice order home so contact us at the e-mail address at the bottom of this page and we will give you more information. The girls have been busy for the last few weeks making all of these things just for you and the impact is pretty incredible...these girls were living, working, and sleeping on the streets of Accra with their babies before they enrolled in the school. While living at the refuge, they must participate in school classes, learn about caring for their babies, receive medical care, and learn a trade - sewing, hair dressing, cookery; some of the girls have expressed interest in some other vocations such as business and being a mason... As apprentice seamstresses, they contribute to their meals, food, child care and their babies meals by making these items. Your purchase of these goods helps not only the girls and the Street Girls Aid organization, but also society as a whole since Street Girls Aid has as one of its objectives assisting girls in becoming contributing members of society. And finally, your purchase will also be cherished by whomever you give it to...in fact, we had a hard time deciding who got what because we wanted to keep everything. A few more pictures of the day follow...enjoy!

Twins...we could tell the difference between Cathy and Vida by remembering that Cathy was the taller of the two

Vida and Phidelia working on a planning exercise

Kathy sharing a community development resource paid for by your Rotary Foundation  dollars

Reconciling the orders

One of the girls in the hair dressing school sporting one of the new school polos

The sewing school has new polos too...thanks to the Austin Rotary Club!

The multi-colored polos fit right in in the colorful workroom

Even here, in Ghana, the Christmas decorations are appearing

For more information about ordering some goodies please send an e-mail to mamacaruso@yahoo.com