Cakes & Lasers

Well, things have been busy as usual over in Wilmington! All of a sudden, we seem to have an explosion of kids coming to the Center which hopefully means we are doing something right. We were able to do our first fundraiser a couple of weeks ago, for which we hosted a Bake Sale right outside the Center.
For me, it was doubly good because
I love baking and I really miss being
able to do it regularly!
The fundraiser was a real success and the kids really enjoyed helping us out. It was good for us to be able to meet people in our neighbourhood and I was personally blown away by their support of the center. One of the Churches that supports us also allowed us to sell the rest of our cakes and they were so generous. In the end, we managed to raise:

$265.70!!

As a well done to the kids, we used some of the money to take them to Laser Tag at a place called Boomers in Pennsylvania. It was nice for them to go have fun and get out of the Center. There weren't enough seats in the car for me so I just sulked at home and washed the dishes. Not really. Well, I did wash the dishes. Because no-one else does. Not really. Anywho...they loved it! 

Look at their little faces.

As a team, we decided this weekend that we should spend some time exploring a bit more of our surroundings too. The guys wanted it to be free seeing as though I suggested a museum and we came up with the Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover - Delaware's capital city. It was quite a trek and not the best idea I've had since it was raining and the majority of the fun stuff there is outside but I didn't step on my plane without a raincoat and umbrella so I was sorted. We enjoyed a packed lunch in the car and then had a wander around the museum. It was actually pretty fun, we got to go in the control tower and look out at the other planes and I flew a plane (simulator) but still it was pretty scary and I felt like a real life pilot. 

Here I am with Bill & Hillary's old ride. Aka Air Force 1. 

This is what I have to live with. Not the plane.

This leads me to the exciting part! Following our fundraiser, I got to book tickets for the 4 of us plus NINE kids to travel to The Big Apple this weekend!!We are going all day Saturday, so it will probably be quite tiring, but Ican't imagine a more exciting way to get my first experience of NYC than with a bunch of our kids! We are planning on seeing as much as we can in the hours that we have.

Last week, I said my goodbyes to the wonderful Urban Promise Wilmington which was an emotional moment but also a lovely one. The kids were asked to give me words of encouragement, which boy oh boy they did! They thanked me for teaching them to say please, thank you and you're welcome and one of them said I had a strong faith that encouraged them! They sent me away with a few tears in my eyes, kind words and PG Tips. However, it's not all over - I saw them the next day in Chick-fil-A at their fundraiser! Phew.

 

The final thing I would love you all to look at is our Wishlist. We have already received art supplies, games and other fun things from it and love getting to open these surprise packages in our morning meetings. If you feel like you can support our work, even in a small, anonymous way - it could make a huge difference to our kids. We get to tell them that people who don't even know them want to send them gifts, which for them - is an alien concept. We would LOVE to take them on more trips, even just to the movies or to a restaurant as well as provide them with creative/sports/community based projects from our Center. 
Follow this link and see how you can help us! 

Thank you ALL for reading this, I love knowing that you can keep up with my journey and seeing our work here develop. As always, if you're the praying type - please send a few up for us, that we will find time to rest as well as work and that what we do now has a long-lasting impact for these kids! 

                        "This is the day that The Lord has brought about. We will rejoice and be glad in it!"

Psalm 118:24

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Ode to Washi.

As many of you may know, I have been really busy lately trying to think of creative ways to fundraise for my upcoming American internship, other than relying on my fundraising page. I didn't want to simply ask people to throw their money at me to send me to pursue my dream job, but wanted to make nice things that would cause people to think of me when they are wrapping gifts, making hampers or spreading jam on their toast. Though, that does sound a bit weird. Anyway! I have loved this chance to get my craft box out and make nice things.

Recently, I was lucky enough to win a lovely giveaway, sent all the way from America from this beautiful blog created by this beautiful artist. I have had a quietly growing obsession for my beloved Filofax ever since I bit the bullet and bought one, which in-turn, has led to a quietly growing obsession for washi tape. What is washi tape, I hear you cry? My computer certainly doesn't know, as it keeps auto-correcting it to 'wash,' so I had better show you.

The Winning Washi

This is washi tape.

This is MY washi tape.

Along with this parcel of beauty from Aimee, came some other little brightly adorned things - one of which was a handy card filled with suggestions of how to use my tape:

Some of the things like sealing envelopes and using on gift bags are things that I like to do - they just make everything look so P.R.E.T.T.Y. The tapes are also quite strong so they stick to things really well.

                                               

I haven't had a lot of time to get making because I have been distracted by Christmas crafts as well as working and travelling as preparation for my big adventure, but here are some of the things I've been able to do with this tape:

I decorated plain pencils and brown tags (below)

I made cupcake flags

Geek moment. I decorated my Filofax.

I have started to make tags containing my Delaware address to hand to people so we can write to each other (these were a bit of a test!!).

I was so excited to win something, especially something to add to my craft box, especially ESPECIALLY because it came from America! This is the current extent of my small washi obsession:

Most of them were bought in small packs with 2 or 3 in for about £1.99 and all of them are being used in my fundraising craft making so that my friends, is my justification. Some of the other things I plan on doing with the tape are:

• Decorating tea-lights
• Making mini-bunting for cards 
• Wrapping Christmas presents/fundraising items
• Jazzing up my own craft items like jars/tins for pens and pencils

Some of my Christmas tags featuring the washi!

Thank you ladies for inspiring me, I wholeheartedly recommend following their blogs and checking out the artsyville store to get your own beautiful items if you are that way inclined! 

Much Love xxx

p.s. my lovely little artwork arrived today from Lori, all the way from Florida to a cold and blustery England! Thank you Lori, I love my little package !! xx 

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Fundraising Update.

Things have been very busy lately as I start to get organised for 6 months in America. We've tried to think of creative ways to raise some money to send me over there and I have to say, it has been really fun! 

Our house is beginning to look a little like a jam factory at the moment, I've been experimenting with different flavours and ways to decorate which make them look really homemade:

I have just made the black forest jam which is full of autumny/wintery berries and has been my favourite experiment so far. My mum makes the lemon curd which seems to fly off our kitchen island along with the strawberry jam. I have so far tried; raspberry, blueberry, mixed berry and black forest flavours. We are especially enjoying the jams that make larger quantities as they tend to make 1/2 jars which unfortunately aren't big enough to be sold, so they sadly end up on our toast. Shame. 

I have also been very busy bringing together the plans for my big American themed party. I had some amazing party supplies donated from www.partypacks.co.uk which will look amazing! The night is going to be filled with American style food and drinks, live music performed by some of my very talented friends, a very American quiz (that I need to write!), a raffle and craft/homemade stalls also made by very talented friends. 

We have been trying out 2nd hand markets too which has been great because we get rid of some of our clutter whilst making a bit of money to add to the pot! They have been nice markets because we've done some great people watching and met some nice folk. I also have a new job helping out a friend in establishing his own Charity which is keeping my mind busy and doing something useful! I am so thankful for that opportunity. 

Nearer to Christmas I'm planning on making and decorating my own salt-dough Christmas decorations as I did last year, Christmas cakes, present tags and small gift ideas that will no doubt be found on Pinterest! I also just won a beautiful set of washi tapes from this beautiful blog that are being shipped over from America so I hope to make some nice things with those! It's so nice to be creative and make nice things that people will enjoy, but will also get me closer to pursuing my dream.

I'd like to thank everybody who has already contributed to my funds, big or small - it means the world to me! If you would like to support me, please check out my Go Fund Me and read all about what I will be doing in America. I have been contacted by Delaware this week and will be attending a training day next week so it is all beginning to feel very real! What a fun time. 

Much Love xxx

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The A21 Campaign.

The A21 Campaign is something I feel very passionate about supporting. It stands for 'Abolishing Injustice in the 21st Century' (which I probably should've found out before now!) and is a campaign raising awareness for the 27million people who are trapped in modern day slavery. This subject is something that we all know happens, but may not have classed it as 'slavery' before. It is a problem that affects every nation, though we may not realise it. 

Myself and my friend Elly (who loves it when I mention her) got chatting about this cause one day and decided we should do something to help, indeed this is how the campaign began in the first place. So, we set about planning and decided to start small by running a fundraiser/awareness evening. This week, the event finally came around so I thought I would share a bit about how it went and what I have learnt from it. 

We decided to run it in the format of a meal, so we charged people for the price of a ticket and provided a meal for free. Thanks to the extremely generous people in our Church who provided main courses and desserts, we were able to feed everybody and in most cases they got 2nd's! Without those people giving up their time and ingredients, this part of the evening wouldn't have happened! We decided in the end to keep it simple and served everything with jacket potatoes, as the brits love their tatties. 

My favourite find for the evening!

I love tablecloths   

Our yummy cupcakes

Discussion points for the tables

We also had musicians who played for us throughout the evening that were wonderful and worked out as a great part of the evening and all of the musicians ended up being very eager to help us continue to raise awareness in the future. The music helped to keep the evening relaxed even though the subject matter was very tough!

Throughout the evening, we discussed the facts of Human Trafficking and watched the A21 Campaign's video, which was a great way to educate everyone in a way that was better than anything I could've done! Of course, it was a lot of information to take in, especially for those who had very little knowledge before the evening, as I did when I first looked into it! The point of this campaign is to help people realise that anyone can make a difference. 

Facts about Human Trafficking (taken from A21 website):

- It is the 2nd largest Global Organised crime and generates nearly $31.6 BILLION a year, Specifically sexual trafficking $27.8 billion a year.

- There are 1.39 million victims of commercial sexual servitude worldwide.

- Only 1-2 % of victims are rescued whilst 1 in 100,000 Europeans involved in trafficking are convicted.

- Greece is known as 'the centre of trafficking in Europe.'

- Ukraine is a source country for trafficked women and is currently one of the largest exporters of women, not just in the EU but also to the Middle East and to South East Asia. 

- Bulgaria - It is estimated that that 10,000 Bulgarian women alone are trafficked yearly, both within the country and to destination countries.

- Roma - Ethnic Roma men, women and children are particularly vulnerable to becoming trafficking victims, due to ethnic discrimination, poverty, high levels of unemployment, usury, growing up in state care, homelessness, domestic violence, substance abuse and complicity of family members trafficking their own.

- The United States - Human Trafficking is currently on the rise. Over 17,500 victims are trafficked in the US annually and  it is estimated that 33% are US Citizens. The full scope of the problem is yet to be determined but it is intertwined with drugs and prostitution. Trafficking here takes the form of; prostitution, massage parlours and brothels. Generally, those who are US citizens will end up in the sex trade whereas foreign victims will be found in labour trafficking. 

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It also happens in the UK. Take a look at this story which has recently hit the news. There are more stories like this, though it is not widely talked about.   

A few weeks ago, some of us watched the Nefarious documentary, as I have mentioned previously.  The quote below that cropped up in this film will never leave me because of its truth. Now that we have passed the baton onto everyone who attended our fundraiser, or those of you reading this cannot say you didn't know about Human Trafficking - because I've just told you about it! 

This quote has been the key for me to do something about it!

Below are the A21 Campaign flyers, which  suggest ways in which YOU and I can begin to make a difference. You can start by talking about what you have heard. The more it is talked about, the more people know and the more likely it is that we can work together to see an end to this. It isn't just something 'nice' to do, it is our responsibility.

 What did I learn?

On the night of our fundraiser, I got a real picture of what, especially as Christians - we should stand for. Without all the people who helped myself and Elly i.e. those who cooked, washed the dishes, served the food, brewed the tea, wiped the tables, put away chairs, folded tablecloths etc, then that night would never have happened. It was team at its best. It was us, working together for others - for a cause greater than ourselves which is what it is all about. 

We also need to be moved into action. It's all well and good looking into these things and then walking away and carrying on our lives as normal. But we have a duty to carry the burden of others. We need to have our heart broken for those who need us. It is a conscious decision - to not let these people continue to suffer when we have the ability to 'be the change' in this situation. Though it is easy to be overwhelmed by massive statistics, if each one of us does something then of course things will change!   We have managed to raise about £180/$290 just through 30 of us gathering together. More than this, we educated 30 people who may then go on to tell 30 people etc etc. That is the real point! 

I did not write this to brag about what we have done - for this is just the beginning. We started small, and simple, running a relaxed evening based around sharing food and facts. Maybe you could do something similar or on an even smaller scale! You could have a tea party or a coffee morning or get a few friends together to chat about it. Make a few crafts or sell some cupcakes. Everything will make a difference!

What will YOU do?

At our event x thank you to everyone who came x

Much Love xxx

p.s. let's all be abolitionists 

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