The Power of a Request

The Power of a Request

12/21/12

 

We would like to take an opportunity to express our profound gratitude to Greg's aunt Mary Ann in Menomonee Falls, WI.  It was with great surprise that we recently learned of her efforts to collect school supplies from people at her local Curves and at St. Anthony's School in Menomonee Falls.  Mary Ann's collection efforts produced five boxes of school supplies for the benefit of Tanzanian children at their new education center.  Combined with other supply drives, we now have a total of ten boxes and are faced with the "good problem" of having to make arrangements to get all of the items over to Africa with us.

It is so amazing to have received such a great response from people that we don't even know, and we look forward to sharing their generosity with a community in such need.  Equally moving has been the experience of learning how powerful it can be to make a request of others.  The power of making a request has really been brought into perspective for us throughout the Kilimanjaro Challenge.

Time and again, we have looked for ways to get others involved and enrolled in our mission to make a difference for the people of Tanzania.  More often than not, there have been people in our lives at each turn who have contributed in ways we would not have expected.  Aunt Mary Ann's efforts are a prime example of this.  Early in our planning, Deb had sent a request to family members for help in gathering supplies for the education center.  We both sent messages out to family and friends and asked them to spread the word about our fundraising and enlist others in our efforts.  That message reached aunt Mary Ann, and she took it upon herself to set up two different supply drives in her local community.  As a result, people who have never met us, and who are unlikely to ever meet the people to whom they are contributing to, rose to the challenge and contributed. 

We can't help but think the strong response she garnered is a testament to the connection that Mary Ann has with members of those communities.   We thank her tremendously and thank the people in and around Menomonee Falls who contributed.  Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, and we will be certain to let the children we are visiting know that there are people on the other side of the world who wanted them to have the supplies they need to learn and grow.

 

Thank you Aunt Mary Ann.