Footsteps: To Feed a Child

Friends!

I have been back in the US for 2 months now and after finishing my summer with the Sierra Leone Partners Conference, I’m ready to get back to Blacksburg. A new school year marks the start of a fundraiser that is near and dear to my heart, and the very reason I started this travel blog. The Feed a Child Campaign, which lasts from 8/17-11/9, is a student led initiative that aims to raise over $50,000 for nutrition programs in Bo, Sierra Leone. Can I get an Amen? My trip to the CRC last year only made me more excited about this amazing cause and motivated me to go the extra mile this year- literally. I’ve decided to take a different route with fundraising. On November 13, 2012, I am lacing up my shoes and running my first marathon in an effort to raise money for the Feed a Child Campaign and honor the countless malnourished children I met in Sierra Leone. Hunger and malnutrition is entirely preventable. That means that in a country with one of the highest child mortality rates in the world, over 40% of all childhood deaths are preventable because malnutrition is responsible for over 40% of all childhood deaths in Sierra Leone. Preventable. What a beautiful, hopeful word. And we can give these children a bright, long, healthy future if we provide them with nutritious food that will allow them to grow strong and healthy for their country. Because we are blessed to be a blessing. Again- can I get an Amen?

I am asking you to please commit to sponsoring me, as I have committed to raising $2,620 for the Feed a Child Campaign by completing the 26.2 miles. Please give as generously as you can by donating to my Crowdrise Account online or sending in your check payable to Helping Children Worldwide to my address below. Just in case you need a little extra motivation to sponsor me, here are the Top Ten reasons.

1. You can sleep in late November 13^th while still funding nutrition programs in one of the poorest countries in the world, while I get up to drive to Richmond the morning of the marathon.

2. You can transform my terribly beaten sneakers into the freshest money-making machines as I raise $100 a mile.

3. Your donation is tax-deductible! What’s not to love?

4. If you sponsor me, I have no excuse to jog, walk (or crawl) and promise to run the entire 26.2 miles.

5. Nearly 1/4 of toddlers in Sierra Leone suffer from muscle wasting and stunted growth because their families lack the skills and tools to grow low cost, protein rich foods. Let’s change that.

6. If I do not raise my promised $2,620, I will have to wear a shirt saying “I came $____ short of my goal.” Please don’t let this happen!

7. You can get something in return for a donation- besides feeling part of something greater than yourself. When you purchase a Feed a Child T-shirt ($15) or Sunglasses ($5), 100% of the proceeds go towards promoting nutrition programs.

8. In Sierra Leone, 1 in 4 children do not live to see their fifth birthday. We’ll give Sierra Leonean kids more birthdays. And that’s worth celebrating.

9. I will go through 13 weeks of training, 728 oz of water, 91 power bars, 2 bottles of Advil, 1 pair of running shoes and all you need to do is donate online or send in a check payable to Helping Children Worldwide.

10. Most importantly, you can prevent and treat malnutrition with particular focus on those most vulnerable: women and children. Using a community-based approach, Mercy Hospital trains families on locally available nutritious foods, solar water purification, and sustainable gardening techniques. Also, families are being provided with locally produced nutritional food supplements, with referrals to the hospital where necessary. Your donation makes this possible!

Please, join me!

Donate online at www.crowdrise.com/feedachild2012/fundraiser/KathrynBerlin.

Send Cash or a Check payable to Helping Children Worldwide to:

Kathryn Berlin

890 Plantation Road Apt. #413

Blacksburg, VA 24060

**Please attach a note with your check saying you want Helping Children Worldwide to send you a receipt for this tax-deductible donation if that is of interest to you.**

Email me at bkath100@gmail.com with T-Shirt and Sunglasses orders and an address for shipment. For shirts, please designate Amount, Men/Women, and Size S, M, L, XL preferences. For sunglasses, please designate Amount and Color (Neon Pink, Blue, Green, Orange) preferences.

Do Good, Look Good

Become a fundraiser yourself! Get involved! Join the Feed a Child 2012 Facebook group and fundraising team on Crowdrise (www.crowdrise.com/feedachild2012) by making your own personal account. Spread the word online, write letters to friends and family, have a bake sale, be creative! The more people, the larger the movement, the greater number of kids in Sierra Leone who won't go to bed hungry. Do itttt.

I’ll leave you with some last minute words for thought that shaped my experience in Sierra Leone.

“If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become as bright as noonday.” –Isaiah 58:10

“What good is it, brothers and sisters, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, without action, is dead.” –James 2:14-17

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever will.” –Margaret Mead

“God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.” –Sierra Leone Prayer

“The only real nation is humanity.” –Paul Farmer

Plus a few pictures, sometimes they speak louder than words. And because I can’t get enough of these faces.