fundraiser

Get ready for Fall with our new merchandise

Kirsten Formea on September 22, 2021

“And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.” – Oscar Wilde

Happy first day of Autumn! Crisp mornings, colorful leaves, and pumpkins on porches – all sure signs that Fall has arrived. What better way to celebrate the arrival of a new season than by making a purchase that helps lift someone else? The new ROWAN merchandise gives you a chance to do just that. All proceeds from our Fall merchandise go to feeding our ROWAN families during the continuing COVID-19 lockdown in Uganda.

To see all of the merchandise available or to make a purchase, click the link below:

https://www.bonfire.com/store/rowan-store/

If you are interested in learning more about the situation in Uganda, click here. Please continue to pray for the people of Uganda and our ROWAN families, and if you can, please consider purchasing a shirt or a mug to help keep food on the tables of our Ugandan families.

Facing the food crisis together

Kirsten Formea on August 6, 2021

Conflict, climate catastrophes, and the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed people in East Africa to a crisis-level food shortage. According to a report by World Vision, over 7.8 million people in the region are facing starvation, and an additional 26 million people in the region are living on the brink. The United Nations reports that over 12.8 million children in East Africa are severely malnourished.

Large-scale flooding and an inundation of desert locusts in late 2019 through 2020 caused crop devastation and led to a sharp economic downturn. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2021, it only exasperated the continuing food crisis with its lockdowns. Farmers could not tend to or harvest crops, and people living in urban areas in eastern Africa became stranded with limited food access.

According to an article written by Godfrey Olukya for AA News, members of the Uganda parliament have begun urging the government to move some of those living in urban areas back to their rural villages where they would have better access to food supplies. When questioned by AA News about the food crisis, Thomas Kapo Kigozi, a local leader in Uganda, said, “Many of us are either starving or on the verge of starvation. Police have blocked all roads to the city center. We are asking the government to provide us free transport to take us to our villages.”

ROWAN continues to work to help the people in our Uganda villages as they face this food crisis. Recently, Kelsey Hargadine, a founding member of ROWAN, held a birthday drive that raised close to $4000 for additional food supplies for our Ugandan members. And last week, Kremmling Community Church gave ROWAN a $5000 donation for much-need food supplies for our widows and orphans in Uganda. We are currently serving close to 400 families in our Ugandan villages, and these donations will allow us to give each family around $25 for the month. While $25 may not seem like a lot to some of us, it means a great deal to those who receive it.

We are so grateful for each of you who have donated to our food campaigns. In addition to helping provide much-needed food supplies for our Ugandan families, your donations are letting each of them know they matter and are loved.

All photos courtesy of Bob Ditty.

Food is Life!

Shelly Casale on July 20, 2021

While the pandemic has brought hardship and struggle to the world, some of us have fared better than others. Many of us have been able to shop online for food and other things, with front door deliveries. We have made use of curbside pickup and Instacart shoppers. And most of us have been able to shop inside grocery and other stores as needed. I am grateful to God for the relative ease of feeding my family during such a hard time.

Our friends in Uganda are facing something wholly different. Due to rising cases of Covid-19 in country, Uganda began a 42 day lockdown on June 19. People may not leave their homes unless for medical emergencies. This has put people in the ROWAN villages in a dangerous situation as they have no way to get food to sustain themselves for this long period. ROWAN asked for your help and you came through! Last week, Paster Paul and our ROWAN team (under the watchful eye of Security officers) were able to distribute food to our widows and orphans.

Maize and beans made ready for distribution outside at Mwanga Hall of Hope.

Pastor Paul and Isaac Malinga, ROWAN Board Chair, witness the food distribution process along with police officers.

Without the generosity of donors this would not have been possible. And we’re not done yet! To sustain each person through the lockdown we need to purchase and deliver more food. Please consider giving, anything you can, to our Food to Families campaign, and help us be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to our faithful widows and orphans in the villages who need to eat. All of the money raised from this campaign is going toward the purchase of food supplies during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Their faces! Happy beneficiaries of food send thanks and God’s blessing to donors and sponsors.

Pastor Paul just sent this message:

“Good evening to you all,

Thank you for your prayers, we made it. Everyone was excited with the food given to them—God Bless you all abundantly.

You may wonder why we didn’t use the Bus. The first point was that the Kilos were too many for the Bus, secondly the roads are too bad for the Bus when packed with food, thirdly the police we had didn’t allow us because when you carry people in a Bus it can easily spread the virus, so that is why we had to use the truck.

But the most important thing we thank God is that we were allowed to buy food and we were able to distribute it to them.

Thank you so much for your help.

Talk to you soon.”

Pastor Paul Nyende

Being hungry and not being fed takes a toll on the mind, body, and spirit. Thank you for continuing to help us alleviate this most basic need for our Ugandan brothers and sisters in Christ. He is the bread of life and we give Him thanks!

Food to Families Campaign

Kirsten Formea on June 18, 2021

It’s been nearly two weeks since Ugandan President, Yoweri Musevini, announced that the country would be going into another lockdown. The timeline given for this new lockdown was 42 days, but many believe that the current restrictions could last for much longer given the number of COVID-19 cases and the lack of vaccines in Uganda.

When the new restrictions were announced, ROWAN began working to put together a plan that would allow us to help our widows and orphans during this new lockdown. After much thought and prayer, the board felt that the best course of action for ROWAN would be to provide our widows and orphans with food distributions during this time. To this end, we recently set up a new donation campaign called Food to Families. Every dollar donated through this campaign will go directly to the purchase of food goods that will help ensure that our widows and orphans are fed during this time of quarantine. In addition to the money raised through the Food to Families campaign, ROWAN’s board made the decision to move our budget around from our sponsorships and put that money toward buying food supplies for all those under our care during this lockdown.

We are grateful to those who have already donated to our Food to Families campaign as well as those who make donations through sponsorships. Your generosity is making a tangible difference in our ROWAN communities. We also want to give a huge shout-out of thanks to Little Man Ice Cream for their very generous donation. Because of the generosity and love shown by all of you, we were able to send $13,000 to our Ugandan team for the purchase of food supplies.

Food prices in Uganda keep increasing and ROWAN is working hard to ensure we are ready and able to distribute food goods to our widows and orphans throughout this lockdown. With your help, we can make sure none of them go to bed hungry during this time of quarantine.

All photos in this post are by Bob Ditty

Moms to Mamas

Shelly Casale on May 8, 2021

There’s no better way to honor the moms in your life than to bless a mom in need.

This Mother’s Day, we want to bridge the gap between the moms in your life and the mothers (who are widows) in ROWAN who are in real need of a sponsor more than ever before.

This year ROWAN has launched our Legacy Program: A four year comprehensive plan for our widows to learn business practices, grow in their faith, practice life skills, increase their passion for their families, all while meeting their physical needs each week.

So what is Mothers to Mother’s Campaign?

We have 18 mamas who need a sponsor to help them through this 4 year program. That could look like:

$38 a month, $228 every 6 months, or $456 a year. They will graduate at the end of 2025!

What will your mother receive?

Your mother will receive a sponsorship card with their photo and details
Access to write her letters online *Anytime! She will respond within three weeks of your message!
Updates on her progress in Legacy Program through ROWAN quarterly.
An opportunity to visit her mama at her graduation party in Uganda!

Will you consider sponsoring one of these mamas? For your mom, your mother-in-law, your sister, your aunt, your grandmother, your friend, or any special woman in your life who has loved and taught you. Visit the 18 mamas here and consider giving your mom or mentor the gift of loving one of these precious women who are in need of love from someone who has loved you. If you can’t sponsor a mama monthly, a one-time gift goes a long way to sponsor our 18 mamas! Thank you for reading about our mamas and considering changing their lives through the Legacy program. mother’s

We understand if you can’t give right now. This virus affects us all differently, and we sympathize with those of you who wish you could give but aren’t able to. If you are looking for other ways to help, please share about ROWAN with your family and close friends. Our hearts are with each of you this holiday weekend.

ROMANS 5:5

honor!

Making a difference – one scoop at a time.

Kirsten Formea on March 12, 2021

Little Man Ice Cream, in Denver, Colorado, is a company that acts on its belief that businesses should make a difference for good in their community and in the world at large. They are true to their commitment to, “make a difference both at the local and global levels,” and they lead the way in supporting local non-profits in Colorado for a larger cause. Little Man Ice Cream has a program called Scoop for Scoop that has helped feed people around the world. Since 2008, the Scoop for Scoop program has allowed Little Man Ice Cream to help provide close to 1.5 million scoops worth of food staples to people throughout the world.

ROWAN has been a grateful recipient of funding from Little Man Ice Cream’s Scoop for Scoop program since 2014. In the past, we used this money to help fund our Saturday food program which provided meals for 130 children on Saturdays, as well as weekly bags of food for 100 families in our Ugandan community. Starting in 2021, all the funding we receive from the Scoop for Scoop program will go toward our learning center goal of providing food to children who are home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In using his father’s nickname as the business name, Paul Tamburello, the founder of Little Man Ice Cream, set the tone for a business run with heart and one that strives to truly make a difference for good. We at ROWAN are incredibly grateful for Little Man Ice Cream and for the support the funding from their Scoop for Scoop program provides. It is because of the support and funding from incredible businesses like Little Man Ice Cream, as well as each one of you, that ROWAN can move forward in our work.

If you ever find yourself in the Denver, Colorado area, make sure to stop by Little Man Ice Cream’s fun 28-foot tall cream can-shaped location at 2620 16^th Street, and enjoy a delicious scoop, or two or three, of their homemade ice cream.