Welcome to our 2nd monthly F-to-F newsletter! There’s lots that’s new this month… including an interview with our new Ugandan Chapter Chair… a new F-to-F party dress donation program… hand-crocheted blanket “lovies” going to orphan babies in Africa… and other stories of connection and giving. But first we’d like to say THANK YOU! to our consistently hard working chapter chairs and community coordinators for everything they do… month after month… to keep Family-to-Family going strong!!

Q & A with Ugandan Chapter Chair Jerome Kasekende
As the formation of our first ever international chapter of F-to-F moves forward, we thought we’d ask Jerome Kasekende (our new chapter chair in Uganda) a few questions about himself. Here are our questions, and his responses:

Q: Can you tell me a bit about yourself? Current work, study, family situation? Do you live at home? Have any siblings?
A: My name is Jerome Kasekende, age 20. I am a student at Makerere University (in Kampala, Uganda). I live with both my Mum and Dad. I have four brothers and one sister.

Q: What do your parents do for work? Explain your mother's activism.
A: My Dad is a pharmacist and my Mum is program co-nominator for the Ggaba community-based care. They care for the infected and affected of HIV/AIDS clients, which include the parents themselves, their families and orphans (some are children-headed families who have lost both parents and have no one to care for them). Some of the activities involved include:

• Treatment/Nursing at the center
• Home visits to the bed-bound or bed-ridden
• Counseling of all types
• Pastoral care
• Pediatric care to HIV+ children
• Income generating activities and many more

Q: How did you find Family-to-Family?
A: How I came to know about Family-to-Family was through the Internet.

Q: What made it interesting to you to pursue and to find out more
about it?
A: I was challenged by the activities of the F-to-F and I felt that the activities of F-to-F should be done here in Uganda were they are needed the most. Here in Uganda there are very many families that cannot support themselves and the linking of two families together would unite different families together of different financial status.

Q: Have you worked as a volunteer in the past, and why do you feel this is important to do?
A: I have been a volunteer in different ways. I have volunteered in the Ggaba-based Community care that looks after the HIV/AIDS infected and affected as a counselor, volunteered at the Global coalition in development in welfare as a counselor and in many activities at the different schools where I have had my education.

Q: Explain how you have gone about getting this started in Uganda.
A: Well when I got the permission from Pam I told three friends of mine and it turned out there were more people who were willing to join the boat. I finally had five willing volunteers and my Mum inclusive. We started by talking to some families, of which some agreed to help; yet others neglected our request and so far we have 3 families that are willing to help. We are to operate in two districts — that is Mityana and Komme Island. As we are trying to get more families we wish to extend to Northern Uganda (war affected area).

Q: What are the drawbacks or problems in taking the idea of a family with MORE helping a family with LESS to Uganda? Are there any cultural differences regarding "helping" or is it a part of your culture historically?
A: The drawbacks faced and still facing: First people here don't have the culture of helping those in need and that is why we have (only) three families. Second, the organization is not legally known and that sometimes is a problem since we are asked about our legal operation by the families and people we approach on this matter. Third we are faced by the problem of lack of funds to carry out the organization activities. This is because I and my colleagues are students and not employed to fund all our activities.

Q: How did you find the people who are willing to help?
A: We approached people whom we expected to welcome this idea and we explained to them our course of action. After expressing our view we ended up with three families of those we talked to, many were willing but unable to help.

Q: Who are you helping? Explain the area and the conditions and the way you are planning to do it monthly. How is the food distributed and who is doing it on the receiving end?
A: We are helping families that are unable to support themselves in terms of basic needs such as food and clothing and we also think of increasing on such items if all goes well. We have a priest at Mityana who will help us distribute and determine the families that need our help.

Chapter & Community Updates

News from San Diego (sending to Lemmon, South Dakota) — “San Diego will be sending along used books in the May shipment, along with the usual drive items. San Diego sends along gently used clothes about once a year and this is our first book drive. Our favorite month is December when we get a wish list from each receiving family for Christmas and send along unwrapped gifts along with paper, bows, etc., so the parents can spoil their kids a little over the holidays. We have done this for three years now and it is always a special way of making the holidays feel more special.”
-- Julia Holladay

News from Two Rivers Ministries in Cairo, Illinois — “Cairo is a small community of approximately 3400 people and most services (shopping, pools, theaters, etc.) are located at least 45 minutes away. The children in this community do not have access to clubs and activities that are available in larger towns. Two Rivers has started a group for kids called the “Tribe of Judah”. Many of the children of our Family-to-Family participants come to learn about the Bible through fun interactive learning and memorizing Bible verses. They can earn badges for different activities and after they have earned 3 badges they receive a vest to put them on. It is amazing how excited the kids are about competing on teams to answer questions about the verses they are learning. We also award “Fruit of the Spirit” pins as we see the kids showing actions of love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We are developing a team spirit so the children will feel supported and be supportive of each other. We have 12 kids participating in Tribe of Judah but during the summer we have a “Kids Club” that approximately 80 children attend 4 days a week. We also sponsor a free lunch program for children 18 and under. We also had a group 15 college students visit during their spring break. They came to help in the Cairo community and also work on Hannah House, an old house we are remodeling as a refuge for kids. They also spent time reading to the kids at the elementary school and visiting at the nursing home. We have been blessed by many groups of volunteers from churches all over the country that come to Cairo to help people in need in this community.”
-- Sharon Tillman, F-to-F Community Coordinator at Two Rivers Ministries in Cairo

News from Lake Providence, Louisiana — “In Lake Providence we have 22 families who participate in the program. They are grateful and pleased to be a part of it. Some of the families are really good about keeping in touch with their sending families. One family sends pictures of themselves and articles from the local paper that mention their kid's names for Honor Roll, etc.”
-- Sister Karen, F-to-F Community Coordinator in East Carroll Parish

News from Lemmon, South Dakota (This Lemmon update was printed in last month’s newsletter, but since it was not included in the 1st version we emailed out, we thought we’d print it again, in case some of you missed it.) — “The prairie of western South Dakota finally got a bit of moisture. We had a spring snow storm with about 5 inches of wet snow. Although it did not cover the entire area, we are grateful for the moisture that some of our neighbors did get. We have been in severe drought for 7 years now and many are having trouble hanging on. Our stock dams and rivers are either very low or dry. Our lakes are down several feet. Anyhow, the sight of any moisture was hopeful. Because this is ranch country, grass is a must for hay and grazing of cattle. The help to some of our families is a morale booster and we appreciate it. All ranchers are very busy right now during calving and lambing season. They are up every 2 or 3 hours all night to check the birthing mamas. Sometimes they need help--especially the heifers (first time mother cows). It is definitely SPRING on the prairie. Pray for more moisture for us.”
-- from Florence Hoff, Lemmon Community Coordinator

Fabrics and Notions for Myra, Kentucky — As we mentioned last month, Lois Tackett, our community coordinator in Myra, who runs the “Manna From Heaven” food bank and outreach center, is starting a sewing class with 10 sewing machines that were purchased with a donation to F-to-F from the Ziv Tzedakah Fund. With additional money from Ziv we’ve now purchased 24 yards of fabric and notions… needles, buttons, scissors, tape measures, pins, thread, etc… for the class, and we’d like to thank JoAnn’s Etc. and the Viking Sewing Gallery (both located in West Nyack, New York) for generously discounting everything they sold us. Because of the discount, we were able to purchase much more than expected. In addition, a generous woman from Frederick, Maryland emailed us asking if she could help the women in Myra by donating fabrics as well. She writes, “I thought I would help out and send some fabric and other supplies. I think I went a little overboard, but I ordered and have sent over $600.00 in donations of fabric (80+ yards), batting (35 yards), quilt kits, as well as some beginning sewing projects.”

VolunteerMatch.org
Family-to-Family has just joined VolunteerMatch.org, a Web site that matches would-be volunteers throughout the U.S. with non-profit organizations they might want to volunteer for. We first heard about VolunteerMatch from Robin Miller, our Flower Mound, Texas chapter chairperson, and so far we’ve gotten 8 e-mails from people interested in becoming chapter chairs! (We’ve also joined CharityFocus.org, networkforgood.org and have a blog on squidoo.com!) Anyone who knows of other on-line sites we could join to publicize our program, please let us know.

The Ripple Effect…
We are always amazed by the way one act of generosity ripples out to inspire other generous acts… so we thought we’d tell you some recent ways that Family-to-Family has directly and indirectly inspired other wonderful acts of generosity…

• A woman in California who heard about Family-to-Family is now starting an “adopt a family” program of her own in her local community, with families with more helping nearby families with less…
  
  
• A woman named Michele from Geneva, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) e-mailed us saying she had read about our “Birthday Buddies” program, but she had too many toys to fit in a shoe box, and could she send them some other way? So we asked Jessie Mae Walker (our Pembroke, Illinois Community Coordinator) if she could use a box of unwrapped toys to give out to parents who are unable to afford birthday gifts for their children… and Jessie Mae was happy to get them. Michele, who says she “loves to shop,” generously sent all of the following brand new items to Pembroke:
  • Two dolls, 1 purple princess nightgown with magic wand, 1 gold/w glitter tutu style skirt, 1 shark playdoh set, playdoh, 1 glamorous stationery chest set, 1 Pucci Pups Yorkshire dog w/ gold and pink travel bag and accessories, 1 "Super Girl" pink and white bed canopy, letter L stationery
    pack, letter C stationery pack, scented markers, abc flashcards, hair accessories, 1 white blouse, 1 pink blouse and skirt to match, bag of little goodies (pencils, coin purse, memo book, wooden spinning top, etc.), several stuffed teddy bears, 1 Cadoo Cranium game!!!
• UPDATE!! We just received another e-mail from Michele, telling us she has sent another box of goodies – this time to Manna From Heaven in Myra, Kentucky! Lois Tackett, our community coordinator in Myra says she will look at her lists of children’s birthdays, and ask the parents to come in to “shop” (for free) for birthday gifts!
  
  
• Also in California, Julia Holladay (F-to-F’s chapter chair in La Mesa, Ca.) is now reaching out in another way… to help refugees from war-torn Sudan. She writes, “I am involved in helping refugees from southern Sudan, who have been here since 2001. The (Sudanese) authors of the memoir, "They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan", (www.theypouredfire.com) live here in San Diego and the co-author, Judy Bernstein, and I have become acquainted. My work involves helping these young men with ways to improve their quality of life (setting up tutoring to help prepare for the GED to allow one to go to college; getting another one an acting coach so he can pursue his dream of acting; selling books at speaking engagements, etc.). I will also be working with one of the author's roommates, who is blind and needs some assistance to enhance his education opportunities. I have a to-do list that I tackle each week; nothing major yet, but still helpful nonetheless. My biggest dream is to help the International Rescue Committee (IRC) with opening up micro-enterprise opportunities in southern Sudan to help entrepreneurial Sudanese get the seed money loans to begin life again in their homeland. I am meeting with the point person at IRC this week to see what the steps are to make this happen. As an entrepreneur myself, I love the idea of helping those individuals who just need a little money to get started in some small enterprise which will allow them to make their own way with their own money and not be dependent on foreign aid, which is not good for Africa's farmers and doesn't allow local people the opportunity to sell to their own people.”

F-to-F to Send “Snuggle Blankies” to Ugandan Orphans
After hearing about babies left orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda, Pam recently contacted Ro Cafaro, a wonderful woman who crocheted blankets for babies in a Mississippi daycare center after Hurricane Katrina, and asked if she would be willing to make “snuggle blankies” (small blankets) for Ugandan orphans. Ro not only said yes, but put the word out through her Web site www.onesmallthing.org to the crocheting community she’s involved with to start working on cuddling blankets for HIV/AIDS babies. One of the people who responded was a 4th grade teacher who says she plans to have her 4th graders make some blankets! As Ro wrote to Pam: “Kids making blankets for kids. This is just too cool.”

Thanks to Ro’s efforts, people across the U.S. are making and sending us beautiful hand-crocheted “snuggle blankies”, which we will forward to the non-profit organization GCBC (Ggaba Based Community Care) in Uganda for the profoundly poor, orphaned babies and children they care for. We received the first ones in the mail a few days ago… and they are incredibly beautiful!!! These snuggle blankies (meant to give comfort by giving the babies something to hold) will be given out to over 100 of the approximately 600 orphaned babies and children cared for by GCBC.

We first heard about these needy babies from our new Ugandan chapter chairperson, Jerome Kasekende, whose mother is active in GCBC. Jerome estimates that approximately 400 of the 600 orphans there are HIV positive. He tells us there are two categories of orphans – “total orphans” - children who have lost both parents, and “partial orphans”- children who have lost one parent. GCBC tries to obtain anti-HIV drugs for these kids and whatever family they have, which it distributes to them for free. Through donations, GCBC also supports some of the children through the primary level of education, as well as educates the community about HIV and AIDS.

F-to-F’s New ‘Best Dressed Babes’ Donation Program
F-to-F is excited to launch a “Best Dressed Babes Recycled Party Clothes” effort! We are collecting gently used and outgrown party clothes (for either girls or boys ages 2-18), and forwarding them to our receiving communities.

We’re asking our community coordinators to make the clothes available to our receiving families… so moms, dads and kids, too can “shop” (no money necessary) for a perfect dress, party suit, shoes... the works!! A truly empowering gift for these parents who have so little, and a super “Princess or Prince for a day” treat for the kids! We’re sure our F-to-F kids will be thrilled to have “party clothes” to wear to their “Birthday Club” and “Birthday Buddies” celebrations!! We’re looking for:

	girl’s party dresses		boy’s suits
	girl’s prom dress		boy’s dress jackets
	girl’s fancy shoes		boy’s dress shirts & ties
	party type girl’s purses		boys dress shoes

…but only items that are in very good condition. Anyone interested should email us at famtofamily@aol.com for information about where to send them.

Community Profile

Cairo, Illinois (This profile of Cairo, Illinois was written at the end of 2006, when it was e-mailed to Cairo-sponsoring families. We’ve included it for those of you who didn’t get a chance to read it then.)

Cairo (pronounced like the syrup, Kar-oh, not the Egyptian capital) is a struggling town in the southernmost corner of Illinois, where the state meets up with Kentucky and Missouri. It lies at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers — one brown, one blue — which is a beautiful sight to see, according to Tammy Terry, who administered the F-to-F program in Cairo up until a few months ago. Once a thriving city visited by tourists eager to witness this natural phenomenon, Cairo has more recently fallen on hard times. [Note: A folk musician, Stace England (www.staceengland.com), has found the turbulent history of Cairo, with its role in the Civil War, in the civil rights movement and race relations, so fascinating that he wrote an entire album, “Greetings from Cairo” about the town.]

One of the only cities in Illinois protected by a levee, Cairo’s streets lie on top of wet ground, and they are cracking and buckling and in need of attention, as are Cairo’s remaining 2,800 residents. Many of Cairo’s parents lack even the basics necessary to send their children to school on a regular basis. Sometimes they don’t have clean clothes, because there isn’t enough money for the Laundromat and for detergent. Sometimes there isn’t even running water or electricity. Sometimes there is no money for food for lunch or even for breakfast at home.

Employment opportunities are scarce in Cairo. The nearest cities are 40 to 45 miles away across state lines, and few people have the transport to get to them anyway. Utility rates, controlled by a private company, are sky high, and housing is expensive as well. The few stores in Cairo have limited offerings and high prices. The schools are struggling and under state supervision. Attracting and keeping teachers is difficult, and the district is unable to offer many of the courses required for college admission, especially in the sciences, so students who are aiming for higher education have to find another way to learn.

Receiving families are very grateful for their boxes, especially things they particularly need — for example, a winter coat and a bathroom rug sent to one family that has been corresponding with its sponsoring family. But not all families have the wherewithal to keep up a correspondence. Literacy is a problem for some; for others the problems are deeper. While Ms. Terry was administering our program, she sometimes found it necessary to give F-to-F boxes directly to the children in families whose parents are struggling with poverty and drug addiction.

As we mentioned in our last newsletter, Sharon Tillman is now the community contact for Family-to-Family in Cairo, working from the Two Rivers Ministries there.

That’s all for this month – Anyone with news for next month, please e-mail us at famtofamily@aol.com. Thanks!

– Pam and the Family-to-Family team
– written by Nancy Hennessee