We Kept Women in Action Open Another Semester! Now On to Giving Tuesday!

Echoers!

Great news! In August we were running a fundraising campaign to see if we could close out 2018’s rent for Esther. And we did! We got all the funding we needed by the end of the month and transferred the funds. Through September, Esther brought the funds to the landlord and we waited as Esther negotiated with the landlord because we were late and they were starting to threaten legal action. But I recently received confirmation that we are okay at least until the end of this year.

Wire transfer receipt to Women in Action for the balance that YOU helped fundraise! Hoorah!

So here is where I share our next two fundraising goals. By April, I’d like to ensure Esther has all the rent paid for 2019 which will be another 7,000 USD. 2500 of that we need by the end of December to allow Esther to remain for the Spring semester.

What about the second goal? Here is where things get more exciting. Over the last year, I’ve been talking about plans to build Esther her own building. I’ve wanted to do this for years because it means that our funding dollars aren’t just paying rent, but actually providing a space that BELONGS to Women in Action itself. That would mean that future donated dollars can ALL go directly to expanding curriculum, paying teacher salaries, and lowering student fees. Some of our funding already accomplishes these more exciting budget line items, but a majority of the funding goes to landlords. Rent is important. It keeps the school operating. But ultimately we want something more sustainable. How much will that cost? Originally, I thought the costs would be much higher – in excess of 100,000 USD. However, Esther has drawn up a plan with an engineer and it is more like 35,000 USD which is amazing. The school already has a plot of land to construct the new space which we helped to purchase a few years ago.

Activities resume for the Fall Semester at Women in Action

In addition, to help get things started, the staff and students have already started to construct parts of the building that they can do on their own.

How can you help? Giving Tuesday is coming November 27th! Please consider us again this year. Last year’s Giving Tuesday was the single largest fundraising day we ever had. Our first goal is to cover the more immediate need which is Esther’s Rent. Anything in addition to that goal we raise between now and April will go to the construction project. You can find our profile at: https://givingtuesday.ca/partners/esthers-echo.

Thank you all so much again for your continued support! Also, welcome to our new donors who helped us during the August fundraising push!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Donate Today!

First Rent Donation is Sent!

Hello Echoers,

Thanks to all of your support, we just sent the first portion of our rent campaign donation to the Women in Action Development Project last week. Last Friday, we transferred $3000US to Esther and her school. There is $1500 that is still in cue from donations made to the Esther's Echo website from last week. These take about a week to get to our account from credit card transactions. At the end of this week, we will wire those donations as well. 

With the $4500 you contributed to the campaign combined with $2000 from Esther's efforts overseas, the combined $6500 is enough to cover at least one year of rent at Women in Action producing a whole new generation of graduates from the program. What we need to do now is convince the Landlord to accept a year of funding as he was hoping for a two year lease. I have had several conversations with them now and they seem receptive. Esther has also expressed a receptive attitude in her own dealings with him. 

We will continue to keep you all posted as events unfold at the school through May. Thank you for your support and remember that we are still trying to hit that 10K mark! 

Sincerely,

Matthew

Donate to the Women in Action Development Project Today!

Esther Kanu (centre, red hair) with Staff, and Students of Women in Action

Days left to Save Esther's School

Dear Echoers!

April has passed and Esther's landlord is starting to really put the pressure on. Within days, he may decide to evict the Women in Action Development Project, Esther's school. But here's the incredible news on what we've accomplished so far.

We've hit the $4000K mark! In two weeks that is amazing! Combined with Esther's savings in country, that puts us at just under $6K, about enough to cover one year of rent on Esther's building. The land lord was hoping for 2 (but pushing for 5). I have now connected with the landlord directly over the phone. He is also based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. My plan is to negotiate with him to determine what we can do if funding come up short of the 2 years and to look toward buying his building outright in the future. I will keep everybody posted on how this goes. 

After our initial round of e-mails to friends and family, we had an initial influx of donations including one $1000 contribution from the students and staff at Mulgrave School in West Vancouver. A HUGE thanks to Tony Wilson and the students of the "Action for Esther" campaign for their support. Your donation within days of us beginning this campaign was wind in our sails!

Last week, I received word that the Chronicle Journal Newspaper in Thunder Bay, Ontario (my home town) ran our fundraising letter reaching the entire North Western Ontario community. This week, as a result of the article, we received a series of donations in the mail across the whole region from Slate River, to Thunder Bay, to Nipigon. Know that a school in West Africa is very grateful to you and so are we!

My TEDx talk from University of Toronto Scarborough, which incorporates a story about Esther and her work, went live this week! It has had nearly 350 views already sharing the news about our project overseas with online viewers. If you haven't had the chance to check it out yet, please do so!

I am aware of a few more fundraisers going on out there! Thank you for reaching out to us and running an event in your community, we are going to be looking to send funds out by early next week, so anything that comes through by Monday will go in the first wire transfer over to Women in Action! Thank you all so much for your support!

Sincerely, 

Matthew Cimone - Founder/CEO

Donate Now to Help Save Women in Action

PS, got some new photos from Esther at school celebrations for the end of semester graduation they had recently. 

Students and Staff at Women in Action: Esther is at the centre of photo in pink

A passionate valedictorian speech

Children in Esther's "Kiddies Foundation" child education program. These children are from a neighbouring slum region of the city that Esther is seeking to empower

Help Us Secure a Home for Women in Action

Hello Echoers

The last few weeks have been challenging. 

Esther contacted us recently to let us know that their school is in jeopardy. 

Recently, the landlord that owns the building Women in Action is housed in passed away. Her son has taken over the building. As a result, rent rates on the building have increased dramatically in a short time. While the prices the new landlord is charging are still within market rates, the previous landlord was providing a discounted rate. This increase has created a shortfall in Esther's budget. 

The budget shortfall means that it is possible Esther, and the Women in Action, might be forced from the building. That could mean a huge disruption to the girls currently enrolled at the school at best and permanent closure of the school at worst. 

We are trying to raise enough funds to help Esther cover the rent on the building for the next two years. That is about $10,000. In combination with Esther's efforts abroad, we have raised about $4,000 already thanks to some incredible contributions. We have been sending out letters to everybody we know, friends have volunteered their time to help us with postering and advertising, we event setup a donation box at Simon Fraser University's dining hall to collect change. 

Esther's Echo Donation Box at Simon Fraser University's Dining Hall

But we need to make up the rest and we need to do so quite quickly. We would love your support in helping to keep this incredible project and Esther's vision for community change alive. You can help make this happen by making a donation today. 100% of every dollar we receive goes directly to Esther as we are small enough to operate without taking any funds for overhead expenses. Furthermore, I have personally committed $1000 to the cause to help catalyze funds. 

The donation letter that we sent out to friends and family has also been posted in Thunder Bay's Chronicle Journal newspaper which is my home town. You can read the article by clicking on this link

Thank you for your consideration! Take action by clicking the donation link below!

-Sincerely

Matthew Cimone Founder/CEO

Take Action to Save Esther's School

Esther Kanu, Founder of Women in Action