Several years back in 2012, Eric and I decided that we needed to scale back on Christmas. We celebrate with Santa in this house, but we wanted to make Christmas about giving rather than receiving. So we decided that Santa would bring 3 gifts to our kids on Christmas morning, and our gift to our children was to give them $50 each that they have to spend on someone else.
The first year we did it, it was really more fun for us to watch than them I think. :) We got the Samaritan's Purse catalog and they spent the longest time looking through deciding what to do with their money. Did they want to buy chickens, or goats, or school supplies, or medical supplies, or combine their money and buy something bigger like a donkey? It did this momma's heart good to watch them spend hours looking through to decide what to give others. I think all in all that year we ended up with mosquito nets, chickens, school supplies for 50 children, and a goat. Not too shabby for $200.
The next year when they were looking through the catalog in October, Brayden (8 years old at the time) was reading each section. He was very thoughtfully reading the description of what each thing would provide, and trying to make the best choice he could with his $50. He said, "I think we should supply clean water for Christmas." I told him, that he didn't have enough for the hand held water pumps. They would clean water for 1 household for up to 3 months. But it was $250. I told him he would have to convince his brother and sisters to combine their money, and then they would have to try to raise $50. He said, "No Mom, for a whole village. I want clean water for the whole village." I kind of laughed and said, "well buddy, that is $10,000. I don't have $10,000. We only have $200." He looked at me with the most sincere and serious face and said, "well... we have to try."That is where the idea was born. I could not turn him down. I knew it was a long shot, impossible actually in my mind, but I wanted him to know we did everything possible. I wanted him to know God could do BIG things. So scared to death, we let the kids write a letter to friends and family.
We spent the next 2 months doing so many little odds and ins chores for generous people. The kids were 3, 5, 7, and 8... so we were a tad limited on what we could do. But people came up with some crazy awesome things for these little people and we did it! Sorting Legos, picking up sticks and pinecones, decorating Christmas trees, feeding farm animals, addressing Christmas cards, making Christmas cards... if people thought of it, we tried to do it! We baked about 9 million cookies for cookie exchanges and Christmas parties. The kids went through all their toys and started selling them. They gave their birthday and Christmas money to the cause. A local paper picked up the story, and MOPS international picked up the story. We had all kinds of people sending money in that were far away, but wanted to help us reach our goal! Any where from $2 to a $2,000 donation came in. It was unbelievable and humbling.
As we got into December we learned that Christian Relief Fund (another amazing organization) had an anonymous donor that would be willing to match whatever we raised! We were so excited!
All in all the kids ended up raising more than $6,000! With the generous matching donor they met the goal and had the funds to dig the well! It was such an AMAZING lesson for my children God can do ANYTHING!
February of 2014 when the well was dug, they sent us pictures and it was the amazing, awesome feeling all over again! The well provided clean drinking water to people who were walking 9 miles to the closest (not clean) water source. This was the beginning of a life changing situation for this community.
All in all the kids ended up raising more than $6,000! With the generous matching donor they met the goal and had the funds to dig the well! It was such an AMAZING lesson for my children God can do ANYTHING!
February of 2014 when the well was dug, they sent us pictures and it was the amazing, awesome feeling all over again! The well provided clean drinking water to people who were walking 9 miles to the closest (not clean) water source. This was the beginning of a life changing situation for this community.
Since that year of taking a leap of faith, we have continued to stay in touch with the village and the needs that arise there. In 2016, after moving to Maryland we took another leap of faith to raise a huge sum of money to put a solar pump in the existing well. The clean water that was being able to accessed was still on a hand pump situation. This would not only make it easier for the children to access the water (they are the primary water fetchers), but it would also allow them to farm the land.
This is the year we started to partner with We Help Two. It is an amazing organization that lets us sell fun and funky socks and receive 60% of the profit AND they provide us with a pair of thermal socks for the homeless in our area for every pair we sell. This was the perfect opportunity to show our kids how we could help both globally and locally. It also gave us the platform and opportunity to speak Jesus in the public school system where the kids were attending.
That year we had an outpouring of love from our community and a ton of people we didn’t even know. We raised $8,029.33 to help a little village in Kenya! And beyond helping the village on the other side of the world, y'all bought funky socks... like tons of them! And with the generous WE HELP TWO we provided 550 pair of warm socks that were distributed all over the state of Maryland, Washington DC, Missouri, and a few states in between for people in need over the winter time. And not only that... but 174 pair of fun funky socks for kids in the hospital! With those funds you provided a Solar well pump for fresh flowing water for that little village in Kenya. Not only did you do that, but there was so much money raised beyond the goal that they purchased beds, and mattresses, and lots of goats and chickens for the community!
In 2017, my mom passed away from kidney cancer after a very short but fierce battle. She was a pre-school and kindergarten teacher for 25 years. It felt very hard to want to do anything that year with the loss of my mom and the (very unexpected) birth of our 5th child, but when our contact at Christian Relief Fund told us that the biggest need was to build a pre-school and kindergarten classroom, we knew this was what the Lord wanted us to do. Our goal was to purchase 2 cows and a classroom (to be donated in my mother’s name) for the village in Kenya and to be able to have 200 pair of warm socks to donate here locally.
Not only did we meet the goals- y’all blew it out of the water!
We got not 2, but 3 cows!
We got not 1, but 2 classrooms!!!
Not only did we get the classrooms, but desks for all 60 students! All of them y’all!!! ALL!
And we have more than 400 pairs of socks to donate! and we did it in my mom’s name. We partnered with We Help Two again, and we were able to use the end of the campaign to have people sponsor socks to go to children fighting cancer.
Not only did we meet the goals- y’all blew it out of the water!
We got not 2, but 3 cows!
We got not 1, but 2 classrooms!!!
Not only did we get the classrooms, but desks for all 60 students! All of them y’all!!! ALL!
And we have more than 400 pairs of socks to donate! and we did it in my mom’s name. We partnered with We Help Two again, and we were able to use the end of the campaign to have people sponsor socks to go to children fighting cancer.
Last year our goals were HUGE! We wanted to get all 34 students attending at the Kriete School in Chemurgui sponsored. This would provide them with clothing, food, schooling, medical and Bible teaching. This was our number one priority, to make sure these kids were taken care of. We achieved this goal through lots of generous friends and family on Thanksgiving Day 2018!
On top of finding sponsorship for all 34 students, we had the ambitious goals of providing a herd of 30 goats ($1,500 price tag)to the village and building a 10 stall bathroom house ($5,000) for the school. The bathroom situation there was not safe. They had one outhouse with a pit that was caving in underground and the walls falling in around it. On top of the unsafe situation, the church and the school shared this one outhouse and the student would have to walk across to the church to use it! Can you imagine?!?!
Last year was the first year that we did not reach all of our goals by Christmas. It was a hard one for me to swallow honestly. It felt like a failure. When we sat down with the kids right before Christmas to explain that the herd of goats was purchased, but we only raised 1/2 of the funds for the bathrooms and wanted to know what they wanted to do, they didn't hesitate... we work until we raise it... even if it takes all year. This was a humbling moment for me. I was ready to just donate what we had and move on, they (once again) taught me a fantastic lesson in trusting the Lord will provide when He is ready.
So after an very long year (and baby #6 entering this crazy crew) and a LOT of manual labor and generous people, the last of the funds were raised at the end of August!!! So not a year, but 10 months of work for last year's goals!!!
We believe the Lord is doing amazing things and letting us be just a little part of that. In the last three years through WE HELP TWO we have donated more than 1,145 pairs of socks to the homeless in Southern Maryland/ DC area and more than 450 kids in the hospital and foster care in our area have received fun funky socks… and that is only the local impact! Y'all.... that is a LOT of socks!
So that brings us to now...
OUR 2019 GOALS:
1. Provide the Kriete School with an acre of land. The amount of people coming to this area because of the clean water and school has more than doubled since last year this time. Providing an acre of land for them to expand the Kriete School campus is at the top of their need list! This comes with a price tag of $7,000.
2. Build 2 more classroom buildings for the school. The school we built last 2 years ago has done so well! It is bringing so many new people to the area. We currently have 52 kids on the waiting list to get into the school. That means our attendance there goes from 34 students to 86... plus staff. They are bursting at the seams and need more classrooms!
3. Provide people with the opportunity to sponsor a child waiting. As I said above, we have 52 students on a waiting list to get into the Kriete School in Chemurgui, Kenya. Sponsorship is $35 a month. This provides the child with medical care, food, education, and each child will be taught about Jesus. They have just started loading all of the children on our waiting list to a private page HERE. There will be a total of 52 (not currently on there).
3. Provide people with the opportunity to sponsor a child waiting. As I said above, we have 52 students on a waiting list to get into the Kriete School in Chemurgui, Kenya. Sponsorship is $35 a month. This provides the child with medical care, food, education, and each child will be taught about Jesus. They have just started loading all of the children on our waiting list to a private page HERE. There will be a total of 52 (not currently on there).
4. 250 Warm socks for local Homeless and 50 sponsored pairs for local children So once again, we are partnering with WE HELP TWO to try to raise funds and put socks on 250 homeless here in Southern Maryland. We also are trying to get 50 pair of socks sponsored to donate to kids in the hospital and foster care system.
RECAP:
$11,000 to be raised
250 packs of socks to sell
52 opportunities to sponsor a child
HERE IS WHERE WE STAND:
We have an INSANELY GENEROUS donor that has pledged $8,000 toward our campaign this year! That is right!!! We already have $8,000 toward and $11,000 goal!!! only $3,000 left to raise!!! We can do this!!!
RECAP:
$11,000 to be raised
250 packs of socks to sell
52 opportunities to sponsor a child
HERE IS WHERE WE STAND:
We have an INSANELY GENEROUS donor that has pledged $8,000 toward our campaign this year! That is right!!! We already have $8,000 toward and $11,000 goal!!! only $3,000 left to raise!!! We can do this!!!
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
1. PRAY- We covet your prayers. We believe in the power of prayer and know that God can do ANYTHING! We ask for prayers for the success of this campaign, the hearts of the people that will help us reach our goal, people of Chemurgui, Kenya and the homeless here in Maryland. And as a mother, I ask for you to pray for our family… that we always keep the focus on the Lord and remember we are just the hands and feet to His amazing works!
2. BUY SOCKS- $15 is for a 3 pack of socks for you. When you do that, $9 goes to the Classrooms in Kenya AND a pair of thermal socks is donated to the homeless here in St. Mary’s county. You can order those HERE through our direct store link We Help Two sock store until OCTOBER 31st! We have so many NEW designs!!! These can be shipped directly to your door or (if you are local) choose the "campaign host" for your shipping option and I will get them to you in November when the campaign is over... FREE SHIPPING!
2. BUY SOCKS- $15 is for a 3 pack of socks for you. When you do that, $9 goes to the Classrooms in Kenya AND a pair of thermal socks is donated to the homeless here in St. Mary’s county. You can order those HERE through our direct store link We Help Two sock store until OCTOBER 31st! We have so many NEW designs!!! These can be shipped directly to your door or (if you are local) choose the "campaign host" for your shipping option and I will get them to you in November when the campaign is over... FREE SHIPPING!
4. DONATE! Socks aren't your thing but still want to see this awesome things happen? We've got you covered! You can send donations to be applied 100% toward the CLASSROOM project through PayPal to krietesinkenya@gmail.com HERE or you can send donations to:
Cassie Kriete
27595 Avonlea Ct.
Mechanicsville, MD 20659
5. SPREAD THE WORD! If you have already bought socks or donated... please spread the word! Share our story and our mission! Wear your socks! Take pictures and tag me in them! We are relying on you to help us get the word out!
6. Watch for upcoming events/fundraisers! We have a few irons in the fire and are working out details of at least 2 more fundraising efforts coming in November/December! Keep an eye out!
THANK YOU!!! To everyone that has and continues to support this mission! Thanks for joining us on this journey!
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