How we began... and 2024 Goals

  Hello Friends!

It is that time of year! The time of year where the Krietes come to all of our friends and family and ask to continue to help support this amazing work the Lord has put before us! Our dreams, way back in 2013, have become a yearly time of reflection, prayer, communication with Christian Relief Fund (both contacts in the US and on the ground in Kenya) on what the Lord has in store. This is the 11th year to be working with the Chemurgui village in Kenya- and boy oh boy has it come a long way... more than we ever dreamed possible! I have had several people ask me this year details of things we've done over the years and how it started, so I thought I would share the story from the beginning for those wondering. if you know the story and have been with us since the beginning... feel free to scroll down to the end of this post to see this year's goals and how you can help!

From the very beginning of this journey....

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.

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 5^th 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! 

This is the year the Kriete Christian School was born. We had no idea what was coming.

That year we had 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. 

In 2018 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?!?! 

 2018 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 a 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 2018 goals!!! 

In 2019 raised funds for an acre of land that was purchased and 2 classrooms. Both of those things were purchased and the classrooms are built!

We also purchased a herd of 30 goats. The goats, as a herd, was not what they anticipated there. The goats, in that number, were very mischievous and causing a lot of problems, so they broke them up. They are in the care of some of families from the Kriete Educational Center, and a portion of their profits are going back to the school. We did get the update that the goats continue to multiply and are being distributed to bless more families!

Then 2020...Covid had effects everywhere... even places that the actual virus is not present.

Although there were no cases there, this community was still deeply affected by this global pandemic. Schools in the entire country of Kenya closed in the Spring, and they did not open until January 2021. All sponsored children received food and hygiene products in 2 week supply increments every 2 weeks. But, as I feared, many children in the area lost their sponsorship. In 2020 we raised funds to purchase more desks and chairs for the new classrooms, purchased 5 cows and another 20 kids sponsored. This felt like an enormous accomplishment in the state of the world in 2020.

In 2021 our world was turned upside down with a move back to Missouri. It was a crazy hard transition and lots of struggles. I didn't really know if I had it in me to focus on anything other than my own family that year. The kids asked me in October if we were going to do something for the village... and as much of a skeptic that I was that year, they had faith we could do something. So in 2021 we rallied our friends and family once again to help us pull off putting textbooks in the library and buying all the curriculum for K-2.

In 2022 we sold socks in big numbers and raised enough to build a school library building and purchase the curriculum for grades 3-4. Once again helping both globally (Kriete Christian School in Kenya) and right here locally with socks. We were able to donate warm socks to local homeless and people in need through Harvest Table and also some fun funky socks for kids in the foster care system through Foster Closet in Franklin County.

2023 proved to be another one of those years that I doubted what a big miraculous God we had and how He could work through his people to do what felt impossible. At the beginning of November, I had the amazing opportunity to meet with Brother Francis! Francis was my "man on the ground" in Kenya. He works for Christian Relief Fund, but he is Kenyan and lives there in Chemurgui, Kenya. He is my communication guy of what is happening on the ground and what the real needs of the community are there. He sends me pictures and videos of things happening and makes everything feel less far away. Francis was coming to the United States for a conference in OKC, and flew in a day early to meet with me in St. Louis. It was so amazing to be able to meet with him in person and talk about all the things happening there.

The HUGE problem we had breathing down our necks was the risk of the school being shut down. We had many semi-permanent buildings on the property that made up the Kriete Christian School, but the Kenyan government was shutting down all schools that did not have permanent (brick buildings) on the grounds. This came with a $12,000 price tag and 6 weeks to be able to pull off. It felt impossible. We pulled out another year of socks, with WE HELP TWO but knew we would need something else big. That's when God sends His people. It is humbling and heartwarming. I had the opportunity to share our story with a local mom group. After sharing our story, I was approached by Melissa. She wanted to help. She offered to bake bread and sell it at a local Christmas market happening in 2 weeks. And boy did she bake bread! Tons of beautiful, amazing bread! She became a huge cheerleader of the cause and helped us spread the word. We sold every loaf within 2 hours of the market opening.

 Between Melissa's bread, socks, yearly pasta sauce and salsa sales and some very generous donations we had no idea were coming, $12,000 was raised and the school remained open!

A recreation hall (that had been at the top of the wish list for this village for many years) was built. This provides a place to hold church services on Sundays. It provides an extra classroom space, a place where all the students can come together in one location, and a place for the students and teachers to eat lunch during the rainy season. This was a HUGE blessing, not only to the school, but to the community.

So that brings us to now...

This year, 2024- our goal is to provide the furniture for that building. They are using the building, but have to move chairs from the classrooms or use it as an empty building. We would like to provide all the furniture for that building to be used as a classroom with tables and chairs. This would also provide the students a place to eat indoors during the rainy season. This comes with a price tag of $8,000.

This Year's Goal: $8,000

-Purchase 25 tables and 60 bench/chairs (seat 3 students each)

This is a lofty goal, we know.

We had the great privilege of being the beneficiary of Smoked Slabs Cookoff Challege! They were an extremely generous group and provided us with a $3,000 donation toward this year's goal. With almost $500 worth of donations coming in after we built last year, we are almost halfway there!

How to Help:

1. We need prayer! Pray for the people of Kenya. Pray that we do what the Lord wants us to do and with the heart of intention and humility to do His work. 

2. Make a sock purchase. Every time you purchase a fun pack of socks (3 pack for $15) from WE HELP TWO on our campaign page, we get $7.50 toward the cause! We also get a pair of warm socks to donate locally for every 2 packs we sell. So you are helping both globally and locally... and getting a fun pack of socks! There are tons of fun new designs. This campaign only runs December 5-15!

3. Purchase salsa or pasta sauce. This is very limited this year. My garden was not a huge producer, so it will be a very limited supply that goes on sale Wednesday, December 11th.

4. You can make a donation. For those that don't want to purchase socks or sauce, but still would like to donate to the cause- you can! You can send money through Venmo or PayPal @krietesinkenya and 100% of your donation will go to purchasing furniture for the recreation hall.

If you are new- Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story. If you are back again... thank you for joining us again on this journey!