Kenya Connection

The DISCOVER THE WORLD team has arrived in Kenya! The moment we’ve all been waiting for…when our gifts and letters will be hand delivered to the two children we are sponsoring: Kennedy and Jacinta!  The DTW team has been blogging and posting photos of all of the children and expressing the children’s gratitude since their arrival in Kenya.  You MUST see how absolutely adorable these kids are and how heartwarmingly thankful and happy they are about the smallest kind gesture.  Our gifts and letters are certainly going to be a life changing delivery when Kennedy and Jacinta see the names and faces of all of you who have helped to support them and give them a chance at a healthy and meaningful life.

I’ll make sure to keep you posted when I get specific updates on Jacinta and Kennedy.  In the meantime, make sure to check out the photos/blogs of the Kenya trip here: http://discovertheworld.org/

To continue to donate to Kennedy and Jacinta: http://www.gofundme.com/DiscoverTheWorld

Just a reminder that I am still actively collecting donations towards sponsoring Kennedy and Jacinta at GoFundMe.com/DiscoverTheWorld

PLEASE donate, tell your friends, post to your wall and join the cause!   

I am currently anxiously waiting for their letter reply to my first packages I sent them…I can’t wait to learn more about them and see them grow with our support!!

My hope is to sponsor them all throughout their schooling…they are both 16 now so we’ve got some years ahead of us to keep them funded and help with their quality of life and education!  LET’S DO THIS!

I promise PROMISE you will not miss that $10, $20…or more ;) a month. But they will!

xoxo,

Jessica (and Gossip Girl)

The packages for Kennedy and Jacinta have been sent!  See past blog posts for photos of all the sponsors I included and photos of all of the items I sent them.  I also included the below letters in each of their packages. I made the letters fairly introductory and similar for both of them to leave room for them to share their individual stories with us. I can’t WAIT to hear back from them and share their lives with all of you!

For Kennedy:

Hi Kennedy,

My name is Jessica and I’m happy to meet you through the letters we will be sending back and forth! I am 25 years old and live in Los Angeles where I work at a marketing agency to promote movies in Hollywood. When I saw your picture on the Discover The World website and read your story, I knew that I wanted us to become great friends. I hear that you are very hard working and want to become an engineer one day!  I think that is an amazing goal to set for yourself and hope that I can help you achieve a life of success and happiness in whatever you choose to do.

In order to sponsor you through Discover The World, I reached out to all of my friends and family to help me raise money.  A total of 54 people donated to help me in sponsoring you!  Please know that all 54 people have read your story and care about you and want to support you and see you grow! You have many friends looking out for you who can’t wait to hear more about your life!  Anything you write back to me I will make sure to share with the entire group.  We’d love to know more about what you’re learning in school, what your daily life is like, and all of your interests and goals for yourself.  I went to college and studied for a degree in Public Relations and Advertising with a minor in Communications. I am getting to use my education toward my profession as I help to create big stunts, events and screenings for major films and promote them to the world! I have a very fun and exciting job that makes me very happy and I would love it if you got to grow up to do something that is fun and exciting for you as well!  A lot of the stuff I’ll send you will be fun items from my work - they are items I use to promote movies I’m working on.  I’ll make sure to send you both fun stuff and useful stuff for your life and education. I can’t wait to hear back from you and hear more about you.  Please feel free to tell me anything you’d like about your life or ask me anything you’d like about my life!

I’ve included photos of all of the people who are helping to sponsor you.   I wanted you to be able to see the faces of all of the family that you have looking out for you all over the United States.  We can’t wait to hear more about you and watch you learn and grow! 

Sincerely,

Jessica and your USA Family!

For Jacinta:

Hi Jacinta

My name is Jessica and I’m happy to meet you through the letters we will be sending back and forth! I am 25 years old and live in Los Angeles where I work at a marketing agency to promote movies in Hollywood. When I saw your picture on the Discover The World website and read your story, I knew that I wanted us to become great friends. I hear that you are very hard working and active and that you want to become a social worker one day!  I think that is an amazing goal to set for yourself and hope that I can help you achieve a life of success and happiness in whatever you choose to do.  I also hear you are a talented singer and dancer!  I’ve acted my whole life and always wished that I could sing and dance as well and be a “triple threat”!  Maybe one day you could teach me how! J 

In order to sponsor you through Discover The World, I reached out to all of my friends and family to help me raise money.  A total of 54 people donated to help me in sponsoring you!  Please know that all 54 people have read your story and care about you and want to support you and see you grow! You have many friends looking out for you who can’t wait to hear more about your life!  Anything you write back to me I will make sure to share with the entire group.  We’d love to know more about what you’re learning in school, what your daily life is like, and all of your interests and goals for yourself.  I went to college and studied for a degree in Public Relations and Advertising with a minor in Communications. I am getting to use my education toward my profession as I help to create big stunts, events and screenings for major films and promote them to the world! I have a very fun and exciting job that makes me very happy and I would love it if you got to grow up to do something that is fun and exciting for you as well!  A lot of the stuff I’ll send you will be fun items from my work - they are items I use to promote movies I’m working on.  I’ll make sure to send you both fun stuff and useful stuff for your life and education. I can’t wait to hear back from you and hear more about you.  Please feel free to tell me anything you’d like about your life or ask me anything you’d like about my life!

I’ve included photos of all of the people who are helping to sponsor you.   I wanted you to be able to see the faces of all of the family that you have looking out for you all over the United States.  We can’t wait to hear more about you and watch you learn and grow! 

Sincerely,

Jessica and your USA Family!

Hello everyone!

I’m gearing up to send my first package to Kennedy and Jacinta and have decided to include photos of everyone who will be sponsoring them so that they can see the faces of all of the “family” they have in in the United States who are thinking of them and caring for them!  See for yourself all of the wonderful people (54 of them!) who have helped out supporting these kids.  To join our growing family of supporters or to donate more to these kids, visit my GoFundMe site (http://www.gofundme.com/DiscoverTheWorld). THANK YOU!

I am currently putting together my first packages to send to Kennedy and Jacinta and wanted to fill everyone in on what I will be sending them.  I wanted to provide them with a combination of fun and learning enrichment, based on what they said they wanted to do when they grow up. 

For Kennedy, I am sending him:

A Book on “How To Make Origami Airplanes That Fly”

A Book of “100 pieces of Origami Paper “

A “Starting With Science” book about SIMPLE MACHINES (Kennedy wants to be an Engineer when he grows up!)

UNO Card Game, SKIP-BO Card Game, PHASE 10 Card Game, Two Madagascar 3 YoYos, Madagascar 3 Hacky Sack, Ten Madagascar 3 Pencils, Madagascar 3 Temporary Tattoos and Funny Sunglasses with attached Mustache!

For Jacinta, I will be sending her:

A Book of “Easy Origami Projects”

A Book of “100 pieces of Origami Paper”

“THE KID’S GUIDE TO SERVICE PROJECTS” Book (Jacinta wants to be a Social Worker when she grows up!)

UNO Card Game, SKIP-BO Card Game, Two Madagascar 3 YoYos, Madagascar 3 Hacky Sack, Ten Madagascar 3 Pencils, Plastic “Echo” Microphone, Madagascar 3 Temporary Tattoos, Ten packets of Marigold Seeds and Funny Sunglasses with attached Mustache!

Next up, I’ll be working on letters to send both of them to go along with their packages.  If you have any suggestions on what you’d like me to write to them or ask them, please e-mail me ASAP at jessicareneespringer@gmail.com.

THANK YOU for your continued support!

Kennedy is 16 years old and was born on December 31, 1995.  He arrived at the home in 2004 when he was 8 years old. Kennedy is an orphan and lived with his two cousins Peter and John in Peter’s home with his single mother.  When Peter’s mom died, no relatives came to help them. Instead, the neighborhood turned to the local authorities to intervene. The children were referred to Shelter Children’s Center for care, custody and protection.  The three boys are now at the home and doing very well.  Kennedy works hard and is determined in his education, hoping to be an engineer when he grows up.

 (I will be looking into books on engineering for him, along with some fun games and school supplies).

Jacinta is 16 years old as well and was born on December 26, 1995 (looks like I can send them both a little Birthday gift come December!) Jacinta arrived at the home when she was just 2 years old. Jacinta is an orphan and the youngest in a family of three. Her mother was single and died of excessive drinking. The three children were left under the custody of their elderly grandmother who had no source of income. She was financially unstable and thus not able to support her grandchildren sufficiently. They dropped out of school and took to the streets. Jacinta was rescued by a social worker that referred her to the Shelter Children’s Center for care and protection. She has done well over the years and wants to become a social worker when she grows up. Her favorite color is pink and she is a talented singer and dancer. She is very social, hardworking and active. 

(I will look into a book for her on being a social worker, along with some fun pink accessories and a song book).

To donate to Kennedy and Jacinta, visit my fundraising page: http://bit.ly/JetzbW (or click the GO FUND ME button at the top of this page).

I got this letter in the mail today from Discover the World, along with updated photos of Kennedy and Jacinta (which I will be adding to my bulletin board at work for my daily inspiration). :)

Each letter and gift we will be sending these kids will be hand delivered to them by the Discover the World staff and volunteers! I am open to any questions you’d like me to include in my first letter to them, small gifts or words of encouragement- please e-mail me any suggestions to: jessicareneespringer@gmail.com

Just a quick update for everyone!  We are up to a combined amount of $1,525 raised to help sponsor Kennedy and Jacinta through Discover The World.  That’s enough to sponsor the two of them for about a year and three months and provide them with food, clean water, health care, shelter and education!

If you’re a contributor, pat yourself on the back because you deserve to feel good about your impact on their lives!  To donate more, or if you know anyone who might want to join this amazing (life-saving) cause, visit my new fundraising page at: http://bit.ly/JetzbW (or click the GO FUND ME button at the top of this page).

I have a packet of photos and information coming to me shortly for each of our sponsored children and will send you an update on them as soon as possible.

If you have any questions you’d like me to ask this kids in my first letter, please e-mail me at jessicareneespringer@gmail.com subject “Kenya Connection”.

We will be exchanging hand written letters back and forth with these two kids!  See below for this week’s batch of letters Discover The World received!

After a long decision process I have found the two children we will be sponsoring!  I chose one boy and one girl, both 16 years of age and orphans. If you have a few minutes…just look through the stories of the kids that Discover The World is trying to find sponsors for.  You might just decide that you have $50 a month of your own to spare to save/help one of these children…or pester your family and friends to help you achieve this amount ;)

Here’s the link to the children who still need sponsors: http://bit.ly/LzPfjz

As you can imagine…this was a TOUGH decision and not really one I wanted to have to make. SO many heartbreaking stories and situations…and I wish we could help them all (heck maybe we can! See above “Go Fund Me” button).

Below is an intro to the two kids we are sponsoring! Their sponsorship begins immediately and I will be sent more info about them soon, which I will post and share with you all! Our $50/month will provide safety, shelter, food, clothing, medical care, education and other vital resources for these kids, so give yourself a pat on the back! :)

KENNEDY

Kennedy is an orphan and 16 years old. He lived with his two cousins Peter and John in Peter’s home with his single mother. When Peter’s mom died, no relatives came to help them. Instead, the neighborhood turned to the local authorities to intervene. The children were referred to Shelter Children’s Center for care, custody, and protection. The three boys are now at the home and doing very well. Kennedy works hard and is determined in his education, hoping to be an engineer when he grows up.

JACINTA

Jacinta is 16 years old and the youngest in a family of three. Her mother was single and died from excessive drinking. The three children were left under the custody of their elderly grandmother who had no source of income. She was financially unstable and thus not able to support her grandchildren sufficiently. They dropped out of school and took to the streets. Jacinta was rescued by a social worker that referred her to Shelter Children’s Center for care and protection. She has done well over the years here and wants to become a social worker when she grows up. Her favorite color is pink and she is a talented singer and dancer. She is very social, hardworking, and active.

Welcome to my tumblr account where I will fill you in on the progress of the children that I am sponsoring through DISCOVER THE WORLD. Please click the “Subscribe to our newsletter” button on the top of the screen in order to receive e-mail updates on my postings. Thank you so much to everyone who helped donate to this amazing cause- these are YOUR sponsored children as well and I hope that you will enjoy hearing about their updates and progress. If you would like to continue donating to this cause, you can click the “GoFundMe” button at the top of the page.  I will continue to collect money for a second year of sponsorship for these kids and hope to potentially sponsor even more children in need if I am able.  Thank YOU for making this possible!

-Jessica