kelly | | Light Up Hope

A Little Bit of Hope in Uncertain Times

April 9, 2020April 9, 2020 kellyUncategorized

In a typical month, Light Up Hope provides food assistance to about 340 children in the slums of Nairobi. 330 receive school day breakfast and lunch and about 10 kids receive monthly food packets. When the Kenyan government closed schools due to the coronavirus outbreak we suddenly found ourselves having to be creative with food distribution because the LAST thing we want is for children to go hungry as we face this global crisis. This past week we managed to use our typical budget for our school feeding program to provide food packets of dry food to our primary students and their families. These packets consisted of staples like maize flour, sugar, cooking oil, porridge and soap and are intended to supplement the family food supplies for one month per student. These packets are essential in this time because all of our primary students come from families who are day laborers and much of the work they would usually perform, such as cleaning clothes or working in a factory, has been shut down due to social distancing measures. Additionally, food prices are rising in Kenya by approximately 25-30%. Our primary school and LIFT families are the most at risk during […]

The Coronavirus is Affecting our Program Offerings

March 21, 2020March 21, 2020 kellyUncategorized

We are writing to inform you of the ways the global pandemic is affecting our programs in Kenya. Whenever there is widespread challenges around the world, it is the most vulnerable populations who suffer the most. The children, young adults and families we work with are already on the edge, and depend on our assistance to meet their daily needs. We are proud of our staff for all they are doing to continue to support our clients to the best of our ability. This includes finding creative solutions for food distribution for the children who depend on our feeding programs for school meals. You can read more below about how the pandemic is affecting each of our programs. Just as the coronavirus outbreak is affecting small businesses around the country, local nonprofits are also being hit with a loss of revenue, and Light Up Hope is not an exception. All of our planned “in-person” fundraising efforts have been either canceled or put on hold during this time of social distancing. We ask you to please consider making an online donation at this time to help ensure our programs can continue during and after the pandemic. And please keep Light Up Hope and the families […]

Children are Learning and Mothers are Working: LIFT Update

September 25, 2019September 25, 2019 kellyUncategorized

We have had several recent achievements in our LIFT program that we are very thankful for: We are currently supporting 33 students in Kenya! We were able to pay school fees early to all our supportive schools! This way our students didn’t lose any learning time by having to be sent home because of unpaid school fees. A good number of our students reported back to school on the opening date, except in Kwa Njenga slums where they recorded 100% return on the opening date. In Kibingoti we had also had a good number of returning students on their opening date. In Nairobi, most of our schools reopened despite the May’s cold weather. None of our students have been reported ill or missing and they are all busy in school and doing quite well. Parents responded well to our request to have the report cards in the office earlier for better reporting and compilation. 10 LIFT Mothers have come together to start a coffee growers Co-Op in our rural farming community, Kibingoti. With the help of some Broomfield donors, mothers in Kenya are getting a chance to start a coffee growers Co-op! A coffee plantation has been leased and we had the pleasure to […]

Josephs’ House Students Share Creativity and Leadership with our Summer Visitors

September 25, 2019September 25, 2019 kellyUncategorized

This past summer we had several visitors meeting our students and taking a tour of the communities where we work. Our Joseph’s House students took the opportunity to give back to Light Up Hope by both learning from our visitors and teaching them as well. Mike and Liz Ruggles were the “Win a Trip to Kenya” winners from our 2018 Light Up Hope Gala. They spent 10 days with us in Kenya and since Mike is a professional photographer, he choose to share his knowledge of photography and entrepreneurship with our students. He taught them about photo composition, lighting and business techniques for starting a photography business. He was such an inspiration, several of our students have started their own small businesses doing portraits for their fellow university students! When the Discovery Church mission team arrived, it was time for our students to take the lead. They brought the team on a tour of downtown Nairobi including Uhuru Park where they taught the mission trip members the joy of dance and singing and the Masai Market where they taught the mission team the skill of price negotiation! We have 4 students expected to graduate in the next twelve months and we […]

165 High School Girls Join Light Up Hope through Seeds of Change

September 25, 2019September 25, 2019 kellyUncategorized

I’m very happy to share that Light Up Hope is working in collaboration with Seeds of Change Foundation from Sioux Falls, SD to sponsor the high school education of 165 girls from impoverished backgrounds across Kenya. We first started working with Seeds of Change in 2018 when they began by sponsoring one of our Joseph’s House students, Mary, and later in the year, added two additional girls for university. Since the beginning of 2019 we have been working together in preparation to add these high school students to our Light Up Hope program with funding through Seeds of Change. The girls who are joining the program have been sponsored by Seeds of Change since the start of their high school careers and we are grateful to Seeds of Change for giving us the opportunity to oversee and manage their high school careers from this point. The Light Up Hope staff has worked very hard and is continuing to work hard to ensure these girls success, including placing them in high quality government schools, purchasing new uniforms and all of the school supplies needed, as is traditional in our Light Up Hope High School Program. We are excited to see our […]