I've had a lot of people ask me lately where my latest projects have taken me and I've sadly had to answer that I wasn't working on anything at the moment and I haven't been out of the country in over a year. The Charity Ball and Auction had a successful ending of over $20,000, but that was in March. I quit my job with Community Health Connect in August to take a full time position at the MTC so I no longer work with and advocate for the migrant seasonal farm workers. I've been itching to get involved in something, somewhere to continue work in public health/international development/humanitarian aid. I was going to take an internship in Mexico for the fall. I looked into an internship in Argentina with the United Nations researching and combating the exploitation of children throughout the country. I almost booked a flight to the Dominican Republic to go to orphanages there and work with AIDS patients, but realized I probably shouldn't go by myself. That's a lot of "was going to's" and "wanted to's" which sound great but if you never actually do any of your great intentions, what are you left with? Nothing. But I've finally found an awesome new project started by some pretty amazing people. It's called "the [big] reach" and right now we are working on getting treated mosquito nets to Africa to help fight malaria. It's a well thought out project with so much potential. Every question I had as far as effectiveness and implementation was answered. For every $3 donated we can get a pesticide treated mosquito net into a home and save lives. $3 to save lives is pretty incredible if you ask me! The goal right now is to raise enough money by next summer to send 18,000 nets to Uganda. Check out the blog and website at http://www.thebigreach.blogspot.com/ and http://www.thebigreach.org/.
I'll keep you posted on fundraising and events. Let me know if you want to get involved.
