Donations make a difference through Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia

What if one necklace or one purse could help change a life 12,000 kilometers away?

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A Woodstock non-profit organization says it can.

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Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia uses donations of gently used jewelry and purses in its annual fundraiser, Gems & Java, which returns on April 27 at Maranatha Christian Reformed Church in Woodstock.

The flagship fundraiser has helped the organization send more than $1 million to community-based, culturally sensitive projects that empower women and educate, feed and shelter children in Ethiopia over the past 13 years.

This volunteer-led organization is once again collecting donations through its Closet Clean-Out Challenge, which ends April 9. Six stores across Oxford County are collecting new or gently used items on behalf of Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia.

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These pieces are used in the Bags & Baubles Boutique at Gems & Java, where guests shop for beautiful items. One complimentary piece is included with a ticket, and additional items can be taken home for donations of $5 per piece.

The fundraiser has become a well-known and very well-attended event in the community after more than a decade.

“It’s amazing what this community has allowed us to accomplish over the course of our organization’s history. Local donors, sponsors, volunteers and other supporters — such as the retailers that so generously collect donations for us — have made this all possible. We can truly say the gently used jewelry and purses we receive make a difference for women and children in Ethiopia,” founder Shelley Green said.

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Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia financially supports five projects in Ethiopia:

• Girls Gotta Run, a program that uses the sport of running to build confidence, keep girls in school and avoid early marriage. Young women in this program receive school tuition, school and running uniforms, healthy snacks, hot meals and lessons in running, relationships and key life skills. The project also helps the girls’ mothers in savings groups, which develop financial literacy skills and allow the women to build up a collective savings pot to loan out for the creation of businesses or urgent needs.
• WRAPS, a program that makes and distributes washable, reusable, affordable pads to rural girls who have no menstrual products. Those outreach sessions include education about the human body and reproductive system. This project also provides employment to more than a dozen full- and part-time workers who sew the pads and other products and have the opportunity to go back to school.
• Prolapse surgeries, life-changing procedures to correct the condition among women who have struggled with the pain and shame of prolapse, sometimes for years. It is common in Ethiopia where many women labor and birth many children at home or without medical care. Prolapse describes a condition where the uterus or other organs move out of place. Surgeries at the Soddo Christian Hospital have brought dignity and renewed health to more than 600 women.
• Tesfa’s Shelter, a shelter for more than 90 vulnerable children who are orphaned or were living on the streets in Harar, Ethiopia. This innovative model provides a safe and loving home and family for the children, while teaching them life skills, teamwork and the importance of education. Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia offers a unique sponsorship program called Team Tesfa.
• Busajo, which provides safety, support and training for children who have lived in the street in the Soddo area. The campus has served hundreds of children with the goal of eventually reuniting them with family, a reality more than 80 per cent of the time. The organization rehabilitates children, providing medical and psychological care, training in an income-generation practice such as sewing, woodworking or metal work, and provides a host of other resources to build a new path.

For details on the Closet Clean-Out Challenge, to buy Gems & Java tickets, or to learn more about the projects supported by Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia, check out www.motherswithaheartforethiopia.com.

DROP-OFF RENTALS

Roberts & Co Ladies Wear

122 Thames St. S., Ingersoll

481 Dundas St., Woodstock

Can-tario Brick & Stone

941 Juliana Dr., Woodstock

Maya Health Food Center

55 Ingersoll Rd., Woodstock

Patina’s Gifts of Art & Craft

112 Thames St. S., Ingersoll

Rusted Tailgate Gifts & Decor

4218 Catherine St., Dorchester

At the 100th Mile

23 Main St. W., Norwich

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