Wednesday, July 1, 2009

July 1 Updates

  • Coats for Kids is going to do a Meal with a Mission after the church service on Sunday July 1, 2009, coinciding with the Blessing of the Bikes that Pete will be holding. We are expecting about 250 people and will be queing up hot dogs and hamburgers. We could use donations of Lettuce (8), Tomatoes (25), Red Onion (8), Watermelon 8, and Corn on the cob (250), macaroni salad, and the use of a soft-serve ice cream machine. So, stick around after the service have a fun summer time meal and help put warm coats on the kids this fall.

  • Furaha Community Center, Nairobi, Kenya: Ray and Deedee just got back from the most amazing trip to visit Furaha and the wonderful people who live and work in Nairobi. It is painful and disturbing to see the depth and massiveness of the poverty and disease there. Our brothers and sisters are living with devastation and disease in literal garbage dumps with open sewage running down the middle of the streets. It’s so hard to believe that the world can so easily ignore their plight. However, our visit that brought us right into the heart of these peoples lives allowed us to see the hope and the change that Furaha is providing within their own community. They are educating and feeding (thanks to CrossWalk and CRUSH Inc.) 550 children, most of whom are orphans and more than half of whom are H.I.V. positive. Their Guardians are provided a health clinic and support group for those that are H.I.V. positive and the future dream is to train many of them with vocational skills to empower them to provide for themselves and the children. This trip was a powerful mix of pain, sorrow, hope, and joy. (Furaha in Swahili means JOY.) We have so much to share with you all and as soon as we can get a presentation together we will. The joy and hope belongs to you all as well for the good that all of our efforts are bringing to Furaha! David, Kerry, Chris, and Dan all thank you and send their love.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Welcome to CRUSH!

C-ommunity
R-esources
U-nited to
S-erve
H-umanity

Kids are at the mercy of those who care for them. It's just not right that some kids are forced to grow up with little chance of the life they could have because of economic strain; poor parenting decisions; lack of food, water, and basic life necessities; political strife; and countless other obstacles that block a kid's potential to thrive.

We don't have to sit by idly and watch this happen indefinitely.

We can bring lasting change. We can CRUSH those obstacles that are hurting and in some cases killing the next generation.

Wine Country people know that "the crush" is a very important step in the life of a future wine. Without, there is no wine! The crush is a very exciting time to do very important work to make sure grapes have the chance to become great wine. Lots of energy, time, people, and resources are required to pull off the crush. If done well, it will result in a future wine that adds something special to the everyday and not-so-everyday events.

CRUSH exists to join like-minded people together to make sure there is a good future for those children who are most vulnerable or at risk in our valley and world. CRUSH means coming together to do what needs to be done to ensure a bright future for kids who live under a cloud of despair.

CRUSH supports...

Coats for Kids.
In 2007, C4K gave out over 1,000 brand new coats to kids and youth in Napa who couldn't afford one. How many kids can we warm up this year?

Deborah's House.
In Tijuana, Mexico, the law and culture looks the other way when domestic violence occur. This shelter takes in the poorest of the poor women and their children who have nowhere else to go. Helping these kids get clothes and education is an important step in stopping the cycle of violence and providing them a future to which they can look forward.

Huruma, Kenya.
Huruma is a slum outside of the metropolis of Nairobi, Kenya. Political strife has only made an already bad situation worse. Nearly half of these kids are HIV+, and are living with a guardian because their parents have already died. CRUSH supports microfinance loans to help these kids get the food, clothes and medical attention they need in an area none of us would ever have our children even visit, let alone grow up.

More to come.
As CRUSH develops, we will no doubt discover other worthy projects to support.

You can get involved right now.

The funds for CRUSH are building, but we need your help.

Coat distribution is just seven months away. The average coat costs around $20. Can you swing a coat or two or ten? Deborah's House needs ongoing financial support as well to scholarship children to decent schools. They need clothing and basic supplies for a healthy childhood. A few extra dollars goes a long way. A trip to Kenya is already in the works, where we hope to partner with existing grass-roots projects to adopt an entire village within the slum to give children food, water, clothing, medical supplies, and educational supplies. Many of the guardians work an entire week for $1. You "little" goes a long way.

If you want to support CRUSH with your hands and feet, we welcome you! Contact us at info@napacrush.org to find out how you can help Napa kids, kids just across the border, and kids half a world away. Thanks for your interest in CRUSH! Let's make a difference!

Napa to Nairobi




Sponsored by NapaCRUSH
Written by Deedee Urbano

As we rode through the picturesque vineyards of the Napa Valley and then through the Sonoma Valley on to the stunning northern California coast on the back of our motorcycle, I thought about how easy it is to loose appreciation for the unmatched beauty of this place where we live. Together with eight other motorcycles we were taking a 200k motorcycle ride at the same time that others were riding bicycles on 15k and 50k routes while still others were walking 5k to raise money to support and feed children. I cannot imagine a better way to spend a beautiful first day of Summer in Northern California even if it was a little warmer than we would have thought perfect. The day ended with a celebration of beautiful music in a shady courtyard and a spectacular meal prepared by volunteers, one of whom is a French Laundry chef! Could life get any better?
The fundraiser Walk/Bike/Throttle ride was sponsored by a new grass roots non-profit organization called NapaCRUSH also known as CRUSH Inc. The purpose of the NapaCRUSH organization is to raise funds to distribute to various programs and organizations here in our community, our state, our country and all over the world that support, feed, clothe, and educated underprivileged and at-risk children. This particular event called Napa to Nairobi was to raise funds targeted to support the Furaha Community Center in the Huruma slum outside of Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. In Huruma the threats of AIDS and hunger are a daily constant. This slum is more than four times the population of Napa. Approximately half of the children are HIV+. More than half have already lost their parents to AIDS or violence. One guardian may be providing for eight or more children on less than one dollar a day. The children may get one small meal consisting of a cup of beans per day if they are lucky. If the children have the energy to trudge through the streets muddy with sewage they can come into the community center that NapaCRUSH is supporting. There they are provided with care and education, but with little or no food, they usually cannot finish their day at school. They usually just go home and sleep. They haven’t the energy to do more. With about $10,000, we can provide a feeding program for the kids at this center for an entire year.
We have big dreams for NapaCRUSH. Currently we support the Napa Coats for Kids; a program that started in 2003 and continues to the present. Funds from pledged on-going donations and program specific fund raising events will support Coats for Kids which is a program that raises money to buy new coats for qualified underprivileged children in the City of Napa. They also solicit donations of new coats from retail and wholesale businesses. CFK holds a distribution even once a year in the fall where they host the children and their parents to a holiday meal and fit each child with a brand new coat.
A future program that we would like to launch is Sam’s Camp. This year we will be seeking a grant to start a program called Sam’s Camp. Donations go to support this start up program which proposes to provide a day camp facility for children from needy families that cannot afford child care when the parent(s) must work full time. The camp will provide fun activities, field trips and educational programs including English language education to children for whom English is a second language.
One of our international efforts is to support Deborah’s House. Donated items and funds raised by CRUSH Inc. will help provide furniture, clothing and other necessities for Deborah’s House, a sanctuary in Tijuana, Mexico for abused women and their children. They provide food, shelter, medical attention and security for women who are escaping and healing from serious spousal abuse. Their efforts also go toward counseling for the husbands whenever possible. One of the dreams we at NapaCRUSH have is to start up a training program that will provide the women with abilities that can empower them to be independent and self sufficient. We want to provide a center where they can learn skills like sewing or typing and computer skills, or abilities to provide spa treatments such as message, manicures, pedicures, facials etc. that they could use for work opportunities at the local resorts.
As mentioned first in this article, one of the greatest ambitions we have for NapaCRUSH is in Africa. We will be teaming up with an organization in Reedley, California called When I Grow Up. WIGU currently supports the Furaha Community Center in the middle of the Huruma slums just outside of Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. This month we will send two delegates to Africa to visit the Furaha Community Center. Our plan is to help support this existing Center and within the next two to three years duplicate the Center in another “village” within the same slum. We will also be exploring other opportunities to provide for the children in the area who have been hit hard by famine, violence, and political unrest.
NapaCRUSH is hoping to partner with Corporate Sponsors such as our famous wineries, restaurants, resorts and spas to show the world that even though we cannot feed the world grapes, grapes certainly can help to feed the world. And rarely will you find the generosity and desire to give back as you will here in the Napa Valley. If you are interested in helping to CRUSH hunger, CRUSH poverty and CRUSH illiteracy please contact us at info@napacrush.org or call us at (707) 363-1255.
When we have more than enough to eat every single day and enjoy the comforts and beauty we experience here in the Napa Valley, it is too easy to lose appreciation for what we have and too easy to forget that so many have so very little.. We are a human family and our family is in desperate need. Please join us and share the riches of the Napa Valley and give.