Trick or Treat with Josiah and Friends

For the second year I am asking that you, my friends, join me for Trick or Treat with Josiah and Friends!

All you have to do is go Trick or Treating like you always do. But afterwards, when you are scarfing down your candy, remember to save your candy wrappers for us to send in to TerraCycle.

Last year we raised over $10 just by sending in your candy wrappers. Let’s see if we can raise more this year! Will you help?

For more information on all of the items we can recycle with Terracycle see our Recycling page.

Latest Update from Sudan Sunrise

Here is the latest update from our friends at Sudan Sunrise.  Read to the bottom where we’ve highlighted!

September 30, 2011

Dear friends of Sudan Sunrise,

Our June – July relief and reconciliation mission, facilitating Arab spring Northerners bringing aid to Abyei refugees and the most needy in Turalei, was a great success.  Next month I will be able to share with you a half-hour news feature on this heroic initiative.But, I want to update you on several developments:

1.  Turalei – This week I had great news from Victor, the headmaster, that the County Commissioner  provided heavy equipment to dig ditches and a pond for water runoff, so that the swampy conditions of the school grounds during rainy season have been remedied!  Also, Franklin Electric has sent a water expert from South Africa to improve the clean water system at the school.  Enrollment has grown from 340 to 740 in the past few months, and the system will amply serve the needs of the school.

When I was visiting the school in April and again in July, I was troubled to see a significant percentage of the children showing signs of malnutrition.  The food for the school lunches is provided by the World Food Program, but the school currently depends on Sudan Sunrise to provide salaries for the cooking staff, guard, etc., which makes the free lunches possible.  The cost of the lunch program has increased 281 percent due to the increased enrollment (seven cooks and one guard cost $1,550.00 per month).

2. The Rev. Daniel Deng Kuot and his wife Rebecca have exciting news with the birth of their daughter, Malang Deng Kuot, in Nairobi.  Daniel will soon move his little family to Juba, where he will base his work as field coordinator for Sudan Sunrise.

3. Two years ago Francis Bok took a field director from the Norwegian Refugee Council to his home town to discuss collaboration on the construction of the Gor Ayen Primary School.  The Norwegian Refugee Council has just completed an 8 classroom school in Gor Ayen!  In the past few months the school has grown to over 1,000 students because of the great influx of Southern Sudanese returning home from the North prior to the July 9th independence of South Sudan.

The school has many needs.  The greatest need is potable water.  The village’s two hand-pump wells are no longer functioning, leaving the increased population to depend on either rain water or river water.  We are working urgently to help the village get these pumps working and to address the other priority needs of the school.

4. I highly recommend to you Jordan Conn’s recent electronic book on Manute Bol, especially the IPOD version that is loaded with multi-media extras.  It’s short, a great read, and tells the story behind the Turalei school and the origin of the saying “my bad”!   http://atavist.net/defender/

5. Bishop Abraham Nhial, the subject of the book “Lost Boy No More”, and the first (and only!) Lost Boy to become a bishop, will be arriving in the US on September 26th, to raise partners for his vision of a secondary school for girls in Aweil.  A recent UNESCO report estimated that there are only 400 girls in all of South Sudan in their final year of high school.  If you would like to speak or meet with Abraham during his time in the US please contact Janis Ricker at the Sudan Sunrise office.

One of the most inspiring parts of our work is our partnership with remarkable people such as the Sudanese Northerners who were ready to put their lives at risk to get help to the Southern Sudanese in desperate need of food.  Special mention should be made of 8-year old Josiah Bertou who, along with his family and friends, has been doing all he can for Manute’s school effort.  Recently, Josiah and Friends organized a miniature golf effort and raised $379, and one of his friends, Abel Austin, raised $11.85 at his lemonade stand!  So far Josiah and Friends have raised $4,302 to build schools in South Sudan!

Thank you for your role in helping make all this progress possible.

With gratitude and best wishes,

Tom Prichard
Executive Director
www.sudansunrise.org

Thanks Abel!

Last weekend my friend Abel sold lemonade at his lemonade stand and donated the money he made to help build our school. He raised $11.85. Not bad for a couple hours of work. Every little bit helps!

Maybe next summer we’ll invite more of our friends to help raise money with a lemonade stand. Great idea Abel!

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who came out for our mini-golf fundraiser at the Clubhouse Fun Center.  We will update you all with how much we were able to raise when we get the amount.  Thanks again for your support!

We’d also like to thank the Clubhouse for offering us this fundraising opportunity and WHEC news for covering our event.

For anyone who couldn’t make it out but would like to donate you can do so through our Donate page.

The Josiah and Friends Mini-Golf Fundraiser

The Second Annual Josiah and Friends Mini-Golf Fundraiser

Wednesday, August 31st
5PM – 8PM
The Clubhouse Fun Center
70 Jay Scutti Boulevard – Henrietta (Map)

Mini-golf, go-karts, video games and more!

A generous portion of the proceeds will be donated to our school building project in Sudan. Bring your friends, the more people that come the more money that goes to our school!

Josiah and Friends presents “SUDAN!”

I wrote a song about our school building project with my friend Tom Lake of the band Ju-Jajuba. It’s a really fun song that’s great to clap and sing along to!

To celebrate South Sudan’s July 9th independence we are selling the song online to help raise money to build the school. Every dollar that’s donated goes to Sudan Sunrise to help provide an education to kids in Southern Sudan!

The song will be available for digital download below. If you would like a CD copy please email us at josiahandfriends@gmail.com.

Crisis in Turalei

Hello everyone. Here is the most recent letter from our friend Tom Prichard regarding the emergency situation in Turalei, the village where our school is being built.

Please take the time to read it and help us meet this urgent need!

Dear Friends of Sudan Sunrise,

Due to the May 21st  attack by the Government of Sudan on Abyei, there are now 15,000 refugees in Turalei, Manute Bol’s hometown and the location of the primary school.  Two days after the attack, refugees from Abyei began arriving in Turalei on foot, hungry, exhausted and devastated.  Almost immediately the stock of food in Turalei was depleted, along with gasoline and other necessities.

The UN responded quickly and has begun to provide food to the refugees and plastic sheeting for rudimentary shelters.

Even before the attack on Abyei, the permanent enrollment at the school had exploded from 350 students in April, to 700 students in May, due to Southern Sudanese returnees relocating to the South prior to the July 9th Independence.

In the days after the attack on Abyei the school provided shelter for children, many of whom had been separated from their families.  To maintain a semblance of normalcy during this crisis the school has remained open and continues to function, despite the extreme overcrowding.  Fortunately, the school is providing not only an education for these 700 children, but also water and a free lunch.

I am writing to ask for your help.  There is an urgent need for five more classrooms, a permanent kitchen and a large pavilion.  We need these  additional facilities not only because the permanent enrollment in the school has doubled, but also because the school is now serving the wider community in this refugee crisis.

The children in Turalei have so little.  I ask you to make a special gift on their behalf so that we can provide the children with adequate classrooms, so that even in the midst of this crisis they can receive the gift of education, food and stability.  We can’t fix the situation, but we can help this school be a shining light of hope.

May God bless the children, all who are touched by this crisis, and all who labor to come to their aid.

With deep gratitude to you and your partnership in this effort,

Tom Prichard
Executive Director
Sudan Sunrise

Video: Update on the school

Hey guys!

Our friend Tom Prichard of Sudan Sunrise recently took a trip to visit our school. Here’s a video showing some of the challenges the school has been facing in recent months.

It’s so cool to see all the kids we’re helping with this school. Thanks to your support they’re not only getting an education, but also clean drinking water and a healthy meal each day!

Help make life better for girls in Sudan!

Today is International Women’s Day. It’s a day when we celebrate the all the great things women have done. It’s also a day when we think about ways we can help make things better for women all over the world.

One way you can do something today to help girls in Sudan would be to make a donation to our school.

Did you know that in Southern Sudan nearly 85% of the people are illiterate? What’s even worse is that less than 1% of all girls in that region complete elementary school. Because they aren’t getting a good education, they can’t help make life better for their families and communities!

By making a donation today you can help make life better for girls in one of the world’s poorest countries. What a great way to show thanks for everything you have and to give back to others!

Josiah and Friends – One Year Later

Just in time for Christmas!

Christmas is the season of giving and there’s no greater gift you can give a child than the gift of education! So hang something special on your Christmas tree this year and help us build schools in Sudan in the process.

These hand-made porcelain ornaments can be purchased at our Cafe Press store and all of the profits are donated to help build our school. If you order now you should receive them just in time for decorating your tree this year!

BUY NOW

Our first year.

Today is the one year anniversary of Josiah and Friends!

When I asked Manute Bol what I could do to help him build schools in Sudan, I don’t think any of us could have imagined what would happen in just one year.

We held an art auction. We were on TV a bunch of times. We did a mini-golf fundraiser. I wrote a song about Sudan with my friend Tom. But the best part is that we’ve raised over $3,325 to help build a school in Turalei, a small village in Southern Sudan!

When we began this project the school had just three rooms with no roof. Now it is almost done with six classrooms, a solar-powered well for fresh water, and these kids are getting a nutritious meal every single school day!

I want to thank you all for your support. We couldn’t have done this without you. We still have a ways to go so let’s work together and keep going!

Trick or Treat with Josiah and Friends! (Updated 10/29)

This Halloween, when you go out trick or treating with your friends, why not do something to help make a difference in Sudan?

Thanks to our new partnership with TerraCycle, you can turn your used candy wrappers – any brand or size – into cash for the school we’re building in Turalei!

If you live in the Rochester, NY area it’s really easy. Just bring us your empty wrappers and we’ll send them in for you. TerraCycle makes a cash donation for every wrapper they receive!

If you live in a different city you can help too! Just read the information about our TerraCycle partnership and contact us with any questions.

Happy Halloween! Trick or Treat!!

**UPDATE**

We’ve had some people get really excited about “Trick or Treat with Josiah and Friends”:

- One local friend in Rochester made up her own fliers and will be taking them door to door to all her neighbors encouraging them to save their Halloween candy wrappers for us! (If you’d like to do the same we’ve made a flier for you! You can download it here.)

- We had a whole school join us as well! Students at the Waterloo Middle School in Waterloo, NY will be collecting wrappers this Halloween to help us raise money!

You guys are awesome, keep up the great work!

Turn trash into cash for our school!

Thanks to a great new partnership with TerraCycle, you can now turn everyday items that you would normally throw in the trash into dollars to build schools in Sudan!

How it works?

We collect recyclable items for TerraCycle, they pay for us to mail them in, and they give the school building project $0.02 per item we send them.  TerraCycle then turns those recyclable items into new products (sold at retailers nationwide).

What can we collect?

The things we can collect for recycling are:  any brand or size
Drink Pouches (not boxes)
Candy Wrappers
Plastic Wrappers from Paper Products – paper towels, toilet paper, etc.
Diaper packaging – plastic wrappers from diapers and wipes with brand (not clear plastic)
Cheese Packaging – outer packing from cheese, cheese tubs
Dropps Landry Detergent Pouches (only Dropps brand)
Kashi Packaging – all packing from Kashi products and any brand plastic cereal bag liners
Plastic #6 Drinking Cups
Personal Care and Beauty – any personal care or beauty product packaging
Tortilla and Tostada Bags

How can I help if I live near you (Rochester NY area)?

If you live in the Rochester, NY area you can collect every single recyclable item you use, find, get from your friends, find in the garbage or on the sidewalk (you get the idea) and give them to us to send in.  If you live in the Rochester, NY area and would like to collect and mail items in yourself you can do that also. See below.

How can I help if I don’t live near you?

If you live outside of the Rochester, NY area you can help by joining our team on TerraCycle.net and join whichever “brigade” you want to collect for. You would collect items in your area and send them in (free of charge) once you have enough. You can email us at josiahandfriends@gmail.com for more information.

An update on the school!

Great news everyone! We recently received an update on the school from our friend Tom Prichard of Sudan Sunrise. Here’s what he said:

Because of your generous help I have wonderful news on the progress of Manute’s first school in his home town of Turalei. The second three-classroom building has been completed, so the school now has six classes (two grades still have class under a tree, as weather permits).

Thanks to a fantastic gift from Franklin Electric, the world’s biggest manufacturer of pumps, the school now has a solar powered submersible water pump, with a tower and a 5,000 liter tank!  That means the 400 children at the school now just turn the tap to get clean drinking water!

In addition, because of the progress of the school, the World Food Program is now providing each student a free, nutritious and filling meal every school day! Think about that for a moment…these 400 children now have classrooms, clean water and a filling meal! It brings tears to my eyes to think about the difference this is making in their lives.

Manute’s nephew, Mayom Majok, who lives in Chicago, stayed in Turalei after Manute’s burial to oversee the completion of this phase of the construction. The sacrifice made by Mayom and his family has made it possible to make such great progress, despite the rainy season.  We are working on plans for the final phase of this school using what we have learned to build the most cost effective structure.

Thanks for all your help, our work together is really making a difference! You guys are awesome and I’m really proud of you. Let’s keep going!

And the winner is . . .

Chip bags got over 40% of the vote so that is what I am going to start collecting.  And I need your help!

Here is what you can do:

If you live in the Rochester, NY area you can collect every single chip bag you use, find, get from your friends, find in the garbage or on the sidewalk (you get the idea) and give them to me to send in.  We can collect any empty brand or size chip bags.

If you live outside of the Rochester, NY area you can help by joining our “brigade.” You would recruit friends in your area to collect bags for you and send them in once you had enough. You can email us at josiahandfriends@gmail.com for more information.

For each approved snack bag we send in TerraCycle will send $0.02 to Sudan Sunrise for the school building project.  I know that doesn’t sound like much but the more we mail in the more money we raise.  We need to fill our box with at least 100 chip bags before we mail it in so please start collecting!

Thank you all for your support and help!

How can we build a school by recycling?

My mom just found out about a really great company called TerraCycle. They make new products out of recycled materials.  But the best part is the way they get the materials. They give money to the charity of our choice when we collect recyclable materials for them!

We just send in the items we’re collecting and they send our school the money. And the postage is free!

I thought this would be a great way to raise more money for our school. And I knew my friends would want to help!

There are a bunch of different things we can collect, but we want to start with something easy. So please vote in the poll below and let us know what you would like to collect!

The Mini-Golf Fundraiser was a HUGE success!

The Mini-Golf Fundraiser on August 25th was a huge success. We raised over $500 for our school building project in Turalei, Southern Sudan!

The people at The Clubhouse Fun Center donated a some of the money they made from mini-golf, go karts and video games during our event. By coming out and having fun with us people were able to make a difference in the lives of kids on the other side of the world!

The photo above is of my friend Steve (owner of The Clubhouse) presenting me with a check for Sudan Sunrise. We have more great photos on our Facebook page so be sure to look for them there!

Thanks to everyone who game out, we had a really great time. And thanks especially to The Clubhouse Fun Center for their generosity. I can’t wait to do it again next year!

Mini-Golf Fundraiser Promo

Making a song – Part 2

My friend Tom came over yesterday so we could work on our song some more. Check out our progress!

When we’re all done we’re going to make it available online. All the money we raise with the song will go to help build a school for the kids in Turalei, Sudan!