Summer solstice @ Mbiriizi in Uganda. Another great trip ... Broke ground for the clinic, now we need $30,000 for solar power. The electric grid only operates every three days!
Sylvia Allen
732-946-2711
Friday, June 22, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
Sylvia's Children on Fox News!
Sylvia Allen is a woman of faith.
"I've always believed that things are put in front of you for a reason," she said.
"I've always believed that things are put in front of you for a reason," she said.
That is why Allen jumped at a chance to visit a village in Uganda in 2003. Her heart broke after hearing some of the villagers' stories. One woman said seven of her 12 children died in childbirth.
"It still affects me because thinking, it was accepted--it wasn't, she wasn't upset, this is just how life is. And they were all the same," she said.
Before she left the village she was asked by the children if she could be their adopted grandmother, the highest honor in the culture. After wiping away her tears Allen accepted, and was inspired to start her nonprofit, Sylvia's Children.
"I incorporated within a week, and I became a charity within two months in the state of New Jersey, filed my own 501(c)3 in September 200," she said. "I did brochures, I got PR in the local media, the first year we only raised $3,900."
Fast forward a decade. Allen has raised almost $600,000 for the village's school, much of it by word of mouth.
"I just have a big mouth and love telling people about it," she said. "It's the most spectacular thing I've ever done in my life, because I'm making a difference."
That's an understatement. Her money has provided a fresh well, dormitories, a computer lab and playground.
Allen said none of this would have been possible without involving her local community of Holmdel, New Jersey through church drives, local organizations, friends and family.
"Every time I achieve something I go 'Hmm, there must be one more mountain, one more place, one more way to make a difference,'" she said.
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