After an initial trip to Accra, Ghana where St. Anne teachers organized the library and set up reading programs at an under-funded orphanage, they left knowing there was much more to be done. But they didn't know, just a few months later, there would be a newly formed nonprofit dedicated to helping those very same children.
With the support of fellow parishioners and Queen Anne neighbors, Dreams for Orphans was launched and set its first task to raise money to build a new nursery for OSU Children's Home - the largest government run orphanage in Accra.
One of the nonprofit's founders, St. Anne parent, Kary Doerfler, formed the connection with OSU a few years ago in her job as a Delta Air Lines flight attendant. She soon started collecting and bringing supplies to the orphanage with each flight, and then helped coordinate the trip of St. Anne School teachers Libby Rain and Paola Womac this summer.
When Rain and Womac shared a slideshow of their trip in September, fellow parishioners instantly saw a need they wanted to help fill. Now, a group of about 30 meet every month to strategize ways to collect supplies and raise funds to build the nursery.
"We were so moved by what we saw that we said, 'Hey, wait a minute,'" said Erin Kittleman, a St. Anne parishioner and Queen Anne resident. "Especially the nursery where the conditions were so horrible, we just thought there must be something we can do."
OSU's overcrowded nursery has no running water. The roughly 60 infants from newborns to two and a half year olds live in what Doerfler called, "heart wrenching conditions. It's rat-infested, has cockroaches and cribs are visibly covered in mold." Because diapers are in short supply the mattresses are stained and soiled as well. Students and faculty at St. Anne School are raising funds to purchase metal cribs for the nursery, and part of the money raised by Dreams for Orphans will go toward buying plastic mattresses.
At this point, Doerfler estimates the project will cost between $30,000 and $50,000; details with the architect are still being worked out, so the exact amount isn't concrete yet. Dreams for Orphans plans to raise the money within a year.
With a concrete goal in mind, Dreams for Orphans started a grassroots effort, with different people trickling in offering to help in whatever way they could. Aside from selling olive oil and chocolates after mass, the nonprofit has a giving tree in the Upper Queen Anne KeyBank at 2105 Queen Anne Ave. N. The tree is decorated with angels that each designate a certain amount for an item the nursery needs, like $10 for a baby blanket or $20 for diapers. Donations to Dreams for Orphans can also be made at any KeyBank.
Longtime Queen Anne resident and St. Anne parishioner Dick Malloy said he's thrilled to be involved with people so passionate about making changes. Malloy volunteered to write a brochure for the nonprofit and design different promotional pieces, given his background in public relations and professional writing.
"It's just exciting these people are so enthusiastic. It's a great experience to be involved," Malloy said. "I'm retired and it's a chance for me to use my skills and give something back to the community and to this orphanage; I'm enjoying every minute of it."
Though the nonprofit is young, supporters talk about having big dreams for its future.
"We're just beginning," Malloy said, "but as the name of the organization says, we have big dreams about extending this and perhaps getting some grant money and maybe a little more sophisticated fundraising."
While members see a big future ahead for the nonprofit, right now Kittleman is relishing the difference she can make in the life of a child who does not have the luxury of basic needs.
"Even from far away, I can buy a pair of underwear or a pair of shoes for an orphan whose parents dropped them off because they couldn't afford to raise them," Kittleman said. "If they know somebody cares about them, even from the other side of the world, it matters."[[In-content Ad]]
