REACHING OUT: Gisimba Orphanage

In the summer of 2008, Chrissie Lam, the founder of Create for a Cause, volunteered at Gisimba Memorial Center in Kigali, Rwanda to work with over 20 children who have been orphaned by genocide, HIV/AIDS and malaria. The picture she paints of her experience there is of a bright hope in the midst of a chaotic and bleak future for the youngest of Rwanda’s generations. Filled to capacity, the center is now only able to take in children under special circumstances, receiving about five per year. All of the children are required to go to school and a large number go on to study higher education, making them more able to build normal lives once they become old enough to transition our of the orphanage. The orphanage and its school also prepare the children to reinvest their skills and knowledge back into their communities and to contribute to the hope of a better future for a new Rwanda.

Inspired by Chrissie Lam and the Gisimba Memorial Center, REPUBLIC is proud to present REACHING OUT: Gisimba Orphanage.

As the first in our ongoing REACHING OUT program of recurring charitable fundraising projects, REPUBLIC and Create for a Cause are working together to involve our local communities and New York City, at large, in a campaign to keep Gisimba Memorial Center equipped with the basic necessities it requires to stay in operation. That includes our help in providing the children who live there with education, food, and health care. The proceeds from the campaign will also be distributed through the Memorial Center to support sustainable revenue-generating projects within the Kigali community, such as livestock and agricultural programs.

Friday, May 29th at Le Grand Dakar Restaurant in Clinton Hill Brooklyn, REPUBLIC will host and extraordinary evening of celebration and fundraising with dance performances and music by Indoda Entsha percussion ensemble, food and drinks by Master Chef Pierre Thaim, along with a silent auction and an exhibition of photography by contemporary Rwandan artists.

Come with a full heart but an empty belly! Your financial contribution to this important cause does so much more than help the Gisimba Memorial Center, it also helps to further the reputation of our own community as an example of brother and sisterhood throughout the world. Beyond the frustrations and trials of our individual daily lives, this is an opportunity to reflect on how blessed we truly are and to reach out to the less fortunate with just a small helping hand. Not to pull them up, but to give them the tools to pull themselves up. If we all reach out just a little, we can all make a mighty difference that creates real help and change for the orphans of Rwanda, and for ourselves.

All monetary and silent auction donations are greatly appreciated. REPUBLIC will be collecting donations throughout the entire month of May and into June. Checks should be made out to “Fractured Atlas” with Create for a Cause in the memo line and be sent to Chrissie Lam; auction items should be mailed to Jason Voegele.

For more information about May 29th, making donations, or to learn more about REPUBLIC and our charitable projects, you can reach us online at www.republicbrooklyn.com or call 508.737.7921.