Van Meter Farmers Market

  Last summer right before school began our She's the First group reached our first goal. That goal was to raise $1,000 dollars to sponsor a girls education. The Van Meter Farmer's Market played a big part in raising that money. It was very exciting for us. The farmers market did take a lot of work but it was a worthwhile investment of our time. Sometime during the week, every week, we would all get together and make baked goods. It was a bonding experience for us and brought us all together more. Due to the success from the farmers market that we got last year while we were discussing Summer Fundraising we decided to do the Van Meter Farmers Market again. We look forward to this summer and this summer's fundraising and hope to raise another $1,000 to sponsor Neema Amos for her last two years of school.

Newest Fundraiser

Recently, we have kicked into high gear with our newest fundraiser. We wanted to get younger students excited, and interested in helping us with our goal. This usually only comes when there is a reward involved. In this case we used a class party for the winner. What was our fundraiser you may be asking? We used a jar of Skittles in the game of guessing. Any students would have the opportunity to come in and make an estimated guess on how many were in the jar. This was something we always thought was fun as younger kids, so we thought this would be a good idea. We were right. The fundraiser was a success in helping is lean closer to our goal. We hope that the students feel like they had part in our success with sending Neema to school, as if it weren't for their motivation to get the class party, we wouldn't be where we are today. We are looking forward to planning the next event, and hope that it is just as successful as previous events. We are very thankful to those who enjoy helping us every year!

A Small Action Can Make a Difference

Things have gotten even more exciting in She's The First Van Meter. You are probably wondering what could be more exciting than making over $1,000.00 dollars in less than 6 months, or finally being able to send our scholar to school. It takes a lot to conquer these kinds of exciting events, but it did happen, in the blink of an eye. What you may not know is that it can only take pressing the reply button to change someones life. That is exactly what happened for us. All it took for us to feel this rush of excitement and hapiness was for our scholar, Neema Amos, to press the reply button on her inbox of her Kisa Project website account. It was this small action that brought us good attitudes throughout the day. It was that small action that opened our eyes, and made us realize what a difference we are truly making. At that moment, it then lead us to realize what difference Neema Amos, the strong, wise, devoted, caring, and respectful woman was making in our lives. Which, in the end, makes her greater than we could have ever imagined her to be. Something that took a minute for Neema Amos to write meant the world to us. To get the satisfaction of knowing that we were in her thoughts that day, and that she wanted to take the time to reply to us. Knowing what she is doing, what she is going through, and so much more is the best feeling that we could ever have the chance of experiencing. With this, we have the full ability to get so close to Neema, and to realize what her everyday life is like. All it took is for her to open her heart to us. All it took was one small action, which turned into a wide meaning of love, courage, and joy that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Finally Connected With Our Scholar!

She's The First Van Meter Chapter has finally connected with our scholar! Her name is Neema Amos, she is 20 years old, and is from the Kisa project. We have connected with her through Kisa website, which is a very good way to get all of the other Kisa scholars connected as well. Enjoy the video and pictures that we added of Neema, as well as the Kisa Website. We are very excited that we connected with our scholar, and plan on continuing communicating with her. 

She's The First Van Meter Video!

Here is the video highlighting the events in our She's The First chapter. 

If you want to know more about what we do...watch this video below!

Success With Van Meter She's the First Chapter!

Knowing that you reached your goal, and that you will be changing someone's life, is something that can not be put into words. I think for us, being able to share our stories about She's The First throughout our lives with give us this joy that not everyone can experience in their lives.

 

Throughout the time that we were raising money, I don't think any of us really realized that this day would come so fast. Hopefully, our girl didn't realize it either. We can only imagine the excitement that our girl is experiencing, and hope that she never forgets it.

 

Even though we have reached our goal, we don't plan on stopping changing lives of those who will get the chance to become something that they have always wanted to be. Our dream is to talk to the girl in the Tanzinia Kisa Projedct that we are sponsoring, and see her smile as she talks about how school is going, what her favorite class is, what she is learning, what she wants to be when she grows up, and so much more.

 

We learned throughout all of this that anything is possible if you just focus on the road ahead of you.

 

Our plan is to continue our chapter of She's The First, and keep challenging ourselves to make a difference.

Animoto Video

Today one of the She's the First*{Van Meter}* girls made an Animoto video of the different schools/projects that She's the First is sponsoring. You can view this video from this link: http://animoto.com/play/RoJROp8daFdSykZlP1uTqA