Matt is being creative and figuring out ways to support a cause that he cares about- clean water wells. He is finding ways to raise money and awareness through his blog and racing.

Matt ran the marathon in 2:48:08 and finished 67th overall, all the while raising money and awareness for our clean water project.

We love when our members take what they love, what they are passionate about, and combine that with raising support for Africa.

If you’d like to support Matt, you can read his Run For Something blog or join his Run For Something Mocha Club team.

Thank you, Matt! You inspire us all!!

Do you have an idea of how you want to combine your hobby, passion, or work with Mocha Club? Email us at makechange@mochaclub.org.

Julia (on the right) with her 2 friends after running their half-marathon!

My name is Julia and for my (high school) senior project I chose to run a half-marathon and ask for pledges from family and friends to donate to the Child Mothers and Women at Risk project of Mocha Club. I first heard of Mocha Club through a Young Life friend (and $7/month donator) and loved the vision and work emerging from this organization. I trained for about 11 weeks for the race, which was on January 9th in Bellingham, Washington and sent out a letter informing my close friends and family for a small donation to the cause. I wanted to have a purpose and motivation for training and running this race; I wanted it to be more than just a mental and physical challenge. The idea was to ask for a dollar per mile ($13 total), knowing that this simple donation holds the potential to change the life of a young woman. The race allowed me to rely solely on the Lord’s strength and to think and pray over these women in Africa who are hurting and need Christ in their lives. I was blown away by the support and money my friends and family generously donated. In total, I was able to donate $630.00 to the Child Mothers and Women at Risk project. I know that this project was 100 percent in God’s hands and I continue to pray that this money will do great things for another girl just like me out there, who needs to hear that there is a God who loves her unconditionally.

So excited to be finished & to have raised money for Africa!

Summer.  A time to get tan…get bug bites…GET ACTIVE!
Here are some easy ways to make the most of your summer…and also benefit AFRICA!

1) Penny Wars: An easy way to raise money for those in need in Africa…use your spare change to make change!

• Compete against Sunday school classes, swim teams, neighbors, etc.
• Provide each group with a Make Change jar.
• The group/class/team that raises the most money is awarded a pizza party

(contact your local pizza chain to get the pizza donated!)

*Penny Wars can also work great during the school year between classrooms!

2) Net Night: Make your family and/or community aware of those in Africa who die daily from malaria caused by mosquito bites by purchasing and sleeping under mosquito nets one night.

• Provide an opportunity for those involved to participate in what Mocha Club is doing to prevent Malaria in Africa.  Just $7 can purchase a net and save someone’s life.

3) Poverty Meal: Make your family and/or community aware of those in Africa who are constantly hungry and thirsty by hosting a dinner party at your home, church or school.

• Set the table with a plate of rice and beans and a cup of muddy water.  For every glass of clean water they want to drink, each person must pay $1.
• Provide opportunity for those involved to participate in what Mocha Club is doing to provide clean water to those living in Africa.  ($1 = clean water for somebody in Africa for one year!)

4) Mommy’s Morning Out: Make your community aware of Mocha Club’s creation of child daycare centers in support of Child Mothers + Women At Risk.

• Ask your friends to volunteer to babysit, and host a large babysitting morning.
• Suggest that the money the moms would have paid to hire a babysitter go toward Mocha Club’s effort to support women and children in Africa.
• Provide opportunity for those involved to participate in what Mocha Club is doing to provide child care and education to Child Mothers + Women At Risk projects in Africa.

5) Mocha Night: Create an environment of conversation about Mocha Club and international justice issues in Africa.

• Get coffee and/or snacks donated.
• Provide opportunity for those involved to participate in what Mocha Club is doing to save lives in Africa.

...or get CREATIVE and come up with ideas of your own!
Email makechange@mochaclub.org if you need help or advice.

But it didn’t stop there. Tammy wanted to do more.
She bought “I need Africa more than Africa needs me” tshirts for her entire family to wear to church. She talked with her pastor and shared her vision of getting the whole church involved, and organized a donation to her project from the church. She’s also getting the Life Group she and her husband attend excited about running a campaign.

And, she got her kids involved. Ten-year-old Delaney decided to give her money to help the orphans, and created a drawing with the phrase “We are all the same”. We were able to take the drawing over with our Mocha Club Cape Town trip (it is pictured above with some orphans in Khayelitcha, South Africa!) Fourteen-year-old Presley spreads the message of Mocha Club to her classmates and draws posters, getting her friends excited about helping!

How can you get your family involved?
You decide. You make the difference.

Emily picked our Sudan Regrowth project area, with an emphasis towards the New Life Orphanage in Nyamlel, Sudan.

The weekend raised almost $700 for the orphanage!!
After the event, when asked how she felt the campaign went, Emily said “It made the church realize the need in Africa, and I was so encouraged by the response from our church!”

Mocha Club member Missy Wood traveled on one of our trips last summer to Ethiopia. While she was there, Missy was able to take some amazing photographs that inspired her and her husband, Asher, to hold an art show in Nashville this spring. The Woods displayed their art at a downtown studio loft, and the one-night event featured wine and Ethiopian food, and a video Missy created explaining her trip and her vision to continue to raise money and support the projects she saw.

Donations at the door plus proceeds from the art sales went to our Education project in Ambo, Ethiopia to support street kids and our Women at Risk project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to support mothers.

What are ways you could use your gifts to raise money in your town? Email makechange [at] mochaclub [dot] org with your ideas!!

The money Jessica’s church raised will go to fund our various education projects around Africa.

One of our current projects is the elementary school we’re building in Kibera, Kenya. We also have a primary school in progress at the Village of Hope in Gulu, Uganda.

Thanks to campaigns like Jessica’s, we are able to fund these projects and give an education to the future leaders of these communities.

STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition is a group of students at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN that want to make change. Their mission is to promote awareness on the issue of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan and to influence national policy regarding the issue. They partnered with the Mocha Club at the end of the fall semester to run a Make Change campaign. STAND called it “Rock for Darfur” and raised over $1000 for Sudan Regrowth projects! They plan to hold another event, “Walk for Darfur”, in the spring.

Sammie decided to grab a couple of friends, and get her high school to take action and raise money for Africa.

You can read about their campaign initiatives here.