The grassroots non-profit organization Make A Difference will hold its second annual garage sale to benefit the organization's work in Africa and India. Make A Difference seeks to help orphaned children and youth to become self-sufficient and self-confident citizens through education, healthcare, social development and income generators.
The garage sale will take place Friday, Sept. 19, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 20, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 40 Buttercup Rd. north of Hailey. The sale will feature clothing, furniture, sports equipment and more. The sale is seeking large items to sell, and arrangements to drop off items can be made by calling 788-2566.
"We can use bikes and things that bring in money," said Make A Difference founder Theresa Grant. "We don't need clothing."
Make A Difference's board is based in Ketchum and Grant splits her time between there and Zambia, Tanzania and India. In Tanzania, she is in charge of education at an orphanage she runs with two local women.
Grant traveled to Africa in 2005 to volunteer with orphaned children and ended up selling everything she had in the Silicon Valley, where she had moved from the Wood River Valley, and made a life change to help children long-term.
"I make sure there are books and uniforms as well as constructing shelves," Grant said. "I train volunteers, help kids with AIDS education and malaria. I do workshops throughout Kilimanjaro and schools on HIV and AIDS and talk about good touch and bad touch because kids are getting raped."
Part of Grant's focus on education is making sure kids go to school. She has created job programs and income generators such as a garden that supplies the school children with vegetables and fruit. Any leftovers are sold to locals.
The Make A Difference program seeks energetic volunteers age teens through middle-aged. Grant said families with children are welcome. She said the experience has helped people seeking self-discovery and meaning in their lives.
"I want people to come volunteer as a work vacation where they can volunteer for a week and then go to Zanzibar or climb Kilimanjaro," Grant said. "Once you get over there, you will find so much joy in your life. You let the simple things go and start giving back.
"Our Kili climb is another way to get involved. It is a fundraising climb, which clubs, companies and groups can (participate in to) help send orphaned children to school whole working on team building."
Grant is in need of computers and has started a program for volunteers to bring computers with them, which is cheaper than having them shipped. There are 300 kids sharing only two laptop computers at the orphanage in Tanzania. Grant hopes to create a computer center and a secondary school at the orphanage.
"Kids make it through primary school, but secondary school is too expensive," she said. "It is $18 a child through seventh grade, and eighth grade on up is $150 to $500 a child, so kids drop out at a rate of almost 75 percent."
In India, MAD has a historic building to send kids to school, but the second floor is unusable. Grant is looking for people to repair the building. Use of the second floor will allow 200 more kids to attend school.
"We are looking for construction workers, gardeners to musicians," Grant said. "The kids love music because they have none. In Zambia, the abandoned HIV babies need love and people to spend time with them."
Grant returns to Ketchum twice each year for board meetings, fundraising and administrative work. She is looking for people in the Wood River Valley with non-profit and fundraising skills to bring their ideas to MAD. She would like to host a gathering for people to exchange ideas.
"This community can change the world," Grant said. "The resources we have can really bring us together and the grassroots is where it's going to happen."
For MAD details, call (208) 309-2100 or visit makeadifferencenow.org.
Annie Shafran, previously from Sun Valley, shares her compassion with a child in Zambia. She dug a well for a village in Kantalomba and helped care for HIV positive children and kids with cerebral palsy. Photo by
