Our story began in April of 2008. Four ordinary Catholic women who had been meeting once a week in a Bible study group began to discuss how blessed our lives are. We live in a small community where water is abundant and fresh. As we drank tea we discussed water shortages in other parts of the world. Joan, our host, shared with us information about groups who had raised money to dig wells in developing countries. Carol suggested that we put on a concert to raise funds. And so our adventure began.

That night God inspired and motivated our group. We had never done anything like this before. I contacted the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada. Together we identified a focus for our project. The Kpabi School in Ghana was in need of a rain water harvesting tank for the 341 students and 7 teachers. The girls from this school walked miles every day to collect water from the closest borehole.  This task took time away from their studies and often the water they brought back was contaminated. And so we now had a focus.

Next we met with Father Rex, our pastor, to get his blessing and help for our project. That was the easy part. Nervous and unsure we took action. Carol contacted High Valley, a Christian Country band. Luckily they were planning a tour and were going to be in our area on June 18th. I contacted the local High School and booked the Theatre. Carol and Joan contacted local businesses to get donations for refreshments for our intermission. Judi organized the printing and sale of the tickets and the advertising. Joan and Judi contacted other churches in the area. Joan also handled the money collection. Carol’s husband, Ron and my husband Brock joined the group. Ron was our best ticket seller.  No one in town was allowed to say no to a ticket when Ron was selling. 

Ticket sales were slow at first. We took turns worrying. Still we knew that God was on our side and our faith prevailed. Many people in our community made donations in lieu of buying a ticket. Judi and I spent two days cleaning motel rooms to raise money. Mike, the Director of Safari Beach Resort, donated rooms for the band members to stay in and donated the cost of hiring the band. Ticket sales picked up and by the last week at $15.00 a ticket we were sold out. Hallelujah!  

The evening of the concert was incredible. Maria joined our group to help with the refreshments. The band was wonderful. Curtis, Brad and Bryan Rempel gave a very entertaining performance.

Saint Anne's generous donation, allowed CCFC to provide this communicty in Ghana a rainwater harvesting tank.

Our project was more than successful. We raised enough money for one and a half rainwater harvesting tanks. We sent $3 500.00 to Christian Children’s Fund of Canada for Kpabi school and then sat down to decide what was next.  Carol and Ron managed the Safari Beach Resort. They were looking for someone to collect recycling during the summer months. Joan immediately said yes to this commitment. She and Maria started this project. Brock and I joined them in early July and Wendy came to our rescue and helped out in August. We collected recyclable containers ever morning and every evening all summer long. We sorted them at Maria’s house and then took them to the recycling centre. We were able to collect from $40.00 to $70.00 a day from just this one resort. 

In September we met to evaluate our project and to disperse the funds. We were able to send an additional $3 500.00 to Christian Children’s Fund of Canada to provide a rain water harvesting tank for Jilo Primary school in Ghana. The remaining funds, $1700.00 we have sent to the Bishop Croteau Foundation in Yellowknife toward providing potable drinking water for communities in Nicaragua.

The personal growth each of us experienced through this endeavor was noteworthy in itself. As we spread the word about our project, more people joined us. Each additional person brought with them enthusiasm and renewed our spirit. Our relationships became deeper and more meaningful. Pleasant smiles and hellos at church turned into warm hugs and friendly greetings. The personal benefit to each of us was a deep satisfaction in knowing that we were helping others. We began to realize that working together we were able to achieve much more than we could have done working on our own. 

God has blessed us and it is our responsibility to help other. We will continue our work. We pray that God will inspire others to start their own project. 

God Bless