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The Raffle 2012

The cost for one person to go on this trip is about $6000. This year we have decided to sell raffle tickets to raise about half the cost of the trip. The first prize is a trip with us to Rwanda in 2012. Tickets are $10 or $200 for a book of 10.

However, we must continue to count on the generosity of our many donors to make the dream continue to come true for our young people.

Please consider a donation to The Rwanda Project - USVI.

The value of a young person being exposed to life in another culture, another continent, another world is immeasurable, which is why we knew even before we made our inaugural trip to Rwanda with 11 young people, that it could not end there. The 2008 and 2010 trips were a smashing success – as the images you see here indicate. Seeds were planted that will continue to grow for a lifetime and as these young people go out into the world – changed – they will have the power to positively impact those around them.

We now hear the voices of the youngsters who will apply to go to Rwanda in 2012, who dream the same dream of meeting young people in Rwanda, of giving in a way they can feel and touch, and of making friends across the globe – friends whose hearts beat the same way though their life experience has been entirely different.

It’s a big dream, but with your help it will come true again and again.
The seed we plant today will nourish the community forever.

It is with this heart and soul-expanding opportunity in mind that we ask you to make a contribution to send one young man or woman on this life-changing mission.

Rwanda Project USVI, a 501c3, covers part or in some cases all the cost of airfare, accommodations and in-country travel for the applicants we accept on the trip. Chaperones pay for their own airfare, food and incidentals. The applicants are expected to raise their own funds for half the trip as well as food, side-trips and incidentals. They are also required to participate in fund raising activities and make presentations upon their return to schools, civic clubs and to appear on broadcasts in the territory to speak of their experience. Other monies raised go to funding the projects we work on in the country.

We have some exciting plans for the coming year which involve the students living and working in a remote village while completing a building project.

Though we have as our goal raising the consciousness of our young people, we also have made significant differences in the lives of people in Rwanda:

In 2008 we established new and meaningful connections that flowed into 2010 when we participated in building and community garden projects, spoke and taught English to Rwandan young people, and forged dynamic relationships between two cultures of striking similarity. We learned it is indeed a small world.
As part of our mission in 2008, we also brought a variety of supplies for orphaned and impoverished children throughout the country, including mattresses, diapers, school uniforms and supplies and toys.
In 2010 St. Thomas Rotary Sunrise donated enough money to complete a water connection that brought running water for the first time to another village.
In that same village, our young people helped complete a house.
When they came back to St. Thomas, they raised enough money to pay for half of another one in the same village.
Both in 2008 and 2010, the gifts we brought were returned 10-fold as we learned what it means to experience true happiness without the material trappings we take for granted.

Please help us keep this important project going by making a tax deductible donation to Rwanda Project USVI.

Please make check or money order payable to: Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, and in the memo section note: Rwanda Project USVI.

Please mail your check or money order to the following address:

Rwanda Project USVI,
P.O. Box 505,
St. Thomas, VI 00804

Thank you in advance for your generosity, your help is very much appreciated!

If you have any questions please call Shaun A. Pennington at 340-777-8144.