Happy New Year!
Have you ever wanted to do something that you thought would be a piece of cake, and then it turns out to be way more difficult than you anticipated? Yeah? Me too! When we started A Ring of Hope a little over a year ago, I thought to myself, “I got this! I love what’s happening in Africa, what else is there to it?” Here I am a year later and laughing at the naivety of myself. Allow me to take you on a walk down memory lane for A Ring of Hope…
December 5th, 2019 - A Ring of Hope is Incorporated!
December 13th, 2019 - We have a business license from Washington State.
January 28th, 2020 - We have our 501(c)3 status!
July 29th, 2020 - Bylaws are passed.
August 21st, 2020 - We are gifted with our first donation.
October 27th, 2020 - The website launches.
December 1st, 2020 - We participated in our first Giving Tuesday event.
December 4th, 2020 - We have a logo.
All these dates are big for us. They all took an immense amount of time, energy, and persistence to see to completion. But if you ask me, it’s the days in between that matter - it’s the emails, the late-night phone calls, and losing sleep over the bylaws. These dates represent a year of long hard work to ensure that A Ring of Hope has all the “necessary support structures” as our mission calls for the children in which we are involved. As I look back at these dates, and the days in between, I am grateful for two things: community and hope.
Without the community surrounding A Ring of Hope, we would not be where we are today. Our very generous pro-bono legal team surrounded us with their legal expertise to help create solid bylaws for A Ring of Hope to stand on. Baraka Gemstones and Jewelry partnered with us for Giving Tuesday and helped us to raise over $1,000. Wide Eyed Design partnered with us to help create a beautiful logo. Four volunteers chose to join the team gifting us with their time and talent, and 45 people chose to donate to A Ring of Hope raising over $6,000. This is the kind of community we dreamed of; to be reflecting on the year and to see this as the result leaves us with so much to be grateful for.
Hope is at the center of everything we do. Hope for a better tomorrow and for a better world that children can grow up in. With the community that has surrounded us we have been given so much hope regarding the work we are doing. I will be the first to admit, I am easily bogged down by the nitty-gritty details involved in keeping A Ring of Hope functioning on a day to day basis. But then I see this little face on my computer screen and I am reminded of the need for hope… the need for A Ring of Hope.
This photo always makes me laugh. When I see his little face I hear a voice in my head saying, “C’mon Courtney, we have work to do today in order to see him smile.”
We are a part of what changes these lives and what empowers them to have a “self-sustainable future” as our mission calls for. A Ring of Hope was founded with hope at the center, and when I take a step back from all the minute details I feel that, and more importantly I see that in the impact we are having.
As we look ahead we are so excited for what the future holds. A Ring of Hope has big plans for 2021!
We will take the momentum we’ve gathered in 2020 and bring it forward into the new year. A Ring of Hope has dreams of expanding our work into the U.S. and doing more to empower youth in the Kosele. With community and hope at the core of what we do and our mission at the forefront of our hearts and minds, 2021 will be a year to remember.
I, like many others, have a love-hate relationship with New Year resolutions, but I do like New Year promises. So, as we move forward here are some things we can promise you.
We will be an organization that is grateful for every kind of involvement we have.
We will be an organization that celebrates the big and small things.
We will be an organization that is generous with our time, money, and resources.
The hope I have for this organization is that if by the end of 2021 if we were to leave the community, we would be missed and our lack of presence would be felt.
Cheers to 2021 may it be filled with community and hope!
- Courtney Yorks
