Dear friends and supporters of GiveLight,
Our hearts are heavy with the weight of seeing so much cruelty in the world. But we must remind ourselves that even in the worst of times we have the choice, the ability and responsibility to do what is right. GiveLight came into existence in the wake of the deadly tsunami of 2004. What started from a tragedy is now bringing light to many orphans around the world.
We feel blessed because our work has a direct and immediate impact on hundreds of lives today – and we hope thousands in the near future. As we look back at the last 10 years, we are so deeply grateful for our growth as measured by the well-being and accomplishments of our children, the increasing number of supporters and volunteers across the world.
December 26th, 2014 marks the 10th Anniversary of the tsunami. By His Grace and your generosity we grew from only one home in Indonesia to five across the globe, from supporting 50 children to more than 800 and from 20 donors in the Bay Area to more than 3000 all over the world. We have grown from just 10 volunteers to over 100, spanning from San Francisco to Houston to New Jersey to Toronto. We are supported by major companies via employee matching grant including Google, Paypal, Adobe, Nvidia, Microsoft, GE and 20 more.
This reinforces our belief that with hard work and dedication, we can accomplish great things. We are asking all of you to please make a contribution of any amount to honor the lives of orphans under GiveLight’s care. You can ask 10 friends to donate just $10, which will allow us to feed a child for 10 days.
A few major highlights from 2014:
1. Our home in Savar, Bangladesh:
The home is slated for its Grand Opening very soon on Dec 27th, 2014. This project is completed through partnership with a non-profit founded by the Bangladeshi community in the Bay Area (ECHO). The project took much longer than others to come to fruition mainly due to local red tape, but we are excited that the beautiful dream of helping orphaned girls in Bangladesh is finally becoming a reality.
2. Morocco Permit Update:
The Moroccan Government has given us the permit to build starting Spring 2015. Our target is to complete building in Spring 2016, God willing. Here are the designs created by Architecture students from University of San Francisco.
3. Double the Donation:
We introduced this new program to help grow our Employee matching grant in Fortune 500 Companies. As a reminder we are currently matched by major Corporations such as Oracle, VMWare, Wells Fargo, Linkedin and many others. Here’s the link, which we hope you can share with friends and family who maybe working for one of the companies that match employee donation.
4. GiveLight Year End Masquerade:
We held a gathering for 60+ passionate supporters. These women came together to celebrate our 2014 accomplishments and to renew their commitment to personally come up with ideas to raise funds for our children. So far we have 20 small events planned in 2015 ranging from a tea party, a trunk show, a yoga retreat, cooking lessons and much more.
5. Huffington Post Article:
In October we were featured in Huffington Post. In case you missed the article here’s the link.
6. Dian’s visit to Aceh, Cambodia and Sri Lanka Homes:
During Ramadan time, Dian visited three of GiveLight homes. You can read the heart-warming accounts of those visits here:
Flickers of Light: Our first home 10 years after Tsunami
Cambodia: Light after Darkness
GiveLight Sri Lanka: Dreams and Possibilities
7. GiveLight Walkathon 2014:
Our Walkathon as every year was a resounding success. Check out the fun day pics here.
8. Light Upon Light Global Tour:
As we get ready to celebrate our 10-year milestone, we will be introducing our work in major cities around the US and the world. If you happen to live in one of the cities listed, we would love to meet you. Please contact us for details at info@givelight.org.
We thank you for your amazing support. We close 2014 with a deep sense of happiness and gratitude. We welcome 2015 with a conviction that GiveLight will continue to soar to new heights, with God’s blessings and your trust.
May the source of all love and mercy bless you and your loved ones.
With gratitude and prayers,
Dian and the GiveLight Family
