Get Involved – Foothold International https://footholdinternational.org Empowering Women in Kenya Sun, 21 Apr 2024 22:00:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 194901294 Climb Kilimanjaro for Good https://footholdinternational.org/2022/04/climbing-kilimanjaro-for-good-kilimanjaro4water/ https://footholdinternational.org/2022/04/climbing-kilimanjaro-for-good-kilimanjaro4water/#comments Thu, 28 Apr 2022 21:21:02 +0000 https://footholdinternational.org/?p=18089
 

Have you ever dreamed of climbing the tallest mountain in Africa? The views, the landscape, the culture, the hospitality, and the wildlife are just incredible. You can hike the highest freestanding mountain in the world and give back at the same time. Foothold International organizes Kilimanjaro Climbs, safaris and humanitarian trips. A portion of the trip costs will support Foothold International’s work to provide clean water, sanitation, hygiene as well as improving mental health and education. And there’s even more good…

THE PURPOSE–To encourage responsible tourism that benefits all involved. This trip is designed to give you an incredible, safe and exciting experience, one full of stories to share with your family and friends for years to come. Our first priority is to keep you safe, but we also have deep relationships with the land and the people of these communities, so we help prepare you to go before, during and even after the trip.

When people like you come back from a trip safe and sound and full of beautiful pictures and stories, this also encourages more responsible tourism that helps these vulnerable economies. You can become an ambassador, encouraging others to come, assuring them that it’s safe and worthy of their time and resources.

When Brad and I founded Foothold International, we had extensive experience leading short-term teams to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and the Ukraine, and part of our vision was to use this experience to encourage and facilitate responsible tourism because the communities we work in, rely heavily on tourism. But over the years we’ve seen the aftermath of tourists and missionary groups, encouraging us to dig into this area of our work that also funds our mission.

VALUE ADDED: Another aspect of this trip is optional. Many of our participants choose to use their Kilimanjaro climb to raise awareness and/or funds for one of our projects. Last year Chelsey Bolles, Kaylyn McGraw and I climbed Kilimanjaro to raise funds for two water wells. If you choose to add on a fundraiser to your climb, we will help you set up a fundraising page that is easy to share on social media and gives you sample messages and thank you’s for your supporters.

BUSINESS SPONSORSHIPS: If you work for or have a good relationship with a company or organization, we encourage you to ask them to sponsor you. We will provide social media posts to promote those businesses that support you and provide you samples and images to thank and promote your sponsors. Donations to the the value added projects are tax deductible as well.

Check out my other blogs on various Kilimanjaro topics: packing, training, what to expect, medications to take, passports, visas…so much to go over, and we help you every step of the way.

If you’re ready so sign up for this trip and put a deposit to save your spot, click the link below or email me at [email protected]



 

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Banquet 2020 Update https://footholdinternational.org/2020/07/banquet-2020-update/ Wed, 29 Jul 2020 02:43:33 +0000 https://footholdinternational.org/?p=17518

In response to current circumstances this year, we are changing our banquet to an online format.  We look forward to gathering together in person in the future. 

We still need your help as hosts to encourage your friends and family to tune in.  We will be updating this blog as the date gets closer.

#1 Be a Virtual Host

  • Date: Thursday, October 17, 2020 7pm
  • Your role as a Virtual Host is to introduce people within your circle of influence to get involved and support Foothold International.
  • Because this will be online, the location is flexible.  
  • If this date and time does not work for you and your friends, we have a plan for alternative dates-times, so let us know as soon as possible.
  • When planning, please consider CDC guidelines as they are updated frequently.

#2 Technology

  • We are still planning our mode of technology and will update you as soon as we have it finalized. If you need any help and would like for us to meet with you or come to your home for a trial run, we are more than happy to do so.
  • We will be holding a Supporter’s Update Event 4 weeks prior which is a good time to hear updates on the ministry, but also to test run the technology prior to the event.

#3 Invite

  • It’s best to invite via personal contact: right now by phone call is safest. (Other mediums such as text, email or Facebook are good for reminders).
  • Invitations are also included in the packet if you would like to mail invitations. 
  • Be strategic–Consider those who may become:
    • financial supporters
    • prayer warriors
    • people who may have ministry connections

#4 Complete Table Guest information form

Form can be emailed to you (link will be available here for an online version)

#5 Remind & Confirm Guests

  • Remind them a few days before
  • If you have cancellations, please invite others to join if possible and encourage them to login from another location.  We will be recording the event, so as the date gets closer, we will have information on how to access the recording.
  • Consider using multiple mediums (email, phone call, personal contact, Facebook, Instagram, text…) to remind & confirm they will attend.
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Ways You Can Help https://footholdinternational.org/2020/07/ways-you-can-help/ Mon, 20 Jul 2020 02:12:10 +0000 https://footholdinternational.org/?p=17457

1. Pray

We appreciate your encouragement and prayers in this work. They are felt more than you know. We encourage you to sign up for our newsletter, and you can join our prayer team, receiving monthly email updates with prayer requests.

You can also like our Foothold facebook page to stay updated on how best you can pray for our work and encourage us along the way and follow us also on Instagram.

2. Give

Financial gifts make the work happen. There is no such thing as a small gift in our view.  We especially appreciate ongoing gifts no matter how small. Monthly donations add up quickly and help us plan for future projects.

Purchase a bar of soap. Visit footholdmarket.org to order soap online or visit our local shops in Chillicothe.

Go to our giving page to choose the giving option that is best for you.  We will be updating some new ways to give in September 2020.

3. Advocate

Start off by learning more about us first by doing any of the following:

      • Sign up for our email newsletter Sign up here
      • Join us for our monthly brown bag lunch now online.  Check out our calendar to confirm dates.  (Due to Covid, we are currently holding these meetings online through Google Meeting).
      • Meet with Brad & Cherie personally or one of our board members We enjoy to meeting with people face to face to talk about our work.

Host a soap party

Our soap parties are a fun, non-threatening way to introduce us to your friends.  Consider your coworkers, friends, small group, or bible study class.  To find out more about our soap parties, visit Soap Party Fun blog.

Host a fundraiser event

Host a Water Walk in your neighborhood, social club or church, or gather friends together for a fundraising social event. We are always open to fun, creative ideas from our supporters, so please let us know your suggestions.

Social Media Advocacy

Facebook

You can start off by liking our Foothold  page to stay updated.  The next step is to go beyond “likes.” While we’re always grateful for any “likes” on our posts because it is encouraging, and it does help boost our updates on the newsfeed.  You may consider going a small step further by:

  • Sharing our post—this extends our influence to your friends and
  • Share our posts with a comment about how you feel about it or why you like Foothold.
  • Tag your post with someone who you think would be interested in our work.

Instagram

Foothold and Namelok are new to Instagram, so forgive us as we grow in this area.

  • Follow Foothold on Instagram.
  • Like our posts.
  • Comment on our posts gets even more attention and tag someone.
  • Introduce us to people you know who may be interested in supporting us or partnering with us in some way. Face-to-face introductions work best, but email or phone introductions can be a first step.

4. Volunteer

Contact Cherie at [email protected] to sign up to volunteer once a month or even more.  You may help with Cherie’s soapmaking production while getting to sample some of the merchandise all the while learning more about the soap making process.  In addition, there are opportunities to help with packaging products, marketing materials, cleanup, etc.

Watch our newsletter and social media pages, to stay updated on upcoming events when we need volunteers.

5. Go

Getting you ready for a short-term trip with us to Kenya is something we take seriously.  Coming to see our projects first-hand, volunteering on the ground and meeting the people impacted by our work can be a life-changing experience.   To find out more if Kenya is for you, read “Considering a Trip to Kenya” blog.

One perk to coming with us is that we are less than an hour’s drive from Kilimanjaro, and on clear days, the view is incredible even from our neighborhood.  We have a tour company we recommend for 5-day Kilimanjaro climbs that can be arranged after the trip.  If the mountain is a little much for you, we always make some arrangement for a brief 1-2 day tour of the nearby Tsavo game park where you can see elephants, zebras, giraffes, etc in the wild.

 

We are grateful for your support and look forward to working with you.

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