April 2020 Newsletter

Greetings

All of us at Reason2Smile send out heartfelt wishes that everyone is safe and healthy during these very difficult times of COVID 19. Our prayers are with all of the health care professionals and all workers on the front times. I am hoping we will see better times soon.

Kenya is also experiencing the quarantining and social distancing that COVID 19 requires. While certain areas can do this, much of the housing environment in Mtwapa makes social distancing impossible. Even more difficult is the lack of services that we in the United States have available such as skilled and qualified health care, unemployment payments, small Business stimulus loans, Hunger relief agencies/food pantries as well as online shopping and home delivery.

​Greetings

All of us at Reason2Smile send out heartfelt wishes that everyone is safe and healthy during these very difficult times of COVID 19. Our prayers are with all of the health care professionals and all workers on the front times. I am hoping we will see better times soon.

Kenya is also experiencing the quarantining and social distancing that COVID 19 requires. While certain areas can do this, much of the housing environment in Mtwapa makes social distancing impossible. Even more difficult is the lack of services that we in the United States have available such as skilled and qualified health care, unemployment payments, small Business stimulus loans, Hunger relief agencies/food pantries as well as online shopping and home delivery.

All schools and universities are closed, and no reopening date has been given. Schools follow a British trimester model, so they were closed during April – set to reopen at the end of this month. Now we are hoping for a July start. 

We want you to be assured that Reason2Smile is continuing to provide support to the students/teachers/staff at Jambo Jipya school and the students living at the Children’s home even in these trying times. Food prices and other household items have doubled. They too have experienced the “toilet paper phenomenon” and the shelves are empty of basic items. For example, our student attending the University of Nairobi has a monthly gas bill of 7 dollars. She just paid 21 dollars for the same one-month supply. Three of our trade school graduates who were working in hair salons and hotels are now at home without a salary. They still have to pay rent and eat and R2S is not abandoning them but giving them the assistance they need.

Unfortunately, my retirement as Supervisor of Nassau BOCES School Library System began March 14 and the COVID 19 shelter in place protocols took effect March 16. All my fundraising events in schools, community centers, and libraries have been put on hold. My trip to Kenya at the end of March was also canceled. I am not sure when I will be able to safely travel to Kenya but hope to make it there in the fall.

So please keep Kenya in your thoughts and prayers and R2S and Jambo Jipya thank you for the support you have given us. We would not be able to do any of this without you.

Stay safe and healthy always!

Ubuntu,
Donna Rosenblum
Executive Director, Reason2Smile

A new look for Reason2Smile
R2S has some exciting news. We have changed website platforms and are using a company called FlipCause. It is specifically designed to work with smaller non-profits. They host and manage the website, provide an online donation system, reports and provides fundraising campaign opportunities as well as the chance to put together an online store.

​You can share author Patricia Newman reading Neema ‘s Reason to Smile here
  
Neema has an ELA and Math curriculum guide available free on our website

Remember you can always purchase Neema for $15.00. Just email me and I will take care of the rest. It makes a wonderful graduation gift. What better way to celebrate this amazing milestone than with the gift of education to others.