CO-FOUNDERS HONOURED AS "INSPIRED ALBERTANS"

On December 29, 2020 Ralph and Glenda Dubienski were featured in CTV’s “Inspired Albertans” segment because of the work they are doing to further our cause in Ethiopia and Rwanda. What an honour to have them featured at the end of this rather unforgettable year!

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2109174

In the telling of their story, the renowned broadcaster Darrel Janz shared of the impact made through the partnership of Pat and Michelle Ward, and Paul and Kristin Van Ginkel. By creating the Hopethiopia Charity Calendar every year for the past 10 years, their efforts have raised over $1,000,000 for our charity!

The partnership with these lavishly supportive friends causes us to humbly (and tearfully) pause and reflect upon the enormous blessings that continue to flow through all our sponsors, volunteers, mentors, advisors, friends and family. The support of Pat and Michelle, Paul and Kristin, is representative of the giving of the many faithful sponsors of HOPE’s projects and people. Yes, it is representative of your support. This has been a most trying year, but you have remained with us. We could not possibly express the fullness of our gratitude. Just be assured: you have done great things to transform the lives of hundreds of the world’s most marginalized.

Thank you for your continual, thoughtful and loving support. We remain forever grateful.

If you would like to make a donation and receive one (or more) of these stunning calendars, please go to Paul Van Ginkel’s website link: https://paulvanginkel.com/news.aspx.

Or, you can select the 2021 Charity Calendar Fund on Hopethiopia’s CanadaHelps page at: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/hopethiopia/

Thank you again!

10th ANNIVERSARY HOPETHIOPIA CALENDAR NOW AVAILABLE

For the past 9 years Painted Pony Energy has sponsored a HOPEthiopia charity calendar which has raised over $1,050,000 combined. However, since the company was recently sold, the former President & CEO Pat Ward, and his wife Michelle, have personally sponsored this calendar (once again, featuring Paul Van Ginkel's paintings). 100% of the donations go to Calgary based http://www.hopethiopia.com.

For a $40 (minimum) donation we gift you a calendar. To make a donation you can use PayPal through Paul Van GInkel's website link: https://paulvanginkel.com/news.aspx or email paulvg@shaw.ca, or donate to Hopethiopia's 2021 Charity Calendar on www.canadahelps.org. Other payment options include cash, cheque, e-transfer, credit or debit card. We will arrange pick up or delivery options.

Also, we are now selling Paul Van Ginkel's cover painting “Wild & Wondrous” through a social media silent auction. The market value for this 20X20” oil painting is $2500. To be a part of this fundraising auction, you can register a bid by emailing paulvg@shaw.ca. Whenever a new bid is received, Paul will inform the previous highest bidder. The deadline to bid is midnight November 30th. Paul will contact the winner on December 1st.

Since “every picture tells a story”, the following is the story behind this portrait: While in Ethiopia in 2009, HOPEthiopia co-founder Ralph Dubienski was asked by President Girma to hike into a remote location (15 kms away) and research a very holy Orthodox hot spring which had been a pilgrimage site for many centuries (it was starting to dry up due to intensive deforestation). Ralph and his son Kevin were the first foreigners to discover this unknown area. Ralph photographed this little girl while she was sitting at the outflow area of the hot spring with her mom (they were washing their clothes in the warm water). President Girma loved Ralph’s photo as it reminded him of the purity and innocence of an Ethiopian child. Since that original encounter, Ralph has visited the hot spring many times with mission teams, however, he hasn't seen that girl again (who is now probably around 18 years old). We all wonder how her life has unfolded…

“Wild & Wondrous” is available in paper print ($50 for a regular print of 300 and $75 for an Artist Proof print of 30.) 100% of donations go to HOPEthiopia. All the details are on Paul Van Ginkel's website https://paulvanginkel.com/vanginkel-prints.aspx

Thank you for your continued support! May God bless you with health and welfare!

PAUL HARDY'S MASK PROJECT: EMPLOYMENT & EMPOWERMENT

Graduates from HOPE’s Kelly Drader Longview Training Centre have been busily producing stunning, vibrant, unique masks for the Paul Hardy Mask Project. Over 3,000 masks created out of joyful, colourful African kitenge have been shipped to Canada for sale internationally! (See below for the link to Paul’s website to order yours.) And as promised, for every mask made, a mask was created to be given to a local, as all Rwandans required are by law to wear a mask in public. (Please, see the previous post about distribution of the "Give One" masks.) So, our ladies made over 6,000 masks in just 5 weeks!

This has proven to be the most fabulous opportunity for our ladies to learn production line assembly and advanced textile skills! Confidence has grown as they acquired new skills and became more proficient tailors. And when it finally sunk in that their products were being exported to and sold in Canada, they were so proud of themselves! The ladies began to believe there was nothing they couldn’t do.

Hope has been restored and the ladies are dreaming again! Some imagined returning to school, while others saw investing in their own businesses. Saving has become a new habit – they now have money to save and they have something to save for!

Truly these women have been empowered through this opportunity.

100% of the proceeds will go to sustaining this women’s business initiative and raising funds for HOPE’s new school and residences.

PAUL HARDY's CONTACT:

Website: https://paulhardydesign.com

Facebook: Paul Brian Hardy

Instagram: Paulhardyinc