Time & Talent: Val Easton's Singing Lessons

Val Easton sings when she walks. She sings when she is helping sort purses during our sort and clean preparation for Gems & Java. She sings! And, it is beautiful to hear.

So, when the call went out for our volunteers to find ways to use their talents to help raise funds for Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia, Val knew just what to do. Teach others to sing.

Val Easton is offering singing lessons to help raise money for our Time & Talent campaign.

Val will teach one or two young people who want to learn to sing proudly and with confidence, honing their tone and tune. She will offer singing lessons on-line, or safely socially distanced in her basement. She was inspire by a young student she took under her wing during COVID-19 lock-down.

From April to the end of June, Val was teaching a seven year old over the internet three times a week. All the proceeds from this time frame were donated to Tesfa’s orphanage in Ethiopia. Val and her young student will continue, but there is room for at least one or two more students to blossom under Val’s cheery, positive guidance.

Inspired to do more, Val determined there are others ways she can convince her friends and family to support our fundraising efforts. Twice this summer, she has received a fee for cleaning the sheets and tidying up at the cottage after her son had been there with friends. He graciously paid his mom to take care of this necessary task, knowing the funds were supporting a good cause. It was a win-win for Val and her son, and more cash will be collected in the fall when he once again returns to the cottage. Good thinking Val!

Finally, Val is well known by her friends and family for her delicious cooking and hospitality. They are also very supportive of Val’s work for Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia. So, Val is offering to cook a fancy dinner for those inside her circle, safely distanced, hopefully served outside if the weather (and the bees) permits, for a generous fee. There may be a line up for this one, as a warm heart and a generous and gifted hand are always a winning combination.

Val has been a long-time volunteer at Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia. She believes in the good this organization does. She believes in the good people who are attracted to this work, and she has long been inspired by all they accomplish to help others.

Thanks Val Easton for inspiring us with your Time, and Talent.

Time & Talent: Shelley Green's Scones

Shelley and our innovative team of leaders spent lots of time brainstorming ways to help generate donations after the postponement of our flagship fundraiser, Gems & Java due to the pandemic. Many of our programs in Ethiopia rely heavily, if not entirely, on our organization’s financial support. Shelley was thinking about the depth of our volunteers, and fully believes that each of them has something unique and meaningful to offer others. “We all have that special thing we could share — our talents, our time, our caring hearts,” Shelley said. The invitation to all of us is to find our special talent and ask friends and family to support our efforts to raise funds for our children in Ethiopia, where every dollar makes a huge difference. 

Putting thought to action during the COVID-19 “Stay at Home” orders, Shelley, like so many of us, began practicing her baking skills. She holds childhood memories of her mother and her legal guardian perfecting a recipe for scones.  Sweet soft breading and plump raisins, Shelley wanted to continue the tradition, pushed onward by warm and comforting memories.  She began baking scones and delivering them to friends and family during our lock-down to bring love and comfort to their homes. When the concept of Gems & Java . . . Time & Talent was created, Shelley thought back to the comments of her family and friends who told her "your scones are the best I have had.”

She realized that she had something to share, something people enjoy, and thought, why not turn this into something good for the children in Ethiopia who are at real risk of food shortages during the pandemic?
Fitting it in with full-time work and Mothers volunteer work, she will set aside time on weekends to bake to order. 

Her fundraiser’s been dubbed "Shelley's Scones.” She will be sticking with a recipe that was shared by family, knowing practice makes perfect. As her list of friends and family wanting these tasty treats grows, her daughter, Julia, will be supporting the fundraising drive as the packager and assistant.  Who better to add some magic to the challenge!

If you would like to place an order for scones with Shelley, you can contact her at info@moms4ethiopia.ca. A dozen scones (which freeze beautifully) is $27.00. With Shelley's schedule, she will have a limit of 10 dozen available per week so don't wait, place your order now!!

Time & Talent: Beth Phoenix's Quilts

Excitement and anticipation for the annual Gems & Java event was met with disappointment for Beth Phoenix when social gathering restrictions put a halt to the traditional annual fundraiser. When the call went out to our volunteers to imagine new ways to raise funds for programs in Ethiopia, Beth pulled out her sewing machine and began quilting.

Beth showing off a Harry Potter quilt.

After she retired eight years ago, Beth welcomed the chance to get back into the craft. She has always loved  to quilt, believing herself to be a quilter at heart. The art of making quilt tops and then machine quilting them has been a challenge for Beth, but the gorgeous finished product motivates her to keep honing her skills. And skilled she is, indeed.

Beth’s husband sits on the Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia board, and when the fundraising efforts of Gems & Java were threatened by COVID-19, he challenged his wife to use her skills to make something unique and beautiful to sell. Beth decided to donate two quilts with a Harry Potter theme. The Phoenix family has a deep a passion for all things Harry Potter. Wait until you see these quilts. They are amazing!

Beth, the magnificent quilter, tells us that “each of the quilts is machine pieced from 100% cotton fabric and they are both suitable for a double or single bed. The quilting was done on a longarm quilting machine so they are durable enough for frequent washings. Anyone who is a Harry Potter fan would love to add one of these quilts to their Harry Potter collection.”

Mothers with a Heart is near and dear to Beth’s heart and she has attended Gems & Java herself. Both Beth and her husband share a deep passion for our work funding programs to benefit women and children living in poverty in Ethiopia. Beth was excited to attend this year’s event and, like many of us, was saddened that the gathering had to be postponed. When news came out about the online auction, Beth knew it would be a great way to keep everyone involved as well as to raise much needed funds. 

We are anxious to see the excitement her Harry Potter quilts will generate!

Time & Talent: Jane Green's Baking

Jane Green loves to bake, and her friends and family love when she bakes, too.

When her church is raising funds for mission trips, people line up at the silent auction table just to get a bid in on Jane’s homemade pies. When she was first married, her aunt gave Jane a pastry cloth and a sock for her rolling pin, and that started her off. With a recipe for pastry handed down decades ago, Jane never worries if her pies will turn out well, and she has practiced and persevered through the years, making goodies that light up people’s eyes.

Her passion to support children and women, combined with her personal experiences in Ethiopia after three trips there with her daughter, Shelley, motivates Jane to use her home kitchen for a bake-to-order fundraiser. She has already raised $110 doing so. After all, there are people in Ethiopia who have held Jane’s hand, who have looked into her eyes. This is personal.  Jane knows that there are no social safety nets in Ethiopia like we have in Canada to keep people safe during a world pandemic. Food, shelter, medical care, all are in urgent need for people Jane knows and cares for.

It was hard to narrow down the selection of baked goods for friends and family who want to support her efforts, but Jane decided on these homemade offerings:

• Dinner Rolls (made with butter and milk), 6 for $6

• Gluten-free Relish (using a recipe handed down by her mother-in-law), 2 x 6 ounce jars for $10

• Pumpkin Pies (with her renowned pastry recipe), an 8-inch round pie for $15

So, now the word is out.  Friends and family of Jane Green have been challenged! Help this loving lady on her quest to raise some funds for Ethiopia. Give her a call, send her an email, or just give her a shout if you see her! Her kitchen is ready to fill your belly with yummy goodness! And, for the right price, she just might veer off the above list for special orders if you have one. If the price is right!!

Way to go, Jane Green.

Time & Talent: Jenne Todd's Retreat

Jenne Todd’s gift is to lead and guide women with positivity and passion.

She runs a personal coaching business, called Shift Collective, and describes herself as a “high performance business consultant for real (not perfect) women.” When social gatherings were restricted to protect the public during COVID-19, one would think that might put a damper on a business that specializes in “personal connection and community.” Not for Jenne. Like the title of her business implies, Jenne saw a chance to shift her coaching activities to online retreats.

The results have far exceeded her expectations. Rather than the experience becoming cold and isolating as she feared, it has created a place where women feel safe to open up and expose their hearts and truths. People feel supported and heard. And how cool is it that these experiences can now be an international gathering? People across the globe have been able to participate in these online retreats. Thank you COVID-19! One blessing Jenne didn’t see coming.

On Saturday, Sept. 26, from 9 until noon, Jenne is offering a retreat open to all women, with a focus on personal growth and goal setting. Her hope is to encourage people to release the idea that 2020 is “over” as far as reaching goals is concerned. Instead, her invitation to us all is to reflect, slow down, and get comfortable with changing targets, accepting failure and let-down in a positive way, and seeing the blessings that change has already brought us.

100% of the proceeds from this retreat will be donated to Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia.

Jenne has been involved in Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia almost since its inception. Her young daughter, Olivia, who has run many of her own fundraising activities for Mothers, has been a guest speaker at Gems & Java in the past, and has inspired many others along the way. As a parent, Jenne has a desire for her children to be able to recognize their good fortune in being born to the family and place in the world they belong to, and to use empathy and compassion when considering the hardships for many children that Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia supports. Jenne’s personal mission work in Haiti, along with her confidence about how the funds raised by Mother’s with a Heart for Ethiopia are distributed for maximum impact motivate Jenne to support this worthy cause. “A mother has a difficult time imagining being in a position where she can not provide food, shelter and protection for her children,” Jenne said.

Compassion, drive, open heart, open mind. That’s how Jenne will lead others.

Click here to join Jenne Todd as she guides women through the challenges of staying positive and healthy when the world seems upside down.

Stay tuned for more profiles of volunteers who are offering their time and talent as part of our Gems & Java . . . Time & Talent Campaign.