Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Earthquake Fundraiser

Pretty soon after I returned from Amsterdam, there was some horrifying news coming out of Nepal of a huge earthquake that had killed thousands of people. I suppose as a defence mechanise, it becomes necessary to maintain a distance from all the horrible things that happen in the world. It's too easy to become hopeless and feel helpless in the face of never-ending tide of bad news.

However, I had been there. I had visited Everest Base Camp and Kathmandu. I had hiked the Kathmandu Valley rim. I had seen the remarkable buildings before they were reduced to rubble, and I remembered the beautiful vistas of a lush country. It was impossible not to do something.

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I decided to try to raise money by holding a bake sale. J's office has always been so generous, and they agreed to let me bring in some things for an in-office fundraiser. It was on a "take what you'd like, leave what you can" basis, and we managed to get around £500 in donations over just two days!

 
J and another partner agreed to match the amount, which meant we got a total of £1500! I was genuinely stunned with how generous people were, and I was so happy to donate that money to the Humane Society International. Their aid workers were already on the ground in Nepal and ready to assist with animals in need as a result of the earthquake. I remembered seeing how important animals were to the lives of the locals, especially those that lived out of Kathmandu. They needed the mules to get goods through the rough terrain to their homes that were otherwise unreachable, and their livelihoods often depended on their goats and chickens in addition to their farming.

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I also remembered the sweetest dog that had followed us for a while we were trekking. All it took was a few scratches behind his ears to have him follow us before we had to leave him behind. I really wished I could take him home with me, and I hope he made it through the earthquake and is happy and healthy in a forever home somewhere.

I was really grateful to the partner that also agreed to match, so I ended up baking a few birthday cakes for her husband's birthday the following week. The birthday man was German, so I wanted to try a few new German items I had never tried before. I'm still not quite sure they came out right, but they seemed pretty happy with it so I'm going to chalk it up to a win.




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