By Steve

But what can we do here locally?

Although we have been back from Africa since late November, Ali and I still think of the people there daily and even more so this week. Pastor Stephen just arrived in San Diego and our fundraiser event is this Saturday. We hope to get many kids sponsored in addition to raising enough money to build a clean water well.

Much of my time for the fundraiser has been spent asking people and businesses for discounts and donations. The rest of my efforts have gone to explaining to people what we're doing with the orphanage in Africa in partnership with the Childrens Heritage Foundation.

The other day when explaining our efforts, a friend responded saying, "I love what you're doing in Africa, but what can we do here locally." In other words, how do we balance being people of service and sacrifice for others over sees and across the street?

This question spawned an ongoing discussion between this man and me, where we hope to create something that will make a contribution for people in need that live in our neighborhood. While this guy and me share no common faith, we share a common value...that we should use what we've been given to make a difference for others who have needs. This seems all to have come about because we travelled several thousand miles to help people. And because we now ask many people to help us to help the people in Africa. And now they're helping and they want to do more, locally.

I'm not sure where this will all lead, but I believe it will make a difference. It will help many. And many others will get on board to join our mission of doing good.