Love Will Find a Way to West Africa! 1000 SHIRT CHALLENGE!

It all started with a shoe drive last spring. A fellow photographer peer started an organization called Dando Amor and was collecting shoes for the orphans of Ecuador, Haiti and West Africa and I decided to help! I had no idea that such a task would blow up to raising over 3600 pairs of shoes and I just couldn't live without going to meet the children whom would be receiving these donated kicks... I started fundraising and 2 months later, I collected over $ 5,000 to support my travels to Burkina Faso, West Africa. In June of 2013, I hopped on a plane and headed across the world to meet new friends and ignite a totally new passion for living... We went to several orphanages and provided aid to villages across the country, however nothing made more sense to me till the second to last day I was there. Almost all of my team was from the North East or West of the states and no one had any experience with skateboarding, so I was the only one that noticed the broken board sitting in the dirt.... I asked the groundskeeper about the board and where it came from and he let me know that they received 3 skateboards in donation crates and that the children are obsessed with skating any pavement available. He also said they were wanting to build some ramps, but didn't know how or what would be needed to do it properly... He went inside and pulled out the boards mentioned and said that one was hand made... He flipped it over and it was literally the exact same board my husband was riding at the time and it all came together. I let him know that I may be able to assist with this task and to let me touch base with a few friends back home and maybe we could make a way to give these kids a small source of inspiration and extra curricular hopefulness to invest in.

This trip will be two fold- 1. To fund a small team (3) of knowledgable builders to make a way across the Atlantic and build a small skate sanctuary on the orphanage property (they have lots of land) for the children (They house roughly 200 -250 children, young adolescents and young adults) to get away and skate till their feet fall off... 2. Provide humanitarian needs to the surrounding areas through food, school supplies, shoes, basic needs and health services.

The orphanage we will be dedicating our building time to is called 'The Ranch' and is associated with the REMAR organization (which is worldwide). This particular orphanage is one of the most structured, well equipped, almost self sustaining and free loving refuge these children could find and is one of the main reasons why I was willing to assist in accomodating this huge task... These kids, and this facility, deserves this opportunity... They are ready to get their hands dirty and come hand and hand and start paving the way for these children to have this freedom... if we can sell 1000 of these shirts it will help support over 1/2 of the costs of this project. Will you be apart of the team?