Sunday, April 27, 2008

A Worthy Cause








Last night Omid & I attended a World Vision (Women of Vision) dinner & auction in Portland. We were invited my friend & coworker Lyn & her husband, Alan. They support this cause (& sponsored our table - THANKS SO MUCH!) - and what an important cause it is. I knew little about World Vision, except for maybe a commercial or two I had seen on television.



Hosts Lyn & Alan



What a bubble I have been living in! Did you know there are children in Mongolia who live in tunnels under the streets to stay warm? I didn't. A few posts ago, I blogged about a show on BBC America called Dumped. That was a reality show featuring contestants who live in a landfill for a few weeks. Well, last night we saw photos of children foraging in a landfill in Cambodia for real - not some trumped up reality show. The saddest for me was the photos & stories of kids used for the sex industry. Just horrible stories!




It was an amazing night and really left it's mark on our hearts. We came home and told the kids. Both kids will now sponsor a child and pray for that child (along with Omid & myself too). We are so very lucky to live here. Last night's program just made that so much more clear to us all.




We did bid on a few items for the silent auction (but were outbid) - the big ticket items were amazing. We couldn't bid on any of those things - but it was fun to see how much money was raised for this wonderful cause ($3000 for a Labradoodle puppy, $7000 for a 7 night Hawaii stay, etc.).




The entertainment for the night was a man named Chata Addy. He is originally from Ghana and played the drums. He invited a few brave souls from the audience up on stage to either play the drums or dance. It was very entertaining. We saw him outside after the event was over. He gave us his card. He is available for school assemblies (which I think kids would love), weddings, & parties. http://www.chataaddy.com/




We also saw some local celebrities. Julie Emry was the emcee. She used to anchor the news on KATU & KOIN. Omid spotted Mike Donahue (current anchor on KOIN). That was our brush with fame for the night.


Polyglots Jenny & Laurent


Here are some sites to visit if you want to learn more about World Vision. www.worldvision.org/hope


http://www.cwwov.org/


http://www.worldvisionexperience.org/

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you go up and dance?

Arezou said...

I bet Omid *almost* went up to the stage to dance ;-)

Chris and Sarah said...

That's a great cause! I've sponsored a little girl from Kenya for a few years... it's so fun to get her letters and photo updates. But - -bad news... I found out she HATES dogs! What the heck do I write about now?!?!?!?