Blog

(This is Rich)

Saturday, June 26 was the dedication of the Shelby Goldstein Schoolhouse in Twapia–a village outside of Ndola, Zambia. Last year Spark Ventures raised the money to fund the construction of this new 7 classroom building serving now more than 350 orphans and vulnerable children. There were many generous people who invested in our Igniting Hope/Building a Future campaign. And we say thanks to all of you. One family, made a very large contribution in honor of young Shelby Goldstein who died at the age of 4. Her memory and spirit of joy and the love of learning now live on at Hope Community School in Zambia in this new facility. A building that is helping to provide  hundreds of extremely poor children with education, nutrition and healthcare, thanks to the Spark-Hope partnership.

The ceremony was filled with singing and speeches, dancing and dignitaries. Board Member Tasha Seitz read a beautiful reflection on Shelby and message from the family.The day was filled with joyful children, families, friends, colleagues and community members who came to mark the official opening. We’ll have more about this important event in Spark’s history in the coming weeks on our website. For now, a special thank you to Shank and Renee Iyer and Greg and Rachelle Goldstein for helping to make this possible.

Here are just a few pictures from the day. Saturday, June 26 was the dedication of the Shelby Goldstein Schoolhouse in Twapia–a village outside of Ndola, Zambia. Last year Spark Ventures raised the money to fund the construction of this new 7 classroom building serving now more than 350 orphans and vulnerable children. There were many generous people who invested in our Igniting Hope/Building a Future campaign. And we say thanks to all of you. One family, made a very large contribution in honor of young Shelby Goldstein who died at the age of 4. Her memory and spirit of joy and the love of learning now live on at Hope Community School in Zambia in this new facility. A building that is helping to provide  hundreds of extremely poor children with education, nutrition and healthcare, thanks to the Spark-Hope partnership.

The ceremony was filled with singing and speeches, dancing and dignitaries. But most of all it was filled with joyful children and families who came to mark the official opening. We’ll have more about this important event in Spark’s history in the coming weeks on our website. For now, a special thank you to Shank and Renee Iyer and Greg and Rachelle Goldstein for helping to make this possible.

Here are just a few pictures from the day.

Crowd at the dedication. Zambian and USA flags in the background.

The student choir performing during the ceremony.

Churchill Lombanya (advisor to the President of Zambia), Rich Johnson, Charles Mumba (Executive Director of Spark’s partner Hope Ministries

All quiet on the school front a few days before the celebration.