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Adopt-a-Village: Raising Money for the Measles Initiative in Shasta, CA
Katelyn Perna
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 — A new kind of community fundraising is hitting the scene at the Shasta Area Chapter in Redding, California. Mary Stephens, a Red Cross nurse and ambulance company owner, has begun an Adopt-a-Village campaign, and has been crusading through several counties advocating for the Measles Initiative. Stephens extended the challenge of community fundraising to four different counties which are each vying against one another in the Adopt-a-Village initiative. To her excitement, the communities have been responding enthusiastically. In a mere three months, she has already fundraised about $4,100. And in addition to donating $1,000 from her ambulance company and getting her family involved in the fundraising, Stephens has peaked interest and participation from hospitals, medical associations, Kiwanis Clubs, schools, and youth.
Her goal is for these different organizations to identify villages to “adopt,” and then have communities challenge one another to raise enough money to vaccinate their entire village. The four competing counties (Tehama, Lassen, Trinity, and Shasta) each have a village that they are responsible for raising the money to vaccinate. The villages, with differing populations, were delegated for each county based on county population and income. The population of this adopt-a-village campaign is relatively small; about 100,000 people total in four counties.
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Mary Stephens began her work with the American Red Cross about 10 years ago, and has been volunteering ever since. Stephens is the Disaster Health Chairman of the Shasta Area Chapter (a title which she humbly received), and was among the first nurses called to respond after the terrorist attacks in New York City. Currently she splits her time between presentations about her experience after 9/11 and presentations about the Measles Initiative.
Many hospitals and/or their employees, along with medical organizations and clubs are taking part in donating to the Measles Initiative because of Stephens’ Adopt-a-Village campaign. The Shasta County Public Health Employees will raise enough money to vaccinate more than 1,000 children. The Kiwanis Group, an organization that does its own fundraising for causes like iodine deficiency, has also committed to also raise about $1,000 for measles vaccinations in Africa. In addition, the Lt. Governor of Kiwanis for the states of California, Nevada, and Hawaii is working to propose that all Kiwanis Districts and Clubs in those states match the amount of money raised by his home district to the Measles Initiative. For Chapters interested in emulating Stephens’ program, a virtual adopt-a-village will be available by the American Red Cross Chapter Headquarters by Spring 2004.
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In addition to adult involvement in Stephens’ fundraising, she is also targeting youth through local school presentations. Her presentations are engaging and effective; she stands in front of students to give her presentations in a traveling African-style hut that she built out of glue and bamboo and uses silhouettes of children pasted on beverage drinks, one on a Pepsi can, two on a Starbucks cup, four on a Frappuccino bottle, and 20 on a bottle of wine to represent with each silhouette the $1 that could have been used to vaccinate a child in Africa. Her presentation demonstrates the ability of each individual to make a difference, and she speaks from her own commitment to the Red Cross to make this point known. Her audience realizes that with the money they spend to purchase a drink, “there can be a child running around because of you.”
Her presentations have sparked overwhelming amounts of interest from young people, high school to college age. Three girls have chosen to raise money to vaccinate children of communities of 1,400, 1,200, and 900 African youth at risk of contracting measles. The goal for these particular students is to raise this money before high school graduation in May. Other students are planning fundraisers like car washes, raffles, and ballooning. At a local school students will be selling helium-filled balloons in the month of November (and over Valentine’s in February if it is successful) to other students in the cafeteria. Each $1 that a student puts towards a balloon will be the number of African baby/children silhouettes that are glued onto the balloon’s surface. Each balloon can then be personalized as a thank you, for example one might read, “I’m thankful that you’re my friend.”
Three things are crucial to Mary Stephens’ fundraising success: creating unique ideas for involvement, assisting participants (especially youth) in the planning process, and recognizing the achievements of the participants. Perhaps the latter is the most important of them all, because it is what perpetuates more fundraising and activities. “People need to know that they are appreciated,” says Stephens, and so this Adopt-a-Village campaign gives incentives to the fundraisers. The biggest award is a framed San Francisco 49ers limited edition team picture signed by Steve Young which will go to a young person who has raised the most funds. If, however, a winner is not interested in the Jersey (worth over $300), then they may substitute the jersey for a gift certificate keeping with Stephen’s vision of recognizing hard work and sacrifice.
Official fundraising activities kicked off on October 20, 2003, but even before that date Mary Stephens had collected more than $2,000, and received commitments from dozens of organizations and individuals to raise more. “Adopting a village has been the best way to get people involved because it allows them to take responsibility of an entire community. It gives a person a sense of ownership and commitment.” This may be why Adopt-a-Village has been so successful: the project requires one community giving of their resources and time in order to provide well-being and life to children of another community – it is unifying and extremely satisfying.
The Adopt-a-Village Campaign will continue in three phases, the last of which is December 31, 2004. If you are interested in learning more about what Mary Stephens is already doing in the Shasta Area Chapter you can contact her at MaryCStephens@cs.com. For more information on youth activities relating to the Measles Initiative nationwide contact Jessica Sapalio at sapalioj@usa.redcross.org. For more information about how to get your Chapter involved in the Initiative, contact Carol Miller at MillerCa@usa.redcross.org.
The Measles Initiative is a five-year commitment, led by the American Red Cross, the United Nations Foundation, the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and the World Health Organization (WHO), to eliminate the childhood threat of measles in Africa. Measles has been the most devastating preventable disease in Africa, claiming 1,200 lives per day. This Initiative, which began in 2001, plans to vaccinate 200 million children in 36 different African countries, preventing 2.1 million deaths during these five years. For more information about the Measles Initiative and how you can get involved, visit http://www.measlesinitiative.org
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