Category: Who Are The Vigilantes?

Meet the Vigilantes of Kindness. Hear their stories. Be inspired.

Garage Sale for Vigilante Kindness: May 1 & 2

On By Alicia McCauleyIn Upcoming Events, Vigilante Kindness Stories, Who Are The Vigilantes?Leave a comment

Here at Vigilante Kindness we’re big on using our gifts in service of others and we’re big on people who like to do the same.  My lone gift is writing.  I don’t say that so that you’ll hammer out comments about other gifts you might think I have.  I say it in all honesty and with a truckload of gratitude.  Thank God He gave me a gift and opportunities to use it.

Laura, our Treasurer, has a gift with numbers.  She makes spreadsheets so beautiful, they make my head spin.

Colin, our Secretary, gets behind a camera and finds beauty everywhere.

Today I want you to meet LuEllyn, one of our Vigilantes of Kindness.  She’s the kind of woman who jumps in with both feet, so I like her a lot.  She sponsors one of our Work Study Scholars, but one of LuEllyn’s gifts is organizing people to take action.  She’s also a master at organizing stuff.

garage-sale3So it didn’t surprise me at all when LuEllyn offered to hold a garage sale with 100% of the proceeds going to Vigilante Kindness.  It also didn’t surprise me when I asked how I could help and she responded that she’s got it all taken care of.  Of course she does.  She’d already rallied her Canasta group and given them their marching orders.

There is one thing LuEllyn and her Canasta ladies need in order to make this garage sale a success.  They need your stuff to sell.  Maybe the spring cleaning bug has hit you and you’ve got a bag or two of things that need to find new homes.  Would you consider donating them to our garage sale?

The garage sale is in Redding, CA. on May 1st and 2nd, so items can be donated anytime between now and then.  Shoot me an email (vigilantekindness@gmail.com) and I’ll set up at time to come pick up your donation.

Thanks to LuEllyn and her Canasta Club for supporting Vigilante Kindness!  Thanks to all of you who are going to tackle your cupboards, closets and garages to help us do good things for and with the people we love in Uganda.

Fondly,

Alicia

Chickens, Of Course

On By Alicia McCauleyIn Chicken Farm Project, Current Vigilante Kindness Projects, Unconventional Motherhood, Vigilante Kindness Stories, Who Are The Vigilantes?Leave a comment

My phone had been pinging all day long.  As I walked to my car that afternoon, I checked my messages and laughed at the group conversation my boys had been having while I was at work.  Normally I loathe group texts, group conversations and the straight EVIL that is the Reply All button.

But the conversation between my boys tickled me.  I struggled to translate their conversation from Acoli into English, but when I did, I saw that there were 28–yes, 28–messages about land prospects for the chicken farm, feed providers, which farmer they’ll buy the initial chicks from, etc.

There were also teasing barbs, typical brotherly ribbing.  Can I just tell you how much my heart loves the teasing they do?  My formerly orphaned boys tease each other like brothers do and it’s music to my ears.

I read along as their messages progressed into the evening in Uganda and when they settled down for the night and messaged a chorus of I love yous to each other, it was all I could do to scoop my puddled heart up off the floor.

Because of you, Vigilantes, my boys were starting to see that their Chicken Farm Project wasn’t just a dream.

Me?  I wish I had their faith.  I’d spent the previous night looking at the Chicken Farm Project donation thermometer, incredibly grateful for the $51 that had been donated, but also trying to come up with ways to make that thermometer fill up to the tippy top.

Fundraising Thermometer Widget ~ Fundraising Thermometer Graphic-2

Little did I know, on that very night, as I sat trying to think of ways to make this project happen, and the following morning as my boys chattered away about all things chicken, a Vigilante woman was praying about my boys and their future chicken farm.

This woman has asked to remain anonymous, so let me tell you just a little about her.  She’s a cancer survivor.  She volunteers at her local hospital.  She takes in foster kids.  She loves with her heart wide open.

After I finished translating the 28 messages from my boys, I received this message from this Vigilante woman.

After thinking and praying about this last night and today, I have decided to send you a check for $950 to fund the chicken project.  I’m impressed with the guys and their determination in coming up with an idea, a business plan, and a way to help others.”

Insert record scratch here.

Wait, what???

I read her message again.  She’d decided to fund the remainder of the ENTIRE CHICKEN FARM PROJECT.

I called her immediately and before the first ring, I was crying, snot dripping, mascara running, ugly crying.  I left her a blubbering voicemail and then called my mom, who cried right along with me.

I still laugh at the whole idea of this chicken farm.  Really, God?  You want me, the girl who is terrified of birds, to help my boys start a chicken farm in Uganda?  Chickens?  Really?  Of course. God’s sense of humor is obviously fully in tact.

God’s sense of compassion is also fully in tact.  I know this to be true because three formerly orphaned boys have not only taken up residence in my heart, but in your hearts, too.

My boys still struggle with the residual pain of being orphaned. Of being left by parents who died too young. Of being unloved. Of being treated like dogs. Of being children left to fend for themselves on the streets. Of being unclaimed.

I sit here fighting back tears again because you, sweet Vigilantes, whether you donated a single penny or a lot of pennies, have claimed me, claimed my boys, and claimed a whole lot of chickens, too.

Thank you.  Thank you so much.

Want to see something wonderful before you go?

Fundraising Thermometer Widget ~ Fundraising Thermometer Graphic

 

Meet Laura, our Vigilante Kindness Treasurer

On By Alicia McCauleyIn Who Are The Vigilantes?Leave a comment

Hey, Vigilantes, Alicia here.  I’m excited to introduce you to Laura Gore, the newly appointed Treasurer of Vigilante Kindness.  If you followed along when I was blogging at Pedals and Pencils, you know Laura as That Laura. As in Laura who teaches archery to blind kids?  Yes, that Laura.  Laura who once inherited a cat named Little Baby Jesus?  Yes, that Laura.  Laura who convinced me to ride 200 miles from Seattle to Portland?  Yes, that Laura. That Laura also loves making spreadsheets and analyzing and collecting data.  All I have to say about that is thank God there are people out there who speak math.  Here’s a little more about Laura.

LauraTreasurer: Laura Gore
  • In Real Life: Laura has been on both sides of funding streams, working for funders as well as grantees.  Currently she works as a Research Program Specialist with the California Department of Health and Human Services.  Laura enjoys spending time at home with her two hilarious dogs, Skeeter and Sting.  She also loves to travel and once took road trip with the sole purpose of seeing the longest continuous burning lightbulb, the site of a crashed UFO, and the Computer History Museum.
  • Gifts & Talents: Laura finds crunching numbers fun and is used to receiving strange looks when she gets excited and rambles on about data. Her other gifts include seizing opportunities, hunting down answers, and being very, very persuasive.
  • Things You Never Needed to Know: Laura was a competitive archer and has taken first at many archery shoots.  She has ridden a bicycle from Hue to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam with her father.  She once served a two-minute stint in solitary confinement at Alcatraz.

 

Meet Colin, our Vigilante Kindness Secretary

On By Alicia McCauleyIn Who Are The Vigilantes?Leave a comment

Hey, Vigilantes, Alicia here.  I’m over the moon to introduce you to Colin Higbee, the newly appointed Secretary of Vigilante Kindness.  Colin put up with me for a whole month on my very first trip to Uganda, so what he didn’t mention in his bio is that he is also a saint.  Here’s a little more about Colin.

ColinSecretary: Colin Higbee
  • In Real Life: Colin is a lifetime educator. He currently serves as a School Support Specialist with the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Prior to working with the SDE he has been a Guidance Counselor, Teacher and Camp Director in Oklahoma City, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska. He is an avid traveler and feels very fortunate to have taken part in several epic road trips.  He’s also grateful for the month he spent meeting amazing people in Gulu, Uganda. Colin is married to his best friend, Lauren.
  • Gifts & Talents: Colin’s talents include photography, writing, teaching, and the ability to fall asleep in any situation.
  • Things You Never Needed to Know: Colin can wiggle his ears. He once shook hands with George H.W. Bush.  He can perform cut down rescues from challenge courses and among certain circles he goes by Chigbee.

Read more about the fantastic collection of people we call our Board of Directors here.

Vigilante Kindness: Art Supplies for Ivan

On By Alicia McCauleyIn Gulu Artists, Vigilante Kindness Stories, Who Are The Vigilantes?Leave a comment

Getting water for the people of Te Okot is heavy on my mind every single second of every day and I’m excited to see how that progresses, but you should also know that the other Vigilante Kindness projects are gaining momentum.  Today here’s a story of how I used Vigilante Kindness Work Study money to support Ivan, my young student artist who paints to pay for his school fees and for the fees of his sister.

“What is it?”  Ivan looks over the long, black bag I’ve just handed him.

“Open it and see.  It’s a gift from my Aunt Nancy, the artist.”

He opens the black bag and pulls out the metal pieces.  Carefully he unfolds the tripod and stands the easel up, adjusting the legs so that it stands tall next to him.

“Thank you so much!  It’s so nice!”

“And these are for you, too.”  I hoist my shoulder bag, heavy with art supplies onto the table in his studio.

Ivan unpacks the brushes and charcoals and pastels and paper and blending tools and a host of other art supplies my aunt has sent me with.  I don’t even know what half of them are or do, but Ivan does.<

His eyes well with tears.  “Thank you for supporting me, Alicia.  I don’t know how to repay you.”

“It wasn’t me.  I’m just the messenger.”

“I don’t know how to repay your aunt.  Maybe I’ll make her a painting?”

“I think that’s the perfect way to repay her.  Let’s record a video message for her as well.”  I smile at him.  “Hey, Ivan, I was at school on Friday.  Why weren’t you there?  Were you sick?”

“No, I couldn’t pay my school fees, so they sent me home.”

“How much do you owe in school fees?”  It’s a candid question and I feel glad that our relationship has earned me the right to ask and also given him the freedom to answer without shame.

“130,000 shillings.”  $50.

I think of the Vigilante Kindness Work Study shillings in my wallet for kids who want to work to pay their school fees.

“I can help with that.  Which of your paintings are for sale?”

He shows me and I pick out two for a total of 150,000 shillings.  I don’t care to barter here, not with Ivan who paints to pay his school fees and the school fees of his sister, Lillian.

I stick around the art studio watching Ivan and his partner Calvin paint.  I snap photos of their paintings and of the two of them at work.

Ivan shows me the set of paintings the hospital has commissioned him to paint to hang in the patient rooms.  He tells me about how they hope to have an exhibition soon so that they can rent the back room of the art studio and begin using it as a gallery.  Right now the door to the back room is locked.

Later that night, I post the photos on Facebook so that Ivan and Calvin can have some clear shots of their work.  It’s hard to find a camera here, even harder to find a camera that takes clear shots.  I post the photos with a note that the paintings are for sale.  Within minutes of posting, the paintings begin selling to my friends and family at home.  I go to bed dreaming of the locked door at the back of their studio and of the gallery room that waits behind it.