Reston, Virginia –Have you ever wished you could do more than send money to help some of the world’s most needy people?
Christi Romney, a graduate of Brigham Young University currently living in Great Falls, Virginia, may have just the opportunity for you. She is the founder of Serve a Village (SAV), a nonprofit service organization that supports struggling communities around the world by building schools, teaching business development skills, and improving education, the environment and public health.
Christi, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, belongs to the Spring Lakes Ward, which is a Spanish-speaking congregation of the church located in Reston. Five years ago when she graduated from Brigham Young University, she was inspired to found SAV to continue the work started by her grandmother, Kathryn Hunt, who later passed away in 2007.
Her grandmother moved from Berkeley, CA to South Africa as a child because her uncle, who served an LDS mission there in the early 1930s, encouraged her family to move there with him. Kathryn’s family helped to strengthen the young church there, and saw many opportunities to serve. Years later after moving back to the States, Kathryn returned again to South Africa to marry her high school sweetheart who owned a farm near Magareng. During her life on the farm she essentially adopted the community and rallied the rest of her family to help support the village by shipping school supplies, books, clothing, sports gear, hygiene items and other essentials from the United States.
As members of the Mormon Church, the family has leaned on friends from their congregations to help. Women in the Relief Society organization of the church have knitted and crocheted hundreds of hats and scarves, and made fleece blankets. They have donated boxes of entertainment supplies, medical supplies, clothing and anything else needed to help.
The Relief Society organization of the LDS church is for women 18 years old and over. Its purpose is to provide support for the temporal and spiritual needs of all women in the church as well as others who are in need. There are over five million members of the Relief Society in over 170 countries in the world.
Serve a Village is currently accepting applications for expeditions to Kenya from April 29 – May 9, and August 5-15; and expeditions to South Africa from May 6-May 16, and August 12-August 22. Applications can be submitted online at www.serveavillage.org. Participants are responsible for their own travel and are charged an in-country cost of $1,500 to cover all food, housing, transportation, and cultural events. Expenses are tax deductible.
In addition to helping the community of Magareng, SAV provides support to other areas of the world in need including Moscow, Russia; Petit Goave, Haiti; Kibera, Kenya; and others.
The local LDS women in Reston teamed up with SAV to send their handmade hats, scarves, fleece blankets, and entertainment supplies to the Moscow Children’s Cancer Hospital to support the children during their long hours in the hospital.
Christi said, “These donations really lift the spirits of the children, and their caregivers, and help the women in our congregation find meaningful ways to serve and fulfill the mission of the Relief Society organization.”
These same women helped SAV reach out to help the struggling residents of Petit Goave, Haiti after the devastating earthquake of 2010. “They gathered and shipped pallets of emergency supplies and vegetable seeds, along with embroidery thread, and needles. These items helped people plant neighborhood gardens, and develop cottage industries to sustain themselves,” Christi said.
“We were able to send supplies to Petit Goave, which is a community in southern Haiti where emergency supplies are rarely shipped. We now have a woman there named Marie Etter who is teaching embroidery as a cottage industry to generate income. She helps with the community garden which provides a sustainable food source for the villagers.”
She said the women are collecting gently used clothing, school supplies, and small toys for over 100 AIDS orphans served by the Retsweletse Child Care Center in Magareng. “We are developing a model community in Magareng, South Africa, that we hope can be applied to help other regions of the world. It is a program that revitalizes the community in terms of health, education, economy, and environment.
Medical supplies continue to be gathered and shipped to St. Macs Mother and Child Clinic in Africa’s second largest slum of Kibera, Kenya. The clinic is the only health clinic available to those living in Kibera.
SAV passes on 100 percent of contributions to the communities it serves. “The SAV directors are very aware of the needs of the communities in which we are involved, and we address those needs as directly as possible with generous donations, on-site expeditions, and awareness advocacy,” Christi said.
One of the other keys to success is to rely on strong volunteer leaders in the local communities to keep things growing,” she said. These local leaders, as well as Christi, her family and many friends donate their time, talents, and energy to these projects because of their strong desires to serve. “There are no paid employees, so all the donations go solely to the projects.
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