National Volunteer Week
One of our founders, Shaylene, was asked to write a feature about Ground-Up Foundation for National Volunteer Week that would be featured on e=mc2 events website and social media channels.
She wrote a summary of our story and how it ties into the theme of this year’s National Volunteer Week, “every moment matters.” Here is an excerpt of what she wrote:
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This story actually begins with one of my partners, Kam Haji. Kam is from Tanzania and travels there on an annual basis. In 2018, he knew it was time for him to give back to his community and he worked alongside his dad to source and install a water tank at a local school.
He quickly saw the impact this water tank had on the students, the faculty, and the surrounding community, and an opportunity to do even more. When he traveled back to Canada, he connected with Garet Stewart and me [Shaylene Flanagan] and presented the opportunity to partner up and see how we could grow the cause together.
After an inspirational brainstorming session [over a few shared drinks and appies] we came up with the name Ground-Up Foundation. Ground-Up is rooted in “building better futures from the ground-up”. The name itself was inspired by the water sources we would rely on, which come from underground piping, but it was also about the bigger picture. We saw this cause as a chance to make a tangible difference in these communities and dreamt of all the different ways we could holistically impact these lives.
By providing access to one of life’s most basic needs, we created a chance for students to more easily access education and we instilled a sense of pride in their community. This was about changing futures, and it started from the ground up.
Recognizing that we needed one primary focus, we honed in on water and we continued to install tanks in the Morogoro region. We quickly claimed our name and incorporated the charity and we began engaging our friends and family. This led to the planning of our first fundraising event which took place less than one year after inception [fall 2019]. The first event was hosted at the same local pub we had our initial brainstorm in and we saw a flood of donations from friends, family, and generous strangers who were inspired by our cause.
We have big dreams for the future and we can’t wait to see our organization grow as time goes on. This cause is humbling and incredible and consistently reminds me not to take anything in life for granted.
The theme of this year’s volunteer week, “every moment matters” is a direct tie to our initiative. Ground-Up Foundation was born from the desire to give back and thrives on the inspiration to move forward. Throughout the last 6 years we have seen and created countless moments that matter; we have impacted 26,000 students that matter; and we have counted every drop that matters.