ATTENTION:
Friends of Kakamega
is now
FRIENDS OF KENYA RISING
Friends of Kakamega has joined with Crossroads Springs Africa to become Friends of Kenya Rising. Click the button above to go to our new website. You can read more about our consolidation below.
We wish to direct all our supporters to the new website and new name. If you are donating or sponsoring, please make any gifts through the newly named entity, Friends of Kenya Rising.
Checks and online donations given to our previous entity/name, Friends of Kakamega, will still be accepted and forwarded to Friends of Kenya Rising. Our volunteers are the same, and the treasurer John McFadden is the same (feel free to email him at treasurer@friendsofkenyarising.org).
TOGETHER WE ARE ONE:
FRIENDS OF KENYA RISING
FRIENDS OF KENYA RISING
October 13th, 2020
We are excited to announce that Friends of Kakamega (FoK) and Crossroads Springs Africa (CSA) have joined together as one, combining our programs and resources under the umbrella of a new organization named Friends of Kenya Rising (FKR).
As you have undoubtedly noticed, both organizations have been working closely over the last few years. Both CSA and we at FoK share programs and staff on the ground in Kenya, and we share the mission of assisting students and their families in Western Kenya as they rise above poverty. On the ground in Kenya, our programs are already indistinguishable; we are - and now were - two U.S. funding sources for one Kenyan organization. Between us, we currently support more than 350 students in their primary, secondary, and college studies, and we also assist these students’ families, over 1,000 people, through farm support and other family-focused programming.
CSA and FoK were both founded close to two decades ago as a response to the overlapping crises of stubbornly deep poverty, HIV/AIDS, rapidly growing numbers of orphans, and financial barriers to schooling. CSA’s program to support the education of extremely needy children was initiated in Hamisi, while FoK’s began in Kakamega Town only 20 miles north of Hamisi. Students from both organizations hail from all over the region, and there is no real geographic difference. We were already one, and now we have made it official by joining together.
In 2004, CSA co-founder Alison Hyde and FoK co-founder Sukie Rice began to share joys and challenges of doing very similar work. Five years ago, after the Kenyan government had fully stepped up to ensure primary education for all, Alison contacted Sukie to tell her that CSA was working on a change of focus toward secondary education. FoK then worked with CSA to facilitate its plan of assisting needy students so they could access otherwise unaffordable high school education. We’ve only grown closer since.
We’ve been working on this in the background for more than a year. Friends of Kakamega founder Sukie, in a letter that she wrote two months before her passing in July 2020, said that “as [our] programs developed it became clear that we were doing the same thing and that there would be SO much more to offer the work of each organization if we were to combine in some way.” CSA’s and FoK’s board members could not agree more.
One of the greatest advantages of collaborating with a fellow and nearly identical nonprofit organization is saving on costs: one newsletter, one website, one accounting and donor management system, one focus, one strategy. In collaboratively moving our mission forward we will also have the advantage of new ideas, new solutions and new programs. There is strength in numbers. By joining forces with a like-minded entity, we will strengthen our voice and the work we do in pursuit of our mission.
The formal consolidation is now complete. Friends of Kenya Rising has received its 501(c)(3) IRS designation. We have finalized our by-laws, policies, and financial plans, and have put up a beautiful new Friends of Kenya Rising website.
Our work continues whether we call ourselvesFoK, CSA, or Friends of Kenya Rising. Our assistance to students and families in Western Kenya continues and we are stronger than ever as one. We whole-heartedly thank all our sponsors and donors, and we want you to know that we’re as committed as ever to carrying on the work that you have supported these many years. We had a very smooth consolidation and hope that you share our enthusiasm for this exciting opportunity to become a more robust, strong, powerful voice that fights to combat poverty by supporting needy children and families.
You may contact us at any time to ask questions or learn more. Those who wish to discuss this with Alison Hyde, Leah Bennett or John Chisholm, please reach out to them. All are especially excited about this because by joining together, they have even more confidence that Friends of Kenya Rising will endure, grow stronger, and continue its tireless efforts to assist needy students and their families as they rise above poverty.
As you have undoubtedly noticed, both organizations have been working closely over the last few years. Both CSA and we at FoK share programs and staff on the ground in Kenya, and we share the mission of assisting students and their families in Western Kenya as they rise above poverty. On the ground in Kenya, our programs are already indistinguishable; we are - and now were - two U.S. funding sources for one Kenyan organization. Between us, we currently support more than 350 students in their primary, secondary, and college studies, and we also assist these students’ families, over 1,000 people, through farm support and other family-focused programming.
CSA and FoK were both founded close to two decades ago as a response to the overlapping crises of stubbornly deep poverty, HIV/AIDS, rapidly growing numbers of orphans, and financial barriers to schooling. CSA’s program to support the education of extremely needy children was initiated in Hamisi, while FoK’s began in Kakamega Town only 20 miles north of Hamisi. Students from both organizations hail from all over the region, and there is no real geographic difference. We were already one, and now we have made it official by joining together.
In 2004, CSA co-founder Alison Hyde and FoK co-founder Sukie Rice began to share joys and challenges of doing very similar work. Five years ago, after the Kenyan government had fully stepped up to ensure primary education for all, Alison contacted Sukie to tell her that CSA was working on a change of focus toward secondary education. FoK then worked with CSA to facilitate its plan of assisting needy students so they could access otherwise unaffordable high school education. We’ve only grown closer since.
We’ve been working on this in the background for more than a year. Friends of Kakamega founder Sukie, in a letter that she wrote two months before her passing in July 2020, said that “as [our] programs developed it became clear that we were doing the same thing and that there would be SO much more to offer the work of each organization if we were to combine in some way.” CSA’s and FoK’s board members could not agree more.
One of the greatest advantages of collaborating with a fellow and nearly identical nonprofit organization is saving on costs: one newsletter, one website, one accounting and donor management system, one focus, one strategy. In collaboratively moving our mission forward we will also have the advantage of new ideas, new solutions and new programs. There is strength in numbers. By joining forces with a like-minded entity, we will strengthen our voice and the work we do in pursuit of our mission.
The formal consolidation is now complete. Friends of Kenya Rising has received its 501(c)(3) IRS designation. We have finalized our by-laws, policies, and financial plans, and have put up a beautiful new Friends of Kenya Rising website.
Our work continues whether we call ourselvesFoK, CSA, or Friends of Kenya Rising. Our assistance to students and families in Western Kenya continues and we are stronger than ever as one. We whole-heartedly thank all our sponsors and donors, and we want you to know that we’re as committed as ever to carrying on the work that you have supported these many years. We had a very smooth consolidation and hope that you share our enthusiasm for this exciting opportunity to become a more robust, strong, powerful voice that fights to combat poverty by supporting needy children and families.
You may contact us at any time to ask questions or learn more. Those who wish to discuss this with Alison Hyde, Leah Bennett or John Chisholm, please reach out to them. All are especially excited about this because by joining together, they have even more confidence that Friends of Kenya Rising will endure, grow stronger, and continue its tireless efforts to assist needy students and their families as they rise above poverty.