Buntu Building Campaign
You Can Help!

Bishop Shalita has a dream. His dream is to build a new building for his school in the Buntu Christian Community in Uganda. To do that, the bishop needs $5,000 to purchase the necessary land. He and the children whom he serves need financial help.

You, whether a member of Trinity or not, can help. Any donation, large or small, can make a difference. It's easy, just send a check to:

Buntu Building Fund
Trinity Episcopal Church
845 Chestnut St.
Escondido, CA 92025-5257

Or, if you're a parishioner, just drop your check into the Sunday collection plate. Please write "Buntu Building Fund" on the check memo line.

What is this Buntu Christian Community? Who are they, and what is this all about? Take a look; these are some of the children:

Most of them are orphans. They have no family except you. Most of them lost their parents to the devastation of AIDS, leaving orphaned children to be raised by their elderly grandparents or teenage siblings. Some may have one parent still alive, but that parent is unable to care for them. Bishop Shalita strives to come to these children's rescue, to give them a future. You can be a part of it.

Trinity parishioner Isabelle Hinze recently visited the Buntu Christian Community. She saw sadness; she saw poverty, but she also saw hope. She saw hope in the eyes of the children. She also saw bright, broad smiles of pure happiness as she distributed the school supplies she brought.

Isabelle notes that in Uganda they make use of everything--things we would throw away are used again in Uganda. As she distributed the school supplies she brought, the children asked if they could keep the plastic grocery bag the school supplies came in! Remember that a small gift goes a long way.

Trinity has had a long-standing association with the Buntu community. In recent years many parishioners have "adopted" a child, providing financial support for his/her schooling expenses. For many years parishioner Moina Lucent has made jellies and jams in her kitchen and brought them to church to sell, giving all of the proceeds to Bishop Shalita's ministry.

If you've helped in the past, then you know how very real the need is. Can you now help with the building fund? If this opportunity is new to you, hopefully you now know how much the people of the Buntu Community need your help.

More photographs of Isabelle's visit to Uganda can be found in the photo archives.

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