Category: Creative Giving

Buyamba's Fourth Annual Pumpkin Patch

10/16/2019

This past weekend, Calvary Community Church hosted our fourth annual Buyamba Pumpkin Patch. This pumpkin patch is made possible thanks to the generosity of a donor who grew and donated over 2,000 pumpkins, in an assortment of beautiful colors, shapes, and sizes to raise funds for our dorm building efforts!

A good time was had by all and hundreds of people made their way through the patch and selected a special pumpkin (or a wagon full of pumpkins) to take home to decorate for the season. People gave generously and many took advantage of the great photo opportunities in the patch.

God multiplied the efforts of everyone and we ended up being blessed with over $37,000 towards the girls dorm building!

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A post shared by CalvaryCCMissions (@calvaryccmissions) on Oct 18, 2019 at 11:22am PDT

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What does Taco Bell have to do with God Cares School?

9/26/2019

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Plenty!

In 2015, Brent Flynn, a Taco Bell franchisee that operates restaurants throughout California, decided to sponsor 26 children for each of his 26 Taco Bell stores. He did this in honor of his good friend Mike Benson who passed away. Buyamba sent each of the restaurants a picture and short bio of a God Cares School student, and each store manager put it up on their employee wall so the staff would have the chance to be involved in helping orphaned and needy children in the Buyamba program.

Each store also receives the monthly newsletter, student letters, and annual photo that is shared by all. Brent reported, "Some of the store managers get really into it, and the staff reads the letters and have actually written back to their child."

Brent Flynn in front of an employee wall

This idea was not only a great example of Buyamba Creative Giving, but more importantly, Brent believed that this gift would help honor a man whom he admired so much. He explained, "Mike's genuine passion and joy in serving Jesus and helping those in need continues to be a great example for my family and me. Having visited Africa on mission teams with church, Mike was especially passionate about Buyamba and the children of God Cares School. It has been a natural extension to share that joy and passion with our restaurant teams."

Brent Flynn

This giving model has been so successful that Brent and his team have continued to sponsor all the kids every year since then! Not only that, they have increased their sponsorship numbers as they have acquired new restaurants. Today, they sponsor 33 children in the Buyamba program, and two of their sponsored children have graduated high school and gone into universities. Tracy has now entered Makere University Business School, and Enoch has almost completed a three-year program at Kabale School of Nursing and Midwifery. Brent and his team continue to support part of their tuition through the Buyamba program. They have decided to keep sponsoring these past few years together for they believe they are called to children in desperate situations wherever they are and as Brent said, "To be a father to the fatherless."

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What's cooking?

9/20/2019

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Buyamba Chili!

Yes, it is true, there is a delicious chili named after Buyamba, and it was released this fall at Oaks Christian School’s Chili cook-off by one of our faithful donors, Leslie Matthews. Leslie is an amazing cook and great friend of Buyamba, and the two elements together made an excellent chili!

Leslie invited Buyamba to host an information table, along with sponsorship opportunity, at her chili booth at the Oaks back to school event, and many came by to taste the chili and find out more about Buyamba. The Mathews family have been involved with Buyamba for a long time, with their oldest daughter Rachel going on a trip with Oaks Christian School in 2008, which led to her son, Joe Matthews, going on a Buyamba trip two summers ago. Joe shot a documentary of a former God Cares student, his best friend Ivan Jepsen, who was going back to God Cares School for the first time since he was adopted five years earlier.

CEO, Julie Dimas with Leslie Matthews

Keith and Theresa Jepsen with Leslie Matthews

Ivan's parents, Keith and Theresa alongside Leslie Matthews

The documentary, From the Land In-Between, not only highlights his story, but it also shows the work being done at God Cares School and brings awareness to the work of Buyamba in the lives of orphaned and needy children.

The Mathews family are a great example of using their talents to help introduce others to Buyamba…this time while having a delicious bowl of Buyamba Chili!

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Melanie Wells: Author and Sponsor

12/4/2018

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About Melanie Wells

A native Texan, Melanie Wells is the author of When the Day of Evil Comes and The Soul Hunter. A graduate of Southern Methodist University, Melanie holds masters degrees from Our Lady of the Lake University and Dallas Theological Seminary. She has taught at the graduate level at both institutions, has been in private practice as a counselor since 1992, and is the founder and director of LifeWorks counseling associates in Dallas, Texas. Melanie lives in Dallas with her dog, Gunner, who wishes she wouldn’t spend so much time at her computer.

Melanie Wells is a long time sponsor through Buyamba with the heart to give back and the talent to write. Right now she is donating ALL the profits from sales of ALL three of her books.
Thank you Melanie!

That's Creative Giving!

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A Using an IRA Distribution to Make aN Impact

9/27/2018

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Bonnie Sloan and her late husband Ed have been involved with Buyamba for many years, sponsoring children and supporting the effort to educate and disciple orphaned and needy students at God Cares School in Uganda. Bonnie has been volunteering with Buyamba for almost 10 years. She had the blessing of visiting the school and meeting her sponsored child in 2013.

When Bonnie found out that she could take advantage of numerous tax benefits by making a Qualifying Charitable Distribution directly from her traditional IRA, she was on it. (A QCD excludes the amount donated from gross taxable income.) Following the rules, she made a donation with the check coming directly from her IRA trustee to her favorite charity, Buyamba.

Bonnie says, "Giving to Buyamba is a blessing because I believe in what God Cares School is doing. I have been there and seen it all with my own eyes. I know that the ministry does what it says it does and the money I give really does go to help these children."