End of an Era

Olaiya and I would like to use this space to thank all of our supporters over the years. We have made the difficult decision that 2010 was our last year of operation. We're proud to have made a large number of donations to Women for Women International as well as our largest gift ever to the Cura Orphanage in Kenya. We hope that those contributions will make a lasting impact in the lives of the recipients... that the world will be a little brighter for it. And we hope that everyone that's ever come to a Little Spark event knows that they fueled that light.

Since our infancy, the Little Spark project was designed to tap into a desire that we shared with many friends: To find small but meaningful ways to help repair some of the damage in this world. We had some energy and some ideas... but none of it would have meant anything if people hadn't turned out. I was constantly amazed and heartened to see friends and strangers show up to our events and gladly contribute money toward the cause. There were many times during the planning process when I thought we would never attract enough participants to make this fly. While I had hope, I also harbored doubts that human beings would care enough about each other to support a project like this. I was wrong. And I can't tell you how happy that makes me. You've helped me repair a bit of damage in my own heart. Thanks.

We hope that all of you will remain in contact as we find new and interesting projects to throw ourselves into. Cheers!

It Only Seems Quiet

Actually, we've had quite an interesting buzz this Summer. First, Olaiya and I were contacted by a wonderful woman from The Garden State looking to initiate her own Little Spark organization. We traded tips and gave her our hearty blessing to create a similar project in her own home town of Princeton. Over the years, we've had a few suggestions/offers to expand our project. While we've always been flattered, part of the appeal is to keep this a small, intimate backyard affair. After having spoken with this woman (who will hopefully keep us apprised of her progress) our new theory is that Little Spark doesn't need to grow into a big organization with a board of advisers and charity auctions, etc. But if people want to copy our model and Little Sparks pop up around the world doing similar work... then we'll be thrilled!

Secondly, we were contacted by some local folks that are involved with a wonderful project: an orphanage in Kenya that takes care of children who have lost their parents to HIV. They have sent us some incredible materials detailing their efforts and photographs of the site. Olaiya and I are hoping to meet with them soon and talk about the possibility of Little Spark contributing to their cause as well as Women for Women.

Much of this attention came our direction after the last Little Spark collaboration. Brandon and Molly were fabulous hosts... seating 20+ folks at their new restaurant Delancey. And Molly even gave us some ink over at her fantastic blog Orangette. We both owe them a big debt of thanks and have been very happy to have heard from excellent strangers in Seattle and beyond that want to get involved.

As autumn approaches, O and I will roll out a couple of new Little Spark dinner events. Stay tuned for details in the upcoming Little Spark newsletter. We hope to see you soon!

2008 in Review

2008 was full of unexpected developments. First we changed the name of our enterprise from The Full Belly Project to Little Spark due to a legal dispute about our name. The name changed but the mission stayed the same! We still hosted a variety of dinners and special events, including an all-vegan dinner, a Sunday brunch and an outdoor movie spectration extravaganza.

We threw some wonderful gigs and raised enough funds to make a $900 donation to Women For Women's Congo relief funds last December. We gave at a time when all donations were being matched by an anonymous funder. So we effectively raised $1800 for the women of The Congo!

A huge Little Spark thanks to everyone that came to an event and helped make that possible. We are always humbled and grateful for your support, and look forward to seeing you again in 2009.

A New Name for Our Project

Old and new friends alike,

Olaiya and I have been contacted by another fundraising agency that has trademarked the name The Full Belly Project. They have asked that we discontinue our usage of that name. Rather than fight their request, we've decided to use this opportunity to ask ourselves: "What do we want out of this endeavor, and is there a better name to capture that?"

We decided on the new title of Little Spark.

We kept talking about our sense that there's an enormous movement afoot to repair this world. We saw that, as a community, our global consciousness is being raised... our environmental and humanitarian instincts are firing. All around us, we see people with good intentions and a desire to help. Olaiya and I felt exactly like that when we first talked about starting this project. To me, it felt like a build up of positive energy, just waiting for an opportunity to express itself... just waiting for a Little Spark to set things into motion.

So here we are, trying to ignite that positivity and continue with our goals. Thank you all for joining us!

Transparency

This post serves to recap the financial transactions of The Full Belly Seattle thus far.
We set up our first dinner in June of 2007. Between then and last week's dinner in February of 2008, we’ve hosted six fundraising events. We took in $2,300 dollars at those events, and our costs for groceries were almost exactly $1,300. Therefore, the Full Belly Seattle has just raised its first $1,000! Thank you for all your support!

We’ve used those profits for two $350 Women For Women sponsorships; Beatrice in Nigeria and Sadia in Iraq. And today, we just made a $500 donation to Women for Women to go to their relief efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I’ve never had the privilege to give $500 to anything before. Many of you supporters, like us, have to think in terms of micro-change… giving a few dollars when you can. And maybe we’re still only talking about small changes, but I literally trembled as I clicked the confirmation button, waved goodbye to the five C notes in my mind and prayed that it might change a life or two when it lands on the other side of the world. Thank you for helping give us that opportunity.

The reason our total donations slightly exceed the $1,000 in total fundraising is that Olaiya and I have committed to making our own contributions to this fund outside of our Full Belly profits.

Thank you, and stay tuned for an upcoming invitation to new March and April events!

Full Belly Seattle Hiatus

The Full Belly is retooling for 2008. Some significant shake ups have made the same old routine impossible, but Olaiya and I are both hoping to release a series of events to benefit Women for Women this year. We appreciate all your support in 2007 and look forward to being able to invite you to something great in '08.

How Cool Is This?! Part 2

O and I just received a second correspondence from Women for Women:

Hi John and Olaiya,
We here at Women for Women HQ were inspired by your series of events that you held to raise money for sponsorships. We are working on a story about how people use the web to raise awareness for Women for Women International and were wondering if we could use your story. We want people to see what they can do to help, and think what you all did was a perfect example. Please let me know if you object. Again, thanks for all you do for women survivors of war.

T.G.
Women for Women International

Of course we emailed right back and told them we'd be honored for them to use us as an example in their story. Maybe the Full Belly Seatle will get a little extra press! Woohoo!

BTW, the Fall lineup of events is coming soon!!!

Minor Set Back

I'm afraid we're having to cancel a Full Belly event. :(

I guess there has to be a first time for everything. Too many schedules to accommodate, and last second changes. It just made more sense to postpone the Mid-Summer French-Moroccan Feast and turn it into a Fall event instead. This is especially sad for Olaiya since it was her favorite menu going into the season. The good news is that it frees me up to spend time with my father, who is visiting for a week from Mexico.

I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to connect with Women for Women before the August Barbecue and maybe even have a sponsor sister to talk about! We should have enough funds already raised to begin the process.

I read this pair of connected quotes yesterday and thought of the FBP:

"If you eat well, you must speak well" - Yoruba proverb
"The ancient Africans taught that if a person is good to you, you must forever speak good of them... In order to keep the good flowing, you must speak of it... Everything we receive in life is food for your growth. If we eat from the plate, we must give thanks. Remembering, without that food, at that time, we may have starved." - Ivanla Vanzant

How Cool is This?!

Olaiya and I got an unexpected and unsolicited email from Women for Women today:

Hi John and Olaiya,

We here at Women for Women International were passed along your blog about your fantastic dinner. We wanted to say thank you for your generosity. We also wanted to let you know that if you want any materials on the program at your dinners we would be happy to provide them. You are doing a great service and our women across the world appreciate it.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Teisha G.
Women for Women International

I'm not sure how they heard about our project, but I think it's awesome that they emailed us in support. Maybe we'll have pamphlets at the next event!

I did try Googling "The Full Belly" just to check if we could be found on a websearch. Turns out that our blog does show up... but I also found out that there's another outfit that goes by the name, The Full Belly. They're an east coast outfit trying to end world hunger. I wish them all the luck in the world, and hope they don't get pissed that we accidentally stole their name. 'Course, if they wanna rumble, we'll throw down on those hippy tools. Late Edit: Their lawyers get paid more than ours. We're changing our name. :(

A Summer's Worth of Events!

Even after expanding to include a fourth Summer event, we've now filled the seats for every dinner! The only event that can handle more sign-ups is the End of Summer Barbecue... which we won't have to cap until we get to 20+ participants. I can't express how pleased I am that so many wonderful friends and family members have stepped up to support this idea.

The Full Belly Seattle was born after O and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how we could put resources, both volunteer labor and financial aid, into helping. We wanted to support an agency dedicated to helping people recover from the gross inequities in our global reality. I felt inspired by friends like Andres, who has been volunteering with Katrina Relief efforts and locally with Habitat For Humanity; and Calvin and Meredith who first introduced me to the idea of financially sponsoring a peace-seeking Buddhist monk across the globe. I was moved by the Nobel Peace Prize winning microlending pioneers, and by how compelling this concept is to our fellow first worlders with a social conscious. And most of all, I have been inspired by my fellow social worker Seth Altshuler who walks the talk every day, and has been a constant ally of our planning and efforts.

Olaiya and I are proud to have such a generous, inspiring, supportive group of people around us. We hope to create a memorable series of dinner parties and keep our momentum going. Please give us feedback once the dinners are underway, and any suggestions you might have as we start planning events for Autumn. We look forward to your comments, and we'll try to update the blog with photos and stories.

If you have signed up for an event, expect an email a couple of weeks in advance with directions, time, and suggested payment options. We'll be getting those out for the June 30th dinner right away. Peace.

Fabulous First Wave of Response

I'm very excited to announce that we've "sold out" the French/Moroccan Mid Summer's Night event. I've even had to express regrets to two people who wanted to come but we cannot accommodate. Plus, we already have thirteen (Update: now 16!) reservations for the End of Summer Barbecue! And only one or two seats left for the Spring into Summer kickoff dinner. (Update: This event is fully booked now as well!)

We've also started organizing our first extra event... a supplementary Summer Dinner for some friendly folks from Jewish Family Service. I think we're going with a Spanish theme... "una noche Andalusian" perhaps? (Whoops, this July 14th event is now totally booked as well!)This event started because there was a group of people interested, who weren't very well connected with our other friends/family. So long as we have the energy and availability, I think O and I are excited to be able to create a special event like this. If you have a group of 6 people in mind, feel free to propose anything!

The Full Belly Seattle Is Born

Welcome one and all. You have been sent a link to this blog because someone believes that you too are looking for ways to help make the world a better place. Please continue on and read about our efforts and about some of the fun and easy ways you can contribute!

Olaiya and I have spent many hours discussing how to put our money where our mouth is when it comes to supporting world-changing organizations. The options are so numerous that it can leave a person feeling confused and frustrated. While researching which organization we would support, we looked for a secular non-profit oriented toward helping people from very disadvantaged backgrounds find sustainable solutions to improve their lives. We believe Women for Women is just such an organization.

Our goal is to raise funds through a series of social events and dinners. The proceeds from these affairs will be used to sponsor individual women in war-torn countries throughout the world. Our initial plan will be to host one event per month, inviting our friends and neighbors to join us for satisfying food and conversation, knowing that all the proceeds will make a difference.

We hope that the project grows and becomes more ambitious as time goes by. However we evolve, we would like to keep a consistent set of values. Our goal is to make use of Olaiya's considerable talents in the kitchen, provide vegetarian-friendly meals and tastings, attempt to cater all events with local, organic produce, and keep costs low enough that everyone can participate. We intend to focus on building an ever-increasing sense of community. Our events will not be hard-sells or guilt-wracked discussions of world affairs. We simply want our friends and family (and your friends and family) to come join us for a great time for a great cause.