We (Nathan and Leila Freeman) are a couple of okanaganites (we live just north of Osoyoos) who believe in contributing to the world around us in positive ways. We volunteer locally and when we are able, we volunteer overseas. In just over a week we will be doing some overseas volunteer work.
From March17-31st we will be heading to Hong Kong for two weeks. We will be going to work with a humanitarian organization called Crossroads Foundation. If you’d like to check them out you can find them online at www.crossroads.org.hk . We have great respect for this organization and the work they are doing around the globe.
Leila first went to Crossroads in 2007 with her college. She has since returned for two (2008) and three (2010) days respectively while in transit to or from other locations. Nathan has been to Crossroads once for three days (2010) also while en route to elsewhere.
This past summer we felt that it was time to devote more than a day or two of “en route” time to this wonderful organization and it’s equally wonderful but often overworked full time volunteers. That’s right, all the people who live full time at Crossroads (which incidentally occupies a former British Military Base) must all raise their own support in order to be there. These people often represent dozens of nationalities and they all give their time and effort for no pay. While at Crossroads we will follow their full time work schedule of five days a week from 8:30-4:30.
We can see you wondering, what exactly will we be doing at Crossroads?? Simply put, we’l ldo whatever they want us to. Crossroads is composed of four different arms of outreach and we will most likely be working with the Global Distribution arm.
What is Global Distribution? Well, Crossroads takes in new (think: Hong Kong = trade convention capital of the world. Companies from around the globe bring all their new stuff to show off and then throw it out when they leave, that is if Crossroads doesn’t get to it first) and used everything from all over Hong Kong. Roughly 50% of the items that come in go back out to support marginalized individuals in Hong Kong and mainland China.The other half are shipped all over the world to places where there are people in need. However, before items can be sent anywhere they need to be sorted, folded, packaged, assembled or disassembled, sometimes de-tagged, and catalogued. This is likely what we’ll be doing. We may have the opportunity to help pack a container that is going to folks in need somewhere, but we might just fold clothes and sort stationary : )
There are two reasons we’d love for to have the news about our trip put up on southokanaganphotos.today. First, we think some folks may find our trip interesting and we love sharing Crossroads with as many people as possible. Beyond that, we are still finishing up fundraising for our trip. We know there are people who are unable to physically go on such a trip as this, but who may like to support those who can go. This trip is costing us roughly $4000.00 and we still have over $2000.00 to raise. We have been blessed though. While Crossroads is not a registered Christian organization, our church (the Osoyoos Christian Centre) has partnered with us and taken this trip on as a church project. This means that all donations to our trip will be issued a tax receipt if funds are sent through the church.
If an individual wanted to donate to our trip he or she could do so one of two ways. Funds can be mailed directly to the church at: PO Box 52, Osoyoos, BC, V0H 1V0. Cheques must be addressed to “Osoyoos Christian Centre” and a separate note should denote support for “Hong Kong 2012”. There is also an online option. A person can go to www.osoyooschurch.ca, clickon the donate button on the right side of the page, and follow the instructions from there.
Thanks you for your time and consideration.
Photo and story supplied by Leila Freeman