Nearly a month ago, I told you that the hubs and I would be headed to Africa this summer. If you missed it, read about the details here.

And for those of you who haven’t looked at a calendar lately … It’s almost May. How the frick did that happen? That said, we have a crap ton of work to do and we need your help.

One of the main reasons we wanted to do this trip was to invest in something significant together. One of the main reasons we didn’t want to go was money. Here’s what initially ran through our minds:

1. Why don’t we just send them all the money it would take to get us there? ($3,500 PER PERSON — flights, food for two weeks, housing and supplies for the kids)

2. If we have to fundraise for this thing, we’re out. 

Totally legitimate concerns, right? But here’s what we found after we talked to a few people who went on the trip last year:

1. After asking the kids whether or not they’d prefer money or have a group of us hang out with them for a week, they chose the relationship over the almighty dollar. That fascinated us … I don’t know many American kids who’d opt for a week at summer camp over a wad of cash.

2. We don’t like asking for help. I mean, who does? But when we started hearing stories about these kids it became less about us and more about them. So. We’re asking that you invest in these guys with us:

Kenya 2011 // Ecclesia Hollywood (Kibera) from Aaron Huisman on Vimeo.

There are two ways you can get involved:

1. You can straight up send some funds to this link: (yes, your donations are tax deductible)

-Go to http://www.churchinhollywood.com/#/giving

-Click on “Log in to Online Giving”

-Create new account or log in as returning member

-Select “Kenya Mission Team 2012″ under “Fund” drop-down menu

-Choose Kenya team member’s name under “Sub Fund” drop-down menu (Krysta or Vince)

2. You can donate your services/talents for a good cause. For example:

If you’re a killer photographer you can donate the funds from your next portrait session to our trip.

If you’re a crazy awesome baker you can donate the funds from your next batch of sugary goodness to our trip (or hold a bake sale, what?!).

You guys get where we’re going with this right? There’s nothing more satisfying (to us) than using our talents for good and people love buying products when part of the profits (or all the profits) go to a good cause! If you’re interested in doing this and want some help, leave a comment and we’ll brainstorm!

And just so you know we’re putting our money where our mouth is … we’ll match up to $1,000 of the funds donated.  The kicker? We need to raise $3,500 by April 20. That’s a little more than a week. We can do this! 

We can’t wait to change the lives of these kids with you guys!! Oh, and if you aren’t passionate about this sort of thing, that’s totally fine. We’d still like to challenge you to find something to invest your time, talents or resources in by the end of summer. Take a risk, get uncomfortable and do something crazy awesome for someone who could use your help. Let’s do this!