Champions





			Summoning the Human Spirit to its Best Self


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				This page is a place to share stories about people who are making a difference.

						Romano Memorial Fund The Romano Memorial Fund was set up to celebrate the spirit of Umberto Romano (1954 -- 2008), husband of LemonAid Fund Founder and staunch supporter of LemonAid Fund's mission. Umberto believed that he could make a difference in this world through LemonAid Fund and his last wish was the desire to continue building LemonAid Fund so it could help to change the lives of those he so cared about; those whose lives were filled with injustice and violence and yet still had hope and a willingness to implement change. The money will go to finish the Romano Early Childhood Center and Conference Hall at The Village Learning Center. Currently, tarps over cement block walls provide a shell for PTA meetings, staff development workshops and an indoor play area for the toddlers during the rainy season. We have already raised the money for the Hines Playground that will be placed on top of the Conference Hall in Sierra Leone. Thank you for your generousity and for allowing Umberto to leave a wonderful legacy.


			Memorial Fund - Lighting for Education In memory of Larry Peddle and Arnold Brendel, electricians of the most generous kind. donations will go to bring much needed light to LemonAid Fund projects in Sierra Leone.


			Sarah Johnston Sarah Johnston, an education and training consultant, has taken on championing two projects in Sierra Leone with LemonAid Fund. She is volunteering her time with Amidu and is also taking on the tennis challenge. Prior to coming to Sierra Leone she worked with the Thai Railway Police on an education program for runaway kids, on the Thai Burma Border training teachers who would then go back to the camps to teach and most recently in Afghanistan on a street kids project with Aschiana, an Afghan NGO. Please see Sierra Leone Kids Tennis under the programs section to see some of the amazing work that Sarah Johnston has done.

			Stephanie Rogers Singer-songwriter Stephanie Rogers is an advocate for orphans in Sierra Leone. She wishes to tell you her story about how she became involved with LemonAid Fund and hopes you'll join her in the meaningful and important thing any of us can do to make others happy. "I have never met Alpha Bangura, but I consider him my good friend. Alpha runs an orphanage in Sierra Leone and I have been in contact with him since 2003, helping to raise funds for his work with children. I am so proud of our friendship and I look forward to visiting him one day with my family. I first heard about Alpha and his work through a website of one of my favorite performers, Rickie Lee Jones. Being a singer-songwriter, it is my passion and interest to research music through the internet. I was looking at Rickie Lee's website, which had a whole section devoted to her charitable works and humanitarian pursuits. I saw a picture of Alpha's children in the orphanage and my heart ached with a profound pang. These children, beautiful and innocent, had lost their parents due to the ravages of war and AIDS, and they looked very solemn. I knew I wanted to reach out in some way to them and I knew I would contact Mr. Bangura. I emailed him immediately and thus began our friendship and our work together. I grew up in a comfortable suburb along Chicago's north shore. It is a place many worlds away from the suffering of Sierra Leone. I was a preschool teacher in Evanston, Illinois for a few years and got to work with kids who often didn't have much, but they were generous, loving beings! I'll never forget them and the lessons I learned about how we are all the same; no one is "better" than another. It was an eye-opening experience to teach children and I loved it. When I had a health battle with cancer at the age of 27, my life then changed permanently. I developed an intense love and concern for our world and the lives in it, especially the lives of children. By comparison to our American standard of living, it does not take much to improve someone's life in Sierra Leone. Together with the small efforts and contributions of many we can make a difference. My first attempt to send Alpha funds that I had collected did not go well. I tried the mail. He never got the money, unfortunately, and I missed my chance to help provide the children with a happy Christmas. Alpha told me about Money Gram and that is how we worked together until I found Nancy Peddle's LemonAid Fund. I contacted her and she went to Alpha's foster care home, to see the amazing work he is doing, caring for children who lost a parent in his facility, as well as foster children who have been placed into homes. Nancy told me I had good instincts in wanting to help Alpha when I met her in person in Chicago in January (2007). I knew then I would have to "summon my highest self." All the things I believe about helping others is realized in Nancy. She is a shining star of inspiration and a selfless, caring soul. I look forward to someday visiting the orphanage in Sierra Leone. I will bring many hugs for an amazing man, my good friend Alpha Bangura."

	LemonAid Fund, 490 Lincoln Ave West, Highland Park, IL 60035 USA