Viera Mother-Daughter Team Seek Community Assistance In ‘Helping Hands Meals To Africa’ Effort

By  //  April 16, 2017

CATHERINE AND MADELINE SMITH to host event

ABOVE VIDEO: Catherine Smith and her 11-year-old daughter Madeline are working to send 10,000 meals to the African village of Burkina Faso and needs your help. Smith lives in Viera and is willing to work in area businesses for donations to assist her efforts and also seeking additional volunteers. CLICK HERE to register.

I live in Viera, and I wanted to let you know about a personal project that my daughter and I are doing to “pay it forward.”

We are the sole sponsors of an event on April 29 in Rocklege, Florida to send 10,000 meals to Africa and are not working with any church, school or organization. We will work on that day hand in hand, along with several other volunteers, to weigh and package food into individual meal portions and send them off that day to the hungry people in the village of Burkina Faso.

I have decided to do this project so that my daughter will understand the value of helping others, as we have always been blessed to have enough to eat and a fine roof over our head.

We will utilize a non-profit organization, called Helping Hands, to come with a truck to provide the supplies we need on that day. I want to teach my 11-year-old daughter Madeline so many things during this project and am excited that we have raised approximately $1,500 towards this goal already.

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We have been fortunate to have Target offer to send water and snacks to our volunteers, a good amount of community volunteers have stepped forward to help us that day, and Lisa Starr of Shining Starr Learning Academy in Rockledge, to offer space for our event on April 29.

Among the things I am trying to teach my daughter is that we work for what we want in life, as there is no such thing as a “free lunch.” To that end, she and I worked clearing tables, washing tables, sweeping floors, stocking napkins and other supplies at Burger21 on April 5 because Burger21 was gracious enough to give us a portion of their proceeds for the day.

We will do the same thing at Chick Fil-A on April 17, as Chick Fil-A will donate part of the proceeds that day to our cause as well. We will “work for food” but for the food for others.

Catherine Smith and her 11-year-old daughter are working to send 10,000 meals to the African village of Burkina Faso and needs your help. Smith lives in Viera and is willing to work in area businesses for donations to assist her efforts and also seeking additional volunteers.

My background is in education as a teacher, and I am a registered nurse in the state of Florida as well. I also have a background in eye care, as I worked several years for an optometrist in Rhode Island while working my way through school. In high school, I worked in a dental office. I have even worked in a large apartment complex as a leasing consultant many years ago.

I am looking to raise an additional $3,000 by April 29, or our event will have to be postponed until we can raise such funds. My heart feels that postponing isn’t the right thing to do, because all of our volunteers have already put time aside to assist us on that day, clearing their schedules to help us help others.

I am willing to work as a volunteer in your business, doing whatever is necessary, if you can help us with a tax deductible donation. Depending on the work you need, my daughter can also volunteer her time. We are hard workers, very organized and would need very little training.

We are also looking for volunteers for our event, especially during the first and third shift on the link below. Volunteers are requested to please register on the site below prior to attending. [CLICK HERE to register]

We have initiated a “silver donor” category where we will work for a few hours for any business donation of less than $1,000. For “gold donors” who give $1,000 or more, we will work a whole shift or more, depending on your donation.

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For the entire $3,000 that we need, I personally will “work off the debt” dollar for dollar doing whatever needs to be done. Again, my daughter and I will “work for food” but for the food for others.

I know we can come together as a community to make this happen. Will you find a way to help us help others? Business marketing material will be prominently displayed on the day of our event if you can help us with a donation.

Thank you from the very bottom of our hearts.

– Catherine Smith, 401-524-7104

Catherine and Madeline Smith’s Helping Hands meals to Africa