The Scoop

In the past week, two very generous donors were so moved by Sweet Dreams that they have come forward with an offer to match all donations raised during the next thirty days up to $20,000. Yes, you read that right: TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.

The clock on this incredible opportunity for our funding starts NOW. From today until October 19, if you donate $10, it will be matched and become $20. If you give $100, it will become $200.  Our goal is to raise the total amount, $20,000, which will be doubled to $40,000!

If enough people give just a small amount, this is POSSIBLE! If some consider a donation of $50 or more, it is LIKELY!!

We are deeply invigorated by this tremendous injection of faith and confident that those of you who believe in this very special project will come forward to match your sentiments of support with a pledge of your own.

To donate now (and double your money!) please visit www.bluemarbledreams.org. With a simple click of the mouse, you will help us spread the Blue Marble love to Rwanda.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

To enable our cross-Atlantic leap, we have created Blue Marble Dreams, a nonprofit bridge that will allow us to reach Huye and, ultimately, many other communities across the globe. Through these international adventures, we will pursue a very sweet but pragmatic dream: to explore the transformative potential of ice cream not just as a source of fun and joy but also as a means of sustainable economic growth in developing countries with local but underutilized dairy resources.

While we are working toward securing Blue Marble Dreams’ tax-exempt status, African Services Committee, a fantastic NYC-based nonprofit organization serving the needs of our African immigrant friends and neighbors, has graciously offered to serve as our fiscal sponsor. This means that they will process all donations on our behalf and issue all donors an official tax deduction receipt. So your donation will be FULLY TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

Please visit www.bluemarbledreams.org TODAY and join us in giving the Huye community a wonderful place to come together and indulge in a sweet dream we can all believe in.

Thank you to all of our friends, neighbors, and compatriots in spirit, for your hundreds of emails and comments in support of our new nonprofit venture, Blue Marble Dreams: Rwanda. Today, the Brooklyn Paper carried a feature story on us, which made us feel proud: www.brooklynpaper.com/stories.

Also, we have received shout-outs on numerous facebook pages and blogs, including Satya Bhabha’s page (thank you, Satya!) and this wonderful blog by our friend Jake: www.moreperfectmarket.com/2008/08/smile-and-ice-cream.html. 

To find out more information on the project, or to offer support, please email thescoop@bluemarbleicecream.com, and we will be in touch with you shortly. In the meantime, here’s some inspiration from our friend, Odile Gakire Katese, who explains why she believes her community needs ice cream: 

"Because we struggle most of the time, we also find ourselves aggressive against happiness, love, joy, life. When we have children, we too teach them that happiness doesn't exist; that there is no pure love and as legacy, we give them our despair, our debts, our doubts, our tears, our failures... The Rwandan women who are part of this group want to rehsape life in its simple and sweetest form.  We want to share moments that are not embossed by despair and death... We want to create a space where poverty, disease, illiteracy... are not obstacles to happiness and barriers between human beings... We have to, for the sake of the health of our soul.  The ice cream will have the power to reconcile people with life by providing privileged moments when life reminds them that it is also sweet.  And for the 15th commemoration of the genocide in 2009, what better way for Rwandans to enjoy life than by traveling all over the country through the thousand hills to offer life when there was death, to offer a smile and an ice cream?  Nice dream!"