July 4, 2002
People of Tshamalale
Village of Tshamalale
Democratic Republic of Congo
Dear People of Tshamalale
On behalf of the members of the Jefferson Ruritan Club of the community of Jefferson, Maryland in the United States of America, I send you our warm greetings of peace and friendship. Jim Carpenter, a member of our club and also a member of Able And Willing Foundation, has told us of your accomplishments in your village. We wish you great success in completing your school and in whatever plans you may undertake for improving your village. We look forward to hearing more about your village from Mr. Carpenter after he returns from his visit to your village.
It may interest you to know something about our community of Jefferson. Like your village of Tshamalale, we number about 5,000 people. Traditionally, Jefferson was a farming community, but now consists of both farmers and people who commute to jobs in larger cities, for example, Frederick, Maryland, and Washington DC.
Jefferson does not have a formal local government with the power to provide the things we need and want. Therefore, our citizens have found it helpful to organize ourselves to improve local living conditions. Many people work on improvements on a volunteer basis. Our fire and emergency medical response department is staffed by volunteers. In addition, we have raised money to provide material support to our fire department, community center, park, trash collection (recycling) center, and to pay for our own street lighting.
To get the money for these improvements to our town, we, like Able And Willing and many other non-profit organizations, have fund raising events. Twice every winter, the men and women in our town butcher many hogs and sell the meat. In the spring, we organize a festival where artists and craftsmen rent space from us to sell the products of their work and we have many interesting exhibits of old cars and tractors. The festival also has music and a walking and running race of five kilometers. Every summer, we have a carnival where adults and children come to play games, eat, and listen to music. People come from all over the county and neighboring counties to enjoy these events, and we earn money from the food they buy and games they participate in. Mr. Carpenter will explain more about these and other fund raising events and show you some pictures.
All of this work takes a lot of planning and organization. Most of it is done by the Jefferson Ruritan Club, a volunteer organization that came together in 1955 to do good works for the community of Jefferson and make it a better place to live and work. In addition to the activities noted above, Ruritan works with youth groups, especially supporting sports and academic programs. It also provides services to elderly and disabled citizens in the community. The Club meets monthly to share a meal and to discuss plans for future activities. Our mission is to build a better community through Fellowship, Goodwill, and Community Service.
The Ruritan fund raising activities operate much like those of the Able And Willing International Education Foundation, which was created by Puma Mbuyu and his wife, Ruth, in 1995 to do that for your village. Able And Willing organizes community dinners and educational and recreational events in the United States that raise funds to support projects in your village.
Our philosophy – that of Ruritan and of Able And Willing - is that people can organize to accomplish goals for the public good that may be too big for individuals acting alone. This has certainly worked for the good people of Jefferson and we would like to share our Ruritan experiences with you so that you can decide if our philosophy may work for you as well. Mr. Carpenter has been an active member of Ruritan for more than 25 years. For many years, he has chaired our environmental committee, which has done much to clean up litter from our roads and dispose of certain kinds of trash. We are confident that he is able and willing to help you explore the idea of voluntary community organization and service to get things done.
We send our best wishes for long life and prosperity for all the good people of Tshamalale.
Sincerely,
Al Manus, President
Jefferson Ruritan Club
Approved by the Board of Directors on July 9, 2002
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Mike Summers, Vice President |
Juan Stull, Director |
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Mary McCormack, Secretary |
JR Arnold, Director |
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Bill Six, Treasurer |
Richard Greenawalt, Director |
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Larry Putman, Past President |
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Approved by a vote of the members of the Jefferson Ruritan Club on July 17, 2002