This article was updated on Aug. 8 with a quote from the vendor, and on Aug. 24 with info on how to donate (see below).
A flea market vendor in Montana is donating all her proceeds this coming weekend to an African orphanage. Kate Patenaude, who is selling purses, backpacks, and earrings at a booth at the Missoula Saturday Market in Missoula, Mont., met a Ugandan man who had lived in the orphanage there, but who had been able to come to Montana for orthopedic surgery, according to a news report at Missoulian.com.
Patenaude met Emmanuel Nsubuga through her mother, who is a nurse at the hospital where Nsubuga had his operation.
According to the Missoulian news report:
Patenaude said she learned Nsubuga has four stepbrothers and a mother whom he hopes to see when he returns to Uganda. After visiting them, he wants to return to Missoula and go to school so he can get a job that would allow him to help his people. And that’s where Patenaude comes in. Money raised from purchases at her booth Saturday will go to Nsubuga’s orphanage, Musana Children’s Home. Additional donations, she said, will go directly to Nsubuga and his family to help pay for school and anything else they need.
Patenaude, who graduated from Sentinel High School this year, is a talented basketball player as well as a flea market vendor.
Aug. 8 update: Kate Patenaude today reports that she raised $600 so far and hopes to repeat her fundraiser this coming weekend or the next. “It was fun telling people what I’m doing and about the orphanage. It was good to get the word out,” she says. She was inspired by a friend who is a vendor at a local flea market. Her merchandise actually came from the orphanage in Uganda. “I just love the support I got from people in the Missoulla area. I’m excited to do it again,” she says.
Aug. 24 update: Patenaude has now created an e-mail account specifically for those interested in helping out. E-mail her at emmaproject@hotmail.com.
Photo credit, with thanks: BeRecruited.com.