Oh yeah, we did it!

This is a very special entry at our blog. All the previous have stories of amazing people we have meat throughout our campaign, but this one is to celebrate our team; a group of five people who decided to believe that anything is possible and set out, almost three months ago, to inspire as many people as we could to take a step in order to create a better world for many needed children.

When we started the campaign we had a goal set for our team, a total of 209 sponsored children by the end of our journey. Today, with two weeks left in our campaign we reached a total of 211 sponsors. Yes, today we reached our target, but we also exceeded it. This was only possible through the people who decided to become sponsors, but also through the hard work of the BC Touring Team. We have faced many challenges (traveling it self for almost three months is a challenge), a couple of setbacks (mall complaints), some of us have gotten sick and still decided to make it to our shifts (just a cold, nothing big); we have taken endless "no's" but kept fighting for all the "yes's", we have made many promises to children at our booths that we will get them a sponsor, we have seen the goodness in people and we have been able to be part of a huge and amazing change in a total of 211 children lives.

This last mall has been particularly a bit more challenging than any other. We where going to reach our target, I had no doubt on that, but it was going to require hard work and keeping our spirits up all the time. That is exactly why I am saying that reaching our target is directly related to the attitude, hard work, commitment and passion of each member in the team. We have all contributed to reach our goal, and among us (BC Touring Team) there is no one better than the other; we function together as a machine, we need all the parts to do their job in order to reach our goal. Our motto has been "We can totally do it!"

I signed a sponsor at 10:30am this morning, just half hour after opening the booth (a little unusual for our current mall). And

Melinda and Keiryn holding their sponsored child, Bayan!
They are our 209th sponsor!

from that moment, I knew today was going to be the day in which we reached our target. Three more sponsors came our way later and even a fifth one (a total of 5 sponsors, our mall top record at Kelowna!). Among those sponsors, a mom and daughter stopped at our booth. We started talking and Melinda (the mom) asked a couple of questions regarding the children and the program. I shared with them my pictures and letters I have gotten from Fatima (my sponsored girl) and after that they opened up their hearts and decided to sponsor Bayan, a little boy from Ethiopia. In our conversation I found out that Keiryn (the daughter) have been wanting to sponsor a child for a long time, and also that she will be helping her mom to sponsor Bayan. Wow, what an awesome duo!

We will continue our fight to get as many sponsors until the end of our campaign (as we usually do), but we are happy that today, we reached and beat our target! Thanks to all the amazing people who have taken the step to sponsor a child at our booth, thanks to the BC Touring Team for being so passionate and never (ever) giving up despite the challenges!

PS. I have to admit that Fatima, my sponsored girl, is like part of our team. Her pictures and the letters she has sent to me have moved the hearts of many people! -Thank you Fatima, I love you with all my heart and I will be there for you, always.

Javier Cuellar
-The Lantern Project-