Non-profit organization Many Hopes will host its annual fundraiser gala – Discover Many Hopes on May 23, 2016 in New York City. Many Hopes rescues children from poverty, corruption and abuse in Kenya, then advocates for them in court and educates them in order to build future networks of influencers who will break the cycle of injustice. The annual gala is the fourth for the organization and will be co-hosted by supermodel Karen Elson; Thor: The Dark World and Heroes Reborn actor, Zachary Levi; and fitness and wellness entrepreneur, Tracy Anderson.
This year, the exclusive Discover Many Hopes gala will be co-chaired by iconic photographer, Patrick McMullan; film producer and director, Jeff Oppenheim; and founder, chairman and CEO of STARR African Rum and an executive producer of The Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, Jeffrey Zarnow. The evening event will take place at 180 Maiden Lane in New York City, and will bring together 500 influencers to build a school for 900 boys and girls in Kenya – 100% of the proceeds will go toward the building. Previous celebrity supporters of the non-profit include: Sofia Vergara, Jessica Stam, Leighton Meester and AnnaLynne McCord.
Many Hopes was founded in 2007 by Kenyan journalist, Anthony Mulongo and Irish columnist, Thomas Keown. Moved by the brutality, abuse and exploitation of children in Kenya – Mulongo took in a 6-year-old girl named Gift, whose mother had just died of AIDS and 10-month-old brother had died on her back while she was begging for food on the streets of Mombasa. During a meeting with Mulongo in 2007, Keown wrote a newspaper article about their story, resulting in an outpour of letters from supporters, volunteers and donors. Many Hopes was founded shortly thereafter.
The Many Hopes Justice Framework rescues children from abuse and raises them into networks of influential adults with an imagination for justice and the tools to act on it. Over the past 50 years, Africa has received $1 trillion in aid, but for Many Hopes it’s not about money, it’s about leadership. Many Hopes strives to rescue, advocate for and educate exploited children and transform them into a network of teachers, doctors, lawyers, mothers and businessmen. By doing this, in 20 years time these children will become leaders who create a continuing cycle of justice that eliminates the need for charities altogether.
“Many Hopes believes that local children will defeat the poverty and injustice that charity by itself cannot, If we stand with them now. So we don’t just build homes and schools for girls and boys in Kenya, but we ask, ’What do children need now in order to be the adults who can do extraordinary things for justice in three decades?’” said Thomas Keown, co-founder of Many Hopes. “We have created the Many Hopes Justice Framework to equip children from extreme poverty with an imagination for justice and the tools to act on it. Our events in New York give New Yorkers the opportunity to join this story and use their influence here to make that vision happen.”
Currently in Kenya, 2.6 million children are homeless and live under $1 a day. Every day they beg and steal to stay alive in the face of hunger, violence, disease, rape, forced prostitution and worse. Girls shave their heads and wear ill-fitting clothes to look like boys for protection and safety. In some cases, the government has also exploited the poor by keeping them illiterate and denying provision of ID cards, for which children are arrested for not having.
To buy tickets for the fundraiser on May 23 please visit: www.http://discover.manyhopes.org/.