Exciting News to share ... ... and an offer to pray for you!
Hello
If you have a need, we would like to pray for you. I’ll tell you more about that below, but first …
… we have some great news to share with you.
We have received a pledge for all the funding needed to finish construction and erection of the Cross on Memory Mountain. We thought you would be excited to know that.
So, we now moving full steam ahead, aiming to have the entire project finished in time for a launch celebration towards the end of 2021. The actual launch date will be confirmed by the Aboriginal Elders in due course.
Also, I’d like to thank you for your generous support for the young man from the Ikuntji community who recently lost his wife in a tragic accident. He was amazed that people he had never met were willing to reach out to him in his hour of need. And he asked me to pass on his gratitude for your support during that difficult time.
Having Kathy and Andy out there at the time was extremely helpful. With friends and family coming in from far and wide, many meals were needed for the young man’s immediate and extended family. Kathy and Andy were also able to offer emotional support to the family in their time of grief.
Andy and Kathy were living and working in the Ikuntji community for about 12 months, managing the Creative Technologies Centre, and built deep relationships with the people out there. It was generous donors like you who enabled us to support their work. They needed to move back to Victoria earlier this year, but when that tragic accident occurred, they were already back in Alice Springs. That meant they were able to go out to the community to assist wherever help was needed.
And now, with the Cross project moving into its final stages, there has never been a more important time to have a couple of Kathy and Andy’s calibre out there to run the Ikuntji Creative Technologies Centre. We will need to facilitate training for Indigenous staff, so they can take up roles in various hospitality and tourism enterprises once the Cross in the heart of our nation is ready to welcome visitors.
While we have the finances pledged for completion of the Cross, we still urgently need funding to support the work of the Creative Technologies Centre as the training hub for the critical preparation ahead.
We will need close to $150,000 to cover wages, transport, accommodation and training for the next 12 months. Anything you can donate in support of this important work will be greatly appreciated by all the Indigenous people of Ikuntji and surrounding communities. They are not asking for a hand-out, but a hand up, so they can establish sustainable enterprises. And we are committed to walking with them through this next exciting phase in the lead up to the launch of the Cross.
All donations to Walk a While Foundation are tax deductible. You can click here https://walkawhile.org.au/donate to donate.
And, finally, would you please let us know if there is anything you would like us to pray for.
I will be going out to the Cross site next week and will take your prayer request up to the top of Memory Mountain and pray for you there.
If you would like prayer, please email: exec@kenduncan.com with a brief description of your need. It will be my honour to take your prayer request up to the top of Memory Mountain where the Cross is being constructed.
With our deep thanks,
Ken Duncan, OAM
On behalf of Walk a While Foundation
PS: Please remember that your tax deductible donations are still urgently needed to support training programs through the Ikuntji Creative Technologies Centre. You can donate right here.