An Open Letter to the Community of Buffalo

I am young and naïve; my background is humble and my voice is small, but I will use it, because I have a story to tell.

We are the city of good neighbors. We believe in working hard, and playing hard. We are the kind of fans who make the news, who rename townships, and who people want to play for. We are the people who won't give up. We know what it is to face failure, to rebuild, to hope against all odds for what seems downright crazy.

For my brief 25 years of life I have known this place as my home and you, reader, as my neighbor. Time and again I have seen us come together for the hope and encouragement of even just one person struggling in our midst.

Right now, there is a virus taking the lives of thousands of people in West Africa. I am no doctor, I cannot fix it.

Right now there is a village of little ones whose mommies and daddies will not come home from a treatment center. I am no superhero, I cannot bring their families back.

Right now, there is a community who has suffered greatly overcoming the grips of hatred and fear. I am no billionaire, I cannot make it better.

But I can ask for help.

Maybe you've seen it on the news. Maybe you changed the channel. The world is full of problems; it’s easy to add this one to the pile… but what if we didn’t?

The truth is, the story of this faraway community is already weaved into ours. Because of the hearts of the people of Buffalo, I have been to Sierra Leone and I have seen hope growing. In one of the poorest communities in the world, I have shared hurt and unprecedented joy with an incredible people who, much like us, are trying desperately to rebuild. I have held more than one tiny hand in mine and gazed into a longing to be seen, known, and loved. And I have seen the efforts of our stateside community help begin to change the story.

So I am asking for your help, Buffalo. I am pleading with you to do something because right now there’s a lot of need.

In five years, people in our humble hometown have funded over sixty clean water wells, provided a home to orphans, and built a school. Right now we have the opportunity to impact 25 Ebola orphans, to feed and nourish struggling families, but we need you. Join the Digging Deeper campaign with Buffalo humanitarian group Let Them LOL. Give your change, plan a fundraiser, collect an offering. Together we can only make a small drop in a mighty ocean, but every drop matters. This is what community looks like – and Buffalo, I think it looks good on us.

Join the campaign visit: loldiggingdeeper.com or facebook.com/ltlol

For fundraising ideas visit: engage.ltlol.com

"Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work." - Mother Theresa