Great Charity Hunt - May Update

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Author: Aleita Taviah
Published: June 20 2021 Tar Valon Times Blog Link

“Life is for service.”

It has been a busy couple of months on the Great Charity Hunt. The Great Charity Hunt was launched back in November 2020. In March 2021 we saw the first Heroes of the Horn Challenge, and our first Hero of the Horn, Idine Espanyas of the Yellow Ajah.

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In honour of our first Hero, part 2 of The Hero Story was shared with us all.

Lilli had seen her heroes come together to work to help those domestic animals that didn’t have homes. Not as many people stepped up to be a hero, but there was a hero that stood out. Idine Espanyas showed real conviction in the first challenge. Hero number one had been found. Lilli pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and carefully wrote the name of the first hero at the top. Taking care to make sure the letters were clear. She sighed and sat back. What to do to find the next hero? Spring was upon the land in full. She looked out the window and looked over the city. The walls gleamed white, but the melting snow was uncovering a wealth of litter that had been mixed with the snow during the winter. Then it struck her. Later in the month was a day especially auspicious for tending to the land. It was called Earth Day. It was a day to help the land wake up from its winter slumber and get ready for planting and gardening. And with Traveling and Aes Sedai the world over, along with their warders, just maybe this could truly be a world wide effort. It was time to put out the next call. As Lilli firmed up her plans to call together the Aes Sedai, I figure in a green silk dress smiled serenely as she faded away to nothing……

In April the Heroes of the Horn Challenge was led by the Gray Ajah and focused on “Spring Cleaning.” The challenge was in conjunction with Earth Day (April 22nd) where the Ajah challenged TarValon.Net to not only make a difference in the world around them but also to show how international the community of TarValon.Net is.

To some, Mother Earth is sacred. To others, the Earth is just the place we live. A whole host of emotion, thought exists in between. No matter how you view the Earth, the truth is that it is our home. For most of us, it will be the only planet that we have. As we do in our own houses, we need to keep it clean so that we can live. On April 24th, we would like to see just how much of the Earth our Tower covers. We would like you to find a park, a stretch of highway, or some other area (nature trails, etc) to adopt for the day. On that day, Tweet or post a picture on Facebook of what the bags of trash you’ve picked up with the hashtag #TrashforTarValon and allow your photo to have a location tag. If you do not have the mobility, or do not have the time to participate in this challenge, you can still help out. The Grays have provided a link to an Earth charity near and dear to their hearts, Tradewater.Lilli O'Neeus

April’s Hero of the Horn was Natalya Laragan, affectionately known as Dr. Aes Sedai! We look forward to seeing Natalya appear in the next installment of The Hero Story.

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TarValon.Net’s members found so many different ways to contribute over the past couple of months so here’s the run down.

April 2nd Update!

  • Nymala (Blue Ajah) has started crocheting stars for a charity project, and as of 3/1/2021 she had spent 2 hours working on this. Nymala also volunteered at the SPCA for 5 hours.
  • Sonea (Blue Ajah) donated the equivalent of £23.96 in toys or £23.96 to pay for toys to a local animal sanctuary
  • Atreyu (SDS) shared the results of the Dry Feb fundraiser he organized: $1,150.39 raised! Many site members also donated. :)
  • Dar’Jen (Of All and None) donated $20 worth of food to her work’s “Cram the Van” initiative to support Salvation Army efforts
  • Erin (Of All and None) donated $25 to MSF (Doctors Without Borders) through the WoW Pet Charity Program
  • Arella (Of All and None) donated $20 to MSF (Doctors without Borders) through the WoW Pet Charity Program
  • Ninya (Green Ajah) donated $348.66 to the GISH 2021: Change-A-Life Ecuador program
  • Jocasta (Of All and None) donated $25 to help a local family in need with surgery costs
  • Melisande (Green Ajah) donated $30.92 to support Dry February and $50 to Telemiracle 45
  • Juliya (Blue Ajah) donated to several different places: $50 to Movember (men’s health charity focused on prostate cancer, testicular health, and mental health), $100 monthly donations to Power 2 Change (a Christian charity focused on helping athletes in universities), and $80 monthly donations to CRWRF which sponsors 2 families in Kenya

May 1st Update!

  • Ahmyra al’Ruley (Of All and None) donated $50 for a Music for Life scholarship for a child in Uganda that covers school supplies and life supplies. She also donated $50 to Canadian Mental Health.
  • Mieriana Souvra (Blue Ajah) donated $20 to the Animal Welfare Institute.
  • Siera al’Cere (Gray Ajah) donated $25 to a local animal shelter.
  • Nymala Ingasy (Blue Ajah) gave 3 hours and 55 minutes of her time to the SPCA of Whangarei.
  • Maibella ni Rhoiden t’al’Varrak (Gray Ajah) spent 1.5 hours helping with a tree planting event on Earth Day.
  • Juliya Karisu (Blue Ajah), in addition to her regular monthly donations of $100 to Power 2 Change and $80 to CRWRF, also donated $10 to the Down Syndrome Resource Foundation and $75 to Pacific Post Partum, a non-profit organization that helps moms.
  • Ninya Evoneigh (Green Ajah) has started a cycle of volunteering that will continue on for the next 12 months. They will be spending 20 hours each month volunteering for IMALIVE, a crisis line. They will also be spending 50 hours each month working with the policy and abuse team at OTW (a 501(c)3). That is an astounding time commitment!! They also donated $25 to Tradewater.

This month also saw the beginning of the Third Hero of the Horn Challenge, May Flowers supported by the Yellow Ajah!

Our May challenge is about spreading good vibes and mental health and well-being. To do that, we’d like you to hand out a few of the May flowers that the April showers so often bring. This link (Click Me) will take you to a pdf of our May flowers containing the numbers for major mental health help and crisis lines as well as numbers for LGBTQ+ support. We would like you to hand out these flowers in places or to people you think would appreciate or can use them.

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The Yellows have chosen a charity for people to donate to if they are more comfortable participating in that way. It is the Trevor Project. It is one of the numbers featured on our flyer. The Trevor Project helps LGBTQ+ youth all over the US. LGBTQ+ youth are one of the more vulnerable groups in our country. They are more vulnerable to mental health crises, homelessness, and addiction, among other things. Please consider helping to give our vulnerable babies the support they need to make it through one of the hardest parts of life (becoming who they are).

Being a little over halfway through The Great Charity Hunt our Director of Community Outreach, Erin al’Denael shared a few interesting stats and figures with us. We’ve certainly been a busy bunch!

Entries & Participants

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The Of All and None, Green, and Blue groups have been extra busy! Note the blue especially: quite a few members in these groups are active and help out in many different ways. Kudos to them.

Group Breakdown (by # of members)

  • 5 – Of All and None
  • 3 – Brown Ajah
  • 6 – Green Ajah
  • 1 – SDS
  • 1 – VC
  • 3 – Gray Ajah
  • 7 – Blue Ajah

Group Breakdown of Entries (many members have multiple entries)

  • 14 – Of All and None
  • 14 – Green Ajah
  • 3 – Brown Ajah
  • 1 – SDS
  • 1 – VC
  • 3 – Gray Ajah
  • 17 – Blue Ajah

Hours Donated

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While the majority of donations have been money or money in lieu of a physical donation, we do have some people who prefer to do their part through volunteering. Especially in Green!

Actual Numbers

  • 4 hours – Brown Ajah
  • 107.5 hours – Green Ajah
  • 11 hours – Blue Ajah

Donations, Random and Glorious

This inspires me to donate gently used/new clothes to Goodwill again, or school supplies to needy students. /ideas

  • 500 journals – Brown Ajah
  • Medical supplies – Green Ajah
  • Bags of food – Of All and None
  • Crocheted stars – Blue Ajah
  • Time, energy, and associated finances to adopt a puppy – Blue Ajah

Money Raised

We have raised a total of $6,729.58 omg as of April 30, 2021. Y’all astound me!!
That money has come from lots of different members and group activities, as broken down here:

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Thank you to each and every member who has given during the past 6 odd months! If you haven’t had a chance to get involved yet, there’s still time. Stay tuned for the June update later this month!