Baldwinsville residents continue to raise money for Ugandan orphanage
By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
Earlier this year, the Messenger reported on a Baldwinsville resident’s campaign to raise money for St. Menas Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s Home in Mityana, Uganda.
Kevin Candee, a consultant with Aqua Energie, travels to Uganda every six weeks as part of his job and started a GoFundMe to fund the construction of bathroom facilities at St. Menas last year.
Candee recently contacted the Messenger with an update on the project.
“The structure is up, roof is on… and the plumbing is roughed in. We had to stop construction due to the COVID virus, but are almost ready to start again,” he wrote in an email June 22. “We are still a little short of funds to finish. I think we need about $3,000 more.”
Candee is not alone in his efforts. He wrote that his friend, Jason Premo, also a Baldwinsville resident, has started a “One Good Deed” campaign to raise more money for St. Menas. Premo has challenged his three children — London, Ellie and Sage — to raise $500 for St. Menas.
“The kids are offering to perform One Good Deed for you if you make a donation of $5 or more to my friend’s amazing cause below. The deed can be anything you wish, as long as it’s safe, socially distanced, and (preferably) legal,” Premo wrote on Facebook.
If they reach their goal, the Premo kids get to give their dad an outlandish haircut and see him jump into a tub of ice water on Facebook.
“You can request something specific (‘rake our leaves,’ ‘paint me a picture,’ ‘compose a sea chanty for me’) or general (‘I enjoyed baked goods…,’ ‘surprise me’). And it doesn’t even have to be for you (‘walk my elderly aunt’s dog,’ ‘compliment three strangers today,’ ‘clear debris from the road in my neighborhood’). Anything you can think of! No task is too big or too small when it gives a child an opportunity to degrade his or her father,” Premo wrote. “And if you can’t think of a deed, just go with ‘give your mother a hug,’ or simply, ‘take my money.’”
To donate to St. Menas Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s Home, visit gofundme.com/f/vulnerable-children-of-mityana. To participate in the Premo family’s One Good Deed, send a Facebook message to Jason Premo or comment on his post at facebook.com/jason.m.premo/posts/10158178845666893.
Candee told the Messenger earlier this year that his focus for St. Menas is “books, beds and bathrooms.” In addition to collecting donations toward the bathroom facilities, Candee has brought books, school supplies and games to Uganda for the children at St. Menas.
“Many said that raising funds for bathrooms is difficult because it is not very glamorous to say you donated for a bathroom, but this pandemic has really stressed the need for sanitary conditions, so I think this is the most glamorous effort we could have made,” he wrote on the GoFundMe page.
