Members and leaders of Cook County’s IMPACT team hold up solar panels that they will be donating to a village in Kenya. The panels will replace kerosene lanterns that cause respiratory illness and fires. IMPACT teaches kids to serve in ways that help them solve problems found both abroad and locally. There are about 15 teens involved with the program which is run by Coldwater Foundation.
Cook County IMPACT is a student-led service-learning group run by Coldwater Foundation for Leadership and Community Development. IMPACT is all about learning how to serve in a way that contributes to real solutions to problems we see in the world and making a positive impact on the community. Cook County IMPACT is the first program of its kind in Minnesota and was begun by Coldwater Foundation earlier this year.
Our first IMPACT project got us interested in using solar energy to provide light for people who don’t have “clean” light in their homes. We learned about a Compassion International vision to bring light to a village called Machakos, a small developing community in Kenya, Africa. The village has no electricity. They use kerosene lamps for light. Kerosene is toxic. It is very harmful to peoples’ respiratory health and hard on the environment as well.
Machakos isn’t the only village with these circumstances; according to the International Energy Agency, 1.6 billion people worldwide live without electricity, and many of those people use kerosene for light. Our solution is solar-powered LED lights. These lights and their small solar panels cost about $100 each. We have ordered and assembled 10 light units and are preparing them for shipment back to New Vision Renewable Energy, our partner in providing this light solution to Machakos families.
To raise awareness of this global need and funding for our participation in bringing light to Machakos, Cook County IMPACT hosted an event called “Party in the Dark” on Wednesday, June 19 to help pay for these lights.
Although our first project is to help a village in Africa, we are getting ready to turn our attention to projects that will directly benefit our own community.
We are learning valuable skills and experience through IMPACT, such as how to communicate, plan, evaluate, and serve. We value IMPACT and the skills and experience that we gain from it.
Coldwater Foundation is a small, nonprofit organization. The main objective of Coldwater Foundation is to develop young leaders and promote community transformation. Coldwater Foundation equips leaders who will nurture the important connections between knowing and doing, believing and behavin, love for God and love for neighbor.
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