Literacy of Love - Transforming Lives Through Education

A Letter from Cari

CEO and Founder of Literacy of Love

Literacy of Love has the belief that by changing one life, a ripple effect may be caused to impact many others. Our "Family of the Heart" members have a wide variety of backgrounds ranging from being abused or abandoned to being orphaned or neglected. All of the children, however, came from dire circumstances where they lacked basic needs. Our primary goal is to nurture our children's minds, bodies, and souls, provide shelter and offer an education.

Literacy of Love (LoL) has big dreams and big faith. I founded LoL to support destitute and vulnerable Ugandans find hope and a future! This isn't just an organization; it is a family. LoL aims to ensure children are in school, basic needs are provided, and at our children's home, The Heart, we invite children to learn and develop virtues, faith, and a sense community. With a multifaceted and sustainable model, the cycle of giving a hand doesn't end, instead the very children we serve will be given opportunities to make a difference for others.

Literacy of Love nearly 60 sponsored children in school and even more members ranging from toddlers to widows and grandparents. We sponsor primary, secondary, vocational, and university students as well as young entrepreneurs. Our success stories include an electrician, mechanic, plumber, engineer, doctor, driver, laboratory technician and several business owners. We are thrilled, thankful, and most of all blessed to be proud owners of our permanent home, an acre of farmland, medical center and shops in the village.

Many of our graduates are mentors and vocational teachers to inspire our next generation and encourage fortitude. Our vision is big because our hope is big! We've got over a decade of established relationships and community involvement which demonstrate our measurable change. We walk in faith to create a family, change lives, and develop a new and hopeful history. We raise Ugandan children with values to be Ugandan leaders.

Cari Matejka, CEO

"Every ounce of love causes a ripple of change; be the change."

LITERACY OF LOVE, OUR STORY

Do you believe you can make a difference? Literacy of Love believes every ounce of love causes a ripple of change. We think education is the key to a bright future and that nurturing and nourishment are basic needs. Our vulnerable, orphaned and destitute children in Uganda have big faith that our hopes will be a reality because of people like you.

Literacy of Love, Inc. (LoL) was started by founder and CEO Cari Matejka. Cari traveled to Uganda in 2012. Her heart and mind were captured after her visit to a village school. Over the years, she developed a personal relationship with many children, and she took an active part in ensuring many were provided for and remained in school. She couldn't unlearn their difficulties and great needs, and that weight of responsibility paired with her deep love is what motivated her to create Literacy of Love in 2016.

Cari travels to Uganda multiple times a year despite being a full-time teacher in Olean, NY. She lives in her Children's Home, The Heart, which is managed by Literacy of Love graduates. On a daily basis, she communicates, counsels, and manages LoL Family of the Heart members. There is no middle person – it's direct. All Ugandans on the ground managing daily life and projects are graduates of the program.

Although Family of the Heart members come from diverse backgrounds and beliefs, Ugandan culture and Cari both value faith. In America, Cari is an active member of her church. She has spoken as a guest at various organizations about her missions as well as preached at a few partnering churches both in the states and abroad.

Literacy of Love is registered in both America and Uganda. It is important to the organization that LoL and Cari purposefully raise children with the integrity of their culture. Valuing, reinforcing and intentionally using common cultural practices and not insisting foreign customs gives our program authenticity. We are raising Ugandan children to grow into responsible, principled, faithful Ugandan adults.

COMBATING POVERTY

How does LoL combat the many obstacles of poverty?

Children's Home

A place to congregate, learn, counsel, and develop relationships

Village Support

Supporting families and parenting as a village community

Basic Needs

Caring for basic needs and providing medical care

Education

An opportunity to attend school and learn

Entrepreneurship

Developing small businesses and earning opportunities

Sustainability

Self-sustaining projects that provide employment and growth

Support doesn't end once school does. Our solution is multifaceted and sustainable. The cycle of giving a hand up doesn't end, instead, the very children we serve will be given an opportunity to make a difference for others. This isn't a company; it's a family. Literacy of Love firmly believes everyone makes a difference in the world, and we can choose which kind of difference we want to make.

OUR MISSION

Literacy of Love has big dreams and big faith. 100% of all proceeds develop our mission to help destitute, vulnerable, and orphaned children in Uganda find faith, hope and a future through education, counseling and leadership opportunities so that the very children we serve have a chance to be independent and give back to others in need.

OUR VISION

Our vision is to raise Ugandan children to be Ugandan leaders who rewrite the history of their family. By beginning with one, they will use their opportunities to cause a ripple of change and actualize their potential to help themselves and others.

ABOUT THE CEO

Cari Matejka

FOUNDER and CEO

Cari Matejka wants every child she meets to have a bright future, whether they're from the city of Olean or a small African village. That's why Matejka became a teacher and also why she founded a nonprofit in Uganda.

Cari, CEO and Founder of Literacy of Love (LoL) and an Olean middle school teacher, began her journey to help educate children in economically depressed regions around the world through partnerships with St. Bonaventure University. In 2012, Matejka visited and taught at the Ugandan village where another organization spearheaded their work. By 2016, the East African children had captured Cari's heart and she began to build her own non-profit organization, Literacy of Love.

The organization's mission is to provide support for children so they can develop a sense of empowerment and to ensure an education to children who would otherwise not have an opportunity to attend school. It's also very important that the children be purposely raised with the integrity of their culture. LoL works with guardians to provide basic care and it unites resources such as schools, sponsors, and children through a common opportunity for an education. Cari wants to help grow children into adults who can change their own community.

She values, reinforces, and intentionally uses common cultural practices to ensure the program is authentic. Cari's faith helps her carry out LoL's mission to nurture children into productive adults with faith and integrity. She believes in teaching virtues and how to live an intentional life of faith in action. Cari manages all programing, fundraising, and implementation directly with her now-graduate leaders in Uganda. Her effort is strictly voluntary because LoL is her mission, too. She admits, "the needs are endless, but the possibilities are endless, too."

Cari is married and lives in Olean, New York when she's not in Uganda. She is a veteran teacher at Olean Intermediate Middle School, and she is a member of Olean First Baptist Church.

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We connect two worlds together to make one big community. We aren't just an organization, we are a family.

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THEY ARE THE REASON

HELPING. HEALING. CARING

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