What a year it has been! As we close out 2024, take a look back at our TOP 5 highlights from an amazing year of building connections between students across the globe.
A hugely successful supply drive
Our students are incredible! The schools we worked with in Seattle this year blew us away with their generosity. From schools where a vast majority of the students brought in a donation to returning schools outperforming their previous year’s donations, it’s so great to see!
We are in the process of sorting and packing all the donated supplies and preparing them for shipment. We can't wait to send all these books, pencils, crayons and notebooks to Uganda!
Celebrating Terry McGill
After 34 years of incredible dedication to Sister Schools, founder Terry McGill officially retired this year. But we couldn’t let him go without a proper send-off! At our annual auction in October we celebrated his legacy of service and vision.
It was a wonderful time to reflect on everything Sister Schools has accomplished over three and a half decades, and all the thousands of students lives that have been impacted because of Terry’s vision.
In case you missed it, take a look at the video we shared at the auction celebrating Terry and thanking him for creating this organization that we all know and love.
New connections for future growth
Throughout the year, we’ve established new relationships and shored up existing ones to keep our mission running strong, and to keep building connections between student in Uganda and in Seattle.
Most notably, we received grant funding from USAID for the second grant cycle in a row! Ongoing support from such a prestigious funding source is a huge accomplishment for an organization of our size. We are excited by their vote of confidence and look forward to continuing to build trust. We also received additional grant funding from some new funding organizations this year, more than doubling our grant portfolio. These new relationships will fund Sister School’s next chapter of growth.
Even more than financial resources, it’s our human resources that really make this organization shine. We’ve made some exciting staffing and Board moves over the past year that will also fuel our next chapter of growth, including:
Hiring Sara Mankrious as our new accountant
Bringing Lew Dickert back onto the Board
Welcoming our first UW Board Fellow, Olivia Tran
A special journey to Uganda
As Terry retired, he took one final Sister Schools trip to Uganda this year. His wife Melissa and Sister Schools supporter Kelly Gordon got to accompany him. Any trip to visit our Uganda friends is always special. Knowing it was Terry’s last trip (in an official capacity, anyway) made it extra special.
Asia, our program director in Uganda, met the team when they arrived, and traveled with them to visit a majority of our partner schools. At each school they delivered supplies from Seattle students directly to their Ugandan peers. Everywhere they went, they were met with celebration, joyful dancing, and bright students eager to read the new books and put the donated supplies to good use.
Fernwood Concert
Sister Schools has a special connection with Fernwood Elementary, and their annual benefit concert is always one of the highlights of our year. This year’s event raised over $5,000 to support our mission! Not only that, it was an incredible celebration of what students can accomplish.
From the choirs to the marimba band, Fernwood kids, under the direction of Katherine Berry, put together a wonderful concert. Their talent and hard work was on display every moment. We also presented 4th Grade student Harita Gadhiya with the second-annual Overton Berry Service Award, recognizing the way she translated classroom lessons into real-life activism.
Thank you to the Fernwood students and entire Fernwood community for your support!