Mama Hope

Mama Hope was founded by Nyla Moore-Rodgers in honor of her late mother Stephanie Moore, who passed away from ovarian cancer in January, 2006. One of Stephanie's many passions was working for the betterment of women and children in Africa. She accomplished this by sponsoring four children through the Christian Fund for Children and Aging, as well as hosting fundraising events at her home. The proceeds raised were used to create micro-lending projects aimed at empowering women in Kenya. In March 2006, Nyla visited Kisumu, Kenya to fulfill her mother's dream of meeting Bernard Orlando, the Kenyan boy Stephanie had sponsored for five years. When Nyla visited Bernard's village she witnessed the extraordinary impact of her mother's micro-lending project, which had improved not only Bernard's life, but the lives of hundreds of villagers. Stephanie's project provided women with the money to purchase AIDS medicine; that in turn allowed mothers to live longer, healthier lives and care for their children, resulting in fewer orphans on the street and more children in school. When Bernard's village learned that Stephanie Moore had passed away, they held a ceremony in her honor presenting her daughter Nyla with a statue of two intertwined giraffes. "Stephanie Moore," they said, "was like a giraffe. She could see her feet but she had the vision to see far beyond and it is obvious that Nyla is a giraffe as well. Realizing how little it takes to significantly improve people's lives, Nyla created Mama Hope to raise money for women-and-children-focused Community Based Organizations in her mother's name.