Monday Music with Guest April Gulley: The Bernie Project

Dear Friends,

The story we are sharing with you this Monday is very dear to me personally. Our friend and colleague April Gulley is about to make a very big change in her life - and the lives of 250 children in Uganda! It all happened because one photo, featuring two little Ugandan kids, touched April's heart.

April: "My friend Jen Gash returned from a Sweet Sleep mission to Uganda with a photo. We thought it was two little girls and my sister and I nicknamed them Bernie and Tasha. A few months later I had the chance to travel with Sweet Sleep to the Wakiso School of Hope and meet "Bernie. Bernie is a boy and his name is Mahadi."
The weeks spent in Uganda helping children changed April's life. Her dream to do more than just visit was born.

This summer, April launched a non-profit organization, The Bernie Project, she is moving to Uganda by the end of this year and she will dedicate her strength, energy and soul. The Bernie Project’s inaugural initiatives, are to raise funds to ensure that the 250 kids at the Wakiso School of Hope are provided a well-balanced meal three times a day, along with ensuring that all kids receive hygiene supplies appropriate for their age.  April heads to Uganda in August for 8 days to discuss indigenous ways to improve the nutritional quality of the feeding program, deliver hygiene kits to the students, and start conversations for a 2014 sustainable farming project. The Bernie Project currently has a fundraising goal of $10,000 before she departs on August 14th.

Janet: "I started my professional life as a teacher in the Inner City of Chicago. I consider myself so lucky to be able to support The Bernie Project at this point of my life. I know that April will make a true difference, directly in the children's lives at the Wakiso School of Hope."

April is choosing today's song, Awake My Soul by Mumford and Sons.

"I had the chance to see them in concert a few weeks ago in Berkeley and as they sang the lyrics

in these bodies we will live
in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love
you invest your life

It brought me to tears. I've heard that song many times, but it wasn't until that moment that I actually heard what they were saying and they are so right. The Bernie Project and my future move to Uganda is exactly where I want to invest my love and my life.

DJ Matt Cornwall: "Inspiration, or to be inspired, is really the "secret sauce" to a rich, rewarding, exciting and fulfilling life. It's the basis for what drives us and fuels us to share our gifts and talents with others, and uplifts us to realize the world is always full of endless possibilities and combinations with which to reinvent that which no longer works, or simply put, to make the world a better place for future generations.
As I speak for myself, I know I'm speaking for many others of you out there as well, as evidenced by April and her deeply moving and incredibly vital mission, the sheer power and inspiration that music has in our lives. A song can literally change someone's life. They help shape our identities, they color the way we see our lives, they move our hearts, our minds and our bodies!  It's why countries have national anthems and why you might still have mix tapes or so many iTunes playlists ; )
I truly believe that everyone born into the world, comes with his or her own unique song, and collectively our songs are sung together to unite in one giant orchestral symphonic piece called Love, Life and the Pursuit of Happiness. I celebrate all those songwriters out there who inspire us, and those songs not yet written, but waiting to be released : )

April, we are so excited for you!

Thank you all for sharing the story about The Bernie Project!

Happy Monday!

Janet