We started the GG Foundation to honor those, like Gabe Juliani, who fight bravely no matter what life brings and who live with courage and kindness in the middle of hard and difficult circumstances. In 2019, with your help, we raised over $22,000 for gladiators all over the world. Here are just a few of the gladiators you helped us support:
• One young man from Eswatini, Fanelo Zikhali, lost his hearing at the age of seven following a vicious blow to his head from a family member. He became completely deaf, but continued to attend school, sitting in the front row and learning to read lips. Today in a country that offers few services for people with disabilities, Fanelo not only survives, he thrives. As the owner of the Swazi Sign Language Training Center, he runs his own business, is an outspoken advocate for deaf rights, and has made his school a gathering spot and support for deaf Swazi people offering them hope that they too can thrive despite their challenges. Your donations are helping Fanelo continue to reach out to some of the neediest people in Eswatini.
• A young woman from a large city in South Asia, Ruma (not her real name) escaped from the sex trade and found work last August at the café that we support. In the café she is offered safety, an opportunity to get an education, and a way to support herself and her family. She has survived abuse and being treated like a commodity, but today she is thriving. If you met her would notice that she is often smiling as she serves coffee and food. She is small in stature, but big in her desire to grow, change, and seek a better life for herself and her family.
• A young man from the city of Philadelphia, Rashid, still attends school when possible despite the reoccurrence of his brain cancer. He and his large and loving family are refusing to be defined by the disease they are fighting and instead are working hard to support him and each other. Through the work of the Breathing Room Foundation, you contributed to helping Rashid and many brave children like him to continue to thrive despite a difficult diagnosis. School supplies, Thanksgiving feast, personalized holiday gifts and Spring/Easter baskets, dinners and snack bags were all supplied by Breathing Room volunteers to him and others who face cancer with courage and hope.