Dear friends and family,

I am excited to announce that this summer I will be going to Kampala, Uganda to serve with an organization called Hope Speaks! Hope Speaks provides Speech-Language Pathology services to hundreds of children with disabilities who face challenges of many kinds. In Uganda, 1 in 7 children are living with a disability and many of these children have not yet received the therapy they need. Hope Speaks serves to teach children to understand language and be understood by others, to speak, to chew, to swallow, and to learn other important skills. I am looking forward to serving in this way in order to help these young people to have hope as well as to help them see that each and every one of them has many unique gifts and contributions to share with the world. These contributions are able to be made when one is able to communicate whether verbally, nonverbally, or in another way.

Many of the volunteers with Hope Speaks are Speech-Language Pathology graduate students as well as professionals in the field. As many of you know, I will be graduating in May of 2019 with a B.S. in Speech-Language Pathology and will be starting graduate school in August of 2019 as I continue my journey to becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist! This trip is a special way to give back at a time when it is easy to become so focused on what lies ahead in terms of my academic goals. Thank you all in advance for your consideration of supporting me!

Hope Speaks has gone beyond only providing services to those with disabilities. They also host groups who help with projects such as providing food for families, leading children's day camps, and going to serve in the slums.

Every donation is important and will enable me to be present and help these children with disabilities and their families. Would you kindly consider making a donation? Also, I would appreciate your willingness to share this with others who may want to participate in giving. Additionally, I will need to be lifted up in prayer as I prepare my heart, mind, and soul to serve this summer. I am excited to be God’s hands and feet in Uganda!

Thank you for being a part of my life and helping me to accomplish something that's important to all of us! May God bless you for blessing others!

“Everything He does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who cannot speak” (A Bible verse about Jesus).    -Mark 7:37

With lots of love and gratitude,

Anna Gould