FOR THE GOOD AMBASSADORS
Since our very beginnings, young people have jumped in to help raise funds and awareness for girls on the other side of their world in Kenya. Below are profiles of some of the incredible young change makers who have helped us by raising awareness about our work and fundraising through our peer-to-peer GivingTuesday campaigns or in other ways. If your interested in fundraising, you can learn more here. We’ve also developed resources including global facts on girls’ education, reading lists, and TedTalks for young people interested in learning more here.
TESS KORMOS:
AMBASSADOR 2023-2024
“Going [to Kenya] and seeing the work For the Good is doing had a huge impact on me. It was hard at times, seeing the inequity and poverty. You see these deep challenges other people live with and it really gives you a new perspective…The trip definitely inspired me. When I think about what I want to do now, I think I want to be helping people in some way, whether that be working on issues of climate change or for an NGO working on other issues.”
Tess, pictured at right with her sister Chloe in Olmesutie, visited several of our partner schools and met families during a 2023 trip to Kenya with her family. Upon returning home, she organized an after school club at her high school to raise awareness about the global challenges to girls’ education. Together, Tess and the Berkeley High School For the Good Club raised $1,000 for our work on GivingTuesday in 2023.
AVA FOGARTY:
AMBASSADOR 2023-2024
“It’s just so hard to fathom not being able to go to school because of lack of access to something so simple [as a pad]. I love school. And I want other girls to have the same opportunity to go. When I learned how hard and difficult it was for girls there, I just wanted to do something about it. The whole experience really ignited a drive in me to want to make a difference for them in some way.”
Ava visited our partner schools and several families during a 2023 trip to Kenya with her family. She also not only attended but spoke to over 1000 people at the dedication ceremony for the new Enairebuk Day Secondary School in August. Upon returning home, she applied for, and was awarded, a $2,500 grant from the Alice C. Tyler Perpetual Trust’s Next Generation Fund to supply 1000 girls between grades 6-8 with reusable sanitary pad kits.
KATE HARDAKER:
AMBASSADOR 2016-2024
“Everyone should have the chance to feel like they are included and connected. Education helps girls to feel that way and know that they can change the world. The trip gave me a completely different perspective. In Kenya, where many people live in conditions unimaginable to most people in the U.S., and where they have to fight for the ability to go to school, they still smile a massive, beautiful smile and tell you that they are so grateful to be your friend. It is a rarity to experience such kindness and love over here. It is an experience I will cherish forever.”
Kate joined our group in 2017, raising awareness and fundraising for our work. She was able to see the impact of that effort on a 2023 trip to Kenya. Kate is an aspiring photographer whose wonderful photo graces the back cover of our 2023 Annual Report.
SAGE KAUFMAN:
AMBASSADOR 2016-2021
“Education is something that gives girls a sense of self worth, and gives them the freedom to create a life they want to lead. Being able to help girls on the other side of the world has helped me realize how lucky I am. And that girls just like me can make a global impact.”
Along with Kate Hardaker, Sage joined our group in 2016, sharing the story of Kenyan girls hopes and struggles to Coloradans in the Roaring Fork Valley as well as fundraising for ColoradoGives Day or GivingTuesday for five years in a row. In 2020, Sage joined with Kate, and fellow students Taia Nykerk, and Lily Stelzriede to take the organizing and leadership skills she learned through volunteering with us to a new level, organizing an entire conference called Empowerfest at her middle school.
ELLIE URFRIG:
AmBASSADOR 2016-2021
“As individuals who are able to attend school from a young age, I believe it’s important to help give that opportunity to others. To help support something bigger than yourself. And ultimately, to create a more just, equal, and ethical world for all of us.”
Ellie also joined our group in 2016, part of a group of then young teenagers in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley who helped raise awareness of our work and raise funds for nearly five years. In addition to helping in fundraising campaigns from 2019-2021, Ellie also organized an after school club at her middle school in 2017 to learn more about global girls’ challenges and also traveled to Kenya with her mom, former board member Shelly Sheppick, in 2018. She is pictured here with Shelly in Kenya on the far left of this photo.
BLU ANDERSON:
AMBASSADOR 2019-2023
“School is important. Especially for girls!”
Blu is our youngest ambassador. Taking after her mom, Kayce, and dad, Clark, Blu started becoming a change maker at a mere five years of age. She believes in the importance of school for everyone so they can learn the knowledge they need to contribute to the world. Blu just created a Kids for Colorado Gives fundraising campaign and video with the goal of raising $5K so that more girls can go to school in Kenya in 2019, and achieved her goal! You can see her wonderful Kids for Colorado Gives video here. Blu has now traveled to Kenya two times, meeting friends in our former location of Tharaka-Nithi and current location of the Loita Hills.
AMELIÉ OGILBY:
AMBASSADOR 2019-2021
“It’s important for all girls to have an education because we all deserve to learn and follow our dreams. I love learning, and I think everyone should have the opportunity to love learning as much as I do.”
Amelié’s family have been advocates of For the Good since our early days, and two years ago Amelie joined in. She has helped us with donor stewardship and was part of the awesome team of girls - Ellie, Charlotte, Ella, Kate and Sage - that raised over $3000 for us in 2018.
LAIA OGILBY:
AMBASSADOR 2019-2021
Along with her sister Amelié, Laia has helped us fundraise for ColoradoGives Day and two consecutive GivingTuesdays. Her family have also been advocates of For the Good since our early days,
In 2023, for a final school portfolio project, Laia decided to study and do a presentation on Maasai bead work. Along with longtime ambassador Kate Hardaker, Laia was able to attend the opening celebration for the new Mausa Day Secondary School and also interview a handful of Maasai women on the process and culture behind their traditional bead work.
ELLA LINDENBURG:
AMBASSADOR 2015-2020
“I love school. It makes me sad to know that girls across the ocean aren’t able to go. I realized that I could make a difference to change that. And I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Ella was our first ever ambassador. In 2015, for our very first trip to Kenya, when she was 12 years old, Ella raised over $1000 to buy supplies for hundreds of girls while raising awareness about the challenges they face in their dreams to go to school. In “The Twelve-Year-Old Ambassador”, a video documenting Ella’s fundraising effort, she explains why she is so passionate about education for girls.