The Vacanti Family
During my time at the University at Buffalo, I knew Joe Vacanti because we were in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship together. Eventually, he joined a different Christian group on campus and I didn’t hear from him. Then, one day, I noticed he was a youth leader at The Chapel at CrossPoint in Getzville. He was playing guitar and singing, leading lots of young people in worshipping the Lord. I found out he had married Kate, an RN, and had kids: Gabe, Bella, and Gavin. I knew he had gone to school to become a pharmacist, something that would make him a lot of money. So I was shocked to learn he gave up $100,000 a year to serve students and other young people at church!
When Joe and Kate first met, they started sponsoring a child in Uganda together. In 2009, after learning that nearly 1 billion people in the world don’t have access to clean water and every day 4,000 children die from water related disease, Joe and Kate started an organization, Let Them LOL, to fund clean water solutions in Sierra Leone, Africa. To date, funds have been raised for 35 wells, and they are opening a home for orphaned children in March 2012. It is a 100% volunteer organization, and Kate serves as the director.
On their trips to Africa they were shocked to see so many people living in extreme poverty, and their hearts were broken, especially by the number of orphaned children.
Joe and Kate felt called by God as Christians to care for the orphans. So they decided to open a children’s home. But they still felt another call, a personal one. As they looked at their house, they saw they had more space; as they looked in their refrigerator and cupboards, they saw that they have plenty of food. There’s an empty seat in their van. But, most of all, there’s plenty of love in their hearts. So they decided to adopt a baby from Africa.
If you would like to help them adopt, which costs $30K-$50K, please visit this page. –Mark Weber
