There’s no such thing as having too many charcuterie boards, so what if you had the opportunity to win one while giving back to a young boy in need?
For the second year in a row, Millbrook resident David McNab has launched a fundraiser to raffle off his handmade charcuterie boards in support of family friends in Kenya — specifically a 10-year-old boy named Emmanuel who needs financial help to continue with his education.
With raffle tickets priced at $10 for one ticket or $20 for three, McNab will draw a a winner on Thursday (January 25). The winner can choose from one of McNab’s already-made butternut charcuterie boards or can order a custom board with any design or shape using epoxy inlay.
Even those who don’t have the best luck can purchase a board for a cause, as McNab will also donate 100 per cent of proceeds from sales of his boards during the fundraiser.
With the goal of raising $1,000, all money raised will be in support of a young female farmer named Noamy in Kenya and the education of her adopted son Emmanuel.
“Five hundred or seven hundred dollars may not be that much for some people here, yet it might make all the difference for this young fellow going to school, getting an education, and having a future,” says McNab, who is a professor at Trent University and a retired OPP officer.
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Calling them “true family friends,” McNab and his wife Kristy Hiltz have been in contact with Noamy since the spring of 2021, when she sent a Facebook message pleading for help.
With his history of helping Syrian refugees come to Canada, McNab is accustomed to receiving these kinds of messages and he didn’t think much of it at first, recognizing that he can’t send money to everyone in the world who is in need.
However, as he started having a online conversation with her and heard more about her life, things began to change.
“The biggest thing that struck me was her kindness,” McNab says. “She took in this two-year-old child when she was just 18 or 20 years old herself, already struggling to feed her grandparents. She was abandoned as a child and didn’t want this to happen to him, so she took him in and now he’s part of the family.”
As McNab’s friendship with Naomy grew, he says he became “fascinated” with her life and how she continues to spend five hours by public transport to get to the plot of farmland she rents to support her grandparents and Emmanuel.
Since McNab makes some income by uploading interesting videos to the Rumble online platform, McNab asked her to start sending him videos and he would upload them and give her the earnings.
“It wasn’t a handout — she was earning the money herself,” McNab notes, adding that there’s an audience for the videos because of how different her world is from ours. “Here, we turn on the tap and water pours out. In Naomy’s world, they hike two kilometres with a water jug or two, fill it up at a drainage ditch with a cup, and then haul it back home.”
McNab hosted his first charcuterie board fundraiser last year when, during one of their regular conversations, Naomy mentioned she had to pay Emmanuel’s tuition as he entered grade four. After posting the fundraiser and GoFundMe page on Facebook, they raised the money needed for Emmanuel’s schooling in just one night.
“Together, we managed to put Emmanuel through school last year and give him proper food and buy him a backpack and a new pair of shoes he desperately needed,” says McNab. “I thought this year we’ll try again and put Emmanuel through fifth grade.”
At the time of this writing, McNab had raised $310 of the $1,000 goal through GoFundMe and e-transfers.
“I was hesitant to put this out there the first time,” McNab recalls. “It’s difficult to ask your friends to contribute to a cause, but it was very quick, and everybody was excited, and I had people donating from all around the world. It’s incredible that people would not only help me and get onboard my cause, but would reach out and help a child like Emmanuel across the world.”
Naomy herself continues to not only be grateful for the funds, but just as generous with them. In one of Naomy’s videos that McNab uploaded for her, a young girl — likely eight or nine years old — was filling up a jug of water to bring back to her home. Naomy used the earnings from that video to help the young girl.
“She went out and traced down this young girl and brought her a school uniform, shoes, and a few groceries as well,” says McNab. “It was a really amazing thing that she was thinking about sharing some of the earnings with someone else who desperately needed a little bit of help as well.”
Another time McNab saw the ripple effect was when his neighbours Dave Kennedy and Catherine Ives chose to raise funds for Naomy by hosting a raffle to name the calves being born on their own farm. Knowing how difficult farming in North America can be, they acknowledged how hard working Naomy must be to do it in Africa.
That fundraiser earned $450 towards Naomy’s medical expenses and left Kennedy and Ives with some pretty creative calf names, including Lactose and Looly.
“They’re amazing people, very community-minded, very kind-hearted, so I’m not surprised to see they would do it, but it’s still amazing to me,” says McNab. “It was probably more entertaining than anything else, but completely touching that this farmer who knew Naomy’s story said ‘I want to do something’ and turned this calving season into grocery money and medical funding for this farmer across the world.”
McNab adds that Emmanuel is very excited to be entering grade five, and notes that it’s a “wonderful” thing that Naomy and Emmanuel can both see how eager people here in Canada are to support them.
“Not only does it give Emmanuel a bit of a future and opportunity, but it sends a real message that there are people that care — even though they’re across the world — and that’s just so heartwarming to me,” says McNab.
To enter the charcuterie board raffle, you can make a donation for Emmanuel’s education on GoFundMe. The raffle draw for the charcuterie board is happening on Thursday, January 25th.
To purchase one of McNab’s charcuterie boards, with proceeds also going towards Emmanuel’s education, message McNab through Facebook.
