From all of us at Rationale, thank you for joining us for such a successful end of the year dinner at Ethiopian Diamond Restaurant in Chicago! We're very happy to announce that we raised more than $1,800, a part of which has made it possible to support an exceptional secondary school student who only needs to complete his last year of studies but has otherwise been financially unable to do so. This is a direct result of your generous support and we can't thank you enough! Take a look at the full gallery of our event pictures on Facebook here.

Let us introduce you to our new mentor, Okello Lwanga. Okello is the face and voice of Rationale in Uganda year-round and provides essential services to our students and all other programs. Most importantly, this includes committed social support for all of our students for the duration of their studies and beyond, ensuring that all of our students have a regular support structure that follows through on their success. We thank our previous mentor, Ocitti David Okech, for all of his hard work over the past few years and wish him the absolute best moving forward. Stay tuned for a thorough profile of Okello on our new website, out at the beginning of the year!

We are proud to announce our annual end-of-year dinner for 2015 will again be hosted by our wonderful friends at Ethiopian Diamond Restaurant in Chicago!

It's been an exciting year for Rationale and we are eager to share updates about our programs, staff, and students. As a direct result of the money raised at last year's dinner, we were able to award a brand new scholarship to a young woman beginning her studies in science education at the university level. This would not have been possible without your generous support last year, and we look forward to another successful event this year!

So come out, hear updates about our programs, meet our community of supporters, and enter to win a number of great prizes in a raffle!

As always, 100% of funds raised will provide scholarships to secondary and university students and produce collaborative research projects in northern Uganda.

Full event details and tickets can be found on our event webpage: www.projectrationale.org/fundraiser.html.

You can also download a full flyer with details as a PDF or JPEG.

We hope to see you there!

Friday, December 11th, 2015
7pm-10pm
Ethiopian Diamond Restaurant
6120 N Broadway, Chicago, IL

A delicious, fresh selection of Ethiopian fare
Buffet dinner and drinks: $40
Raffle Tickets: $5 for 1, $10 for 3, etc...

Today is Giving Tuesday, a day dedicated to showing solidarity with the causes that are most important to you. Please consider purchasing your ticket to the fundraiser and raffle tickets in advance on the event website by clicking the button below.

You may also make a general donation to Rationale at any time here.

Board members (L to R): Jaclyn, Malik, and Matthew

Thanks to everyone who attended our end-of-the-year dinner at Ethiopian Diamond in December! Because of your generous giving, we collected a record amount of donations and are in a strong position to both continue supporting our current students and projects as well as begin to build the necessary foundation to expand our reach (more updates on this in the coming months!). None of this would have been possible without your kind support. On behalf of our board and the communities we work with: THANK YOU!

For those of you who have not yet heard, Rationale is now a certified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization in the United States. We're very excited about the many opportunities this new designation makes possible including access to grants that were previously unavailable to us. Feel free to reach out with any questions about what this might mean for your giving.

We're happy to announce that Emily has recently begun a paid contract position working as a midwifery in Ikotos, South Sudan for AVSI (an international NGO). In this new position Emily is able to use the skills she learned while completing her certificate in midwifery from Lacor to serve rural communities who otherwise do not have access to this care. We're so excited for all of the new experiences she is gaining before returning to Uganda to continue her studies next year!

Rationale was founded as non-profit organization on March 22, 2012 as a response to the substantial amount of youth in northern Uganda who have been affected by the 20-year-long civil conflict and are currently unable to continue their studies without substantial support. From day one we committed to having a significant, lasting impact on a small number of youth rather than supporting many youth without substantial social support and we're now seeing the effects of this commitment. Over the last three years we have grown to include a full-time mentor and are now seeing our students complete their first level of studies with great success. For a wonderful example, please see the update about Emily above. We could not be happier to see the real, lasting success our first group of students are experiencing. It is because of their resolve to not only be the first in their families to acquire their current level of education but also to consistently perform at the highest level that they stand in such a position today.

As we look forward to the next year, we have many new announcements and exciting new developments to share in the coming months. Matthew will return to Uganda for two months beginning in May to undertake focused study of Acholi, the language spoken in northern Uganda. Jaclyn will join later in the summer to assist in evaluating our programs and our students' progress as we begin to make important decisions about our student cohort. Thanks for joining us on this journey - we can't wait to share more!

Before beginning the new year with an expanded team in Chicago, we would like to take a moment to thank everyone who made our 2012 such a success.

A very special thank you goes to Sarah and Mamadou for making our largest fundraiser of the year at J-Bar Chicago a reality.

The gift baskets and raffle donations for that night would not have been possible without the work of Deborah and Tammy. Half of the night’s donations were generated as a direct result of their dedicated work and we cannot thank them enough.

Finally, we would like to thank all of the business that supported us in these past six months:

Gratia Pearls
www.gratiapearl.com

Tate’s Ice Cream
http://www.facebook.com/TatesIceCreamShop

Aveda
www.aveda.com

Lululemon
www.lululuemon.com  

CorePower Yoga in Chicago’s South Loop
www.corepoweryoga.com

Hendrickx Belgian Bread Crafter
100 E. Walton Street Chicago, IL 60611

Exhale Spa Chicago
www.exhalespa.com  

Chicago Chocolate Tours
www.chicagochocolatetours.com

Caribou Coffee
www.cariboucoffee.com  

Conscious Cup Coffee
www.consciouscup.com

Argo Tea
www.argotea.com
 
Barnes and Noble
www.barnesandnoble.com
 
Thanks for standing with us in our first year – we look forward to the years ahead!

A sincere thank you to everyone who attended and/or donated raffle items for our November fundraiser at J-Bar Chicago! It truly went above and beyond all of our expectations: because of your efforts, we raised enough money to see all of our students through their studies all the way until the end of 2013! As a reserve grows, we look forward to enrolling additional students into Rationale’s scholarship program and continuing to support St. Jude’s community projects.

A special thanks to Mamadou (J-Bar) and Sarah (Grey Goose) - without the two of you this event would never have been possible. Thank you for all that you have done. Your passion for education in Uganda is going a long way.

For the full set of event photos, please visit our Facebook page, the album is called “J-Bar Benefit Event”

Rationale is happy to announce that J-Bar will be hosting a benefit for Rationale on Thursday, November 8th! The evening will include complimentary Grey Goose Signature Cocktails from 6-9pm for just a $20 donation. There will also be a raffle throughout the evening with prizes including gift baskets filled with Ugandan and Chicago items.

Rationale will receive 100% of the night’s proceeds which will go to benefit our scholarship and food security programs in Gulu, Uganda. 

Please share the flyer below with your networks

We look forward to seeing you there!


The Details:
When: Thursday, November 8th, 6-9pm
Where: J-Bar (610 North Rush Street, Chicago, IL 60611 [right off the Grand red line stop])
Why: To raise funds for Rationale’s scholarship and food security programs in northern Uganda
Cost: $20 donation will get you a bracelet and complimentary Grey Goose Signature Cocktails from 6-9pm

Gift baskets and raffle ticket prices to be announced shortly!