We heard some exciting news about the group that we helped last year. We received this word from Dawn Brochenin, the teacher and leader of the pack:

I am very pleased, proud and happy to tell you all that Sustainable Coffee Bay now has an NPO number.  We received it telephonically on Thursday and will receive the certificate in the post shortly. 

We are so happy for them! We can't wait for the day when we can say the same!

Our 501(c)3 paperwork has arrived at its destination in Covington, Kentucky! Hooray! Thank you, U.S. Postal Service tracking for the good news. Now that our request is in the hands of the Internal Revenue Service, we just have to wait for word. Thanks for everyone's support throughout this process. We are very excited!

It's an exciting time for Vilakazi! We have mailed off our 501(c)3 paperwork to the IRS, so we are now just playing the waiting game. We are officially "status pending" now! We can't wait to hear back and continue our work. Hooray!

Today we had our last meeting with our attorney before we mail our 501(c)3 request to the IRS! It was so exciting meeting with Marcus Bivines to hash out the final details. He has been very helpful to us throughout this process, and we're ready to get our paperwork in the mail. We can't wait!

We have had a busy week! Lauren Dennison, one of our Vilakazi board members, appeared on two different television morning shows this weekend. She was fantastic! Click here to watch her on the KAUT-43 show Friday morning. We'll post the News 9 info as so as we can.

We hope all of this will help get the word out about our Playground Throw Down rock-paper-scissors tournament. It's only two days away! Click here for more info!

Check out this great story that ran in the Oklahoma Gazette today. Just click here! You can pick up free copies of the Oklahoma Gazette at tons of businesses in the metro. Congratulations to President Leigh Jacobs and Vice President Chad Previch for their interviews!

The Vilakazi Foundation is having a contest! We've been brainstorming ideas for our tagline, and we need some help from you. Here are some examples of taglines: 

Allstate: You're in Good Hands.
GE: Imagination at Work.
Target: Expect More. Pay Less.

We'd like to tie in Oklahoma and South Africa, but don't limit yourself. Post your ideas as comments under this update or on our Facebook page. The top choices, decided by the board, will win South African candy. You have until our next meeting, which is Dec. 1.

Ready? GO!

Our new board member Rebecca Cruise and college liaison Lauren Dennison were featured in The Oklahoman yesterday. The article shared some information about Vilakazi and their appointment to our board. We are so proud to have them join us, and we're so excited that they were recognized in the paper!

You can read past stories about Vilakazi on our History page!

Thank you so much to all of our wonderful volutneers who braved the heat of the 2010 Plaza District Festival! Our volunteers report the the festival was a lot of fun. They were able to hand out candy and talk to people about Vilakazi's mission and the upcoming Playground Throw Down rock-paper-scissors tournament. We were able to sign up some new folks to join our email newsletter. (Interested in joining? Sign up here.)

Thanks again to our fantastic volunteers! Your time means the world to us!

We're looking for volunteers to hand out candy and flyers for Vilakazi at a booth we have at the Plaza District Festival tomorrow. We only need four more volunteers. The open shifts are from 12 to 2 p.m., 6 to 8 p.m. and 8 to 10 p.m. All we're doing is handing out candy and asking people to join our email list. We could really use some help!

Why would it be amazing to volunteer?   

1. Every volunteer gets TWO free entries into our rock-paper-scissors tournament in December! 
2. You get to hang out at the Plaza Festival. 
3. You get to eat some of the free candy we're giving away.  

If you can help, just call Leigh at (405) 255-1281 to sign up. It will be super fun! Thanks for all your support!