Chuck Olsen | January 12, 2024
In November, the Lutsen Lutheran Church selected the New Horizons Foundation and its solar light initiative, known as Ray of Life, as one of its monthly missions. Their fundraising efforts collected approximately $5000, used to purchase 34 solar light kits to be sent to Ukraine to help those affected by war.
On Sunday, January 7, Dave Nonnemacher from the New Horizons Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Romania, hosted and led the project. The event drew a larger crowd than the available kits for assembly.
Lutsen Lutheran Church Pastor Tom Murray highlighted the significance of the project's hands-on nature. He emphasized that the initiative “...wasn’t just a project to raise money and then just write a check to an organization. We’ll get together, we’ll build these components”.
The assembled Ray of Life solar lights were distributed to families and individuals in Ukraine, providing essential light during dark periods.
The solar lights included a phone charging port, up to 18 hours of light, and came in the size of a laptop. Nonnemacher worked with New Vision Renewable Energy to source the solar light collaberated.
Nonnemacher expressed the importance of supporting Ukrainian families, “This gives us a chance to help a group of people who are, I think, maybe being forgotten a little bit. Families in Ukraine that have, you know, are a couple of years now into this war,” he said. “We wanted to have a project that helped people that are maybe a bit forgotten right now”.