Community Corner

Simple Hope Builds Bridges Between Global Cultures

Falls-based nonprofit is strengthening communities across the globe, and creating awareness and compassion in the U.S.

Americans live with luxuries like heated homes and plumbing, superstores with items we may never need and we generally aren’t expected to provide for ourselves until we are 18 years old.

In Tanzania , children are expected to gather their own food at the age of 5, they live in huts made of animal dung, their only source of water is from a shallow ditch, and they suffer from malnutrition and hunger.

Is it possible to establish a link between these two cultures where the differences are basically black and white? Living in a world that is a shade of gray are Pam Schwalbach and Karen Puhl, who co-founded Simple Hope, which is a Menomonee Falls-based nonprofit organization building a bridge between these two worlds.

Find out what's happening in Menomonee Fallswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Simple Hope’s multifaceted mission is to provide food and self-sustaining development for those in need in Tanzania, but also educate Americans about the lifestyle lived by those with so little.

More Than a Food Drive

Find out what's happening in Menomonee Fallswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Since 2009, Simple Hope has sponsored "pack-a-thons" to prepackage food that gets sent to the hungry in Tanzania.

In November 2009, they held their first event at Menomonee Falls High School, and 400 volunteers packed 63,500 meals in an assembly line fashion. But participants in the pack-a-thons don’t simply pack meals; they also participate in a simulation of what tribal life is like in the rugged Tanzanian wilderness.

“Our philosophy is to nurture the hungry, and we strive to teach each person that participates in pack-a-thons why they are serving,” Schwalbach said. “We want to change lives.”

Pack-a-thon participants learn to purify water, they feel the burden of carrying loads of supplies on their heads and backs, and can step into a life-size model of the crude dwellings villagers live in.

"We have a nation of children that have only seen good, they haven't seen the hardships faced by many around the world," Schwalbach said.

In addition to the simulation, Schwalbach and Puhl sell fair trade items from Tanzanian craftsmen, and post pictures of villagers that are directly benefitting from volunteers’ service. When the food reaches Tanzania, those villagers see pictures of those who packed their meals.

“Making that connection is the biggest part of our story,” Puhl said. “It’s not about money, it’s not about the food. It’s about loving one another.”

When Simple Hope packs up the truck with boxes of packed meals, they aren’t simply shipped to a warehouse and sent out by other distributors. Schwalbach and Puhl travel to Tanzania to personally deliver the food and live with the people they serve.

Currently, the food is sent to the Hadzabe tribe of hunters and gatherers that essentially still live in the Stone Age. Simple Hope also sends food to a leper community and AIDS/HIV orphans.

“We’ve loved, hugged and touched the people that receive this food,” Puhl said.

In addition to fortifying the people with nutrition, Simple Hope assists them in developing self-sustainability and hygienic methods. They also use donation money for chlorine water filtration systems, textbooks, clothing and other supplies.

Two Paths That Came Together

Before forming Simple Hope, Puhl and Schwalbach were active volunteers with the Menomonee Falls Food Pantry and served locally in other ways. Neither had met, but both women felt the need to serve on a global level at roughly the same time.

In 2009, both women had the opportunity to travel to Africa and see firsthand what their world was like. Puhl visited Mali, and Schwalbach visited Tanzania.

“We lived in their villages, and truly saw what their hunger was like,” Schwalbach said. “We both came back with plans to set up a food program.”

In August 2009, Schwalbach and Puhl met for the first time at a church is Sussex during an informal meeting about organizing a local food pack for Guinea-Bissau. Unfortunately, the idea fell through due to a poor economy, but a partnership was forged that evening.

After meeting and speaking with each other, the realized they shared a similar goal.

From that point on, the two teamed up and visited Tanzania multiple times to establish contacts and organize resources to begin serving the hungry. In October 2010, Simple Hope became and official nonprofit.

“We’re just two goofy housewives who grew up in suburban communities,” Puhl said. “We don’t have any special skills, we just have big hearts.”

Simple Hope recently held . Another pack-a-thon event is scheduled for March 19 at Crosspoint Community Church in Oconomowoc. The following day, the two will head back to Tanzania to deliver food and supplies, and live with the people they serve.

To learn more about Simple Hope and how to participate, visit their website or Facebook page, follow them on Twitter or check out their blog.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here