More than a billion people live in darkness after sundown. Solar lamps help light their night.
Be the Light.
Every $10 gives a light to someone in the dark. And Luke's memory shines on.
Luke Voss-Kernan, just 19, died after an accidental fall from a structure he was climbing in Seattle. On a cross-country trip with friends, his fire and spunk dimmed in an instant. Here today. Then gone. Or is he?
Around the world.
Luke’s Light
Small portable solar lamps often travel in checked suitcases, bringing light to—and changing lives in—far-flung corners of the world, from Kenyan villages to Peruvian pueblos. Of course we ship large orders too, but we’d much rather spend the cost of freight on more lights.
Luke’s Love
Luke’s love was big, bold, unreserved and unconditional. Yet somehow it’s contained in the grand gesture represented by little heart-shaped stones traveling the globe in friends’ pockets. Or appearing out of nowhere when least expected.
Luke’s Light. Luke’s Lights. One letter difference. A world of difference.
The first reminds us of the twinkle in his eye, the sparkle that lit his whole face without showing any teeth, the way he sparked conversation with anyone anywhere, the way he brilliantly kindled a group of two or twenty. We think of Luke’s Light and cannot help but smile through the tears.
The latter refers to little solar-powered lamps that illuminate dark rooms where electricity cannot. Little lights that we would know nothing about, that would play no role in our lives, hold no meaning at all—were it not for the glaring absence of Luke’s Light.
Light and Luke. Luke and Light. Forever linked. Then and now.
“If you light a lamp for somebody it will also brighten your own path.”
— Buddhist Saying
Every $10 pulls a child out of darkness.
Imagine if 5th grade was your last year of school. Age 11 and you’re done. Go to work. In remote Haitian villages, the only way a child can go to middle school (or advance to the next grade) is to pass the government exam. We have met 13 year olds in 3rd grade. Many just give up after that.
In Maria Lapa and Manac, Haiti WE Villages measured the impact of Luke Lights: 30% more children who received our lamps passed the year-end exam than kids who could not, with no light, study at night. After walking two hours home from school and herding the family goats, collecting water, and all the other responsibilities these young souls carry, our Luke Light gave some kids the opportunity to read and study at night and forge ahead. Not just in school, but in life.
Without our lights, kids like these, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, are likely DONE with school. They will grow into adults with only basic arithmetic and reading skills.
