Nonprofit leader to be honored at tea

Building a school in Nepal, helping give women a voice in their community and tackling the world’s lack of clean water are all in a day’s work for Rosalind Russell and for one day anyone can be a part of the change she is trying to create at a tea party in her honor at 2 p.m. Aug. 16.

At “Women Helping Women and Children,” the fundraiser for Russell’s nonprofit R Star Ministries, guests will dine on petite sandwiches while Russell regales them with stories of her work in Nepal.

“It’s an amazing success. I’ve seen success in the short time I’ve been there,” Russell said. “Women have an opinion. They have a voice — they’ve never had a voice before.”

The ministry recently built a school in Nepal for 400 children, but still needs to raise about $16,500 for desks, chalkboards and teacher’s salaries to get the students into the school, Russell said. Teaching women about commerce by giving them goats — a commodity they can sell, trade, breed and cultivate milk and cheese from — and helping them better themselves through micro-banking loans are also part of Russell’s work in Nepal.

“It is beyond our comprehension how people in other countries live,” Russell said.

Locally, R Star has a prison ministry for inmates who want to turn their lives around and also works with hospitals and hospices by bringing cats to patients for pet therapy through its Purr Ministry.

Guests at the tea party can give donations to R Star Ministries and can specify which of Russell’s many projects they would like to help, Russell said.

Spots at the tea party are still open. To reserve a seat call Ileana Gulmesoff at (714) 846-5850. To learn more about the work R Star Ministries does here and abroad or to make a donation go to www.rstarministries.org.

— Britney Barnes