"I’ve been supporting Friends of Reach Out for almost two decades.  From my time in Kampala witnessing the team in action to the expanded work in Jinja and other areas of Uganda, I’ve been deeply moved and impressed by the home-based care for patients suffering from HIV-infection, cancer, and other conditions.  The medical care, combined with wrap-around assistance for housing, food, transportation, and school tuition, allows patients and families to regain health, renew hope, and continue to work and support their families.  Seeing patients not only gain access to life-saving treatment and rebound from severe illness, but even become volunteers and employed staff for the medical care team, is inspiring.  In addition, for those patients with advanced cancer, FORO has been able to offer palliative care to improve quality of life, and support school tuition so that the next generation has a road out of cycles of poverty."

I am a Maryknoll Missioner and have been involved with Friends of Reach Out (FORO) since 2005.  I have personally witnessed the great changes that FORO has made in the lives of so many women, men, and children--- whose great suffering had caused them to give up on life.  I have known Dr. Margrethe and her family since 1997, when we were part of the same faith community in Cambodia.  I have visited the communities served by FORO in Uganda.   It is a blessing to have witnessed how the FORO team works to provide care for the most marginated and remote populations.  There are thousands of people alive today, who have survived HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other very serious illnesses solely because of the medical, emotional, spiritual, and material support that they have received from FORO.  I feel honored to be part of the FORO support team and will continue to serve in this vital project.

"I have been a supporter of Friends of Reach Out for many, many years. As someone who used to live in Uganda working on health projects I appreciate the enormous needs that exist for so many Ugandans. I have been impressed with the care and compassion that Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja has provided to those in need of health care  who often have no where else to turn,  I also appreciate Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja's  resourcefulness and innovations to help address the overwhelming demand for quality services. Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja serves the most vulnerable and alleviates their suffering with love and respect giving patients and families the dignity and compassion they deserve.  I am proud to be a supporter of FORO and Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja."

"Our organization, ROSE, has been working to help educate at risk children in Uganda formally since 2005.  It all began as a small effort to help just one child after reading an article about Dr. Margrethe Juncker in Maryknoll Magazine. The work she was doing with HIV/AIDS patients was remarkable but her concern for the well being of the orphaned children of AIDS struck a nerve.  My father and I traveled to Uganda to meet Margrethe and Fr. Archetti where we witnessed how truly great the need was. We learned terms like child, head of household and were impressed by the way the children looked after each other. We visited homes and watched the women make necklaces from magazines to help support their families. We came away from Uganda with a sense of urgency and a commitment to help these children who were so very grateful to be able to go to school. We have since traveled to Uganda several times and the smiling faces of children like Mercy, Francis, and Josephine, to name a few, make every effort on our part so worthwhile!  We are so grateful to the people who have donated to this cause. I can not even imagine how the global pandemic has affected Uganda, but I do know that it has made the need for our help even greater! I have learned that you can change the world by taking that first step and helping even one child at a time!"

"Becoming a recurring monthly donor for Friends of Reach Out was one of the easiest decisions I've ever had to make. By supporting FORO, I know that my contribution every month is going to support an organization that is locally led and run, works hard everyday to support and help the poorest and forgotten members of its community, and is transparent about its impact. For the cost of a cocktail on a night out, you could be making a contribution that could help save someone's life."

I am a parish priest in the Church of England, now, living in London. I hear of so many needs, observe so many needs, try to meet so many needs, around me here---

but two events directed my attention to the larger world, to Africa, to the poor eastern region of Uganda.

One was meeting Margrethe Juncker as a school parent, with me, at my sons’ international school in Rome. We worked together there on the needs of migrants to Italy.

Our friendship endured after we both left Rome.

Two, my elder son Sam and I made a trip to visit Margrethe in Jinja in September of 2018.

Sam’s academic year at the U. of Chicago didn’t begin for another month, so we had time, and Margrethe had invited us, and we were eager to see first-hand what her work meant, there.

We spent 11 days with Margrethe, her husband, and her team at Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja. It opened our eyes to the astonishing degree of poverty they were confronting. But we returned from our experience with them not depressed or with a lack of hope, but the contrary.

The Ugandan nurses and social workers were quietly professional, smiling and determined to change the conditions facing them. They related to each patient with sensitivity and tenderness. They understood the terrible cost of the government’s failure to care for its own people in that region. They made the most of every donation, small or large: they were always moving forward.

I know that every dollar I contribute to Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja directly alleviates the pain of a precious child of God. If we can help to do this, it is a gift, to us!

*Please note, there is now a way to donate invested stocks. It now allows a simpler, better way to give significant amounts to this worthy cause!