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Our Beginnings

One Step at a Time: Bringing Spark Ventures to Life

You never know what might happen when a few friends go out for the night.  It started out innocent enough – three guys heading to the movies and dinner.  But when the conversation shifted to discussing life-changing experiences, the next thing we knew, we were talking about a trip to Africa; a trip that would expose us to some of the poverty, disease and struggle that we had heard about, but seemed so far away.

One friend said, “You find a place to go and I’ll pay for the trip.” And so the challenge was on.  After researching locations and organizations, we booked a trip to Zambia. 

Three visas, nine shots and 8,000 miles later, we found ourselves in Ndola, Zambia engaging with orphans, building bunk beds and eating nshima.   The trip raised many questions, but the most important of all – what could we do to make a difference? 

Returning from our life-altering experience, our next step was inviting our new Zambian friends who led the orphanage to visit us in Chicago.  During the visit, we discussed the orphanage and community school needs, a realistic operating budget, and how to form a partnership between the organization and ours—a yet to be named non-profit.

A generous donor to get us started, some paperwork to form an official organization, a follow-up trip to Zambia to help with leadership and development at the orphanage, a name, a Web site, and here we are.

It’s been one step at a time to bring Spark to life with a vision that will inspire others to take that first step in making a real difference.  The world is our neighbor and we have the opportunity, the responsibility to help…especially children. 

One step at a time Spark is igniting hope and investing in the future.