Gary Selnow, Ph.D., WiRED International Executive Director
The old woman entered the small office, sliding her feet forward a few inches at a time. She seemed uncertain of her welcome, perhaps remembering other places where she had been turned away. She wore a tattered wrap, a faded kanga cloth on her head and dusty brown shoes with soles worn as thin as newspaper.
Sister Bernadette Nealon sat behind a small desk. She looked up and motioned the woman over. The woman shuffled forward and, in a voice barely above a whisper, explained that she needed money for medicine. Sister Bernadette asked no questions. She opened her small purse, took out a few coins and placed them in the woman’s hand. The woman stood for a moment, tears in her eyes, repeating asante sana (thank you very much) half a dozen times. Then she slowly made her way out.
Sister Bernadette explained that the medicine was for the woman’s grandson. It cost very little, but the woman had nothing. Sister Bernadette paid for it from her own funds.
I learned later that medicine was not the only thing Sister Bernadette bought for people in need. She bought food as well. Her salary was meager, but each month she put a little aside. At Christmas, she collected her savings and bought groceries for as many poor families as the money would allow. It was a modest undertaking, measured in bags of rice, ugali cornmeal, beans and cooking oil. But to the families who received them, these were no small gifts.
Fifteen years ago, my WiRED International colleagues and I decided to help. We started the Sister Bernadette Sunshine Fund, each of us contributing what we could to enlarge her Christmas grocery budget. When Faye Cohen, the wife of a WiRED board member, heard about the fund, she sent a generous check. She said she wanted to help Sister Bernadette with her mitzvah, the Jewish word for a good deed. The name seemed just right, and from then on, we called it the Sister Bernadette Sunshine-Mitzvah Fund.
It has continued all these years.
Now, as Christmas 2026 approaches, we are asking WiRED’s friends to help once again. The hardships facing many families in Africa have been made worse by events far beyond their borders. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have disrupted grain supplies and driven up fuel costs, while cuts in international assistance have placed even the simplest necessities beyond the reach of many households. Children, as always, are among the first to suffer. Within the past few months, WiRED’s community health workers (CHWs) have reported a spike in child malnutrition.
In the informal settlements of Obunga, Nyalenda and Manyatta, where WiRED’s CHWs serve, a week’s groceries for a family of five cost roughly $30 to $50. (1) That is about what an American family might spend on one modest lunch at McDonald’s. In Kisumu, the same amount can help put three meals a day on a family’s table for a week.
People who have supported the Sunshine-Mitzvah Fund over the years know that every dollar contributed goes directly toward groceries. None of the money is used for salaries or administrative expenses. None.
This year, we are asking everyone in the WiRED family to contribute the cost of a lunch. Some may give more, some less. Sister Bernadette has always worked with whatever she had, and, somehow, she has managed to make it count.
We will collect the contributions and send them to her in time to purchase the groceries. WiRED’s CHWs will distribute the food to families during the week before Christmas.
I still remember the old woman in the small office, her worn shoes, her whispered request and the few coins Sister Bernadette took from her purse. It was a small exchange, lasting only a minute or two. But it told me nearly everything I needed to know about Sister Bernadette.
The Sunshine-Mitzvah Fund grew from that same simple impulse: someone needs help, and good people step up to lend a hand.
(1) Sources: Food cost estimates from:
African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC).
https://aphrc.org/the-cost-of-eating-healthy-in-kenya-findings-from-a-national-survey
Numbeo:
https://www.numbeo.com/food-prices/country_result.jsp?country=Kenya
