Dear Friends and Family of Micala Christie Hicks Siler*:
* along with those to whom this e-mail was forwarded … by friends of friends, of friends … of Micala. To these people … Micala’s family deeply appreciates your interest and invites you to visit “Who was Micala.”
The Backstory: What this is About
We are now entering into the fifth year since losing our daughter and we wanted to invite you to participate in an event, the 2024 Miles of Smiles for Micala, designed to raise awareness of the wonderful work that A Family for Every Orphan (AFFEO) has been doing. Micala was passionate about her belief that every child has a birthright – to be loved and nurtured by the embrace of a loving family. Unfortunately this is not the reality for far too many of our children. Often, as result of the scourges of poverty, poor health care, drugs and war, children are placed in institutional care or left to navigate life by themselves. The devastation to a child growing up without the loving refuge provided by a caring family is incalculable.
In the year 2010, shortly after leaving military service, Micala became the founding Executive Director of AFFEO, a charity with a global reach and the mission to place children, who have no parents, into homes with a loving family in their own country. In many of the countries where AFFEO serves, state sponsored child welfare services is at best minimal and in many cases non-existent. Children who are abandoned to the streets are preyed upon and exploited with little hope of growing into an educated and emotionally healthy adult. The problem has long been a global crisis. Micala was keen to point out that if all of the orphaned children in the world were placed in one geographic location, this location would register as the fourth most populous country in the world.
We are asking you to help her family honor Micala’s memory by participating in an event that is structured to do two things. First, we want to raise awareness of the global problem of orphaned children and the wonderful work AFFEO is currently doing to address this crisis. Second, we would like to provide you with a meaningful way to honor Micala’s legacy and to reflect on how your life is an inspiration to others … and if not, then why?
Since the time Micala was barely able to walk, she developed an unusually deep appreciation of what it meant to care for others. First with her six younger siblings, later with her network of friends and eventually with the world’s needy. This came from a very early appreciation for what God had given her in life and her strong desire to feed those who hungered for what she had in abundance … a loving and nurturing home.
Whenever Micala faced a challenge, she would first pray to ask for the insight, the courage and the strength to change what was wrong. Her prayers were like that of a athlete preparing for a marathon; deliberate, focused and persistent. After prayerful “training” she would then act on her mission … if Micala was anything in life, she was a woman of action! Finally, she would trust her creator with the results … often resulting in some of the most inspiring accomplishments. Micala was an inspiration to many by the way she lived her life, not by good fortune but by a deliberate consecration of her life to God’s calling.
The Event: 2024 Miles of Smiles for Micala
The event will last four days and will begin on what would have been Micala’s 46th birthday, December 19th, 2024. The event is not really a race as much as it is a challenge … that is, to log as many miles as you can (e.g., walking, running, biking, swimming) while reflecting on how your life is an inspiration to others. The point, is to make this a collective effort and to demonstrate the strength and power of the “individual” when their effort is united with others for a common cause. Symbolically, with this event, the goal will be to accumulate as many miles as possible … one step at a time and with your support, helping one child at a time
If you are interested in participating, you may register at 2024 Miles of Smiles for Micala. There is no registration fee but we ask you to prayerfully consider a goodwill offering by going to AFFEO Donate. Donations for this year’s fund raiser will go to support the general AFFEO mission with a particular focus on children who have lost parents from war.
Commemorative Apparel:
This year we have commemorative apparel (tee-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts) with a design, created by her children, paying tribute to Micala’s spirit. The center of the shirt is the AFFEO logo which is lovingly wrapped in an angel wings. Under the wings, read three words; Pray. Act. Inspire.
The vendor for the commemorative apparel is 937Ink; a small company in the town where Micala’s four children now live. The company has graciously offered to donate 20% of their proceeds from each order to AFFEO. You will need to place the orders prior to Dec. 8th, at which point the on-line store will close, in order to have the printing and delivery by the start of the event on Dec. 19th.
Apparel may be ordered at 937Ink Store – before Dec. 8th.
With great appreciation,
Michael and Celeste Hicks (Micala’s parents)
