Celebrating A School Building in Kenya, Imagined & Designed in Newport

Mary, Trish & Mike Behan

Flying Kites, with the assistance of the Feinstein Leadership Schools of Rhode Island, a public school initiative committed to advancing the importance of community service in education, has done it, and in a faraway land. The building the organization envisioned for orphans in Kenya is complete, only seven months after groundbreaking. Donors, supporters, and staff held a wildly celebratory party recently at Christie’s in Newport, attended by founders Toby Storie-Pugh, Leila de Bruyne, and Justine Axelsson, Academy architect, Newport's own Paul Weber, landscape designer Tanya Kelley, and Alan Shawn Feinstein and Mrs. Feinstein.

The Feinstein Leadership Schools, headed by Mr. Feinstein, donated $60,000 to Flying Kites for the construction of the school. At the January 10th groundbreaking ceremony in Africa were local architects, local Kenyan officials, community members, and students. The celebration was held in the town of Njabini in the South Kinangop region of Kenya.

Brenda Nagle, John Deputy & Chair Debra Curtis

Construction of this school, the Feinstein Junior Scholars’ Academy, has allowed Flying Kites a greater opportunity to educate children from the surrounding community. The two-story building has four classrooms, restroom facilities, and includes an on-site library. In addition to providing excellent education, the Academy will provide over 32,000 meals for students during the first year in operation. The Academy opened for education in July, and has a capacity for educating 150 students.

Founded in 1991 by Alan Shawn Feinstein, the Feinstein Foundation is dedicated to the alleviation of hunger, the importance of community service in education and the values of caring, compassion and brotherhood. He is a nationally known philanthropist and humanitarian who has made an indelible impact on American education and public service that has spread throughout the country, winning many awards and honors.

Alan Shawn Feinstein & Toby Storie-Pugh

At the party, Event Chair Debra Curtis gave an amusing introduction to a winning and emotional slide presentation on the Academy’s construction, with Leila de Bruyne adding that “excellence is the way to fight poverty.” Tish Behan was there with children Mary, Garrett and Mike, who had just returned from 4 weeks working at the facility in Kenya. Valan Primus was there from New York “to help with the website”, and Josh and Jared Furtado, who are funding a health clinic in Kenya, talked with Brenda Nagle, Treasurer.

Flying Kites, a Newport, Rhode Island based non-profit organization, is devoted to raising the standards of care available to the world’s poorest children. The philanthropic organization operates an orphanage and school for children in central highlands of Kenya committed to providing children the tools they will need to break the cycle of poverty. For more on the organization and its current fund-raising, please visit the web site at www.flyingkitesglobal.org or call (401) 619-5919.