MARYVILLE/SAINT LOUIS - Community members are invited to support a local nonprofit that provides education, healthcare and housing to children in Zambia. African Vision of Hope, based in Maryville, will host their 25th anniversary gala on Sept. 25, 2025, in St. Louis with special guests Dennis and Laura Quaid. Judi Bertels, who started African Vision of Hope with her husband 26 years ago, shared that the gala aims to raise $200,000 to build more classrooms while finding 40 new monthly donors to support Zambian students’ higher education. “We’re about four things: a Christ-centered education, rescuing children, allowing them to grow up healthy and safe, and also just giving them some critical life skills,” Bertels said. “What I love about working with these children and adults is, they don’t have any expectations. Everything they get is a gift, and every gift they get, they multiply.” Two decades ago, Bertels volunteered to house
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