In March of 2007 Mary Tidlund and a group of volunteers visited Ethiopia. Hosted by John Baigent and Partners in the Horn of Africa the team was shown many projects in and around Addis Ababa. One in particular stood out, a program called Hope For Children, founded in 2005 by Yewoinshet Masresha. There are over 700 children registered with Hope for Children (HFC) who have been affected by HIV/AIDS, and HFC ensures that their basic needs are met.

After spending a week with project founder Yewoinshet the team began to see that she works upwards of 80 hours a week on a voluntary basis for HFC, and often at a cost to her already struggling family.

The Mary A. Tidlund Charitable Foundation partnered with Partners in the Horn of Africa to help provide Yewoinshet Masresha with a well-deserved salary, donating $10,000.