Hi Everyone!
Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my JustGiving
page to help me raise money for the GVI (Global Vision International)
Charitable Trust.
So what does this have to do with my birthday? I'm taking a new approach to
getting older and doing what I can to keep helping in every way. There are too
many communities, animals, and ecosystems that need help and wouldn't get it
without the support from organizations like GVI. After all my great experiences
working with GVI, I'd like to give back so please help me make my 29th a year
to remember and donate... here are 29 reasons to help (and don't forget to check out the photos)!!!
29) Because donating and knowing your money will be doing
good somewhere around the world feels soooo good!
28) The GVI Charitable Trust was set up in 2005 to help with
disaster relief following the devastation caused by Hurricane Stan in
Guatemala. After an overwhelming response from past volunteers the GVI
Charitable Trust has gone on to manage and fund raise projects with many of
GVI's partners overseas.
GVI Trust Goals:
27) To promote for the benefit of the public the
conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural
environment.
26) To advance education and research for the benefit of the
public in the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and
natural environment.
25) To relieve sickness and preserve and promote the good
health of persons.
24) To relieve poverty, financial hardship and distress.
23) Children of San Andrés Itzapa and Santa Maria de Jesus,
Guatemala, had no chance to go to national school. GVI set up schools and now
there are over 500 children between the ages of 5-15 who are able to get an
education.
22) There are nearly 1 billion people globally without clean
drinking water- several of GVI's projects are helping to get water to remote
communities.
21) Because if you can't even bear the thought of walking
miles, or sending your young children, in the heat to the nearest water source,
why should anyone else actually have to?
20) The project in Otavalo, Ecuador was created to provide
help in the classrooms and a full meal each day for the children. Donations
will allow GVI to continue various scholarship schemes for children to attend
secondary school, including Plan Moo, whereby the families receive a cow whose
milk provides the income necessary.
19) Donations can be used to buy the utensils needed for the
children in Otavalo who are not yet in one of the scholarship schemes.
18) In Kenya, Mkwiro and Wasini Island Communities are
receiving aid from funds raised through the charity to support 2 orphanages, a
pharmacy is being staffed and water collection and waste management are being
upgraded for the village.
17) In 2008, GVI built a secondary school in San Rafael
(Copan, Honduras) and is paying for teachers to give secondary education, which
was impossible before. There are now 100 children enrolled from five different
communities.
16) Because who can resist the hugest smile you've ever seen
on a kid that has been given an opportunity to go to school?!
15) With funding, 3 groups of ex-poachers in Tsavo West,
Kenya are receiving education and capacity building in pursuit of new,
sustainable, alternative livelihoods. Community members have received training
and equipment to start bee-keeping and soap making.
14) The Kidong community in Tsavo West is also constructing
their own Education and Cultural Center aimed at both local communities, to
teach them humane ways to tackle human-wildlife conflict and protect their
crops from elephants, and at tourists, with the objective of offering
community-based eco-tourism.
13) In Guatemala, fund raising aids everything from food to
scholarships to new classrooms, care for the elderly, agricultural initiatives
and a small business center for the women of the community.
12) Believe it or not, elephant street-begging is a real
problem in Thailand. GVI is supporting a government effort to end this illegal
practice and rescued elephants are relocated to a rural area where our volunteers
help elephant keepers to find alternative livelihoods. An adult elephant eats
200 - 500 kg of fresh produce every day and caring for this endangered species
requires unique skills and a large budget.
11) In southern Peru, some of the rural communities around
Arequipa are receiving help in their classrooms to provide children with an
education and a full meal each day.
10) The communities around Arequipa have one teacher per
school, so education attention was lacking. We also employ local teachers to
help out in the school and secondary school scholarships. We now work in four
communities.
9) Volunteers of the Copan and Guatemala projects build
energy-efficient stoves for cleaner air and less wood consumption, improving
the living standards for one family significantly and (literally) sow the seeds
for their more self-sufficient future.Your donation could be the next stove to
be built!
8) Because improving the living standards and
self-sufficiency for poverty-stricken communities never felt so good!
7) The support in Copán, Honduras has been expanded into the
community of Barbasco, providing extra teachers, and food and fruit for the
children who share classrooms and teachers across all grades.
6) Olive’s Rehabilitation Centre is an informal (“slum”)
school located in the suburb of Bombolulu in Kenya’s second largest city,
Mombasa. It was set up in 2001 to educate, clothe, feed and provide counseling
and religious education services to some of Mombasa’s most vulnerable children.
Aid from the Charitable Trust aids the center in continuing the above
objectives.
5) In the slums of Mombasa, a few more schools have begun to
receive support from GVI, giving the children there a chance at an education
and a healthy meal a day.
4) In Nicaragua we built a school where children without the
chance of a formal education could come and receive schooling. Through
donations to the Charitable Trust, we can also give the children a healthy meal
each day which they would otherwise not receive.
3) By donating just a small amount, the project in Nicaragua
will receive funding to allow the school to have teachers who can provide
official certificates for the children, which goes a long way to achieving our
sustainable goals.
2) There are still so many environmental and community
projects and causes around the world that could use help. Your donation will
not only aid our current projects but will also allow the Charitable Trust to
extend its global reach and support others that need help.
1) Because you only live once, because a little bit goes a long way and because donating feels so good!
To see the projects that the trust supports (you can even
specify where you'd like your money to go), please visit:
http://www.gvi.org.uk/projects
If you'd like to experience your next holiday out of the
ordinary, consider volunteering with GVI:
http://www.gvi.co.uk/
