Category Archives: charity

March Charity of the Month: Mercy House

02 Monday Apr 2012

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A couple days late, but here we are!

Toward the beginning of March, I volunteered with a small group from the Orange County Bar Association (“OCBA”) at the Fullerton Armory, where Mercy House provides emergency shelter for homeless people during the fall and winter months. This year they received some extra funding, so they were able to provide emergency shelter through the month of March. (You can learn all about Mercy House here.)
I volunteered at the Fullerton Armory in law school through Public Law Center, but in a different capacity. Instead of staying towards the back and handling legal intakes, this time I helped with the actual set up of the armory, and helped check people in as they arrived.
Mercy House provides up to 400 “beds” every night for homeless people at Armory locations in Fullerton and Santa Ana. My first job when I arrived was to sanitize and set up the mats for everyone that would be staying there that night. First you lay out all the mats, side by side, row by row. Then you grab a mop and have to wipe down each mat individually. Thankfully I was given some important tips on how to do this quickly and efficiently…otherwise who knows how long it would’ve taken me! After I mopped them, someone else was walking by spraying them down with lysol.
It’s crazy to think of how much people probably appreciate those mats. To you and me, the idea of sleeping on a mat that’s been slept on by countless strangers, that needs to be mopped down and sprayed with lysol, is probably less than appealing. But to many in our own neighborhoods, it’s a safe haven, and probably way more comfortable than places where they usually sleep.
After setting up and cleaning the mats, I was assigned the task of registering people as they came in. I was really surprised by the organization that Mercy House has put in place. Every individual has an identification card, provided by Mercy House, with the person’s name, picture, and date of birth. My job was to verify the ID, write down their name and date of birth on the registration form for that night, and have them sign it. After they signed in, they were given a paper cup and a meal ticket. Some people carried their ID cards with care, others with reckless abandon. But each person had it. No matter how much or how little they carried, they made sure to conserve this one piece of paper that allowed them to seek shelter from the cold.
While working the registration table I found out that there are certain meeting points throughout various surrounding cities. People are picked up from those sites, and bussed to the armory clinics. I also noted an important difference from my last volunteer experience to now: children and families do not stay at the armory, but are instead checked in to a hotel where the whole family can stay together. Years ago, children slept in the armory along with everyone else, but it was (and still is) divided by sex: males sleep on one side, females on the other. This meant that not only were children sleeping along hundreds of strangers, they were also probably separated from either their father or their mother.
I thought this was a great improvement for the program: taking action and finding solutions. I was also struck by the variety of people who were seeking shelter at the armory. People of all races and backgrounds. There were kids who didn’t even look like they were 21 yet, a middle aged man in a business suit, older war veterans, people with obvious mental health issues, people who look just like you and me. It makes me wonder what brought each of these people to be homeless, and what keeps them there: are they just staying for a couple nights while they get enough to put a deposit on an apartment, or do they come here every winter? I guess there are some things I’ll never know.
What I do know is that I felt like my time spent there was very much appreciated by the people I was checking in: they greeted my smile with a smile, and I was surprised at how much they enjoyed and embraced a friendly face. Then I remembered how many times I’ve avoided making eye contact with homeless people on the street for fear that the’ll ask me for something, and I realized they probably don’t see friendly, smiling faces too often.
I think the armory emergency shelter is closed for the Spring and Summer, but if you feel like giving away some free smiles in the future, I highly recommend signing up for some volunteer shifts starting again in the fall (they need volunteers seven days a week, and they have an a.m. and p.m. shift). You can also check out other volunteer opportunities with Mercy House here.

Charity of the Month: Illuminate International

27 Monday Feb 2012

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“Young people are capable of doing widely extraordinary work, their voices should be heard.”

If you’re one of those people who think you can’t make a difference in the world, I hope this Charity of the Month changes your mind.

Mike Kang was a freshman in high school when he started a youth activism campaign, which sprouted from a documentary made by Invisible Children. After his fellow students saw the documentary, Mike noticed there was a large response from students who were interested in the cause, but did not have an avenue or system on how they could get involved.

Most high school students would probably shrug their shoulders, and move on to their next class. But Mike decided to actually create the means through which his fellow students could be active participants for these causes, straight from school. So he created Generation Against Global Injustice (GAGI). One thing Mike really liked about this organization was that it was breaking the stereotype that young people can’t do much, or that young people can’t make a difference in the world. They can, and they did. In four and a half years, GAGI raised over $10,000 for partner organizations like Invisible Children, Just One, and One Day’s Wages (to name a few).

So what does GAGI have to do with Illuminate International? After Mike graduated from high school, he decided he wanted to focus on education, so it would be aligned with his career path in education and educational policy. So GAGI became Illuminate International. Why “Illuminate International”? Because their mission is to light the fire so that students can get an education, and because their purpose is to shine light on the issue of education, and lack of education in developing countries.

The plan is that Illuminate International will have one year partnerships with organizations that are working on education in developing countries, and Illuminate International will raise money for that partner organization throughout the year. The plan is also to use their growing network and social networks, such as YouTube, to bring awareness to education issues in developing countries, to people here in the United States.

Mike was inspired to act by his own childhood: growing up in Palos Verdes, he had access to everything he needed to succeed in life. After watching the documentary by Invisible Children, he realized that not everyone has this privilege: people have no access to the same things he had. Mike decided it was his responsibility to use these privileges for the public good, and to lend a helping hand were he could.

And he is doing just that.

Illuminate International wants to help schools become the central hubs of communities in developing countries, so that individuals realize that education is the only way for upward mobility for themselves and their families, and for the community to make education their main focus.


Mike hopes that years down the road, Illuminate International will be a political voice, a voice that can influence policy and the educational community, to make a political impact. In discussing who the lack of public education in developing countries can be attacked, Mike said “the governments have to take action, they have to setup quality public schools, have their own infrastructure instead of relying on nonprofits: individual governments have to take action and invest in their education.” I have no doubt that Illuminate International will try to make this a reality.

Similar to Haiti Scholarships, Illuminate International is run by volunteers, volunteers who also have other priorities, like graduating from college! This is where you can help. Sign up for Illuminate International’s newsletter, and sign up to volunteer at their events, where they are often short handed. Be the difference.

Charity of the Month: Aimee Cornell & Uplift Internationale

19 Thursday Jan 2012

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I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials…children with cleft palates and other facial deformities. As with similar commercials that tug at the heartstrings, sometimes it’s easier to change the channel than to sit through and watch it. But, the reality of it is still there. Aimee Cornell realizes this and is joining an organization that is taking action to help children with facial deformities. She’s going with Uplift Internationale, on their annual Operation Taghoy in the Philippines. Appropriately enough, “Taghoy” is a Philippine word for “whistle”!

Some background on why Uplift Internationale chose the Philippine’s as the location for one of the missions:
  • 1 of every 350 live births is estimated to be at risk of having a facial deformity, more than twice the incidence noted in developed countries
  • Children born with a deformity do not always receive timely care and are at greater risk of frequent upper respiratory infections, hearing deficits, speech impediments, as well as misaligned teeth and jaws
  • These facial deformities rob children of many things we take for granted, like the charm of a smile or the pleasure of a whistle
  • Municipal hospitals, institutions mandated to provide care to the impoverished, are typically ill-funded, poorly equipped and understaffed so as to prioritize care to emergent before elective problems
  • Less than 1/2 of the total hospital beds are located in rural communities where nearly 70% of the population resides
To address these needs, Uplift Internationale started an annual medical mission, named Operation Taghoy. This is a two-week medical mission to provide reparative surgical care to indigent children in the rural Philippines born with facial deformities, primarily clefts of the lip and palate. These medical services are provided by professionals and personnel who volunteer their time to fly to the Philippines and perform these surgeries. That’s pretty awesome stuff.
The care is provided without cost to the children or their families, and with minimal burden to the host hospitals. If you want to see the impact this has on children who have these surgeries, check out this little girl’s reaction when she sees herself for the first time, post-op.
So, this is what Amy will be helping with when she leaves to the Philippines in 2-3 weeks. Amy will be on the outreach team, which means she’s responsible for helping coordinate patients pre- and post-surgery, and also to document the trip so that Uplift Internationale can spread the word about the work they are doing in the Philippines.
Thanks to some great friends that have helped her along the way, Amy has already reached her fundraising goal of $1,500.00, but for a small organization like this, donations are always welcome to help prepare for future operations. Without donors, they wouldn’t be able to provide these medical services at no-cost to the recipient. I encourage you all the check out the organization, and check out Amy’s blog to see how her adventure goes!
I also want to share some of Amy’s words on why she got involved, and encourage all of you to do the same, with whatever organization or mission is nearest and dearest to you:
“I decided to get involved because I can! I’m lucky – I’m a happy and healthy 28 year old, and I am satisfied enough with my life that I can devote a little part of it to someone else. I can give up a few weeks of my year to be a part of something bigger, and I have friends and family who can help me do that, and in turn, participate themselves. For me, life is all about being involved. If you don’t get off your butt and participate, how can you expect to shape the world they way you envision it to be? It’s not so much a question of why you should get involved, it’s a question of why you shouldn’t.“
Amen.

Holiday Gift Guide, 2011

04 Sunday Dec 2011

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I had grandiose plans since last year: compiling a massive gift guide the likes of which have never been seen before. But, 1) they pretty much already exist online (not exactly as I had envisioned it, but still, it’s been done), and 2) December 2011 came around much quicker than December-2010-me imagined it would.

I also started to realize that a lot of people/organizations have similar gift guides, so I’m going to do a combination here…I’m going to re-post other people’s guides that I find useful, and that list some of the organizations I already had in mind, and I’ll post my “supplemental” gift guide with other ideas for you. I hope it’s helpful :)
Rage Against the Minivan’s Gift Guide includes:
Collaborative World’s Gift Guide includes:
Nicholas Kristoff’s Annual Column on “Gifts that Say You Care” includes:
My “supplemental gift guide”:
(um, I was hoping to link to it but it seems like this will have to do until I switch over to WordPress and can actually upload PDF documents. sigh).

Holiday Gift Guide
http://viewer.docstoc.com/?key=NTllOTA1N2Ut&pass=OGRlZi00OTQwvar docstoc_docid=”107159738″;var docstoc_title=”Holiday Gift Guide”;var docstoc_urltitle=”Holiday Gift Guide”;

Happy Shopping!

Charity of the Month: Robin Cheney, aka, 3-day for the Cure

15 Tuesday Nov 2011

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“We walk because we must.
We are strong because the journey demands it.
Together in body and united in spirit we lay down our foot steps for this generation and the next. This is our promise, a world without breast cancer.”

I’ve known Robin for as long as I’ve known her sister, and her sister and I are celebrating our ten year friendship anniversary this year (yep, the WHOLE YEAR). I think I donated to one of Robin’s prior walks years ago (she started back in 2006), but I never really took the time to figure out what it was, other than insane MADNESS. Have you heard of the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure? It’s three days. Of walking. 20 miles a day. That’s 60 miles in three days. Like I said: insane madness.

Why would someone put themselves through that? Like most things in life, there are usually several reasons why we do things.

For Robin, one reason is that she wants to make a difference in the world. According to the numbers, breast cancer affects one in every eight women. The whole reason Robin first got involved with the 3-day Walk was because she saw a commercial for it, and was deeply moved by the stories of those affected, directly and indirectly, by breast cancer. If you think about it, you probably know someone that’s been affected, or know someone that knows someone. Think, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but unfortunately you probably don’t need six degrees of separation.
Another reason Robin does it is because it can be “the most positive three days of your life.” By committing to this, Robin committed herself to push herself beyond her limits, both physically and mentally. Before her first walk, Robin was not a very active person, and the thought of walking more than from her car to a store seemed crazy to her! But along with a good friend she made the commitment, and put herself through streaneous training sessions, the first of which she quit after two miles. But she stuck to it, and she did again, and again.

What keeps her coming back?

“From the minute you wake up in the morning, perfect strangers are lining the streets cheering you on, sharing their stories and inspiration with you. There are people with t-shirts and signs that say ‘Your efforts saved my life’ — and it is true, with the amount of money each event raises (my last San Diego event raised $14 million — and the 3 Day is in 14 cities!), incredible strides are being made in detection and treatment. And, too, there are times in our lives where we are facing a seemingly insurmountable challenge and then I remind myself that I walked 20 miles a day for three solid days, something I never thought I could do — three times now! I can certainly deal with the little curve balls life throws me.”

Aside from the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of the 3-day walk, is the obvious financial one. One of the main reasons the walk exists is to raise money to help with research, development, awareness, and detection programs for breast cancer. Each participant pledges to raise $2,300.00. That’s a lot of money. Especially in these economic times. Robin admits that this is the most challenging part of the 3-day walk: “it is never easy to ask people for money, even for such a worthy cause. It is even more difficult to have to ask a few times, or even to get a response.”

I asked Robin why people should donate and help her reach her goal (she’s got one week until her race, and needs to raise $1,203 to reach her goal of $2,300), and this was her response:

“I feel that people should donate to the Susan G. Komen foundation because the disease they are combatting is one that affects us all. I look around at the girls in my classroom and think 3 or 4 of them will have breast cancer if we don’t find a way to cure, or at least diminish, the rate of this cancer. I have a student who lost her 32-year old aunt to breast cancer. I have a co-worker who lost BOTH parents to breast cancer. The youngest breast cancer survivor on my walk in ’08 was only 11 years old. I would challenge anyone to stand in a room with eight women and find that none of them has been personally affected by this disease.”
“I walk so that someday, no one has to.”



October Charity of the Month: Taller San Jose

01 Tuesday Nov 2011

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I’ve driven by it dozens of times, either on my way to PLC when I volunteered there throughout law school, or now on sporadic trips to the Central Justice Center for court hearings. I had a vague idea about what they did, but based on the name alone I knew it had to be pretty awesome. I kept putting it off though, until they were featured by FLOC last month. I figured, it’s a sign! So, a day late, here’s a little write up of what I found out.

In Spanish, a “taller” is a workshop, “a place to build and repair things.” And San Jose is Spanish for Saint Joseph, who’s the patron saint of workers.

Now that we’ve got the lingo down, let’s get down the business. What does Taller San Jose (“TSJ”) do? Simple: it walks young people in Orange County out of poverty. How do they do this? It’s actually not-so-simple.

In the words of TSJ’s Executive Director, Shawna Smith, one of the main jobs of the staff of TSJ is to fan what little hope these young individuals have when they walk through the lobby of the quaint Santa Ana location. In a short amount of time, these young individuals know that people care for them, that people mean it when they say “I care about you and your success,” that someone has their back. Many of these individuals come to TSJ with troubled pasts, difficult financial situations at home, and who knows what else. Letting them know that their goals are important, that they are a person with dignity, and that their life is important, is not easy. Most of us take these things for granted: I have a mother who made these things clear to me, and I grew up in an environment that led me to believe I could be anything I wanted to be. This is not the situation for many of the participants of the programs at TSJ.

“You mean I’m worth more than a minimum wage job? Woah.”

During my tour of their offsite facility where construction classes are held, I had an opportunity to hear from Scott, who has become a leader in his classroom, and has maintained perfect attendance throughout his program: “I feel like I can do something now, I can go out and get a job. If it wasn’t for this program, I’d probably still be doing drugs.” That’s an amazing and powerful statement for this organization, and only one of over 4,500 people that this organization has served since it opened its doors in 1995. I’m sure this is what Shawna noticed when she joined TSJ back in 1997, and her future career as a teacher went out the window: “I just felt called to serve.”

Back when Shawna first joined TSJ, it looked a little different than it does today. The program was centered around a high school completion program, with a carpentry program that taught students how to make benches, custom cabinetry and entertainment centers. Around 2005, TSJ realized there was a better way to help create long term success for it’s students: it began to emphasize more on job placement, and a little less on high school completion programs. Why? “For a young person who has an economic need, they don’t have four years to commit to just sitting in a high school classroom.” So they started to focus more on job training and job placement, while still helping their students complete high school if they hadn’t completed it yet.

This shift, however, had a huge impact on who they could serve: “Before, we had a much greater tolerance for serving kids without papers. When we switched to the workforce, we had to ask for papers. This was a huge ideological shift, one that we still struggle with: these kids look the same, they talk the same, they go to the same schools. But we can’t broker employment if we know they’re undocumented, and their opportunities for advancement [within our program] are so limited: we don’t want to set them up with unrealistic expectations, that just tears a person down.”

Although TSJ had to turn away some who are just as needy as others, it’s done a fantastic job of perfecting a program to ensure that those it does serve, are served well. For example, recognizing that most of their students can’t go to classes and miss an opportunity to earn money to cover expenses at home, TSJ students earn a $100 weekly stipend, and TSJ provides vouchers for transportation and child care.

TSJ operates through three different academies:

  • Medical Careers Academy: training for administrative office and entry-level clinical positions in healthcare
  • Office Careers Academy: training for administrative positions
  • Taller Tech Construction Academy: training for the construction industry

Of these, Shawna admits that the construction academy is usually the most appealing, or “sexy” to people; it’s harder to look at the office programs and realize what’s going on: there is a level of sophistication involved in a working environment and being in a professional setting.

Regardless of the Academy that each individual goes into, TSJ is doing much more than just providing an academic training. TSJ has set 7 goals for each student:

  1. Obtain a GED or high school diploma
  2. Master basic computer skills
  3. Open and use a bank account
  4. Obtain a driver’s license
  5. Register to vote
  6. Remain crime and drug free
  7. Obtain a job at better than minimum wage

The last one is probably the most challenging in our economic times, and one that I found really interesting. There is a difference between a minimum wage, and a living wage. In California, the minimum wage is $8.00 an hour, but the living wage in Orange County is more like $16.00 (California Budget Project, 2010). I love that this program focuses not on the minimum allowed by regulations, but on the reality of the financial needs of individuals in the specific geographic location they live in.

Given the financial downturn, TSJ has made a few adjustments to help their students and alumni find and maintain jobs. For one, they have created jobs themselves through the Hope Builders program. For another, they are creating new programs in areas where there is a new need. For example, within the construction program TSJ has started to offer a 40 hour training on solar panels, recognizing a field that may have increased need in the future. Seeing growth in the medical industry, TSJ is also implementing new programs in the medical academy, such as billing and coding.

Another change has been to make the program more of a 2-year program than a 16-week program: rather than classes to provide a specific skill set in an area, TSJ offers courses on writing resumes, mock interviews, job coaching, personal development workshops on financial literacy, healthy relationships, etc. TSJ checks in with each student at specific intervals throughout the 2-year program, to make sure the student is still on track, and working towards completing the 7 goals listed above.

The hope is that these changes will allow their graduates to find a job, and help them keep it.

The results of TSJ’s holistic approach are pretty amazing. 70% of students remain employed one year after graduation. And, my favorite statistic, only 8% of students with a criminal background are re-arrested (meaning that 92% of students do not reoffend). In California, the rate of recidivism is around 70%. Pretty cool, right?

Shawna originally switched from the original non-profit she was working with to TSJ because she wanted to work in an organization that was effectuating change. Based on the programs she’s helped start, and the effect they’re having on the lives of hundreds of individuals, I’d say her and TSJ are doing pretty well!

Hopefully you’ve stuck around long enough to get to my favorite part: how you can get involved!

  • Volunteer to conduct mock interviews and job readiness preparation with TSJ students. Although they’d understandably prefer that you be employed if you want to volunteer in this area, you don’t need any particular education or experience to do this. As long as you can provide meaningful feedback to the students, you’re in! Come once a month, or once a year, it’s up to you.
  • Facilitate workshops for students: if you have experience regarding safety in the workplace, customer service, etc., come talk to TSJ students about it!
  • Join a committee! TSJ has committees for special events, program development, etc.
  • Financial donations, of course, are always welcome. Like any other non profit, although the work they do is incredible, it’s still a business that requires money to keep it going.
  • Tell others about TSJ. Shawna mentioned this has been the key to staying afloat since the inception of TSJ. Especially in Orange County, it’s easy for people to go to work, come home, park in the garage, turn on the TV, and never know about the level of financial need that people within Orange County have. So, go out there and tell them :)

An immense thank you shout out to Shawna, who dedicated more time than I’m sure she had available to entertain my questions, to Liana for coordinating my tour through their facilities and putting me in contact with Shawna, and to my tour guide, who provided so much helpful information.

Charity of the Month: Lemonade International

23 Friday Sep 2011

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They decided to adopt. Then they decided to adopt from Guatemala. Then someone else decided they should actually go to Guatemala before they adopted a child from there: “You have to find ways to give back to a country that is going to be giving you the gift of a child.” It’s funny, isn’t it, how a simple nudge from someone else can completely change your life. Bill and Cherie did just that, and in 2004 they traveled to Guatemala, where they met Tita two nights before their flight back to the U.S. They had already spent eight days meeting people, places, and things. But they hadn’t met Tita yet, or La Limonada, or their future.

Tita turned out to be their inspiration: a woman who for five years had been singlehandedly working in one of the most dangerous and largest urban slums in Guatemala: providing care, comfort and food to the most vulnerable of the vulnerable. La Limonada is basically a settlement in a ravine, considered a Red Zone area because of how dangerous it is, and home to about 60,000-100,000 people. These people live in one of 10 different districts, each of which are ruled by rival gangs and invisible but life-threatening boundary lines.

What did Tita show Bill and Cherie on their last day in Guatemala? She showed them the shanties where families lived huddled together, she showed them families that dulled their hunger pain by sniffing glue, she told them about the sexual abuse that runs rampant in La Limonada, she told them about the gang violence and warfare that had her attending at least one funeral a week. But she also showed them the school she had started, she showed them the children she looked after, she told them about her plans for the future: how she wanted to be able to teach more kids, she wanted to reach out to gang members and show them a different way of life, she told them about wanting to start a vocational center for those gang members, she told them about wanting to send kids to school.

Seeing and hearing these stories changed their lives. As much heart and as many plans as Tita had at the time, she was overwhelmed by the amount of work and money that it took to do everything she was doing or wanted to do. Bill and Cherie saw the need and opportunity to step in and help, and they did. And you know what? They’ve pretty much made all of Tita’s plans a reality.

Bill and Cherie founded Lemonade International and started raising money for Tita and La Limonada, and Bill allowed me to ask him some questions about how all of this came about. Here’s what happened since they founded Lemonade International, as a volunteer side project:

  • Bill quit his day job working in HR
  • Escuelita Mandarin joined the already functioning Escuelita Limon; together they serve over 300 children, and employ more than 40 local Guatemalans (you can learn about sponsoring one of these children here)
  • A Safe Home was created for children who had been abandoned, abused, and/or neglected. Safe Home currently cares for 16 children (you can find out more about Safe Home here)
  • Scholarships were created to keep students in school that are beyond the teaching capacity of Escuelita Limon and Escuelita Mandarin (much like public education in Haiti, public education in Guatemala is not an option-kids need scholarships for private schools in order to obtain a decent education; you can find out more about providing scholarships here)
  • A micro-finance project was started that is helping women from La Limonada learn how to start and run their own business (more info here)
  • A vocational training program was started that teaches gang members skills they can apply in obtaining jobs around La Limonada, whether in construction, carpentry, or other areas (interesting tid bit about people from La Limonada who try to get jobs: if you put an address from La Limonada on a job application, you’re pretty much guaranteed to NOT get the job).

This is all just the beginning stages! Bill talked about their plans to buy a building that will house the vocational training program. The program is still in the initial stages, and often they don’t have the room or a safe location to consistently have their classes in. They are currently looking at a building that is located in between the two schools, they just have the difficult task of raising the funds to purchase it. Ideally, this building will house training classes for sewing, carpentry, masonry, electrician training, etc.

Of course, these accomplishments and goals for the future are no easy feat to come by: Lemonade International is working in a country with difficult and straining conditions, among a dangerous population, and with the mentality of wanting to establish something that is not dependent on U.S. donors, but self-sustaining.

Sustainability. I love that word. One of the goals for the vocational center is that it will create businesses, like bakeries and carpentry shops, that will help maintain some of the other programs. The are trying to get this sustainability started by looking for a local Community Development Director: someone who will oversee all the programs in Guatemala, and to focus on the sustainability and long term plans of current projects.

This brought us to something else Bill thinks is important for the future of Lemonade International: engaging local people in Guatemala to support the work of La Limonada, to inspire them to care about their own country. We had an interesting conversation about classism in Guatemala: there is still a great divide between people of different socio-economic levels, not to mention indigenous mayans vs. ladino’s. It would be great if instead of having people from the U.S. going to Guatemala to lead these programs, you have Guatemalan’s caring about each other across these socio-economic divides, and leading these programs.

Bill recognizes that something like this will take time, and is steering clear of setting himself up for an “unrealistic disappointment.” He knows sustainability is something that will take time, and until then, raising support in the U.S. to help kids go to school, which may not be sustainable, is better than doing nothing.

Through it all, what keeps Bill and those around him going is seeing the smiles on children’s faces, smiles that weren’t there years before, children that walk with their heads held a little higher than they used to. What else keeps Bill going? His vision for the future of La Limonada:

I want to stand on the bridge overlooking La Limonada, and see people walking around confident in themselves and knowing their self worth, see people who know they can achieve things, that they are part of a community where good things are happening, a community with art, and music. I want to see houses painted with bright Guatemalan colors, and flower boxes hanging under windows. I want to see the hustle and bustle of business: tortillas being delivered, schools in session, festivals and parades. All of this, with no concern for violence.

Charity of the Month: One Mango Tree

19 Friday Aug 2011

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It started with one woman. One sewing machine. One story.
Halle Butvin, Founder and Director of One Mango Tree, was strolling through the central market in Gulu, Uganda, when she met Auma Lucy. Auma was alone in her market stall, just her and her sewing machine. Halle and Auma struck up a conversation, which developed into a friendship, which developed into a partnership. What Halle learned about Auma was that she was like so many other women in Uganda: abandoned by her husband, and left with several children to care for. Not only did Auma have to provide for her children, but she was also caring for 11 nieces and nephews that had been orphaned, through both the war and AIDS. Halle found a way to make a difference for Auma and women like her: One Mango Tree.
In deciding to start One Mango Tree, Halle had to decide on an economic model for her organization, and jump through all the loops that are involved in starting a business in a developing country. In deciding on a for-profit model vs. a non-profit model, Halle says that she “really felt that the products needed to sell themselves.” In essence, in order to create something that was going to be sustainable over time and have long term efficacy, it had to stand on its own, without the need to seek donations in order to stay open.
Making that decision was only the first hurdle, however. Just some of the challenges Halle had to overcome in getting One Mango Tree started in Gulu: registering, getting tax ID numbers, getting export licenses, navigating trade policy to determine tariffs, finding reliable shippers, etc. If these things would be difficult to do in the US, imagine doing them in a different country! However, Halle says the biggest challenge is working on their supply chain: the demand for their products is there, but the supply is often lower than demand due to lack of reliability within the textile industry, price fluctuations, and just generally a lack of available fabric.
The good news: this hasn’t kept Halle and One Mango Tree from growing and doing what they meant to do. Through the making and selling of their products, One Mango Tree has changed hundreds of lives by creating sustainable incomes for women, who can feed their families, send their children to school, and even start saving money to expand their business.
One Mango Tree also takes part in what they call “holistic community improvements.” I mentioned this “holistic” approach when I wrote about Corazon: you’re not just building houses, or selling products, you’re actually going beyond that to see what the needs of the community are: education, access to transportation, food, etc. One Mango Tree does this by providing bicycles for their staff, serving hot lunches for staff and their children everyday, providing on-site daycare for infants and toddlers. Such a brilliant concept: you’re taking care of everything that might keep a woman from coming to work: you provide her the means to get there, you provide care for her children so she doesn’t have to worry about them, you provide her and her children with food so they can be healthy and productive. LOVE IT.
Part of this holistic approach also involves training and community development that helps bring women together: some women who were victims of the war, and others who were perpetrators during the war. It also involves the Village Savings and Loan Association, which is completely run by the women in the program. Basically, the VSLA provides financial literacy trainings to teach women how to save, why to save, how to create a budget, etc., and provides them with a savings account. This is immensely important for women who have never had more than a day’s worth of food. The concept of saving for the future is probably something that is difficult for them to grasp, especially when faced with the challenge of daily survival.
Halle and One Mango Tree have not only been successful in setting these programs up, but they’ve actually been able to scale up their productions by building a relationship with Global Girlfriend. This relationship allowed One Mango Tree to bring their products in to retailers such as Whole Foods and Target. Yep, the organization that started with one women now sells their stuff at TARGET! Pretty incredible.
Although Halle believes that their relationship with Global Girlfriend is one of their major accomplishments, I think it’s the fact that this enterprise is run almost exclusively by local community members, not international employees. During my last trip to Haiti with All Hands Volunteers, the organization was talking about decreasing the number of international volunteers, and scaling up the number of local volunteers. I think this is extremely important. The purpose of organizations such as these is not to spoon feed individuals, but to give them the skills and experience necessary to take the reigns and take control themselves. Out of 58 staff in Gulu and Kampala, 54 of them are Ugandan women, two are Sri Lakan men who run the apparel workshop, and two are American interns. Those are impressive numbers.
So, what do these women actually make? Here are some images of the products sold by One Tree Mango (they’re actually having a great sale right now…you should check it out!).
(Yes, I want each of these…)
A huge thank you to Halle Butvin for her time in answering all my questions, and congratulations on the amazing work you’ve accomplished so far, and are yet to accomplish!
I’ll leave you all with some words from Halle:
“While I started OMT with the mission to give to others, I never expected to receive so much – I have learned so much about myself through the business, and every day I get to wake up and do what I love – design products, tell stories, and work with all of these strong, beautiful and amazing women in Uganda. There are certainly setbacks, but the reward of building something like this – two workshops, fifty staff who have lifted themselves out of poverty, a beautiful product line and a long list of happy customers in the US – I could not ask for more.” –Halle Butvin

July Charity of the Month: The Compton Initiative

02 Tuesday Aug 2011

Posted by in charity, Charity of the Month, volunteer

≈ 2 Comments


Holy cow, July flew by. I think this might only be the first or second time that I fail in submitting my Charity of the Month on time :(

I was also having some trouble picking a charity, but then I went to a neighborhood clean up on Saturday, and the decision seemed obvious.

When we went to the beach in Haiti, we talked about how we wish we had more time there to organize a beach clean up: there was trash EVERYWHERE. It really detracted from the beauty of the place. The thing that we all thought about, was how easy it would be to clean it up if we just got a few dozen people to help out, and how much of a difference that would make. GOALS Haiti actually did a trash pick up in Leogane not too long ago, and I hope they keep doing it!
Flash forward to the present, minus three days: my cousin told me about an event in Compton, where they gathered volunteers every few Saturdays to help clean up the neighborhood, mostly by painting houses, fences, schools, etc. Being the sucker for volunteer work that I am, I signed up and got my friend Sarah to sign up as well. I believe if the wake up time was not 5:30am on a Saturday morning, more friends would have joined us ;)
Anyhow, we got there promptly at 7am for registration, and to figure out what group we’d be working with. There were SO MANY people. I honestly thought there would be about 20 of us…but nope, I’m pretty sure the body count was over a thousand. They were mostly from various churches and youth groups…and by “mostly” I mean “almost all.” People kept asking Sarah and I what church we were with…I had no witty response. I have no complaints though, aside from one girl really pushing us to attend the Compton After Party at her church, everyone was super nice and not preachy at all.
So what did we do? Once we found our group, everyone broke off to separate work sites: various neighborhood blocks, a high school (painting walls and murals), elementary school, and a few houses. Our work site was a neighborhood block, where we pained the fences of maybe 5-6 houses. These fences are made of tiny individual metal bars…I was honestly quite sick of them by the time we finished, haha. BUT, seeing the before and after, it really amazes me what one little coat of paint can do to really revive a place.
With that said, we plan on going to the next one in October. Check them out, and see if you can attend one of their events, or help them financially so they can keep improving the city of Compton.

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