Very Exciting News: Carbondale Rotary Club Grants $10,000 to Create Women’s Tree Nursery!

We are so excited to share the news with all of you that the Carbondale Rotary Club has granted Eliminate Poverty Now $10,000 to create a women's tree nursery in Galbal, Niger! The Carbondale club has been amazingly supportive of EPN's work, and we are so grateful; you may remember that over the summer, they gave us a $1,000 grant for the RockPads project that supplied 40 girls with sanitary pads.

This latest grant allows us to complete the Farmers of the Future site at Galbal, combining the income-generating project for mothers with the children's programs already in place. The women in the village of Galbal will graft fruit trees for sale in the local market, which is a very profitable business. The revenues from the business will generate about $500 per mother, a substantial increase in income for people who live on less than $1/day. The revenues will also cover all operating expenses for the tree nursery, and pay school fees for all 600 children in the village.

The above photos are from a tree-grafting training session in Niger

We don’t often tally up how many lives are changed by our work. To change even one life is to change the entire world, right? But from now on, we’re going to quantify how many lives will be changed. So here are some numbers for your consideration. As a result of this generous grant: 

• one sustainable business will be created; 
• 20 women will be lifted out of extreme poverty and be able to feed and clothe their families; 
• and primary school will become free for all 600 children in the village.

Think of the change this will make in the lives of everyone in Galbal. The ripple effect is mind-boggling – thousands of lives will be improved! When we look at numbers like this, we cannot help but be humbled by the difference we can make with the help of others.

THANK YOU ROTARY!

And as always, we are looking ahead. John and Judy are working on an even larger grant from Rotary.  By combining contributions from Rotary Clubs in Colorado, New Jersey and Canada, and adding matching funds from Rotary International, we hope to fund a tree nursery for mothers at Gonzare (our third pilot school in the Farmers of the Future program) and a vegetable garden for mothers of students at Ecole Centre, which will likely become our fourth pilot site. The project will create two more sustainable businesses, generate much needed income for another 40 women, and provide free education for over 1,000 additional students. We'll have more news on this exciting new grant this summer, so stay tuned.

News from Niger

We are very pleased to let you all know that our sheep-raising program in Gonzare, Niger ("Elevage") is expanding on its own! The first group of 20 women we funded will continue with their training, and have even made enough profit to help Eliminate Poverty Now fund sheep for some of the second group of 20 women.

EPN will also provide funding for vet costs, training, and medication for the full group of 40. Our hope is that after this year, the first group will be completely self-sustaining, and that the women involved in the project will continue to be able to help each other and expand the program further.

Our sewing/literacy center in Galbal ("Kuluje") is continuing to operate with the first 23 women. There's lots of brainstorming going on; we are looking for ways to improve the project by expanding income-generating activities and opportunities for women in the village. We want to do the absolute best we can for them as we help give them the tools so that they can do the best for themselves, and we are excited about some of the possibilities being discussed. Make sure to check back here for updates! We'll certainly share news when we have it.

EPN Receives Grant for Women's Tree Nursery

Eliminate Poverty Now is proud to announce that we are the recipient of a $2,000 grant, given to us by Jared Boyd's Macroeconomics class at Henry Ford Community College! 

Boyd's BEC 151: Macroeconomics class

Here's an excerpt from an article written about the grant:

"HFCC Business and Economics Instructor Jared Boyd received an HFCC Presidential Mini-Grant of $2,500 from the College in 2012 to fund his “Learning Through Giving,” a project that helps students learn about the importance of supporting global charitable organizations that assist people in need.

“Learning Through Giving” required students in Boyd’s BEC 151: Macroeconomics class to act as a charity board responsible for deciding how to allocate a donation of $2,500. Students researched international statistics to find nations with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of $2,500 or less. They researched the institutions, cultures and local issues in the impoverished nations, evaluated the nations based on the developed criteria, and decided on a justifiable nation to direct the funds." Click here to read the rest of the article.

After their research, the students decided to award $2,000 of their grant money to EPN! The money will go towards Farmers of the Future, specifically one of the new Women's Tree Nurseries. The nurseries are sized to hold 12,000 trees each.  

Participating women learn how to graft trees in sessions like the ones held this past August for members of the nursery at the Gueriguindi school.  This nursery began operation last fall, and will begin selling its trees this June. Half the proceeds are shared among the women, while the other half covers operating costs and pays school fees for the entire community.



For more photos of women learning how to graft trees, visit our Flickr page!

We are so grateful to Boyd and his class for their generosity and support. We are blown away by all of the good news coming our way lately, and we offer our humble thanks to Jared Boyd, all the members of his BEC 151: Macroeconomics class, and to each and every one of you!

If you'd like to contribute to funding the Women's Tree Nurseries, just click here to donate now.