John and Judy Head to Africa Next Week

John and Judy are leaving for Africa soon, but they aren't going alone! Before we give you a quick peek at what they'll be up to on this trip, we are so pleased to introduce the newest member of the Eliminate Poverty Now team, Helen Greenberg, who will be accompanying John and Judy on this trip to Africa.

Helen

Helen has worked as a successful administrative professional, HR project coordinator, and community outreach person in her "corporate life." She met John while working for Warner Lambert, and they have known each other for over 15 years. Helen says, "I always enjoyed my professional relationship with him and am happy to join the Craigs - contributing to the important work that Eliminate Poverty Now does." 

Little Rock Scholar, Jane

Helen will join John and Judy next week as they head to Africa. Highlights of their trip will include meeting next year's Little Rock Scholars candidates, as well as visiting this year's scholars, Jane and Joseph, at their schools. They will also be present for the first day of distribution of the amazing Lunapads gift we told you about recently. The kits will be distributed at the new Little Rock ECD site, where both the land and building are owned by Little Rock, and the capacity for students has been quadrupled. If it works out, they are hoping to visit AFRIpads, the producers of the kits for the Lunapads grant.

They will check up on the Table Banking project, which was introduced last April, and also visit the Millennium Villages Cluster of Ruhiira, where EPN has helped fund a grain warehouse and a women's cooperative. Not only will they get to check on the progress of these projects, but they are looking forward to gleaning new ideas from what they see there.

Two women John and Judy met at the
 Table Banking project last year

John, Judy, and Helen will be traveling from July 3rd-17th. You can expect more detailed blog posts with the latest on these projects when they return.

In the meantime, please give Helen a warm welcome in the comments!

Olive Tree Pictures Produces Farmers of the Future Video

We were thrilled when we were contacted by Olive Tree Productions to do a short documentary about Farmers of the Future.  Olive Tree Productions is a "non-profit organization empowering other non-profits and ministries to tell their stories through documentaries and short films in order to reach the hearts of viewers and ultimately provide more resources for each organization as they work to see lives transformed." 

Empower, indeed! The final product has far surpassed our expectations or what we could have imagined when we first started out. 

They have produced a WONDERFUL short documentary about Farmers of the Future that really captures the spirit and essence of the project. We hope you will take 5 minutes to watch-- we are delighted to share this video with you! Please help us thank the awesome people at Olive Tree Productions for their amazing work and support. We are so grateful to have this beautiful video as a resource and tool that we can use.

You can check out more amazing short films and documentaries on the Olive Tree Productions website.

Amazing News: Lunapads Donates 2,000 Kits of Washable Sanitary Pads to Pads4Peace!

We have some amazing news that we have been itching to share with you, our amazing supporters, for some time. We had to wait until details were finalized, but the moment is finally here!

Lunapads is donating 2,000 kits of washable sanitary pads to 2,000 girls in the Kibera slum! These girls are all enrolled in programs covering sex education and gender empowerment in addition to their regular school work. The generosity of Lunapads even extends to covering the shipping costs for the pads, which are being made from environmentally friendly fabrics.

Schoolgirls like those pictured (at this Pads For Peace kit distribution) 
will be the recipients of this amazing Lunapads gift.

This means that 2,000 girls will be able to stay in school, something that will give them so many more opportunities for the future. A donation of this magnitude changes many lives--not just those of the girls receiving the kits, but also the lives of their family members. 

If you're not already familiar with Lunapads, check out what they are all about here. You will see how EPN has been inspired by them with our Pads for Peace project. The founder of Lunapads, Madeleine Shaw, has been extremely supportive and generous, acting as a mentor to Judy and sharing her intellectual property as EPN worked on Pads for Peace.

Contents of original washable sanitary pads kits.
The Lunapads gift will be something similar.

We cannot thank Madeleine and her team enough for their amazing support. 

Distribution of the kits will take place through AFRIPads in July, when John and Judy are visiting Kenya. We will have more news and pictures to share at that time.

We hope you will consider joining Madeleine and Lunapads in helping us change lives for these girls. A gift as small as $10 can make a difference. 

Thank you so much, and please join us in thanking Lunapads by leaving comments here!