IMN Principal, Maxandre Bien-Aime, talks about water project progress:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And, here is some related news from Erik Badger of Haiti Partners: Update on IMN water project

“Last week I (Erik Badger) visited IMN for the first time since the well had been completed. Though the storage system is still in the works, the well is functioning great and the school is thrilled to have it!  In the short video update below I explain a little bit about how the water project is designed and used.

It’s a great success for IMN to have – for the first time ever – its own water source.  The students, staff and surrounding community are very grateful, as is Haiti Partners.  Many thanks to Global Hope, Kids4Good, and all of Maxandre’s supporters in Chicago and elsewhere for making it happen!”

Click here to view the embedded video.

We are proud to share more wonderful news on our Haiti Water Project.  Below is a progress report from Erik Badger of Haiti Partners. We are equally excited to share a photo account of “running water” now available to IMN School and local community in Darbonne from Maxandre Bien Aime (Director of IMN School).  Tears, smiles, cheers – we express it all as we witness the fruits of our “goodwill in motion”

From: Erik Badger
Date: July 20, 2010 5:05:42 PM CDT
Subject: update on IMN water project

It has been about 3 weeks since Global Hope awarded Haiti Partners/IMN the grant for the water project and much progress has already been made. Though the first update isn’t, technically speaking, due yet (because of banking issues the funds only arrived in Haiti this week), I thought I’d share a few significant developments now.

• The well has been dug and they have tapped into the water table
  
• The manual water pump has been fitted in the well and set in concrete
  
• Pipes have been set for installation of the electric water pump
  
• A water tank has been selected
  
• Maxandre is working with school staff to create a management system to oversee maintenance, distribution and security of the system
  

As you know, we also received a grant from Reed Elsevier for the water purification system.  In an effort to free up more funds for the original IMN post-quake reconstruction and assistance project, we asked Life Giving Force if they would be willing to give us the purifier at a reduced cost of $5000.  They agreed, provided we support them to fundraise for the remaining $3000.  This, I believe, will work to everyone’s advantage as promoting the project will help Life Giving Force spread the word about their extraordinary product while simultaneously promoting the cause of IMN.  I’m already working with Life Giving Force to make this happen.  We hope to have the funds raised by the beginning of the school year.  In the meantime, Maxandre will use water purification tablets to make sure the water is safe.

I’m attaching several pictures Maxandre sent.  Also, I will be at IMN August 3rd, so you can expect another update not long after that (provided the internet is reliable).

Please share this update with your Board and supporters as you see fit.  If you have any questions for me, please don’t hesitate to be in touch.

Best, Erik

http://www.haitipartners.org/the-blog/

The Board and supporters at Global Hope are proud to have been a part of this project.  Thank you again to Amicus Foundation for their generous funding.   It is empowering to be able to see so much progress, made so quickly, through our efforts and those we partnered with on this project: IMN School, Schools Count, Kids4Good, and Haiti Partners – What a Team!!

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Volunteer Sign-Up Schedule – 2010 GH Community Garden

Click on the link above to see the current Volunteer Sign-up Schedule for our

Global Hope Community Garden
69th and Saratoga, Downers Grove, IL

**Garden Wish List:** a few more helping hands for:
Session 7 [Aug 22 – Sept 24]
Session 9 [Sept 19 – Oct 2]
pass the word…

If you can help out in the Community Garden during any of the open, available weeks, please let us know by clicking here to contact us.   Please let us know when you would like to volunteer and include your email and phone number.  We’ll get back to you with all the information you need to help out.

Archives

1. Voice of the Garden Newsletter June 10, 2010

2. Voice of the Garden Newsletter June 26, 2010

3. Voice of the Garden Newsletter July 14, 2010

4. Voice of the Garden Newsletter Sept. 01, 2010

Did you know that the Community Garden has a beautiful voice?  Check out the archived copies of our “Voice of the Garden” Newsletters for our 2010 Community Garden Project.  You will find them in our – Newsletter – Voice of the Garden Archives – page.

A big thanks to Beth Krueger for producing them this season.

Back by Popular Demand!

We’re headed back to New Orleans, LA to bring our special brand of hands-on, global hope support to a number of local community projects.

Our next New Orleans Service Trip has been scheduled for

Friday, Oct 29 – Wednesday, Nov 3, 2010

Interested in hard work, tons of fun and the most satisfying feeling of knowing you have made a difference in someone’s life? We will be there from Friday to the following Wednesday, and volunteers are welcome to join us on any of the days they are available—make it a fun and meaningful Halloween weekend!

Anna & Teddy - two ace painters! (2009 New Orleans Service Trip)

Contact us right away, if you want to come – we’re starting a mailing list for interested folks. Tell us your name, when you think you can join us, and your email address so we can contact you.

If you’d like to learn more about this kind of Global Hope all-volunteer service project, click here to visit our blog page from our 2009 New Orleans Service Trip.

WANTED: SOME GOOD STRONG BACKS

To Deliver School Supplies to Chicago Public Schools

Thursday, AUG 19 10am-3pm

and/or

Friday, AUG 20 10am-3pm

Dick Flesher of Schools Count has been collecting new and slightly used school supplies from over 20 area elementary, junior high and high schools.  These supplies will be distributed to the Chicago public schools most in need of assistance and serves as part of the Schools Count “Go Green” program. In an effort to do their part to ’save the planet’, these ‘nearly new’ supplies will continue to serve students in the Chicago area rather than crowd our landfills.

Where does Global Hope come in? We are looking for 3-4 volunteers for each of the two days to deliver 2281 binders, 3396 notebooks, 5438 folders, 1556 packets of loose leaf paper, 8500 pens and pens, 3000 colored pencils, 7000 colored markers,  many thousand note cards, boxes of glue, boxes of crayons, backpacks, composition books, paint sets, scissors, rulers, graphing paper and more!!  How’s that for putting “goodwill in motion”! These supplies will already be packed in boxes weighing between 10-20 lbs.

If you are interested in helping with delivery, please let us know as soon as possible so we can inform Dick Flesher.  Maps will be provided in order to follow supply trucks to each destination.  Also, due to the nature of this project, please leave “underage” volunteers at home.

Please contact Anna at aalbrecht117@comcast.net to volunteer and/or for more info.

And know that because of you, thousands of Chicago area public school students will be equipped with the supplies necessary for better learning.

For Haiti relief, Global Hope’s journey started with a commitment to:

• use our volunteer’s time and resources in a meaningful way by creating a hands-on project,
• wisely and swiftly put into action the donations we received,
• and, to ask for help, since we would be working far from home without being on site

Global Hope turned to some trusted not-for-profit partners for help and guidance and found exactly what we were looking for!  We want to share the “results” of these efforts.  Perhaps a road map of sorts will tell the story best.

First, we’ve had the pleasure of partnering with Dick Flesher of Schools Count for many years now. Dick is tireless in his dedication to education and the well-being of young students. 

In April he traveled to Mixte Nao Community School (IMN School) located in the heart of the earthquake devastation in Haiti and has since been raising funds to rebuild the school.  Dick introduced us to Kids4Good, a Darien school youth organization that has had a relationship with IMN School since 2007.

We were blown away by the enthusiasm and goodwill expressed by Kids4Good. They not only raise money for IMN School by hosting fundraisers, the children from both countries exchange beautiful artwork with expressions of hope and encouragement.

IMN School - Before the Earthquake

Kids4Good along with Schools Count raised and continue to raise money to rebuild the first phases of IMN School in Haiti. All donations to Kids4Good are channeled through a not-for-profit organization on the ground in Haiti — Haiti Partners.

Haiti Partners helps Haitians change Haiti through education. Schools Count, Kids4Good, and Haiti Partners, brought together by a deep concern for the needs of others, also have one important person in common.  His name is Maxandre Bien-Aime.

Maxandre is the Director of the Mixte Nao Community School (IMN School). He has visited Kids4Good in Darien several times and, since the earthquake, speaks of the plight of his community and school and raises awareness for his plans to rebuild.  With the generous funding from Schools Count and Kids4Good, the first phase of rebuilding the school has been completed and the children were thrilled to receive their much needed school supplies.

Schools Count Corp and Kids4Good have been busy getting the children school supplies

Over the years, he and Kids4Good developed a special relationship and members of Kids4Good were able to see what these Haitians have been able to accomplish with their generous funding and it sustains their desire to continue to expose the plight of Maxandre’s community and school.

We are so grateful to Schools Count, Kids4Good and Haiti Partners – their “connections” and guidance opened doors for Global Hope to enter and to make a difference in the lives of these friends in need.

We discovered that IMN School is an alternative school with 136 students, and because of Schools Count and Kids4Good — it was the first to open its doors, just two months after the Haiti earthquake.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We learned from Kids4Good that Maxandre’s staff had been working with no pay since it reopened.  We realized that the students of IMN School and their families were not the only people left homeless – the school’s staff faced the same dire challenges. When we entered the picture, the physical structure of the school was already in a phase-by-phase rebuilding process.  So, Global Hope focused on the needs of the staff and discovered that $2600 could pay the salaries of the entire staff (9 teachers and 3 administrative members) for a two month period.  That felt impactful.  Because of your donations and the Whole Foods One-Dime-at-a-Time Program, Global Hope has donated $2600 to IMN School for salaries.

We also learned that the water supply to the school remained an urgent matter. They were walking a very long distance with buckets and wheelbarrows just to get to a reliable water source.  We requested details on cost and efficiency to remedy the problem.  We learned that the first step was to build a well for water storage.  After studying the facts, Global Hope has just donated $4800 to IMN School to return a supply of water to the school grounds.

______________________________________________________

We feel honored to be in a position to help in Haiti through these donations to IMN School. There are many Thank You’s in order:

• to each and every one of you who gave a donation for Haiti,
• to our friends at Whole Foods, Willowbrook for allowing us to participate in the One-Dime-at-a-Time program, and
• to our friends the Erickson and Cronin Families with the Amicus Foundation, whose generous private grant this year, allowed Global Hope to fund the entire sustainable water supply for this school and community.

You helped to return a school, a community – a group of students and teachers – to the business of education and better living conditions.  A school operates with water-on-site, and with rooms echoing the sounds of both teaching and learning.  This shines brightly as an example of what can be accomplished when Global Hope, its community of volunteers and some incredible “like-minded” individuals and organizations work together and literally become “Goodwill in Motion”.

We are happy to have begun this story here for you, and to know that you are now a part of the story too. Please visit the links on this page to learn more about the beautiful people of Haiti and these most generous organizations.

In Gratitude,

The Global Hope Team

Schools Count

Kids4Good and their Hope4Haiti Initiative

Haiti Partners

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Join Us!!

“Meet you at the garden” is the new Global Hope buzz phrase.

Are you on a team yet?  We’ve created several “2-week teams” throughout the summer and we still have openings.  Pick a 2-week stint and join in the fun. Weed with a friend – meet new friends – it’s all happenin’ at:  Global Hope Community Garden, Mar-Duke Farm, 67th & Saratoga in Downers Grove, IL

Get started by clicking below to see the current volunteer sign-up sheet…then…check your calendar to confirm when you can help out.

Volunteer Schedule Sign-Up Sheet – GH Community Garden

Let us know what dates you have picked to volunteer by CLICKING HERE to email us at Global Hope — we’ll add you to the volunteer list.  We will send you an email with all the information you will need to join the team!

And we thank you in advance for your supporting this project in your local community!
We can’t wait to meet you in the Garden!

**Garden Wish List:** a few more helping hands for:
Session 7 [Aug 22 – Sept 24]
Session 9 [Sept 19 – Oct 2]
pass the word…

Envision this…

A sunny Saturday morning.
Nearly 150 vegetable, herb and flowering plants.
A field bustling with 40 tireless volunteers.
Digging, planting, watering, painting, laughing, chatting
- even singing.

Behold the 2010 Global Hope Community Garden

Our Mission – to plant and maintain a vegetable garden
and donate all produce to PADS DuPage and FISH Food Pantry.

40 volunteers arrived with gloves and trowel in hand.  Following an inspirational opening ceremony – the earth moved – literally – as each “gardener” dug, planted and watered nearly 150 seedlings.  Eager children gathered around an “art table” and created plant labels for staking and diligently painted an eight foot storage bench.

At morning’s end, our proud volunteers posed for a group shot around our beautiful Global Hope garden sign.  This photo captured the big smiles, the muddy hands and the sweaty faces.  What this camera missed, though, was the sea of glowing hearts, the generous good-natured spirit dancing about, the passion for service, the fortitude and eagerness to lend a hand to an organization whose entire purpose is to “lend a hand”.  The camera may have missed this but we did not.  We felt it most profoundly and are deeply grateful.

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO!

Keith Kelly of Innovative Communications presented Global Hope with a video account of our garden’s “season-opener” – Planting Day 2010.  As always, Keith caught every radiant face, each magical moment and masterfully interlaced every scene into a brilliant musical compilation of our brand of ‘Goodwill in Motion’ – Global Hope style of course!  We could hardly wait to share it with you…

Click here to view the embedded video.

OUR THANKS…

A most sincere Thank you – and we are overjoyed to have so many to thank!

Anna, Jack & Caroline Albrecht, Forest Chapman, Connie Christoff, Keith Kelly and nephews Dan & Mitchell, Kris Cromwell, Eva Dahm, Jean Fleischfresser, Nancy Gelband, Cheryl Jones, Sarah Joyner, Jill & Ken Koester, Marjie & Ken Kremer, Sheila Krueger, Beth Krueger and son Ryan & friend, Jaydon, Greg Lee, Ginny Lothrop, Mary & Jack Lothrop, Patrick & Colby Murphy, Gayle Mullins, Dickie & Teri Niedospial, Callie Niedospial, Marge & John Pavich, Liz Rossignuolo, Nick Scelfo, Lisa Sparagna, Petey & Nathan Sydello and Doris Taylor.

Marge and John Pavich rototilled the rows for planting and openly shared their immense range of garden wisdom.

Mel & Mary Genaze, Cheryl Jones, Frank & Ann Klicar, Liz Rossignuolo, Lisa Sparagna, Marketa Venerova and Whole Foods/Willowbrook donated the seedlings that will soon put healthy food on the tables of many local families.

Nick Scelfo, Forest Chapman, Greg Lee and Tyler West provided invaluable help with rototilling and soil prep (in torrid weather), hauling water buckets, painting and planting – and essentially took over most of the many heavy-lifting tasks.

Artist Kris Cromwell adorned a previously mundane rain barrel with adorable hand-painted veggie characters and directed a team of budding artists at our art table.

Petey Sydello built a sturdy 8 ft. storage bench designed to keep our garden staples safe and dry.

Doris Taylor, truly a garden sage, inspired and directed volunteers to attend to every planting detail.

Keith Kelly of Innovative Communications performed his “video magic” once again by filming and producing a magnificent video account of a most memorable day.

Our garden glows because of all of you!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

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