There ain't no party like a Learning Tea party.
An Atlanta café owner has gone from raising funds through tea parties to establishing a Darjeeling-based support center, which rescues orphaned girls in India from poverty. Katrell Christie's nonprofit, The Learning Tea, has saved 11 young girls in India from bleak futures, Fox News reports. The funds from her tea sales help Christie to provide these at-risk orphans with shelter, medical care, educational scholarships, and futures free of poverty and exploitation.
“We supply anything you would possibly need to live: a place to live, clean water, nutritious meals, supervision, uniforms," Christie told Fox News in the video above. We pay for all education, all books, all medical. We keep everybody up to date on their shots.”
She is expecting to open a second Learning Tea center this fall in Kolkata, Christie told Fox News.
Her initiative began when she reluctantly visited Darjeeling in 2009 and met several young girls living in a government sponsored orphanage, which usually release girls from their custody once they turn 16. Like the girls that Learning Tea now helps, many of these orphans were facing futures of homelessness and sexual exploitation. Christie soon discovered that none of the 56 girls had much hope for more fulfilling lives - inspiring her to help out.
"They all had answers until I asked, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?'" Christie explains in a Learning Tea promotional video. "Not one of the 56 girls had an answer. Not one of them had every been given the ability to dream. Not one girl had ever thought they could be something other than nothing."
To learn more about how you can help out, or if you just want some Darjeeling-grown green tea, visit the Learning Tea's website, here.
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