Two years ago The Pollination Project started a daily giving practice, making daily $1000 grants to social change visionaries around the world. Since we started, fifty more individuals and families have joined in, each giving $1 or more a day to support our grantees.
Here are the extraordinary people and projects we supported this week.
IT Education for Youth in Uganda. Austin Tunnel and William Campara are grooming Uganda's future leaders and developers, while tackling high rates of unemployment in their country. They offer courses in computer technology, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy to Ugandan youth at the Chunguza Computer Lab and Learning Center. The Center allows for individualized learning where students can progress at their own pace and pursue issues that they find personally interesting. Austin and William believe that self-directed learning is an important means of empowering students to pursue education and business opportunities by expanding their creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving abilities.
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Zimbabwe. People living with disabilities across the world are intimately aware of what it means to face social marginalization and discrimination.Turkson Zimbudzana (a disabled citizen of Zimbabwe) is no exception to the rule. Drawing inspiration from the challenges he has faced in his own life, Turkson has started the Inclusive Wash Promotion project, non-profit dedicated to delivering WASH (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) education to children with disabilities in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Through his non-profit organization Turkson is providing hands-on training to disability service organizations so that they can promote WASH practices more effectively.
Solar Powered Computers in Kajwenge, Uganda. Over 1 billion people live in Africa today, yet only 3% of the population has internet access. For Samuel Ndungo, a social worker in Uganda and founder of Luhwahwa Youth Development Foundation (LUYODEFO), such access is not only a necessity in a rapidly globalizing world, but it also represents an uncharted horizon of possibilities that will empower Africans to seek opportunities for personal, professional, and social development. This is precisely why he is providing solar powered computer technology to people in Kajwenge, a rural remote village in the center of Uganda where his organization is based. Samuel hopes to teach young village children and adults about the importance of computer technology while also providing the community with internet services that were previously unavailable.
Remembering Newborns in Central Illinois. For the past several years, Tricia Willoughby has provided material and social support to families struggling and coping with premature births in central Illinois. Through her non-profit organization Threads of Remembrance, Tricia and her team of volunteers have dedicated themselves to supporting families who experience the loss of a child due to extreme preterm labor by providing them with hand-made clothing, memory boxes, and burial wraps, commodities that Tricia feels help ease the burden on people coping with such life-changing events. Not only does she provide families with material support, but Tricia also offers invaluable social support to couples experiencing a loss, helping to empower them to reach out to others in similar situations and plan for the future.
A Guardian Angel for Special Needs Children in Queens, New York. Ramona Loyd is the founder of God's Guardians Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting families with special needs in Queens in New York City. A long-time advocate of special needs children and their families, Ramona started God's Guardians Inc. in order to help children through the difficult transition from childhood to legal adulthood. Ramona believes that for families without the financial means to do so, initiating the legal proceedings necessary to secure guardianship of their loved ones can be a major impediment to providing their children with the quality of care essential for their continued growth and development. Ramona and her organization have dedicated themselves to reaching out and empowering such families to make the decisions that are in the best interest of their loved ones by offering social support and legal counsel.
Solar-Power Lighting the Way in Uganda. Being wheelchair-bound has never stopped Douglas Hoag from supporting his community in any number of ways. Recently, Douglas finished a project to bring water filtration systems to 186 families in the remote village of Busuma, Uganda and now he is quite literally empowering the community through the ACM Ministries Solar Lamp Project. Dennis seeks to replace the toxic and often dangerous kerosene lanterns used in residences throughout the village with a safe and renewable energy resource: solar lamps. Dennis plans to provide the lamps to families at little to no cost and what little profits he does generate he plans to donate toward feeding local school students. When asked about his project he recently stated, "A solar lamp does more than shine a light. A solar lamp protects the environment, reduces illness, and helps transform lives."
Support for Families Impacted by Incarceration in Rochester, New York. Tammy Butler, Executive Director and Founder of Samaritan Women, Inc., has over 15 years of experience working with parents recovering from substance abuse and now she's working to empower recovering addicts to chart new directions in their lives. Tammy believes that helping parents who were previously incarcerated for drug-related offenses reintegrate into wider society is a delicate process that requires the investment of entire families and wider communities. This is why she and her son (the core of Samaritan Women, Inc.) work as a team in Rochester, New York helping families impacted by incarceration by providing them with life skills counseling, job training, family reunification services, and family counseling. Tammy's services are essential for individuals seeking to turn over a new leaf with their families and become integral members of the wider community.
Want to be part of the joy of giving? Join our Daily Giving Community, or simply create your own giving practice. It will change your life!