Every week is a new opportunity to seed the change we want to see in the world. This week at The Pollination Project, our team supported projects that feed people, advocate for animals, and preserve cultural history. Congratulations to the latest grantees to be welcomed into the Pollination Project global network.
An Animal Sanctuary in Ashtabula, OH. The Lasa Sanctuary is a non-profit animal sanctuary in Ashtabula, OH that promotes compassion for animals and vegan lifestyles through hands-on educational experiences. Through their "Say Hay, I Love You" Hay Shelter Project, volunteers at Lasa will build a storage shelter to provide year round food stocks for the 88 rescued animals who call the sanctuary home.
Religious Institutions Grow Edible Landscapes in San Francisco, CA. Bountiful Churchyards is a non-profit organization that helps food insecure populations in the San Francisco Bay Area by teaching them to utilize spaces where they can grow or glean their own food. Through their Seeding Bountiful Churchyards campaign, the organization will work with local churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues to create accessible, edible landscaping for people in need.
Grieving Families Find Support in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The Gifts from Jada Foundation, Grief Relief for All program provides support to individuals and families struggling with the loss of a loved one. Through their unique brand of compassionate care, Gifts from Jada helps those in need access important counseling services, secure financial support, and connect with other grief-related resource such as childhood grief camps and emergency hotlines.
Promoting Peace in Europe. Claire Payne, Olivier Loose, Christiaan Gevers Deynoot, and Amir Salameh are the driving force behind the European Platform for Middle East Dialogue (EMPED). Together, this international coalition of changemakers creates opportunities for constructive dialogue between Europeans and people living in conflict zones in the Middle East. In their newest project, the Third Way, EMPED will air films documenting the stories of Palestinians and Israelis in order to promote European participation in regional peace campaigns.
A Schoolyard Garden in Oxon Hill, MD. In many cities around the US, children grow up without ever having the opportunity to experience the beauty of the natural world around them. In her project, the Schoolyard Habitat: Butterfly Garden, at a public Montessori school in Oxon Hill, MD Nicole Nelson will convert a vacant school yard into an educational space where students can learn about the natural world through hands-on activities in a living laboratory.
Animal Rescue in Rajnagar, India. Sumathi and Sumeidha Iyer are the founders of People for Animals Ghaziabad, a community-based organization working to promote animal rights in Rajnagar, India. Since the organization's founding in 2012, People for Animals has cared for more than 3000 sick/injured animals, many of whom have been rescued from illegal slaughter houses.
The Myth of Meritocracy in the US: Race in the Workplace. Through their documentary, Ameritocracy: Racism in the Post-Racial Workplace, Heather Lyons and Andrea Giampetro-Meyer aim to illustrate the ways in which the complex realities of race and racism in the US play out in the workplace to create an environment of unrecognized privilege and racial barriers. Through their film they will generate informed public discourse about how social science and law can work together to foster meritocratic workplace environments.
Promoting Animal Rights through Educational Outreach in Canada. Thomas Knowles is the founder of the Wildlife Defence League Outreach Program in Vancouver, Canada. Working closely with the indigenous groups most affected by trophy-hunting and related activities, the Wildlife Defence League uses educational outreach campaigns to promote compassion for non-human animals. Over the next year the Wildlife Defence League will use a multi-faceted approach to outreach by presenting at conferences and distributing informational materials at schools and beyond.
Plants Purify Contaminated Water in Malaysia. The Malaysian Youth Heroes group was founded by Chuck Chuan Ng in order to promote youth involvement in environmental conservation and rehabilitation projects throughout Malaysia. Through the organization's newest initiative, the Brownfield Phytoremediation project, Chuck will train Malaysian youth to use a revolutionary plant known as Vetiver grass in order to purify local water sources contaminated by runoff from industrial and domestic sites.
Teaching Communities about Sustainable Resource Use in Kenya. As populations have continued to expand in Kenya's mountainous Kisii County, the need for wood fuel has resulted in an alarming rate of regional deforestation. Working in concert with Concerned Mind International, Bertilla Kemunto will establish a local educational center in Mosocho, Kenya to teach community members about sustainable natural resource utilization in his project, the Santa Community Empowerment on Sustainable Resources.
Alternative Education Helps Underprivileged Students in Seattle, WA. At the Leschi Peace Garden in Seattle, WA Kim Blackmore and Juli Hudson are promoting educational advancement for underprivileged youth by bringing students out of the classroom and into the natural world. Through their project, students attending Leschi Elementary will have the opportunity to learn about core subjects through hands-on, tactile learning experiences such as forest hikes, planting and harvesting crops, and studying seasonal changes.
Art-Based Therapy in Barnegat Township, NJ. After turning to art as a method for coping with her mother's fight against cancer, Danielle Servedio-Panbechi founded Project Pink Ink to improve the lives of hospitalized patients in Barnegat Township, NJ. Over the next year, Danielle's organization will donate inspirational artworks to patients at a local hospital's oncology department. Upon their release, patients will be able to take the donated works of art with them as a daily reminder of their strength and perseverance.
A Mobile Seed Library in Mexico. Somos Semilla is a community-led seed conservation project in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. Since its founding in February 2015, Somos Semilla has offered free trainings and workshops on seed preservation and conservation as a means of promoting food sovereignty. Over the next year Somos Semilla will establish a mobile community seed library in order to further preserve the cultural and botanical heritage of communities throughout the region.
Promoting Agroecology in Indonesia. Hayu Patria is working to preserve Indonesia's rich biodiversity in her project, Our Seeds, Our Future. Located in Sidoarjo, Indonesia, Hayu's project involves the promotion of agroecology through educational outreach, organic seed catalogues, and an upcoming conference/festival in October 2016 celebrating the local agroecology movement.
Do you want to be part of a movement of all that is good in the world? Please join us as a daily giver or apply for a grant yourself!