2018 Grant Recipients
1. Philippines Humanitarian – $1000 a year (year 4) for 5 years to provide schooling for five children
Philippines Humanitarian (PH), an all-volunteer, certified non-profit organization, was brought together by the common desire of private citizens to provide educational scholarships and opportunities for disadvantaged children and their families in impoverished areas of the Philippines. One important component of the scholarship program with Philippines Humanitarian is that many of the scholars come back after graduating to volunteer the foundation. In fact, the current librarian/caretaker of the community library was once a scholar of the foundation.
The Jewish Helping Hands grant money will be used towards helping children in the Payatas Community. Extreme poverty, crime, drugs, poor sanitation, and precarious employment are the primary community concerns. A distinguishing feature of the area is the Payatas Dumpsite, the largest open dumpsite in the Philippines. Most of the Payatas residents earn a living either as garbage scavengers, construction workers, or drivers. In 2000, a massive trash-slide triggered by heavy rains buried thousands of homes and took many lives.
The students who go to Payatas Elementary School live in the area immediately surrounding the Payatas dumpsite and come from very poor families. While education is free in the Philippines, many students lack the money for school-related expenses. Jewish Helping Hands is awarding a grant of $5,000 to sponsor 5 children over the course of 5 years ($200 per child per year). The money these children receive will enable them to purchase uniforms, books, school supplies, and shoes.
2. Bright Kids Uganda – $1,600 Rain Harvesting Tank and System in a Children’s Home in Uganda
Bright Kids Uganda (BKU) is a children’s home located near Entebbe, Uganda. The mission of Bright Kids Uganda is to rescue vulnerable and economically disadvantaged children from the dire circumstances in which they are currently living by providing them with an education, medical care, a loving home and other basic necessities. Bright Kids Uganda’s vision is to establish long-term community-based homes for orphaned, abandoned and neglected children and to provide them with loving support, education, job training and medical care.
At this time, BKU has only one small rain harvesting tank, leaving little to no water for other needs once the cooking and cleaning is done. The water bills for BKU are also quite high, putting a large strain on the budget. Furthermore, Uganda has been affected by a long drought, which has impacted the supply of water available. With the $1,600 grant from Jewish Helping Hands, BKU will be able to purchase and install a new rain harvesting tank and purification system along with pumps to bring fresh water into the dormitories for the children can have easy access.
3. Northeast Earth Coalition – $5,000 Promoting local sustainability and food security
The Northeast Earth Coalition (NEEC) works at the community level to protect the environment and promote local sustainability and food security. The objective of the organization is to improve access of low-income communities to fresh healthy local produce by promoting community vegetable gardens.
The $5,000 grant from Jewish Helping Hands will be used to fund 2 important initiatives:
The Urban Growers Program focuses on educating, coaching, and monitoring the work of volunteers working with community gardens to teach them how to grow their own local organic food in community vegetable gardens as a strategy to make fresh healthy organic produce accessible to low income families.
The Environmental Initiatives Program seeks to educate communities about environmental issues, promote environmental protection, and develop and support community-level environmental education projects, and train local environmental leadership.
These initiatives are expected to support 110 low income families in Montclair, Passaic, Paterson, Bloomfield, West Orange, Totowa and Wayne by providing over 3,000 additional pounds of vegetables annually.