ShiftHappens: Our Blog:
The stories behind the grants
Stories for Thriving on Earth: Patrick Kasele
Patrick Kasele never expected to work in environmental education. After realizing that his work in corporate communications was not fulfilling his desire to help the community, he quit his job to pursue his passion for sharing and protecting the natural world. “Nature...
Five Unique Ideas in Service of Environmental Regeneration
In The Pollination Project’s ten years of operation, our community has funded almost 700 projects focused on environmental conservation and regeneration! Although every grassroots leadership project is unique, today we are using the blog to highlight a few that...
Using Education as a Means to End Poverty and Create Hope
When Alagie Ndow was only nine, his parents divorced leaving him to be looked after by his aunt who lived in a poor, remote village. As he struggled to complete his secondary education, Alagie connected with various volunteer service programs that not only helped him...
Color My Dreams Africa: an Organization Spreading Literacy and Hope
Edith Cherotich Ndiwa was born in a small village in Kenya to parents who both attended school and it is their education that would come to play a major role in charting the course of her life. Her father, a fan of Stephen King and other authors, invited her to expand...
To Be Rather Than To Seem
My home state of North Carolina’s motto is “esse quam videri,” which translates from the Latin as “to be rather than to seem.” This was on my mind recently in a team conversation about how The Pollination Project, as a global community of changemakers, should respond...
The Abortion Diary: A Unique Space for Stories and Conversation We Need Now
One of the most challenging and important things for our country and our world to try right now is to engage in conversations and hold space for people to share their stories without judgment. The ability to give full, open-heart and mind attention to people - outside...
A Compassionate Warrior’s Heart
In the wake of the decision to overturn Roe V. Wade in the United States last week, I found myself reflecting upon The Future of American Buddhism conference I attended earlier in the month. Buddhism, much like the ethos of The Pollination Project, is steeped in...
Creating an Environmental Brigade in One of the Most Beautiful Places on Earth
Beatriz Carmena was a teenager when she fell madly in love with Nature. Intrigued by everything from erosion and restoration to how Nature maintains its natural order and balance, she decided to study environmental engineering. An internship in Oaxaca, Mexico where...
Dr. Camila Perussello’s New Book “Food for Thought” Offers Science-Based Advice on How We Can Do Better for Animals, Ourselves and Our Planet
A thought-provoking new book by Food Engineer Camila Perussello, PhD, Food for Thought: Planetary Healing Begins on Our Plate, presents a fascinating, science-based analysis of food production and consumption that illustrates how what we put on our plate has a direct...
Play2Learn: Dedicated to Overcoming Obstacles and Inspiring Children to Follow Their Dreams
Using her voice and gift for teaching, Mercy Abdulsalam inspires and influences change by empowering young people in Nigeria to discover their potential and lead exceptional lives of service. Growing up, she’d been exposed to creative games and sports, however she saw...
One Organization Makes Strides in Caring for Animals and the Environment
In the heart of the Ozark mountains, just miles from the Buffalo River, lives the Human Society of Marion County, a no- kill shelter that is not only having an impact upon the lives of animals and people, they are having a profound impact on the environment as well....
Working to End Gender-based Violence
Even as a child growing up in Mtakuja II, Anthony Migeka was aware of gender inequality. At an early age, he saw that girls and women in most African communities were often disregarded and had far fewer privileges than men in almost every area of life. In thinking...
Urban Gardens and Repurposed Waste Materials Create New Opportunities for Street Youth
Wairimu Mwangi, an inspiring woman with a love for sustainability and desire to design a balanced life, developed an incredible project that is changing the lives for street youth in the urban areas of Nairobi. In teaching youth and those living in informal...
Creative Ideas to Help Communities Around the Globe
Vulnerability. Courage. Creativity. Heart. Time and again throughout the course of six weeks, these were the qualities exhibited by the members of the first, exceptional cohort of the Greenhouse Project. The Greenhouse Project, a program developed by The Pollination...
An Inspiring Podcast Addressing the Mistreatment of Animals in a Unique Way
Angela found a bird in a garbage can while throwing out the trash, it was drenched in food oil and unable to fly. The young girl, who was only six or seven at the time, ran back inside her home wondering what to do. Her Mom who’d grown up on a farm told her daughter...
10 Billion Strong: Launching an Environmental Leadership Movement
Patrick Arnold created 10 Billion Strong, a leadership development organization focused on environmental sustainability, because he believes it’s unjust that more than a billion youth as well as future generations have to find solutions for environmental catastrophes...
HelpUkraine: Opening Their Hearts and Homes to Ukrainian Refugees
“When you try to help someone, I think that there are no particular inspirations, you just need a little sensitivity and humanity.” Those insightful words opened a heartfelt conversation with Luca Quaiotti, the project and educational manager for ETHIKA and...
Thank you TPP Volunteers
“If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness. By giving that definition of greatness, it...
Girls’ Pride: Inspiring Conversation and Generational Change
A few years ago, Fatoumatta Kassama met a woman named Sarah who would share a story that would have such an impact, it would change the course of her life. Sarah, a retired American teacher, has been working on a project that supports girls’ education in Kenya but she...
Vegan Kitchen in Ukraine: A Light of Hope in a Dark Time
Before the Russia-Ukraine war, Every Animal, a vegan animal rights organization in Ukraine founded by Tamara Human, was focused on vegan education and protecting animals. There was an online education course. There were vegan tours and samplings. They even wrote and...
Art-making as Therapeutic Practice for Refugees
In the summer of 2019, a small group of volunteers began to notice an important need within the refugee community in Athens, Greece. Women and LGBTQIA+ migrants and asylum seekers needed a safe space where they could engage in creative expression. In such a space, art...
Reflections from The Greenhouse
Over the last six weeks, nearly 50 grassroots volunteer leaders gathered each Tuesday and Thursday morning over Zoom. They were part of our very first cohort of “Greenhouse,” The Pollination Project’s new community and capacity-building effort. Representing 17...
“I Matter”: Uplifting the Voices of Youth Around the World
Isabella Hanson received her first Pollination Project grant for her work which focused on empowering girls when she was only nine-years-old. Then in 2020, at the age of 14, Isabella once again looked to empower and amplify the voices of youth, only this time it was...
One Woman’s Expressive Quilts Inspire Us All to Create a Better World
Allyson Allen is not only an exceptional quiltmaker, she’s an artist and storyteller who is using her gifts to create works that inspire reflection and, most recently, stand up to censorship. In 2019, Allyson was thrilled when she won the Laguna Beach Arts Alliance...
Tumbleweed Sanctuary: An Illustration of Love and Respect for All
Imagine driving along a four lane road when you suddenly come upon a dog standing in the middle of one of the lanes. Would you stop and help? When Andrea Johnson found herself in that exact situation, it wasn’t even a question as instantaneous thought gave way to...
News From the Resilience & Recovery Fund
This month, The Pollination Project’s Resilience & Recovery fund will turn two years old. It was born in the early days of the pandemic, conceived out of an understanding of the importance of community-led, grassroots responses to unforeseen emergencies. We...
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