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The stories behind the grants
Valhalla Organics: Resilience & Regrowth After Disaster
Ruby Reid was an environmentalist from an early age, but she never expected to become a double climate refugee. “I’ve been concerned about climate change since I was a tiny kid. I had the book 50 Things Kids Can Do to Save the World and I did all of them.” As an...
A Smile From Above: The Little Library That Will Fight Book Banning in the USA
874 book titles were banned from schools in the United States in the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, PEN America. “Keep fighting forward but do it with integrity, in a way that your children will be proud of you,” Nicole Smith.Human life is finite and, after...
Setting Souls Free: DeafCan Mentorship for Deaf-Autistic Adults
It is estimated that around 2,500 million people will have a certain degree of hearing loss by 2050, World Health Organization. “We do have a future as long as we still have people committed to being a friend to those in need”, Zaineb Al-Abdulla, founder of Deaf...
A Way to The Heart: The Community Plant Based Lunch Program
1 in 200 Australians don’t have a safe or affordable place to sleep, Australian Human Rights Commission. “My hope for the future is for people to care more about connecting to each other, as well as our planet and all the species that inhabit it. When profit is not...
A Small Part in the Extraordinary
Where We BeginIf I’ve learned anything from being an advocate for a better world, it’s that the story is rarely about you. It’s about them. Those who are impacted by and benefit from the actions of others. There are people doing incredible work. Everyone has their...
Knitting a Better Future for Girls in Uganda
“Starting something is an achievement. Taking the first step is already being on the way to something better,” Ruth Abwalo. In Uganda, 1 in 4 women aged 15 to 49 experienced violence by a former intimate partner in 2018, UN Women.Knitting is a silent promise for the...
Building Bridges of Hope: Bello’s Robotic Club
“Bridges can be built to help people have a better quality of life,” Carolina Hernández, Bello's Robotic Club.Between 1820 and 2002, technological growth and change has caused global inequity to increase from 28% to 85%, UNCTAD Technology and Innovation Report 2021....
Spotlight On Grantee: Lourdes Jimenez Mora
This year Lourdes celebrates 33 years working to protect animals! Lourdes has been a grantee since 2018 when she received a seed grant to support the International Congress of Animal Rights in Veracruz, Mexico. Lourdes holds this yearly conference to bring together...
LightEd: Bringing Light Where It’s Most Needed
775 million people don't have access to energy worldwide. “The little things we do for people go a long way,” Stanley Anigbogu, CEO LightEd.Life is a collection of moments, both common and extraordinary, that shape the course of our personal story. But it's in the...
Rebuilding Lives
Sarah Yener, the English Department Chair at a high school in Antalya, Turkey, created a project that is having a profound effect on the lives of those who lost everything when earthquakes struck the Turkey/Syria region in February 2023. Prior to applying to The...
Merging Arts Education and Activism to Create Social Change
Dakota McMahand-Owens, founder of Budding Artists, started her organization in response to the lack of access to high-quality arts education for young children in her community. As a classically trained pianist, who took her first piano lesson at Watts Towers Art...
The Path of Dreams: Community Permaculture Garden
The province of Manitoba has the second highest inflation rate in Canada making it difficult for many families to make ends meet. “You can rebuild what was lost. You can create something out of nothing even when other people don't believe it”, Torrence Ledwich,...
Spotlight on Grantee: Greta McClain, fighting for the health and safety of all
In late November, Greta McClain, Executive Director of Silent No Longer TN, was approached by a fellow community organizer about a coalition she and some others were trying to start called, “The People's Party Coalition.” This collection of individuals and...
A World of Change: Animal Home Care
Every year 29 million cows die in the dairy and meat industry world wide. “Always keep in mind why you started, remind yourself why you wanted to change the world,” Nina Andersson, Animal Home Care.“If you want to change the world, start with yourself,” stated the...
Yuki Jackson: After the Storm
After experiencing three shootings in Sulphur Springs, Tampa, Florida, Yuki Jackson knew it was time to act. “Do what you can with what you have to make a difference. Even if it takes a while to see the impact you are making”, Yuki Jackson, Founder of The...
Using Art to Piece Together a Compassionate World
“I think art is about self-growth and I totally believe that things evolve on their own - they have a life of their own - and if you pay attention to what’s going on, it will lead the way.” - Janny TaylorJanny Taylor, an award-winning artist, best-selling author and...
Center for Gender Justice: A Place to Belong
Only 2 out of 10 women own property in Albania. They are deprived of their right to inherit and ownership. “My biggest hope is to have a world where women and men can be equal, not only in the eyes of the law, but truly in real life”. Adena Vangjeli, Executive...
Liquid Spine: Movement to Inspire Social Inquiry and Action
“Just like your spine connects your body together, the water connects us to each other. We need to appreciate the Earth, the water, the animals and come together in a way that sparks action and unity.” Katie Pustizzi, creator of Liquid SpineBorn on the Marshall...
From Finance Executive to Nonprofit Leader, Samantha Wettje is Helping Students to Learn and Thrive
Samantha Wettje grew up with a father who struggled with mental illness and addiction, which had a lasting impact on her. During middle and high school, she wanted to distance herself from this experience as much as possible. When she was deciding what to do after...
Africa & Beyond: One Girl’s Dream for the Deaf Community
“The world was created with so much diversity; that is its beauty. If we were all the same, it would be boring… colorless. What makes it colorful is the different people we meet.” - RebeccaOlatunji Ayodele Rebecca, founder of the I Can Sign project in Nigeria, was...
Erfahrungsbericht über das Online Retreat vom 3.-5.12.2021
Es war schön, so viele Menschen kennenzulernen, die das gleiche Problem haben wie ich. Die große Dimension des Leids der Tiere und das Erkennen der Tierindustrie in unserer Gesellschaft wurde mir erst gegen Ende 2019, also erst mit 56 Jahren, bewusst. Ich bin...
Educating Zimbabwe Youth to Become Environmentally Conscious
An increase in natural disasters, a rise in global temperatures, and extreme weather events throughout the 21st century have brought with them some troubling implications for the state of our world due to the effects of climate change. Whilst climate change has...
Nicole Ndiaye: Growing Food, Connection and Community in NYC
Nicole Ndiaye is a mother of two, a farmer, and an incredible entrepreneur whose love of people, animals, and the environment led her to create beautiful community gardens where people can access quality food in the Bronx borough of New York City."I once had a kid...
Two Scientists are Using an Unconventional Approach to Analyze Nature
Scientists and professors, Michael Shilo DeLay and Anastasia Bendebury were interested in the history of science and how different concepts - outside of just laboratory ideas - come together to develop new understandings of the world. Curious and creative, they...
Violet Matiru: Connecting Communities and Nature in Kenya
It is impossible not to feel inspired when speaking with Violet Matiru. The dedication that Violet brings to her work connecting youth to the natural world shines through in her words and demeanor. “I’m very passionate about young people. I care about young people...
How 9VT\5 is Opening Doors for Unpublished Writers and Poets in America
Growing up in a family of musicians, Marlon Paine was an artist before he even knew it. Some of his earliest childhood memories are learning how to play the guitar and listening to his father’s friends play music together during the holidays. “I was in my first band...