As part of GlobeMed at Middlebury’s mission to raise awareness for, and improve upon the health issues that affect those living in poverty, we partner with a grassroots health organization, Gardens for Health International (GHI). GHI is a nonprofit in Rwanda providing holistic community solutions to malnutrition via agriculture, local government clinics, and health education. This year GHI expects to serve over 2,000 families, which entails equipping patients’ families with resources like seeds and small livestock to create home gardens that support their basic nutritional needs, technical assistance on farming techniques, cooking demonstrations, and training on proper nutrition and health practices to ensure sustainability. Their work can dramatically improve lives, as just one season after enrolling in GHI’s program 81% of children were at a healthier weight. If you would like to learn more about GHI, I’d be happy to to tell you about how amazing they are, or you can visit their website: www.gardensforhealth.org.
This year, our project is to raise funds to support GHI’s overhead costs including its office maintenance costs, transportation costs of staff to and from the office, and staff salaries – costs that are difficult to fundraise for but that are crucial to GHI’s operations. 90% of GHI’s team is Rwandan and all of the field staff is from the communities they serve, so overhead is beneficial to the local economies as well. To support our project this year, we have set a fundraising goal of $15,000, and have begun achieving it through various events on campus. Holiday giving is our most substantial fundraiser however; so I’m asking that you please consider contributing any amount to support our project with GHI. You can mail a check to the address listed below, or use our website, http://www.razoo.com/story/Middlebury, which allows you to donate on behalf of someone else, in the spirit of this holiday season! If you have any questions about our organization or our project, please let us know!
