August 2011

Eat So They Can Newsletter

Hi ,

I have just returned to the office after a wonderful month in Peru. The ESTC distribution trip was such a beautiful and inspiring trip, and I have come home feeling refreshed and full of energy for ESTC 2011! I wish you could all have been there to experience it but I will do my best to try to make you feel a part of it by posting photos on our ESTC facebook fanpage and blogging about the trip.

One big highlight for the team was assisting at the launch of the Peruvian Promise Program and hearing the 16 girls from this program speak about their dreams for the future. Some girls spoke of wanting to become doctors, several planned to study engineering, one hoped to become a tour guide, and others dreamt of travelling the world. The Peruvian Promise Program will help provide the girls with everything they need to help make these dreams a reality.

Another highlight was organizing a morning tea and drawing competition at Pampallacta school during the kids' vacation. The road to Pampallacta is incredibly twisty with big drop offs and I definitely had a few doubts along the way about whether it was a good idea to be bringing the group so far into the mountains! But once we arrived and saw the kids running down the mounatain to come and see us, we all knew that it was worth it. The kids from this community really need our support and we are excited to be able to support our partner's Nutrition for Change program at the school which is helping to reduce malnutrition and improve school attendance.

A huge thank you to our amazing Distribution Team who were such a wonderful group of compassionate, dedicated and fun people! A special thank you also to our partner Peruvian Hearts for all their hard-work and for their love of Peru.

With gratitude,

Eliza Raymond
Executive Director
GVN Foundation

Top News

• Check out ESTC's Fiona Millar on CTV!
• Our Peru distribution trip has just returned. Keep an eye on our website for upcoming details on next year’s trips!
• Heard about our party packs? They contain a dvd, and all kinds of neat stuff to promote your event! If you haven't yet registered to receive one, please email info@eatsotheycan.org
• We need your help! Send us your recipes, so that we can share them around the world!
• Check out our blog for a recent series on how Eat So They Can ties in with the UN Millenium Development Goals.
• Keep up to date with news and updates by 'liking' our facebook page.

Feature event - Anita Zayghami’s rooftop cocktail evening

The Eat So They Can weekend is fast approaching, with many events already underway! ‘Dance for a Cause’ was an event organised last month by one of our Ambassadors, Anita Zayghami. Held in Rockville, Maryland, USA, the event consisted of a rooftop cocktail and dance party, and also included a swimsuit fashion show. It was open to the public, which meant a great number of people were able to enjoy the event, but just as importantly, it meant that Anita was really able to raise awareness for Eat So They Can. Over $500 was raised for the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children Cause, which will be hugely beneficial to our projects.

A huge thank you to Anita for organising ‘Dance for a Cause’. We really appreciate all the hard work you put in!

P.s. If anyone else has any news or updates about events they held or are holding, let us know! We would love to help promote your event in our newsletter, blog, or facebook page, but we also just love hearing about what our hosts are up to! Email info@eatsotheycan.org with all the details.

Feature partner – Peruvian Hearts

This month we were thrilled to announce the launch of the Peruvian Promise Program, an initiative of Peruvian Hearts, one of Eat So They Can’s partner organisations. The program focuses on female leadership, striving to change the way that girls are underappreciated in Peru, and unlock the potential for these girls to become leaders in their communities. Peruvian Promise will work with 16 adolescent girls using a research-based curriculum, mentorship, and service work to teach them about self-empowerment, self-esteem, physical health, hygiene, mental health, and leadership.

Through funds raised from Eat So They Can’s children’s cause, the GVN Foundation is helping to fund the Promise Program. The goals of this program are to:

• Increase educational opportunities for girls in rural Peru
• Increase the potential for leadership in girls in rural Peru
• Increase girls' sense of personal empowerment
• Guide girls to set personal short-term and long-term goals
• Develop and increase family support

The Promise Program will achieve these goals through providing scholarships that include matriculation fees, uniform fees and school supplies. In addition, mentor meetings will be provided as well as academic tutoring when necessary. The girls will also be supported through a big sister/little sister program.

If you would like to support the Peruvian Promise program, you can choose to support Peruvian Hearts when creating your event. For more info, you can contact us by clicking here.

Feature partner – Faith Victory Association, Rwanda

FVA is an organisation located in Kigali, Rwanda, whose work seeks to help vulnerable women and children living in poverty. Founded in 2003, their mission is to facilitate processes that help eradicate poverty, reduce HIV and AIDS infections, and help communities in capacity building programs aimed at the transformation of society.

FVA aims at being a vanguard of development by enlarging people's choices and capacities while guiding them towards a social destiny that captures their hopes and aspirations. They endeavour to work with all people toward harmonious living, reconciliation, provision of quality education, better health care services and the eradication of poverty. Their main targets are marginalized members of the community and those most affected by HIV/AIDS and the Genocide of 1994.

If you would like to support FVA, you can choose to support our ‘Orphaned and Vulnerable Children’ cause when creating your event, or choose to support FVA directly. Let us know if you have any questions by clicking here.

Call for Recipes

There is one thing common to almost every Eat So They Can event, and that’s food! So we’re asking for you to share your favourite recipes with us. Have you got the skills to make a scrumptious stir fry, a tasty tortilla, a mouth-watering macaroni, or any other delectable dish? If so, let us know! We know that many of your favourite recipes may be top-secret, passed on from one generation to the next, and only ever spoken aloud in code, but come on, help us out, it’s for a good cause!

We’d love to share some of your recipes on our blog, facebook page, or in our next newsletter, so if you would like to contribute, just send us an email by clicking here.

Not long to go now!

September is almost upon us, which means that October isn't far away either, which means that Eat So They Can weekend is a matter of weeks away! Don’t forget you can always contact us with any questions you might have as the big day approaches.

Good luck with your event planning, and don’t forget to keep spreading the word about Eat So They Can. With your help, we can make Eat So They Can 2011 a roaring success!

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