Saturday, April 28, 2012

Keep Up the Great Work!

As you can see on the right, we've had a few more donations come in!  Thanks to your help we are getting closer to our goal of building 8 keyhole gardens to start a school lunch program at Terrat Primary School.  We are so, so, so excited!!!

In addition to the money already received, we've had several people commit to donating, as well as some classes and schools agree to participate in a fundraiser for the project.  As the donations are actually sent in, we will continue to update the thermometer so you can track our progress.  We're hopeful that we may be able to raise enough money to build the gardens, as well as hopefully get the land surveyed for cost estimates for a well to be built (about $600 for the survey) to benefit the entire community around Terrat.

Keep up the great work!  Don't lose steam now.  You are giving hope and creating so much excitement here.  We thank you!!

Ben and some of the students at Terrat

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Fundraiser Ideas for Students



Fundraiser Ideas for Students

  1. Penny Auction – Students bring in old toys, games, books or other items to be auctioned off to fellow students.  Funds raised from the in-class auction go to support GLP’s Terrat Project.
  2. Bake Sale
  3. Car Wash
  4. Rummage Sale
  5. Can/bottle drive – Collect empty bottles and cans and take them to your local recycle center for cash.  Have the students tell neighbors and relatives about the drive, too!
  6. Stop by your local garden center or privately owned nursery - People like to support the things they are passionate about.  If you have a local nursery, flower shop, or garden center, stop by and let the manager know about your upcoming class fundraiser for The Green Living Planet.  Ask if they would like to make a donation to the project.
  7. Organize a potluck lunch or dinner – During the meal, collect a freewill donation offering from your diners, explaining that all funds raised go to the Terrat Project.
  8. Penny War – If you have multiple classes participating, arrange a central location where students can deposit coins into collection jars.  Each penny in a class jar counts as one point.  Students can deposit nickels, dimes, and quarters in the jars of other classes to subtract points.  The class with the most points wins an ice cream or pizza party.
  9. Garden Sale – Plant tomato, green bean, cucumber or other seeds in Dixie cups and have a garden sale for family, neighbors and friends.
  10. Old CD/Book Collection – Collect old CDs and books and sell them at your local CD exchange store or used book store
  11. Go Green! – Have the kids decorate and sell reusable shopping bags if you choose to host and event like a rummage sale, bake sale, or potluck.
  12. Host an ice cream social – See if a local ice cream/yogurt stand is willing to donate ice cream or yogurt for the kids to sell to raise money.  Great advertising for them – and funds for the project!
  13. Movie Day – See if a local movie theater will donate the theater for the day (they get money from concessions sold and you get ticket money raised) or host a movie night at school, selling tickets, popcorn and snacks – cheaper than going to the movies and it goes to a great cause.

Terrat Primary School Keyhole Garden Project Proposal




Terrat Primary School Keyhole Garden Project

Objective:  To build 6 keyhole gardens at Terrat Primary School to help provide vegetables for a school lunch program for the children.

Current Situation:  Terrat Primary School currently provides education for over 1000 students in a rural area outside of Arusha, Tanzania.  Facilities at the school are second-rate even for Tanzanian standards.  The floors are dirt-covered, ceilings unfinished, carrying sound from one classroom to the next and there are not enough desks or chairs for the students to sit in.  Students attend classes from 7 am to 2 pm, many leaving their homes at 6 am to make the journey to school. 

Most schools in Tanzania provide a basic lunch offering for students, but Terrat Primary School does not have the funding to purchase food for the kids.  The area around Terrat is a rural agriculturally-based community.  In years past, children would bring food grown at home for the school cook to prepare; however, over the past 3 years the community has experienced substantial drought conditions and almost all of the crops have completely failed.  Mothers gather to an area near the school grounds once a week to collect meager food rations from the government to provide their family with a daily meal in the evenings.  Because of the food shortage, students often go 8-10 hours during the day without food.  The lack of nutrition inhibits learning ability.

Assistance Plan:  The Green Living Planet (GLP) is working with the headmaster, teachers and parents of students at Terrat Primary School to improve the environment and soil conditions in the community.  GLP has already planted 183 trees with the children on the school grounds.  We are now hoping to build 6 keyhole gardens at the school that will help provide vegetables to prepare for the students for lunch.  A keyhole garden is an African-style garden that utilizes a central compost basket, which maintains nutrient-rich soil in areas of land where suitable soil is scarce.  You can see pictures of keyhole gardens we built at Good Hope Orphanage in Arusha, Tanzania on our website (http://www.greenlivingplanet.org/Current_Projects.html) or in the project video we have included.
 

Project Costs:

$640 - 8 Truckloads of Soil
$200 – 4 Truckload of Manure
$640 – 8 Truckload of Compost
$240 – 8 Carts of Grasses
$280 – Bricks for Garden Walls
$40 – Shovels
$40 – Buckets
$40 – Hoes
$60 – Vegetable Seed Packets
$2180 Total Project Cost

How GLP is Raising the Funds:  The Green Living Planet is partnering with friends we know who are teachers and/or educators.  The students at Terrat Primary School are optimistic, hard-working, and full of joy.  Ideally, this project will be centered on the students – kids helping kids!  We are hopeful that you will share the story of Terrat Primary School, the project video and assistance plan with your students.  Start a conversation with them.  Ask if they are interested in helping the Terrat students and find out what ideas they have to help. 

We are attaching a fundraiser “idea sheet” to help spark your creativity, but often the best ideas come from kids so ask them how they want to help.  Our goal is to have 10 classes commit to a goal of $100.  Please let us know by Wednesday, April 25, 2012 if you can participate.

All funds raised will be transferred through PayPal, unless you prefer to send them directly to Tanzania via Western Union.  Monies raised will need to be transferred by May 18, 2012 so that we have time to receive the transfer and purchase materials before the project date.

Any additional funds raised above the $1000 project cost will go to a fund started to have a well dug that will assist the local community and provide potable drinking water for the students.

Follow-up:  Throughout the building project, we will send photo updates to you to share with your class so they can see the difference they have made.  We will also post updates on the website www.greenlivingplanet.org as well post a video on our YouTube channel when the project is complete (http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreenLivingPlanet).  If you’d like to send a picture of your class to share with the students at Terrat, please email it to info@greenlivingplanet.org.  With your permission, we will also post your class picture on the GLP website.

If you have any questions, please contact Rebekah Wilberg, our in-country fundraising coordinator at rebekah.wilberg@gmail.com or email The Green Living Planet directly at info@greenlivingplanet.org

On behalf of the students at Terrat Primary School, we can’t thank you enough!

Progress on the Terrat Primary School Project

Hey friends!  As many of you know we are raising money to build 8 keyhole gardens at Terrat Primary School outside of Arusha, TZ.  The goal of the project is to start a school lunch program for the students who go 10-12 hours each day without a meal.  We've been so encouraged by the outpouring of support we have already received and wanted to start a blog to keep you updated on the progress of the project, share great ideas from other fundraisers, and post pictures of the schools, classes and individuals who are helping the kids at Terrat.  Many of you have asked if you can make individual donations to the project, as well.  Of course!  We are in the process of opening a Stanbic bank account for The Green Living Planet.  In the meantime, you can donate via PayPal or Western Union.  Just email me at info@greenlivingplanet.org or rebekah.wilberg@gmail.com for details.

The next few posts will include previous communications such as our project proposal, fundraising ideas and YouTube video links.  Keep an eye on the fundraising bar to the right to follow the progress!  We couldn't have done any of this without you.  Thank you is not enough...

Love,
The Kids at Terrat and The Green Living Planet