The Affero Blog
Announcing October’s Winner
By Lucas Parry in News
Dear Affero Members,
Another month has passed and we’re excited to announce the winner for October! Blood:Water Mission has taken the month by storm and we’ll be sending them $762 to help towards supporting 3 HIV/AIDS clinics. Last year 17,580 people were tested for HIV and treated with over 22,000 people served through the clinics, impacting families, communities and changing lives. This year will see even more people helped and treated!
So a HUGE thank you goes out to YOU for contributing and helping us change the lives of over 20,000 people this month. Visit Blood:Water Mission’s page on our website http://afferoproject.com/organizations/bloodwater-mission/ to learn more about the clinics were supporting.
Remember, its not one person doing something great that will change the world. Its many people doing small things with great love.
Changing lives together!
Lucas Parry
ECHO WINS SEPTEMBER!
By Lucas Parry in News
Dear Affero members,
We’ve come to the end of September and we’re excited to announce that ECHO has taken first place. We’ll be sending them $770 this week!
ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) works in 180 countries fighting world hunger through agricultural training finding sustainable farming solutions for families growing food under difficult conditions.
Malnutrition is the largest single contributor to disease and over 1 billion people were undernourished in 2009. Our donation this month will provide scholarships to development workers from Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Uganda and other countries who otherwise could not afford to attend the ECHO national symposium to be held in Tanzania, 2011. These national workers would not otherwise have access to the life-saving information and networking that can help them better serve the poor that they are working among.
Entire communities benefit when health, nutrition and agriculture are improved, therefore it’s hard to measure the scope of impact our donations will bring through this one opportunity to ‘train the trainers’. THANK YOU for your gifts this month and another HUGE THANK YOU for voting for ECHO. We’re proud to support such a wonderful organization!
For more information on Echo visit their website at www.echonet.org.
Together we’re impacting the world!
Lucas Parry
CURE International Is August’s Winner!
By Lucas Parry in News
Dear Affero members,
What an exciting 5 months it has been since we launched!
First let me announce this months winner…. CURE INTERNATIONAL.
Earlier this year Marc Krejci, Peter Rees and I had the opportunity to spend time at CURE Internationals hospital in Uganda. You can read about that trip HERE. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life! This hospital sees over 2,500 patients a year and treats them for hydrocephalus and spina bifida. Literally saving thousands of lives. Together we have helped to fund some of these operations.
We sat and talked with the mothers of the children at the hospital, and with eyes of tears expressing the deepest gratitude, they send a heartfelt “thank you” to all of our members who have given and contributed to this cause. Affero helped to save their children’s lives!
WHAT WE’VE DONE THIS YEAR
It has given me great energy and joy to be a part of our small but growing community these past 5 months. I want to take a moment and share our success’s and marvel at what we’ve been able to achieve.
- We’ve given over $3,500 to 5 different organizations engaged in combating poverty and injustice
- 141+ registered monthly donors to date
- Donors in three countries: USA, Australia and New Zealand
- 14 Artist and Celebrity Endorsements
- Launch of the “I’M IN” Campaign
- Sponsored the Alive Festival in OH, Branding to over 20,000 people, 16+ volunteers, 400+ people signed up for the “IM IN” Campaign.
- Average of 20% growth each month in number of donors and funds released.
- Launch of the Affero blog, now with 6 guest weekly bloggers.
- 7 volunteer staff
- Completed our first international scout trip to Uganda
- 5 categories filled with partner organizations; Lifewater International, Lifesong For Orphans, CURE International, The Home Foundation and Doulos Discovery School for our first round of funding.
WOW! We’ve come a long way and we have much more ahead.
Over the coming months we’ll be in contact about many new initiatives we’re launching including; Affero website 2.0, The Pepsi Refresh Project, upcoming Affero Adventure trips for 2011, tours, events and much more. We’ll be asking you to ‘dive in’ and help us grow our community so we’re able to give away more money and impact the world in greater ways.
September 1st brings all 12 Categories up for voting… so be sure to check out every one of our partner organizations and the amazing work they are doing around the world that we get to be a part of.
Thanks for joining together in community to change the world.
Together we’re changing lives,
Lucas Parry
July Winner Announced!
Dear Fellow Affangelists,
What an exciting month! We broke the $700 mark in funds being given away, and now have 122 Affero members from 3 different countries! We’re growing and fast approaching the $1000 mark.
Our $704 dollars this month went to our WINNER – “Lifesong for Orphans”, helping Lifesong feed and educate 150 orphan children in Zambia for a whole year. Take a moment to visit Lifesong’s website www.lifesongfororphans.org, they do much more than just feed and educate orphan children. You’ll find a wealth of information on adoption including grants and loans they offer to people in the process of adoption.
August is out last month of voting on this cycle (we operate on a yearly cycle)- so we only have one category left! SEPTEMBER will see us reset with all 12 categories up for voting with new projects and organizations doing the most amazing work all around the world. Voting will be fun and competitive, but we all know that eventually throughout the year EVERY category will get funded… that’s the beautiful thing about Affero. TOGETHER we are able to do more, GIVE more and CHANGE the world in ways never possible by ourselves.
I want to thank you for joining us as one of the very first members of Affero. We dream of the day when WE’RE giving away $1 million dollars a month, but not everyone will be able to say “remember when we were small?”. We have some huge and exciting website developments on the way this next year that will make the Affero Experience like no other. More details to come in a few days, but needless to say we have a very clear plan to get to to the point where we’re giving away $1 million dollars a month.
Thanks for joining us in this dream. Together we’re changing the world!
Lucas Parry
June Winner Announced!
The votes have been tallied and this month’s category winner is…Human trafficking.
Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor: a modern-day form of slavery. It is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest, after the drug-trade. Our partner organization, The Home Foundation deals domestically with the issue here in the USA where some estimates state that between 100,000 and 300,000 people are trafficked within our own borders every year. This is staggering and a very vocal reminder that much needs to be done to combat human trafficking both locally and internationally.
Our funds this month will go towards helping four shelters across the USA, housing and restoring trafficked victims who have been brutalized by this industry. Your gift allows us to support these shelters, giving new life to the rescued women and children.
Another way you can support this cause right away is to SIGN UP for the 31 days of freedom with The Home Foundation. Visit www.thehomefoundation.net/31days and join now.
May 2010 Winner
We are excited to announce our May winner… Lifewater International from our Clean Water category!
If you haven’t already, go and visit http://afferoproject.com/organizations/lifewater-international/ and view their profile page, check out their video and learn more about where our funds will be going. Because of your generous support we’re able to contribute $396 to helping build 14 wells in communities surrounding the city of Lira in Uganda.
In mid-June, Marc and Lucas will be traveling to Lira Uganda to visit Lifewater and the projects we’re helping to fund. We’ll be shooting lots of video and photos of all the amazing work we’ve contributed to, and will be posting updates on the blog from June 13-28th (pending internet connectivity).
So a HUGE ‘thank you’ to everyone in our community! Together we are able to do remarkable things and truly change the world. If you’ve not yet joined us, visit http://afferoproject.com/ and decide how much you can give each month, then learn about our categories by clicking on the category images and cast your vote. Every month we’ll have a new winner and the combined funds for that month will be released.
Happy giving!
The Affero Team
We Have A WINNER!
We are very excited to announce The Affero Project’s very first monthly winner! (Drum roll) With a total of 172 votes over the 6 weeks since launch, the winner is…….. Education! The Doulos Discovery School will be receiving a check of $586 in the coming weeks to go towards the building of four brand new classrooms.
The Dominican Republic has the lowest investment in education in Latin America and the Caribbean with only 1.9 percent of its GDP invested in public education. Only 50 percent of children that enroll in primary education complete the first four years; 22 percent finish the full eight-year primary education program, and just 10 percent finish high school.
Thanks to you, we’re able to help combat this devastating cycle of poverty by empowering and growing student leaders through the Dominican’s most remarkable education program. Be sure to visit www.doulosdiscovery.org and learn more about the school and other ways you can help.
Education Facts
Receiving an education is vital to the eradication of poverty worldwide and crucial in rebuilding devastated countries and economies. Much work has been done in this area in the past 10 years but more needs to be done. In South-Asia the adult literacy rate is 63 percent, nearly 20 percent lower than the global rate, while only 43 percent of females are likely to attend secondary school. In some African countries like Burkina Faso, the adult literacy rate is only 23.6%. Access to primary education and schools for all children is a vital need to combat this major global problem.