GROW month is in full swing, and this is a great time to reflect on how GROW helps communities. At GROW by Organics Unlimited, we are especially grateful that we can help children reach their full potential, and one such place where we do that is in Ecuador.
Ecuador is one of the locations of our organic banana farms. It is a beautiful country that lies on the equator. But for all its beauty, it is also a country where one out of four children lives below the poverty line. This makes giving back to the community extremely important, especially in order to help children succeed.
In Ecuador, GROW is able to aid communities through a clean water program as well as through the Early Childhood Education Project. Based in Guayaquil, Ecuador this program was founded in 2013 and provides academic reinforcement to children from pre-school through sixth grade through tutoring. Children are tutored twice a week for 1.5 hours in community centers and approved private homes by high school and university students with high GPAs. In 2015, the program assisted 459 children through tutoring and counted on 61 volunteer educators.
Benefits to the children are apparent in everything from math skills to grammar. One young child participant, Milton Alfredo Campos Garcia said, “In the Tutoring Program I have learned many new things, such as how to use a dictionary to find out the meaning of the words that I didn´t know. This has made a very good change in me because I have improved my handwriting and the way I express myself. This is the part that I have enjoyed the most in the Tutoring Program. I am thankful for the help given through this program as it is a great contribution to the development of all the beneficiaries.”
Funds for these programs are made possible through the sale of GROW organic bananas, and are managed by International Community Foundation (ICF) and then distributed to Children International in Ecuador, who runs the program. Reports on how funds are applied and benefits of the program are provided to Vickie Wiedemann, vice president of Children International, who provides them to ICF and to supporters such as GROW.
There is so much work to do in these communities, but thanks to your support we can continue making a difference. When you help us spread the word using #GROWmonth you are also helping children in need build a brighter future.
Read more about Organics Unlimited’s commitment to social responsibility.
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