June 2012 Newsletter

Eat So They Can 2012 is now well and truly under way! We’ve had the pleasure of announcing our International Interns, who have been chosen to represent Eat So They Can in their communities to raise awareness and support the campaign. Our International Interns play a crucial role in ensuring the success of Eat So They Can. Our thanks go to everyone who applied, and congratulations those who have been selected!

Our Executive Director Eliza Raymond is currently in Peru, where she has been leading the Eat So They Can Distribution Trip. Alongside a team of willing and enthusiastic volunteers, Eliza has been distributing funds raised during the 2011 campaign to our partner organizations in Peru. You can read about the trip here.

Are you thinking of hosting an event this year, but not sure where to start? Check out our past events page for some inspiration, and make sure to put the weekend of 20-21 October in your diaries!

International Interns

We are very excited to announce the 33 individuals from 10 different countries around the world who have been selected to be International Interns with Eat So They Can for the 2012 campaign! Training is already underway to ensure that they are prepared for the exciting challenge ahead. Profiles of the Interns are slowly being added to this page, so keep checking back to find out all about them!

Congratulations to:

Anne O’Neill, USA                                             Arianna Governatori, USA
Ashley Kalynchuk, Canada                             Bex Murch, UK
Bianca Odhiambo, USA                                  Bonnie Chipp, Australia
Casey Flynn, NZ                                                Chantelle Gregory, Australia
Edmond Sacre, Australia                                 Estelle Roux, South Africa
Graeme Russell, NZ                                         Hadae Kim, NZ
Hadley Warner, USA                                         Ingrid De Assis, Brazil
Janine Viret, Canada                                        Karthik Krishnamoorthy, USA
Kayla Thomson, USA                                       Kelly-Louise Warner, Australia
Kelly Ann Buddecke, USA                                Lacin Idil Oztig, Turkey
Lauren McPhee, Canada                                 Lauren Schaefer, US
Lennon Cameron, NZ                                      Mariana Ceia Ramos Mariano da Rocha, Brazil
Michelle Strong, Australia                                Natalia Monroy, Canada
Olivia van Wetering, Australia                         Punkhuri Chawla, India
Raleigh Dickinson, USA                                  Rasika Uplekar, Switzerland
Samantha Summers, USA                              Sasha Geschwind, USA
Shannon Felstead, Canada                           Shannon Henry, Canada
Shelley Bragg, China                                       Vivian Nosti, USA
Samantha Walmsley-Barlett, NZ

The Interns will be organizing and hosting events, raising awareness within their communities, utilizing media channels, recruiting others and working together for ideas and inspiration. Welcome to the team!

Featured Project: Nutrition For Change, Peru

Lamay is a small, rural town located in the Sacred Valley of Peru. The children who attend school in Lamay often walk for two hours or more, to and from school each day. Children used to come to school hungry and they would fall asleep in class. The Peruvian government recently decided to provide primary schools with a simple breakfast to try to alleviate this problem but the kids are often hungry again before they head home as their families generally do not have the resources to provide them with a packed lunch.

Our partner, Peruvian Hearts, runs a program called Nutrition for Change. This program provides a daily nutritious lunch and vitamins to the 250 Lamay school children each day before they make the long journey back home to their remote mountain communities. This program has helped to improve school attendance and reduce malnutrition in the area.

By raising funds through Eat So They Can this year, we will be ensuring that this project can continue in 2013. Together we can make sure the Lamay children have a nutritious school lunch to develop healthy minds and bodies.

ESTC Distribution Trip to Peru

The ESTC Distribution Trip 2012, which took place from 10-17 June in Peru, has just come to a successful end. Participants on the trip visited our four current projects in Peru, which are:

• Leadership program at a rural orphanage for young girls which provides tuition fees, uniforms, school supplies, mentoring and tutoring for young girls, to increase educational and leadership opportunities, increase the sense of personal empowerment, and much more. 

• Women’s empowerment workshops to train mothers from an area of high social risk on how to make jewelry, to improve the opportunities for women to generate incomes for their families, reduce their financial vulnerability and improve the lives of their children.

• Nutrition program at a remote school in Pampallacta to provide a daily meal and vitamin for the children whose families are primarily dependent on sustenance farming.

• The Nutrition for Change project featured above.

In addition, the Distribution Team had Spanish lessons, visited Incan ruins, and much more. More photos from the trip as well as the experiences of the participants will be available soon! Check out Eliza’s blog post to read about her highlights from the trip.

Thanks to our wonderful sponsor!

www.vertia.co.nz

Save the Date!

Remember to put the weekend of 20-21 October 2012 in your diary now - and it's never too early to start planning your event! Check out our Past Events page for some inspiration, and remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, as well as our blog, for the most up to date information, tips and tricks for hosting your event.

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter, and we hope to see you involved with the campaign this year, helping us to bring nutrition to 2,000 children around the world.

~ The ESTC Team

Eat so They Can is a fundraiser for the GVN Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization in the United States established in 2005.

GVN Foundation is proud to be in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).