Love 146

by Kate McElhinney

I first heard about the organization Love 146 through my church, Coast Vineyard. About a year ago, the assistant pastor made an announcement that a few people who wanted to start a coalition for this nonprofit here in San Diego would be meeting after the service. Anyone who was interested could join them for a brief meeting out on the designated benches. I considered attending this meeting, but decided that I was too busy that day.

Over the next few months, I was surprised to see how the ministry had grown. It kept popping up in conversations, or meetings would be announced in the church bulletin. A couple from my home group, Rob and Kelly Lower, became actively involved. They would eagerly tell us each week about upcoming events. Last spring, they helped organize a rummage sale and a dance to raise money to help support prevention programs and relief work for children who have been victims of sex trafficking.

Now, just yesterday, Rob and Kelly told me that they will be stepping into more of a leadership position by becoming the point of contact for the San Diego region. They are busy planning various fundraising events, such as a gala, for the upcoming year. The coalition has surprisingly boomed over the last year as word has spread about Love 146 and their important message.

Love 146 works to abolish child sex slavery and exploitation. Every year at least 1 million children are estimated to be trafficked around the world, mainly in the Asian region, Europe, Africa, and yes, sadly the United States. They are forced to work in dangerous conditions with little or no pay, and are often subjected to beatings or rape, and suffer from serious physical and psychological damage.

By training aftercare workers, multiplying safe homes, and providing therapy, Love 146 works to provide tools and support for victims so they can transition back into their communities. The organization also protects children by developing and sustaining targeted prevention projects in high risk communities while defending the rights of the vulnerable through advocacy.

I am surprised with how quickly word has spread about Love 146 over the past year. Even though it might not be direct, I like to think that my work with Plant With Purpose helps this organization. As a result of deforestation, poor families are forced to migrate into slums, making them and their children more susceptible to traffickers. By providing environmental solutions to humanitarian problems, Plant With Purpose focuses on the root issues of poverty, thus helping the organizations who work to defend people on the other end.

If you would like to get involved with Love 146 or if you are interested in finding out more about coalitions in your area, visit www.love146.org. Or, feel free to contact me if you’re in San Diego and I can pass your message on to Rob and Kelly.

The Naked Truth about Marketing

by Aly Lewis

Early this morning I was cruising the blogosphere, minding my own business, when I came across a shocking post by William Easterly on his blog, Aid Watch. It stated: Supermodel vows to stay naked till USAID funds reach starving children.

After literally laughing out loud at my desk, my first thought was, pure genius. What better way to raise publicity and awareness for an issue few people think about without high doses of media sass-and-splash to probe their consciences? Only after my first cup of coffee did I start to think that a marketing campaign more closely resembling a celebrity sex scandal may not be the best type of publicity for starving East African children. Or is it?

My mind has been buzzing with hoards of crazy, creative, and even downright ludicrous marketing ideas and campaigns that bombard my otherwise quiet life. Every time another crazy idea crops into my media outlets, I can’t help but become slightly green with envy—both for the publicity fellow organizations and individuals are garnering in the name of their cause and for the sheer genius of their marketing ploys.

In the last couple weeks alone, I’ve ran across a friend vowing to eat only one bowl of rice a day until he raises a million dollars for hunger organizations (Simple Size Me), a former bartender raising money for clean water projects from wine tasting events (Wine to Water), and, of course, the shocking vow of nudity from selfless supermodels.

Sounds like Plant With Purpose needs to jump on the marketing stunt bandwagon. Don’t think we haven’t thought about it. At PWP we’ve toyed with the idea of putting our interns in trees (non-paid and captive, sheesh, the lengths those crazy kids will go to bolster their resumes…) and have tried (unsuccessfully) to launch a Trash for Trees project for over twenty years (catchy title, but apparently not quite sexy enough). Unfortunately we’re not on a first name basis with any scandalous celebrities and our office full of local-organic-vegetable-eating-and-yoga-practicing-twenty-somethings cannot afford to lose any more body fat, even in the name of awareness-raising.

So until the perfect scheme strikes the PWP marketing team like a lightening bolt, we’ll have to stick to raising awareness one blog, tweet, and donor at a time. So, loyal PWP followers, we thank you for your support despite our felt lack of scandal and media intrigue. Not that we don’t have excitement. We have plenty of creative initiatives in the works that we’re stoked on and can’t wait to unveil. For now, you’ll just have to stay tuned.

Oh, btw, turns out the vow of nudity from selfless supermodels to support starving children was a farce by William Easterly testing his marketing theories for causes. Well, the stunt definitely caught my attention—and resentment.

Anyway, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the media, humanitarian marketing, and even your ideas on how PWP can soar to new levels of publicity.

We've Got Fans, another way you can be a part of Plant With Purpose

by Corbyn Small

In a week and a half Plant With Purpose's fanpage on facebook has gone from under 150 members to almost 400! The Facebook fanpage is a quick and easy way to for us here at Plant With Purpose to share regular photos of the day, happenings in the field and office, upcoming events, and videos with our followers. 

We have talked a lot about the multiplier effect in recent blogs and seeing an increase in over 200 members in just a few days time shows that you can make a difference. It was only a  group of about 10-12 people who participated last week and invited their friends to check out the Plant With Purpose fan page and look at the results! Now 200 more people will have easy access to ways to be involved in the good that is being done in 225 communities around the world. 

In part with launching Plant With Purpose we have been working hard to make a grouping of social networks including another facebook cause page and we even have a twitter account with over 350 followers. It's quick, it's easy, and you can do it too! We'd love to keep you updated and informed and it is as easy as clicking 'become a fan' to the right of this blog post. If you want to take part in the multiplier effect then all you have to do is click here then 'suggest to friends', and your friends will get to join in as well. Thanks for being a part of spreading Plant With Purpose's message and truly being a part of an organization that is transforming lives.

Recent shots posted as photo of the day on the fanpage

Compassion is a "Full Time" Job

by Aly Lewis

Today’s blog post is going to be short and sweet. Time is money, right? Actually, in light of upcoming Labor Day (or more appropriately, A-Break-From-Labor Day), I want to share some thoughts with you from Henri Nouwen (okay, okay, I know I’m obsessed) on the importance of patience and slowing down.

According to Nouwen, patience is the keystone of a compassionate life. Practicing patience requires living in “full time” instead of the world’s busy, self-focused, time-is-money mentality. To live in this “full time” is “to enter actively into the thick of life and to fully bear the suffering within and around us.”

As we enter into a three-day weekend, I hope that we can view our downtime as a chance to embrace the grace and salvation offered to us in every moment. That in the midst of our busy lives we could open space for others and experience seemingly unproductive moments as full, meaningful opportunities to allow others to be realized, accepted, cared for, and loved.

Happy Break-From-Labor-Day!

The Man Who Planted Trees

Every Tuesday we have staff trainings here at Plant With Purpose. The topics vary; sometimes we hear trip reports from staff who have returned from visiting our programs, and other times we have guest speakers guide us in discussions on community development. The point is to keep us educated and enthusiastic about our work!

The Man Who Planted Trees is a wonderful video we viewed this last Tuesday, and it is a reminder of all the benefits of trees and an inspiration to us as we seek to be stewards of God's creation.

The below article, written by our Executive Director Scott Sabin, was posted today on Sustainlane.com.

The Man Who Planted Trees

by Scott Sabin

Earlier this week I was given a copy of the 1987 animated video, The Man Who Planted Trees. This wonderful little video, available online in several places, is a reminder that the link between trees and prosperity may seem obscure, but there is a remarkable connection. The converse is true as well, as we are reminded in our work everyday.

Though largely hidden from our sight and consciousness, farmers working at or near the subsistence level make up a huge proportion of the world’s population. Working with crude hand tools, they eke their living from rocky hillsides, while walking for hours to get water and firewood.

Their soil and their water are essentially their only assets, the only things they have on which to build a life. These are dependent upon the health of their watershed – upon the forests upstream and the trees in their communities. Trees are vital for preventing soil erosion, and can even help to restore the soil by fixing nitrogen, bringing buried nutrients to the surface and contributing leaf litter and other organic matter to the soil. Where the trees have been stripped from the hillsides, massive soil erosion follows, robbing the poor farmer of one of her most valuable possessions.

Water availability and quality are also dependent on the health of the forest. Absence of trees results in a decrease in the local rainfall. This is magnified by the fact that when the rain does fall, there is little to stop it from immediately running off before it is able to soak into the ground. Where the soil is protected by a canopy of trees to break the fall of precipitation, leaf litter to slow runoff, and roots to increase soil permeability, water is able to infiltrate and replenish local aquifers. On the other hand, on uncovered soil, water can simply be the engine for erosion and downstream flashfloods. If the water does not soak in, the water table drops, wells dry up and the local environment will become drier. The farmers of many countries can point to rivers that were once reliable sources of water but which today flow only during heavy rains -- and at those times, flood higher than ever in the past.

Public awareness of water issues is growing, but often stops short of caring for the health of the watershed. Where the land has been stripped of trees a desert is soon created. But it is a reversible process as we have also seen. Just as depicted in the film, when trees are planted rivers, streams and springs return.

Trees are also a natural filter. Studies have shown a direct correlation between the absence of forest cover and the presence of E. coli and other contaminants in the water. This especially impacts the rural poor who cannot afford to have water piped into the home or to buy bottled water to drink. Instead family members, especially women, often walk hours to fetch water and additional hours to collect the firewood necessary to purify water by boiling it.

Ultimately, deforestation is one of the root causes of rural emigration, as people leave the unproductive countryside in hope of a job in the overcrowded cities, or perhaps in the United States. One of the reasons that we began planting trees and working with poor farmers in the state of Oaxaca ten years ago was the realization that much of our immigration problem in Southern California is rooted in declining opportunities in the mountains of Oaxaca – a state that has been referred to as the most eroded spot on earth.

But as we have happily found, this situation can be reversed. Land can become productive again. Families, split by lack of opportunity and illegal immigration, are thrilled by the opportunity to stay together. God’s plan of redemption and restoration can be graphically demonstrated as we work together with the poor to reclaim degraded lands.

How rich are you?

by Aly Lewis

I recently re-stumbled upon this enlightening website called The Global Rich List. Answering the question how rich are you?, really. Not compared to Britney Spears or your neighbor with the Lexus or your friend who gets a new wardrobe every season, but compared with the rest of the world.

If you're ready for a small dose of perspective and maybe a large dose of humble pie, check it out and see how you compare...

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

A little bit about me

by Corbyn Small

I'm taking a break from the usual current events style of my blog posts to let our readers know a little more about myself, your regular Tuesday Plant With Purpose blogger. I graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University last year with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and a goal of finding work at a local San Diego marketing firm. About three months before graduation things were looking grim in the job market and my curiosity in the non-profit world was peaking. With a newfound interest in international community development I worked with my first non-profit organization in Mexico and Armenia, followed by a five month search to land me at Plant With Purpose. From the time when I first heard about Plant With Purpose I had a lot of learning to do before I would understand what true community development work is and why it is something that I would fall in love with being a part of.

I see my current position as Outreach Coordinator as a support role to the programs and indigenous field staff who are teaching individuals to plant, create savings groups, disciple communities, and take charge of their own lives. My job is to spread the understanding of sustainable community development, and to show people that the word sustainable isn’t a word that has come into existence just in the last 5 years.

As an expert in the field of Community Development (CD) and a good friend of Plant With Purpose has defined, "CD is the process whereby people learn to take charge of their lives and solve their own problems." CD is empowering individuals to change their lives. The simple, yet effective, age old quote goes like so, “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.”

While we are on the topics of fish and sharing more about myself though… I have three fish

tanks at my apartment in Point Loma, San Diego. My roommate and I have a nice collection of African Cichlid fishes that come from one of three main lakes in Africa, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Malawi, and Lake Victoria. All of these lakes happen to be in Tanzania and Burundi, regions where our Plant With Purpose programs are located in Africa. What started off as a simple 10 gallon fish tank set up has turned into nearly 100 gallons of freshwater tanks with fish ranging from the size of your thumbnail to the size of your palm. It sounds like an obsession, but I don’t think most people have realized the added benefits of fish tanks in your home.

1. No cable/ no problem: fish provide literally hours of entertainment.

2. Conversation pieces: with creative names like Mrs. Peabody, Cornelius, Rafiki (pictured above), and Sergeant Pepper soon people will want to know the names of all your fish.

3. Class: there is a close relation between a good looking fishtank on your mantel and a mahogany bookshelf filled with books.

4. Satisfaction: though they aren’t quite like having a pet dog you will be happy to raise them up from little fry to a being a good looking healthy fish.

5. Low maintenance: a thirty minute cleaning every 4-5 weeks!

I have been taught a lot about teaching a man to fish and that is great because I love fish!