April Showers!
When it rains, it pours! This April we’ve been showered with some incredible opportunities and partnerships to restore the Earth, celebrate Easter, and transform the lives of the rural poor. It’s going to be a busy month!
We wanted to fill you in on some of the amazing partnerships that launch this month!
58: Global Impact Tour 
Together with the 58: campaign, we are working to fast forward the end of poverty. This month we get to take you all on tour to see our work in the Dominican Republic! The goal is to raise $40,000 through fasting, saving, and giving. The money will be going to restoring fruitfulness to the land and empowering our farmers.
58: Film Screening
On April 13 we will be screening the 58: film at the Moniker Warehouse (705 16th Street Suite 100, San Diego, CA) at 7:00pm. A live music performance by Cameron Lewis will take place prior to the screening. Email Becky for complete details and to RSVP.
World Vision ACT:S
ACT:S is World Vision’s network of young (or young at heart) activists. This platform inspires us to put our faith into action. ACT:S is running an Earth Day Challenge in April and has invited us to curate a page, providing resources and challenges. If you’re looking for a way to honor our Creator, check out the list of act:ions to implement and add your own story of sacrifice!
Groupon
Groupon has a giving platform, so while you’re getting a deal on some local hot-spots, be sure to spend some of those savings on planting trees in Haiti! This campaign will be running the second half of this month.
Project 7 ~ Save The Earth 
Our friends at Project 7 are always raising funds for us to plant fruit trees. Save The Earth products (mints, water, coffee, gum) can be found at Walmart, in airports, and other retailers throughout the States. This month alone they’re aiming to raise enough money to plant 2 million fruit trees!
AOL
For those of you still using AOL.com, on April 24, we’ll be on your homepage! In honor of Earth Day, AOL Impact will be challenging people to donate a dollar to plant a tree!
The Way
How many of you remember this best-selling Bible from 1972? Well this month, Tyndale House Publishing is re-releasing this edition of the Bible. Our Executive Director Scott Sabin has written an excerpt that is included in the new edition. The Way is also launching a website to foster open communication, questions, doubts, and hope! We’ll be sharing our thoughts and hearts with this community throughout the year.
Is your head reeling yet? There’s lots going on, so keep in touch with our Facebook page for campaign updates, join in the conversation where you feel inspired, fast with us, give with us, buy some gum, and help us spread the word as we work together to bring hope to the rural poor.
The Gospel Lived Out.
Ladies and gentlemen, today you are in for a treat.
Yesterday we shared the incredible story of Teodora Sánchez and her church in the village of Loma Verde in the Dominican Republic. We were so inspired by the idea of a church joining with Plant With Purpose to combat illiteracy that we decided to post about it again today.
Today Corbyn Small, Regional Representative shares his firsthand experience from his trip to the Dominican Republic just a couple weeks ago. He had the privilege of meeting Teodora, the incredible literacy trainers in her church, and the inspiring men and women who are learning to read.
Take it away, Corbyn!
Spiritual Renewal: It’s as easy as A, B, C
Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve shared the incredible story of Teodora Sánchez, an inspiring woman from the Dominican Republic. We’ve shared how Teodora engaged her community in environmental restoration and how she’s joining with others to foster economic empowerment.
Today we’d like to draw your attention to the spiritual renewal that is springing up in Teodora’s community of Loma Verde.
As a pastor, Teodora is constantly looking for new ways to engage both the physical and spiritual needs of those around her. One issue that has plagued Teodora’s community is illiteracy. When she heard that Plant With Purpose had initiated a new project designed to mobilize churches to respond to the needs of the community, Teodora’s eyes sparkled with joy at the opportunity to fight illiteracy.
Through the “Church, Community, and Change” project, Plant With Purpose partnered with Teodora and her church to implement a literacy program in Loma Verde. Teodora provided the vision; Plant With Purpose helped turn the dream into a reality.
Teodora says, “The Church, Community, and Change pilot was a great blessing from God. More than 30 people attended the literacy classes in January 2012 and more are expected to register throughout the year. Church members serve as the literacy facilitators.”
As the church serves, hope swells: community members build confidence, families become less vulnerable, economic opportunities emerge, and families gain hope for a brighter future.
One of the most exciting outcomes is that community members are able to read the Bible for themselves for the first time. Hearts and lives are transformed as the Word comes alive in powerful new ways.
Wow.
Could there be a better picture of the church sharing the love of Christ with their community in word and deed?
We are touched by the transformation taking place in Loma Verde, and we are grateful for your role in joining with leaders like Teodora to bring hope to their communities in loving, practical ways.
Help Us In Welcoming Sarah!
There’s a new intern on deck in the marketing department at Plant With Purpose, that’s me Sarah Lewis, putting the ‘elation’ back in ‘Public Relation.’ What am I elated about you might ask? As the new PR/Marketing Intern, I have the opportunity to dig my hands deeper into the soil of Plant With Purpose’s mission and vision in communicating and promoting environmental restoration to a global community…but I’m getting ahead of myself, let me give you the scoop on who I am.
We’ve probably met before. You know the woman in front of you in line at the grocery store who was intermittently chuckling to herself, and later proceeded in riding her grocery cart like a luge to the car? Nice to meet you, too.
I’m a high energy person with large ambitions wrapped up into an equally large 6’3’’ package. Don’t worry, I try and funnel all the energy and spunk into multiple avenues, so not just one place gets “spunkified.” I am currently a Youth Director for 2 San Diego churches, as well as a Youth Activities Coordinator for a local refugee organization.
“Without Water There Is No Life”
Happy World Water Day! Today is the day to pause and reflect on our global consumption, current practices, and the future of this commodity: water. Let’s face it, we use a lot of water—to drink, to shower, grow food, to wash the dirt splotches off our cars. We all leave a water footprint wherever we go, and it appears that our feet are getting bigger!
For many of the world’s poorest people, their very survival is contingent on the health of their environment and access to water. Of course the same applies to us, but in a much more removed way. It’s easy to forget that our bottled water actually comes from a stream or our prepackaged food is actually grown in this thing called soil.
Plant With Purpose recognizes this growing footprint and is taking active steps every day to organize long term, large-scale restoration of ecosystems impacted by water concerns while providing for immediate water needs.
Communities faced with water scarcity are forced to send women and children on dangerous roads to local springs, often hours away, to collect water in buckets. Estilis Senat, a member of a community in the region near the Haitian-Dominican border, whose land has been ravaged by deforestation and water insecurity, remarks that “without water there is no life.”
Create Your Eden Valley
After a couple of stormy days, the sun came out! The rains brought with them the life giving supply of water to the mountains, watersheds and our yards. Around here, spring has definitely sprung! Trees are sending out new growth. Hillsides are in full bloom. My Roger’s Red leaves are budding and the scent of freesia fills the air.
With the weather warming up, it is time to start getting your garden ready for the harvests that are to come. If your backyard compost pile hasn’t fully brewed, then we want to encourage you to head to an independent garden center and invest not only in your fruits and vegetables but also in Plant With Purpose. 
Kellogg Garden Products and the Kellogg family are longtime partners and friends of Plant With Purpose. This spring, they have launched a new high-end line of premium planting mix and potting soil, Eden Valley. Eden Valley is sustainably produced and comprised of kapok sees and coir from the rainforest.
Going GREEN in Honor of St. Patrick
Today as we celebrate our honorary holiday of Irish history and folklore, we find it an opportunity to ‘go green’ in more ways than one. During Friday staff devotions, we were reminded of some truths behind St. Patrick like that he was actually from Britain. He is one of the most well known survivors of child slavery as St. Patrick was originally captured and taken to Ireland at the age of 16. He worked as a shepherd for 6 years prior to escaping and returning home. Once home, he felt the calling to return to Ireland and share with them the good new, the Gospel of Christ.
Because of the remoteness of the British Isles, Christianity developed into the Celtic
tradition that we remember today through things such as the Book of Kells, Celtic crosses, the use of the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity and the design known as the Trinity Knot. Over the decades following St. Patrick’s evangelism of Ireland, an understanding of Christianity evolved that embraced living in community, radical discipleship, a passion for peace and justice, a rich tradition of worship, affirming both men and women, and was ‘green’ in its stewardship of the earth (Saving Celtic Spirituality).
Saving Money, Sparking Hope
Last week we introduced you to a remarkable woman, Teodora Sánchez from Loma Verde, Dominican Republic. Teodora is a mother, grandmother, pastor, and empowerer.
Together with Plant With Purpose, she is overcoming poverty and empowering others to do the same.
One of the many hats she wears is the Village Savings and Loan (VSL) Coordinator. Savings groups are a way for community members to pool their own money in order to offer loans to group members, thus growing their own savings through interest paid on these loans.
Joining with 30 other members, Teodora is learning to save as well as invest in various economic opportunities. As a result, her family’s finances are improving and they even have a small cushion for emergencies.
But the benefits of these groups reach far beyond Teodora and her family’s finances. Because VSLs provide a transparent platform for community members to save and borrow money, they are no longer borrowing from predatory lenders. Families have a chance to start new entrepreneurial ventures, make improvements to their farms and businesses, and finance their children’s education. Gambling has even been reduced as a culture of savings is being fostered.
“VSLs strengthen the community. They affirm our core values: God, unity, community, and family. VSLs improve our morale and self-esteem and teach us values essential in empowering us to resolve our own problems. The community has more faith in God for a better tomorrow,” Teodora explains.
It’s amazing the transformation that can take place when communities work together to improve their lives:
- Competition is replaced with collaboration.
- Gambling and addiction is replaced with savings and accountability.
- The cycle of debt is replaced with steps toward freedom.
- Poverty is replaced with prosperity.
The entrepreneurial spirit is empowering the rural poor as they catch this vision of lifting themselves out of poverty. Teodora is just one of many hopeful collaborators in this life-changing work that leads to environmental, economic, and spiritual transformation for hundreds of communities around the world.
Hope is alive! Thank you for your partnership in bringing hope to the hopeless.
And keep an eye out for the next installment of Teodora’s incredible testimony to learn how she is fostering spiritual growth within her community.
Meet Shannon!
Hello Plant With Purpose! I am excited to introduce myself as your new Grant Writing Intern, Shannon. Let’s start with the basics.
Name: Shannon Leigh Pavell
Date of Birth: March 29, 1987 (It’s coming up!)
Education: B.A. in Business Administration, Minor in International Development from Point Loma Nazarene University
Occupation: Figuring out life. Also, Health Club Associate at Kona Kai Resort. Also, Grant Writing Intern at Plant With Purpose!
Okay, enough with the boring stuff. I want to share with you a little of my heart and why I am thrilled to be given this opportunity. I first became familiar with Plant With Purpose (during its days as Floresta) while attending Point Loma Nazarene. Being involved in the International Development Department and taking a variety of nonprofit-related classes I often heard about the success stories of the organization. The three-part mission of environmental restoration, economic empowerment, and spiritual renewal struck me because it aligned with my own ideas of sustainable development. In 2008 I considered applying for an internship at Plant With Purpose, but ended up taking a position at the Museum of Photographic Arts as their Development Intern. I enjoyed my time at the museum and was honored to be a part of another nonprofit, Kids Included Together, around the same time.
Since graduation I have been working at the Kona Kai Resort and Spa on Shelter Island where I have had the privilege of working with the greatest people in San Diego. Every day I am rewarded by the faces and stories of those I meet. Stories that make my job worthwhile. I look forward to a similar environment at Plant With Purpose, and I can’t wait to hear and share with you the wonderful work being done by the organization.
I can already tell I am going to love it here. I have shaken some sweaty hands after a lunch break work out and I have recently taken up cycling to get in shape (In fact…I rode 75 miles last weekend!) I am told there are some foodies in the office, and I am always looking for new restaurants and recipes. And like most caffeine addicts, I love sharing stories over a cup of coffee. What I am most excited about, however, is the shared commitment to sustainable development. I have a lot to learn and a lot to give. I feel privileged to be doing so alongside Aly and the rest of Plant With Purpose. I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for me over the next few months.
Bonus section: I love…my family, my friends, photography, biking, hiking, flying, sailing, the ocean, rainy days, good food, coffee breaks, traveling stories, spontaneous trips, and my lovely life in San Diego.
We’re celebrating women today!
Did you know that it’s International Women’s Day?
For most women around the world, the mere fact that they were born female places them under an incredible burden. Women are more likely to be impoverished, have less access to health care and education, and are the first victims and often the easiest targets in conflict areas.
At Plant With Purpose, we say that the poor are one of the world’s greatest untapped resources. We think that’s even more true of poor women. Across our programs we’ve seen time and again the remarkable impact and influence women can have on their communities.
In fact, studies have found that an increase of a woman’s income by just $10 achieves the same improvements in children’s nutrition and health as an increase to a man’s income of $110.
Click here to view the entire “Female Face of Farming” infographic from Farming First.
