These children suffer from violence and abuse, no home, lack of proper medical care, and little or no education. But chief among these problems is hunger, a global epidemic that disregards race, age or geography. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO) measures hunger as the number of people who do not consume the minimum daily energy requirement. Thereby, making it difficult to work, study and perform light activities. The Global Hunger Index hovers around 1 billion people or 1/6th the world's population. Six million children die a year due to hunger and the World Food Programme has stated that a child dies every six seconds because of it. Our History and Mission
These children are currently trying to survive in severely impoverished and dangerous conditions, often with no hope of escape. These children are thrust into a cycle of poverty that grows as each generation builds upon the problems of the last. Breaking this cycle involves removing these children from these conditions and giving them the hope they need to help themselves, and to return to help improve their communities’ future generations. We believed that a comprehensive and long-term solution was needed to tackle this problem. But when we looked to find a charity to support, we encountered several challenges that conflicted with our vision:
(1) We didn’t just want to give money to a charity, we also wanted to participate in the solution. We could not find an organization that would allow us that kind of access to the children. We wanted to see the comprehensive solution for ourselves. (2) Other organizations focused on one aspect of the problem, often just on food or housing. Our objective was to help these children pull themselves out of their environments to give them and their community an opportunity for a better future. To do this would require a long-term and committed relationship with the children. (3) We wanted to see the money going to benefit the children, not to administer the charity. Not some of the money, ALL of the money. So, we decided to form our own non-profit organization - The Emiliani Project. Our charity allows us and our donors to participate directly in helping the children; both through financial donation and through volunteer participation. We target a comprehensive solution, providing all that a child needs to be successful. We believe that solution lies with education. However, you cannot educate a child who has an empty stomach, no place to sleep, and no shoes on their feet. We provide children the means to survive first. Give them a roof over their head, shoes on their feet, food in their stomachs, and the medical and psychological assistance to cope with their transition. Then, provide a comprehensive education to transition them successfully into the public and private local school systems. Finally, The Emiliani Project does what few, if any, other charities are able to do. We guarantee that 100% of donor funds go directly to helping children. We do this in several ways. First, fiscal transparency. Donors will have direct access to a real-time accounting of donated funds. Second, traceability of donations. Donors will be able to see exactly where donated funds are spent and have the ability to donate only to areas that are important to the individual donor. Third, no administrative cost for donors. The individuals of the The Emiliani Project board of directors will cover 100% of administrative costs of the organization. They use their own money to manage the organization, not the donors’ money. Saint Jerome Emiliani
Our organization was founded in the spirit of Saint Jerome Emiliani - the patron saint of abandoned children and orphans, canonized in 1767. Saint Jerome left his life as a soldier in Venice, Italy to help solve the growing problem of children left without parents due to the plague and famine in Europe in 1528. Using his own money, he rented a house for them, fed them, clothed them, and educated them. In 1531 he induced local citizens to help him build a hospital and two orphanages. Until his death at the age of 56, Saint Jerome dedicated his life to these children.
