Michael and Denna Matergia, along with their Board of Directors, founded Broadleaf Health and Education Alliance in 2011. Broadleaf is a non-profit organization focused on providing underserved areas of the Eastern Himalayan region with innovative solutions to health and education. Broadleaf's cornerstone program is called CHHIP (Comprehensive Health and Hygiene Improvement Program). CHHIP is a h
ealth education and improvement program, with three interrelated components, for implementation in primary schools in rural areas of the Eastern Himalayas. It is designed so that participating students and schools not only gain essential knowledge pertaining to their personal health and hygiene, but will benefit from a comprehensive program to improve the overall learning environment, provide early intervention for health issues, and equip children with critical life-skills, enabling them to take control of their own personal development and improve the health of their communities as agents of change. Michael and Denna lived in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India for one year in order to implement Broadleaf’s initial phase of CHHIP which has now been implemented in eleven primary schools in four village clusters including Lingten, Singrimtam, and Marybong. For more information on this project, or to inquire about supporting this project, please contact Broadleaf: [email protected]