Enrich the World

07/09/2016

Thanks to everyone who came out to upstate NY this weekend to our first annual golf fundraiser in support of our work in Honduras & to remember our inspiring founder, Tom! See you next year!!! Hasta 2017!

05/08/2011

05/08/2011

05/08/2011

Enrich the World Youth Ambassadors are becoming role models and leaders in their communities!
Education is the key to success and a powerful tool for eliminating poverty in the world. Launched in 2009, the Youth Ambassadors Program, our flagship initiative, provides an academic stipend for selected students to continue their high school or university education while receiving valuable training and experience in sustainable community development from Enrich the World.

05/08/2011

Students are supplementing their school lunches with fresh vegetables from their own gardens!
With nutrition as a key component in healthy living and learning, our organic garden program aims to optimize opportunities for well being.
In 2010, all 17 rural school gardens were completed.

In 2011, with a $3000 grant from the East Bay Jewish Community Teen Foundation, Enrich the World plans not only to continue supporting the 868 students and 32 teachers of La Botija, we will also add educational programs and create a green market!

05/08/2011

CEMAS is a new community space to share ideas, teach and learn about the world.
Completed in 2010, CEMAS now uses solar energy and includes a small demonstrative organic garden, tree nursey and interpretive trail. Additionally, the first ever science fair in the area was successfully held here on October 3rd, 2010.

05/08/2011

The students participated in their first ever science fair and environmental forum where they synthesized their findings, created visual displays and gave oral presentations to fellow students and community members from each of the 17 schools of the protected area.

04/22/2011

Our latest Enrich the World Meetup was held in the beautiful Liberty State Park overlooking the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty. Hudson County Improvement Authority (HCIA) held the Annual Earth Day celebration inside the historic terminal at Liberty State Park. HCIA mission is to provide wide range of services to the residents of Hudson County including solid waste management, recycling, transportation etc. They offer educational programs to businesses and schools about recycling and have collected 3 million pounds of hazardous waste under the Household Hazardous Collection program!

On Saturday Apr 16, 2011, HCIA organized 5k run/walk along with tons of family friendly art activities and contests. We assisted the HCIA by managing the ‘Pledge Tree’ booth. The idea was that each person will write his/her pledge on a leaf. Each leaf represented a pledge to save the planet in any way like conserving water, recycling, using less plastic etc. At 10am, we started with a bare tree and by 2pm we had a living tree full of ‘green’ pledges!!! Everyone from children to working moms to retired people, came forward and wrote their pledges. It was a cold, rainy and windy day but the enthusiasm I saw especially in the kids writing their pledges made me believe we still have Hope that our next generation is prepared to enrich the world!

Some of my favorite pledges:

“I pledge to use organic cleaning products” – by a 10yr old

“I will not throw garbage on the floor” – by a 6yr old

“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Together we can make the world a better place to live” - by a 10yr old

“I will shut the tap off while brushing my teeth” – by a 9yr old

“Recycle by creating arts/crafts from trash” – school teacher. She had created an easter egg basket using old wire hangers.

What is your pledge this year to make the planet greener?

04/02/2011

Our 1000 cranes fly from the East Coast to the West Coast and arrive at www.studentrebuild.org's offices in Seattle, WA. We are now 1,000 of 26,904 cranes.

03/24/2011

When I found out that a "Help Japan" public fundraiser was occurring at Union Square on March 17th, I knew I wanted to give more than just monetarily to help. Realizing that my Japanese friends had been desperately imploring their family to leave the country yet their families were remaining steadfast in their determination to stay in Japan, I knew I wanted to send a symbol of hope. So, I bought two 500 page reams of red construction paper from Staples and decided to make 1000 origami cranes with my wish being the safety of Japan. The red was to represent the rising sun of the Japanese flag and the hope that Japan will rise from this catastrophe.

I called Georgeton, a survivor of the horrible Haitian earthquake of 2010 and whom I am sponsoring to complete his education, to come down for the weekend and be part of this project. Certainly he can empathize with the Japanese.

Instantly, right after I set down my blue tarp and cut my first squares of red construction paper, kind and curious New Yorkers approached us and asked if they could fold an origami crane of prayer for the Japanese. It was wonderful to experience the warm collaboration, comraderie and kindness of complete random strangers in New York City -- a city known to be cold, too busy and uncaring. New Yorkers from all walks of life and age (retirees, children, computer programmers, lawyers, students, bike messengers, businessmen, chefs, journalists, quitters-from-abusive-bosses, graphic designers, mothers, stay-at-home-dads, chocolatiers, musicians and tourists!) took a pause at our tarp to either learn how to make a crane from a stranger or delved into a memory of their youth to recall the last time they made a prayer crane for a loved one.

The sense of community and outpouring of support kept us making cranes on Thurs from 4p to midnight then on Friday from 12:30p to 1:30a. At the end, our enthusiastic momentum had us finish at a whopping 1015 cranes.

Thank you to everyone who participated. I brim with emotion and inspiration from all the wonderful people I met during this 21 hour origami crane marathon. I have been assured that the breath of hope and life you gave to your cranes has been felt by the Japanese people. Currently the cranes are at the Japanese Society pending my communication with the Japan relief organizers this week.

A special THANK YOU to Albert, Mike and Milena (who stayed until the bitter 1:30a end to bundle up the cranes into a dead-body-looking large blue tarp burrito and who chased after the taxi who almost drove away with our cranes in its trunk), Junko (who returned on Friday after helping out on Thursday racking at least 10 crane-folding hours!), Georgeton (who held out with me for the entire 21 hour crane folding marathon) and, of course, Ohad (who gave us at least 14 crane folding hours when he was on vacation in NYC for only 3 days!!!).

The following is the media coveraged We have received. I will update this page as I am notified.

From the Wall St Journal: http://online.wsj.com/video/a-thousand-cranes-for-japanese-hope/422E7BD6-09BE-45A8-8A71-2DEB6BC9C647.html

youtube "Pray for Japan":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL9S9PFmkCo

WBAI 99.5FM - Artsy Fartsy Show - airing Tues 3/22 at 2p


Finally, I have been so sincerely touched by the responses I have received by this event that I am seeking to continue with more events of this nature in the future. Please sign up for my meetup group here if you are interested: http://www.meetup.com/Enrich-The-World-Movement/

11/29/2010

is
kicking off the Enrich The World Movement! Join us December 8th on the
"17 for 17 Enrich-a-thon" or sponsor our 17 schools in Honduras by
donating here: www.enrichtheworld.org Find out more about what we do with our 2 minute video:

Visit us at www.enrichtheworld.org to see how you can help enrich the world on December 8th with our 17 for 17 event!