Grant Us the Opportunity to Reach Our 2018 Goal!

It’s that time of year!!
We are currently participating in a 30-Day Seedmoney Challenge Grant!

SeedMoney is an non-profit organization that assists vulnerable communities to create and sustain community garden projects. This year we have been chosen to participate in this year’s ‘Grow Challenge’ to continue our garden projects in Conocoto, Ecuador. This challenge is a 4-week online giving-campaign that runs from November 15th to December 15th.

Here is where it gets interesting!

The first 50 projects that raise $600 or more the fastest will be eligible to receive an additional $400 from SeedMoney. Additionally, SeedMoney will also award a $600 bonus grant to the project that raises the most money in the allotted 30 days.

Through this challenge, we aim to raise $2,000! However, we can not get there alone.  We are counting on every one of our supporters to put us over the edge and reach our fundraising goal. Be the difference and donate to our campaign. Your donation will give us the opportunity to continue our work into 2019. Your gift means the world to us and to the young adults gardening in our projects right now. Thanks always for your support!

We are so fortunate to have gardeners from the community mentor the kids. They are out in the garden everyday encouraging and guiding them in their passion for gardening. Now we want to take it one step further! With these funds we will be creating and implementing a program in which the youth with begin to run the gardens themselves. We will also be providing a stipend to our staff on-site for their constant presence at the foundation!

*DON’T FORGET*

Since we are a NEW 501(c)3 non-profit organization, meaning that if you keep your receipt you can write off your donation this upcoming tax season!

-Allie

Everything Starts at the Roots

In December of 2017, we began our travels to the GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH. As I sat on the plane, I began to worry that too much time had gone by since I was last here.  I thought the girls at Casita 19 and Anita, the house mom (A.K.A. ‘mamita’) would not remember me. I tried to tell myself how different it would be and how change was inevitable. When we stepped off the airplane, we were greeted by our professor who told me the girls were asking for me all day. I instantly felt relieved.

Our first morning at the orphanage, I woke up and walked over to Casita 19. As the door opened all the girls came running out of their rooms and greeted me with hugs and questions like “How many boyfriends do you have?”, “What does ‘turn down for what’ mean?”, and “How long are you staying?”. I immediately acclimated and adjusted into my daily routine, like no time had passed. I instantly had a baby attached to my hip and it was as if nothing had changed. Throughout my visit, I spent my nights in Casita 19 dancing to Ozuna, braiding hair, and watching local telenovelas cuddled up with the girls. This place is a space that embodies so much warmth.

Watching Anita in the house was incredible. The way she connects with the girls and encourages each of them with little gestures reminds me of my mom. Everyday she would enter the room singing and dancing. Her energy is contagious and I can see so much of her confidence and self respect in the younger girls. Anita’s presence creates a safe, upbeat place for the girls to come home to. Being welcomed back with open arms reaffirmed how special and crucial an environment is to each child’s growth.

These children are surrounded by so many great mentors, who have devoted their life to creating a stable and healthy community within The Henry Davis Foundation. The Foundation is a place with so much love, empathy, and empowerment. The Roots Project works to embody these same values, but it is not possible without trust from the community. The relationships we formed throughout our trips to Henry Davis are critical to the success of our mission. We take great pride in our ability to remain transparent and connected with the The Henry Davis Foundation community.

Upon returning this year, the hydroponics lab grew not only in size, but also in contagious enthusiasm throughout the school. The vegetable fields were only months away from crop rotation, which eventually can be harvested, sold and consumed within the Foundation.  These projects are rooted in the community’s passions, interests and values. Thus these projects can eventually provide resources, so Casita 19 and the Foundation will be successful and sustainable on their own.

-Allie

Come Find Us at the Social Change Marketplace!

The Roots Project will be participating in this year's Social Change Marketplace! The event will be taking place at Bryant University in the Roto from 10 AM - 2 PM on December 7th. The Social Change Marketplace is an annual event where non-profits and social enterprises sell their merchandise to fund-raise for their organizations. This year, we will be selling hand-made crochet headbands/ear-warmers along with some other snacks and goodies. Our headbands will run from $6-$8 a piece, and our snacks are to be determined. All the money will go directly to the kids we serve and their current projects.

This event will feature many other social enterprises and non-profits, and is the perfect event to kick off some holiday shopping. So, come on down to Bryant on December 7 and shop for a purpose!

Hope to see you there!

The type of headbands that will be sold at the event on December 7, 2017.

-Nicole

SeedMoney Grant Fundraiser

SeedMoney Grant Fundraiser

Starting November 15, The Roots Project will be participating in a SeedMoney Grant where small garden projects and non-profits working on community gardening will hold online fundraising campaigns to support their on-going work. This is not an ordinary grant where you submit a proposal and in return you might be awarded funds, rather, it is a challenge grant where each participating project sets a fundraising goal, and the first 50 who reach their goal in the 30 day period will be awarded an extra $400 on top of whatever they already raise. Those who do not qualify for the challenge grant are automatically entered to win a $200 merit grant, and the project who raises the most via their crowdfunding page will receive a $600 grant. The Roots Project has a $600 fundraising goal and all donations are tax deductible, so all donors should keep their emailed receipts after donating.

This fundraiser will serve as an excellent opportunity for us to raise the necessary funds to implement our next venture, the building of a greenhouse. SeedMoney is a, "501c(3) non-profit organization that offers grants, crowdfunding tools, and online garden planning software to a wide variety of food garden projects serving people in need in their communities," and hopefully they can award us with the opportunity to make the greenhouse happen.

During the 30 day period, (November 15- December 15), we will be posting the link to our campaign on all of our social media pages as well as replacing our current "Donate" button on our Donate page. Our Facebook Page is "The Roots Project" and our Instagram page is "@rootsecuador". Be sure to take a look, and donate if you can!

-Nicole

Why We Chose The Roots Project

The Roots Project’s is entangled with both literal and emotional meaning.

The Roots Project will join the global pursuit to eradicate hunger and provide healthy meals for orphans, but it also relates to the deep connections we hope to build with these Ecuadorian children. It celebrates the long lasting effect a safe orphanage can have on a child’s life. These orphans, along with so many others around the world, are exposed to extreme hardships that we can help lessen. Most importantly, the roots that we believe in are made through the hearth, comfort, and security that Henry Davis provides these children from violence, hunger, and loneliness.

Henry Davis is a safe place for young children who are desperate to escape from difficult circumstances. Many of the staff at Henry Davis also grew up there; they are well educated and emotionally invested in the project and are incredibly motivated to see the children develop and grow. Henry Davis inspired us to create The Roots Project, where we can continue to help spread and support the values they convey. The Roots Project embraces and perpetuates every child’s right to a safe place and believes in their ability to grow into strong, capable individuals. We hope to grow enough to begin collaborating with other Latin American orphanages, in order to fully realize an international vision of a future that these orphans deserve.

-Allie

Overcoming Challenges in Development

Our main focus is implementing new projects that will result in long lasting food sustainability. During the last trip in December of 2016, we focused on 3 main projects which included art, composting/gardening and hydroponics. Working mainly in the hydroponics room, I was able to see the challenges, but also the common interest in the new technology that we were introducing. One main challenge we faced was getting the kids and teachers to actually have interest in something that they had never seen before. Hydroponics is a hard concept to teach, especially when there is a wide age range you are teaching. We found different ways to gain the attention of each class that we taught.  We used hands on activities as well as games, such as jeopardy, as a way of getting everyone to participate.  Getting the younger students excited about hydroponics was difficult. We incorporated arts and crafts into the hydroponics classes. After working with the children and teachers on a daily basis, the project took a positive turn and as plants began to grow more enthusiasm emerged. Through trial and error we found efficient ways to grow healthy plants faster!  One of our goals is by seeing the success of the plants growing, the children will have a sense of pride in their work. 

-Patricia 

The Roots Project at RIC

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Over the past week Dr. Jill Harrison has been spreading the word about The Roots Project to some of the classes at Rhode Island College. Jill specifically talks to classes about our agricultural projects and the long-lasting impact we hope to make, and what our plans are for the future.

This whole project started with Jill when she started running a course where a class of students traveled down to Ecuador to engage in a service-learning project. While in Ecuador, students would learn about an array of justice, sustainability, and development issues while engaging with the people. Over the years the class has grown into so much more, as now we have The Roots Project. However, work is not done and we love getting more students involved in our mission. We all have such a passion and love for what we have done for the orphanage in Ecuador, and enjoy showing people what the experience has done for all of us, and how the experience of helping others can add to their life and learning as well.

RIC is where this trip and project was born, and is our first of hopefully many collaborations with Universities in the area. We love getting more and more RIC students involved in what we are doing, and we are excited to see what the next trip brings!

-Nicole

New Avocado Trees!

We are super excited to announce our newest project happening at the orphanage, the planting of 270 avocado trees! We were able to send some of the money we raised in our GoFundMe to Ecuador to fund this project. The fruits harvested from these trees will not only add a yummy addition to the kids' meals, but will give the kids an array of essential vitamins and nutrients to their diets.

Our agricultural projects are so important to us here at The Roots Project, as the crops harvested from our gardens not only help feed and revitalize our kids, but teach them important life lessons as well.  Many of the children living at the orphanage are from broken homes, and are victims of abuse. Due to this, some kids have never been taught unconditional love or how to properly care for something or someone because they never witnessed it themselves until they came to the orphanage. Tending to plants and gardens shows kids how to give something tender, love and care, as well as what great things can happen when that TLC is matched with hard work and perseverance. We hope that give the kids these types of projects that they will continue to grow them into bigger and better things; not only letting them put their own ideas to work but teaching them valuable skills they can use outside of the orphanage as well!

The avocado trees are just one of the projects we are starting, stay tuned to this blog to read about the ones coming in the future!

-Nicole