Students for Change
We all want to change the world
When it comes to world-changing, that's our business at NCP. We're woried about the planet - from endangered species to climate change to deforestation - and about people - especially young women who can't go to school, and others left out and left behind. We know you care about these things too. So, where to start? We've got some ideas - we just need your help in making them a reality!
Heal the Planet
Idea One: Our new Million Tree campaign is a Big Deal. We plan to plant 100,000
trees per year for the next 10 years. Why? You know why - habitat, oxygen, food,
medicines, firewood (to keep girls from having to take long, dangerous walks to
collect it), climate change (a rainforest tree absorbs 50 pounds of CO2 every year!),
and beauty.
10 cents plants a tree - how many can you plant!?
Idea Two: Native communities in the Americas are on the front lines of the battle to save
natural areas from the extractive industries (oil, gas, gold, etc). NCP works with them in the
Ecuadorian Amazon (Siona, Cofan, Sekopai, Shuar), the Arctic (Gwich'in) and New Mexico
(Dine/Navajo). Of course it's not just the extractivists that are causing the problems.
Cutting rainforest to grow palm oil (in half the products in the grocery store), raise beef
(the no. 1 cause of deforestation in the Amazon, and the US imports 150 million pounds
from Brazil annually), and logging for paper (the US needs 1 million trees a day for paper
production) are all part of the problem.
Go with us on a Learning Tour to visit these communities to affirm their life and culture
and courage in the fact of the onslaught; pick an issue - palm oil, beef, paper, etc - and
educate others about it; help us help native communities fight the fight. Right now we're
raising money for a canoe for these Shuar kids to attend a school to learn more about the
rainforest and their role in protecting it. Cost: $3000.
Help the People
Idea One: How far do you live from school? How do you get there? High school girls in the
Balaka area of Malawi in southern Africa live 7 miles away - and they have to walk, which
means leaving home at 5:30 a.m. to make it to 7 o'clock classes. Plus, their families are
very poor - most of them are farmers and climate change is wrecking their crops - so the
$45 school fee is steep for them.
Let's just say it gets discouraging.
That's where our A Girl and a Bike program comes in! For $110 we can get a girl to school
($65 bike + $45 scholarship). How many girls can you help roll toward a better future?!
Idea Two: Girls at Queensland Boarding School in Nimule, South Sudan just
want to rest in peace at night. They face two challenges: there aren't enough beds,
and many of them can't afford mosquito nets. Because of the bed shortage,
some of the girls sleep 3-to-a-bed. That's maybe fun for an overnight, but not
over the long haul. Due to lack of mosquito nets, girls regularly get malaria,
which can be a deadly disease if not treated right away.
Help these girls rest in peace! A mosquito net costs $6 (right, not a lot, but this
shows how poor some of the girls are). A 3-stack bed (yes, a 3-story bunk bed)
costs $150.
You can do this! They did! These sixth graders from Memorial Park Middle School in
Fort Wayne, IN heard about girls needing an education and decided to do
something about it. They made a plan, talked to their teacher and the principal,
and created a Penny Challenge for all the sixth grade classes - and raised over
$700 for girls' education! That's over 20 girls in school for a year!
Idea Three: 25 cents. It's hard to get anything for a quarter. Except an education.
In some places in the world where NCP supports girls' education, 25 cents per day
will keep a girl in school. These girls in Nepal receive scholarships from our Give a
Girl a Chance fund - but they make their own contribution to their education:
every day they walk two hours down the mountain to high school, then three hours
back up - hey, it's the Himalaya. So we do our part - they do theirs.
Help them and other young women make the long walk to a brighter future!
Whatever you choose to do to change the world for the better, NCP sends all the
money you raise to the programs themselves - really! And you're welcome to go
with us on our Learning Tours to visit all these places - really!
