By Marc A. Pitman I’m honored to be working with the SME team and C.C. Chapman on this 2013 #GivingTuesday initiative!
As a fundraising coach, I work with nonprofits around the world. One of the most remarkable I’ve come across is Embracing Hope Ethiopia. It is a remarkable organization that runs two licensed daycares, helps single mothers get jobs and giving micro-grants to entrepreneurs, and helps families get education.
The idea for Embracing Hope Ethiopia began while Jerry and Christy Shannon were adopting a child from Ethiopia. A year after adopting their daughter, they moved their entire family to Addis Ababa to live in the Korah slum, a community founded as a leper colony and home to the largest dump in Addis Ababa.
I have known the Shannons for years and trust them implicitly. One of the most impressive things to me about their work with Embracing Hope Ethiopia is how they tailored their outreach after getting to know the residents of Korah. They didn’t start the daycares and family based resource building or the children’s library. They first lived among people, mostly single mothers making less than $22 per month. They saw that a lack of safe childcare made it impossible for mothers with little kids to get jobs to feed their families.
Rather than just alleviating symptoms of extreme poverty, they are breaking the poverty cycle for generations to come.
Your $10 donation will help prevent orphans by preserving families. It will help children receive food and clothing and mothers learn to read and write.
Or you could shop in their online store for socially conscious gifts that provide women with a living wage.
For more on Embracing Hope Ethiopia watch this short 8 minute video:
Read more about Social Media Explorer’s #GivingTuesday program.
SME Paid Under
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