Los Martincitos Senior Citizen Center

Located in a sprawling shantytown on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, the Los Martincitos Senior Citizen Center goes quietly about the business of fulfilling the most basic of daily needs for approximately 145 indigent elderly. Participants often live alone in harsh conditions, with little or no family support. Elderly abuse and neglect are common. Many suffer from debilitating medical conditions and very often have a hard time getting to the center which necessitates home visits from staff whenever possible.

Traditional crafts made to sell at the market

The center offers a hot and healthy breakfast and lunch; access to limited medical care by visiting nurses and physical therapists; and counseling from the staff. Social activities include exercise classes; arts and crafts programs; dances; occasional field trips; and visits from local schoolchildren and volunteers. Activities are often designed to build up the seniors’ self-esteem and to make sure that for at least a few hours a week, they have a safe haven away from often heart-wrenching living situations that most of us cannot even imagine.

Volunteers helping with a building project

Los Martincitos exists almost entirely on donations and volunteer assistance. Director and Founder Antonio Palomino Quispe (Tonny) and Sr. Jacqueline Glessner (Jacci), accompanied by an enthusiastic staff, somehow manage to keep the center going, but it is often a day-to-day struggle. There is a lengthy waiting list for those who want to participate, and on days the center is closed, the majority of the seniors must fend for themselves. At the present time, there is only enough money to keep the center open three days a week.

FWOP Team,

Warm ‘thank yous’ to the team and everyone from UNT Dallas: Assistant Provost Dr. Ross for his words and support, their faculty advisor Dr. Mason who did a great job leading and developing the garden, and Frances Rizzo, Carolyn Kimball and the entire FWOP team for putting this together. This is an exhibition garden, paving the way for the next big community garden which will make it possible for local produce to help the community and raise valuable horticulture awareness. Please forward to everyone not on the email list whom could benefit from the pictures.

Thank you again everyone, please continue breaking the myth of no effect!

We have received approval from Dr. Ross for the Community Garden Plot Project.

It will start as an Exhibition Garden for the fall and to allow for fundraising then have a Spring garden. The school is giving us an initial $500.00 I feel strongly that the guidelines for existing service learning programs at other universities such as the University of Indiana (Dr. Ross came from there) www.indstate.edu/publicservice/gardenproject.htm primarily for sustainability

Community Garden Plot Project-UNT Dallas FWOP Student Association

funding and UNT Dallas just spent $45 million on a LEEDS building. The Dallas County Master Gardeners Association is ready to help us with the project along with Don Lambert, Gardening in Community Development(GICD) and Our Savior Community Gardens (where I did my service learning).Dr. Amanda Coleman-Mason, our advisor, has made a committment involving her HSML classes for the service learning hours needed by her students. Francis Rizo has also made a committment to provide her leadership especially to me. Thanks to all of you.

Hosted by: Future Without Poverty (FWOP), an international non-profit, and the University of North Texas Department of Sociology

Location:  Troy and Sara La Grone Advanced Technology Complex, 1504 Long Rd, Denton, TX 76207  Time: 8:30am – 6:00pm Topics include:

Sustainable development projects in Peru, Haiti, Mexico, Sierre Leone, Nigeria, Togo, Turkey, Bangladesh, India, and more!

Renewable energy projects in impoverished communities and rural schools

Music for community empowerment and eliminating poverty

Local initiatives in North Texas for progressive, sustainable communities

Innovative workshop on micro-gardens for urban and suburban living

What a fantastic summer this was for us – and what a great autumn it is shaping up to be!

Thanks to all of you, we were able to make a huge leap this summer. Last summer, our first full summer running trips, we were able to give loans to 9 women in Teotitlán. This summer we gave out 75 loans!

It was because of the people you talked to, the reviews you wrote on TripAdvisor and other websites, the stories you posted in your blogs, and all the feedback that you’ve given us to make our program even better that we were able to reach out to so many more women this summer. Thank you!

What makes this leap even more exciting is that we have had such a strong start to the fall, that as our borrowers finish paying off their summer loans, we have been able to get them new, bigger loans much more quickly than before.

I think you’ll like this story of one of our new borrowers from this summer – a woman named Minerva Sanchez Sosa who just received her second loan last night.

Summary

This project will build a global online market place that is devoted to creating jobs for 100 families (500 people) in poverty. The only solution to reducing poverty is to create jobs.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Provide Jobs To 100 Families – Breaking The Myth

Poverty can be found in every country and can be a life sentence of hunger, thirst, illness, illiteracy and premature death. Most handouts are only short term band aids to the problem and create a dependency. The only real solution to eliminating poverty is to create jobs that pay a livable wage based on the local economic conditions. Individuals that are very creative and hardworking are only asking for a chance to earn enough money to feed, cloth and house their families.