Today we are shining a spotlight on the amazing non-profit organization Pencils of Promise. It all began with a question and a small boy on the streets of India.
"What do you want most in the world?" asked Adam Braun, founder of PoP
"A pencil," he replied.
Over the next five years, Adam backpacked through more than 50 countries, handing out thousands of pens and pencils across six continents. These gifts represented small pieces of potential that led to powerful conversations with local parents and children across countless cultures and languages. From years of listening to their words, it became clear that there was a need for an international nonprofit that was led on-the-ground by a staff of locals from within each country, required village participation in each school, and deeply supported, trained and tracked each student to ensure their success. These are the guidelines on which PoP was founded in October 2008.
PoP has since gone on to build over 500 schools and implemented a comprehensive approach to the programs. We don’t just build a school and move on, we monitor and evaluate every project we undertake. We have a proactive process to ensure every school we open is educating students.
One of their newest venture is finding sustainable solutions for their WASH program. PoP believes providing access to clean water and WASH training is one of the most effective ways to ensure students are healthy enough to attend school. According to UNICEF, children lose 443 million school days because of water-related illnesses each year. What started in Laos as a partnership with LifeStraw has transformed into the sustainable solution of Terra Clear Ceramic water filters into these communities. Bringing clean drinking water to students, families, and the community at large.
Pencils of Promise provides clean drinking water and WASH programs across Ghana and Guatemala as well as Laos and will be researching and implementing sustainable solutions in these communities in 2020.
We want to applaud Pencils of Promise and the team behind WASH for their ongoing initiatives to better the globe.
Thank you!
To learn more and donate to these efforts visit their website.
Do you know of another charity you would like us to highlight? Leave a comment below!