Peruvian Hearts

An 11-year-old American girl was so moved by her first visit to an orphanage in Peru that she decided to start her own non-profit. Ana Dodson's Peruvian Hearts seeks to improve the quality of life for children in extreme poverty. Education, health care and nutrition are the focus. The children benefit with vitamins, school supplies, books, and clothing. Peruvian Hearts has paid for medical and dental exam. They are planning partnerships with medical missions to promote good health. 

Solar water heaters provided by the organization have made warm baths possible for the first time in the children's lives. 

Learn more about Peruvian Hearts at:  http://www.peruvianhearts.org/        

10,000 Girls in Senegal

Viola Vaughan discovers there's a lot of work to do during retirement.  She moved her life from Detroit, Michigan to Senegal, Africa and began promoting education and employment in rural areas.  10,000 Girls seeks to develop self-reliant and capable young women through a self-sustaining program run for and by the girls.

The entrepreneur program teaches crafts, trades, and business basics.  Some of the girls have gone on to university studies.  Others have opened their own businesses.  The most important point is self-sufficiency.  More than 2,000 girls have been helped so far, but the aim is 10,000.  (Who knows.  With Vaughan's tenacious spirit that number may go up.)

Learn more at the website: 10000 Girls

Afghan Hands Transforming Lives for Good

Afghan Hands teaches working skills to help women in the war-ravaged nation to gain independence, literacy, and earn a living wage. Women are taught the intricate skills needed to produce exquisitely embroidered shawls, scarves, and pillows.  The craft yields a product in high demand that connects them to consumers around the globe.

The non-profit centers provide a safe place to gather, study, and work.  The women are students in the morning and workers in the afternoon.  The education portion of Afghan Hands teaches basic human, legal, and religious rights; so, "no one will ever imprison them in the name of law, honor, or religion."


You can see their handiwork at this link or make a contribution here.

Infinite Family: Reaching Out Across the World

Kids in sub-Sahara Africa make friends and find mentors around the world through Infinite Family.  The organization connects volunteers from their own homes anywhere in the world with children in Southern Africa.  For those who choose to become mentors, it's an opportunity to share advice, direction, their lives, and to listen to child in need.


Volunteers must commit to 30 minutes a week for one year.  Infinite Family provides training and connects mentors to vulnerable children by video conferences.  Pre-teens and teenagers speak face-to-face with their "net buddies." Youth may talk about a homework challenge, career options, their dreams, and life in general.  The point is that someone is listening and cares.

To find out more, visit their FAQ page.

Help USA: Rebuilding Lives

USA Today recently reported 75,000 American veterans are homeless.  Fifteen percent of the homeless veterans served in Iraq and Afghanistan.  According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2 million people were homeless in 2009 at some point, and those who are chronically homeless number around 112,000 people.

Help USA addresses the challenges facing the homeless.  Veterans, families in crisis, youth, those who are HIV positive, and victims of domestic violence are just some who fall under the purview of Help USA's mission.  As people build or rebuild their lives, Help USA tries to give them a vision of their own potential.

Find out about volunteering here.

The Full Belly Project

In 2001, Jock Brandis traveled to Mali with plans to repair a water treatment system. He met a woman who told him that a peanut shelling machine would help her village a lot.  Brandis took her idea to heart and contacted Dr. Tim Williams of the University of Georgia, an expert on peanuts.  Williams recommended a Bulgarian Peanut Shelling design. Brandis and a friend adapted the design eventually coming up with the Universal Nut Sheller. By 2003, Brandis and a group of returned Peace Corps volunteers created the Full Belly Project.

You can learn more here.

Or donate here.

Narayanan Krishnan: Serving the Destitute

Narayanan Krishnan went from an award-winning chef to a caregiver in the service of India's homeless and destitute.  Since, 2002, he has provided 1.6 million hot meals to his nation's poorest through his nonprofit, The Akshya Trust.  His organization's mission is to provide healthy food and love and to offer an opportunity for rehabilitation.  Krishnan strives to help restore human dignity.

Krishnan and his efforts earned him a tribute as one of CNN's Heroes.

The Qatar Foundation

The Qatar Foundation wants a knowledge-based society as a reality. Education, scientific research, and community development serve as the organization's focus on a mission of human development.


Some of the means of accelerating human progress include a media project, a young scientists program, and sports program. Qatar Foundation reaches out to individuals and entities to address pressing social issues.

Currently, the foundation operates three schools and also partners with Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar.

Touching Tiny Lives

Touching Tiny Lives Foundation devotes its efforts to helping children and familes deal with the challenges facing HIV/AIDS in rural Lesotho.  The malnourished, critically ill, and orphaned babies receive care provided by local staff and international volunteers.  The foundation offers outreach health and nutritional services plus aid to children, pregnant women, and their caregivers.


In 2010, more than 1,500 visits were made to the homes of children with staff attending to nutritional and medical needs.  Touching Tiny Lives also provides training to caregivers.

If you'd like to help, visit their website and find out more.

Ethiopia Reads: For the Love of Literacy and Children

Ethiopia Reads promotes literacy and a love of learning by very simply connecting children to books.  The organization paves the way for children's libraries with the hopes of fostering a passion for the written word.  Culturally appropriate reading is sought out, and an effort to assist educators in nurturing young readers is a mission.

Education is seen as the key to shaping the future of the African nation.  Ethiopia Reads aims to realize a genuine love of learning among the youth.

BlueEnergy's Gift of Light

BlueEnergy's takes a holostic approach to renewable energy and improving living conditions among the world's isolated populations. 

With international support, the organization helps develop critical infrastructure, utilizing local people in the design, construction and installation of energy systems.

Lighting, water treatment, storage of medical products, and refrigeration are some of the benefits people enjoy because of BlueEnergy's efforts. 
Finally, blueEnergy helping to create local jobs, technical training and transfer of technologies adapted to local means.

Check out BlueEnergy's Gift of Light campaign.