Category: Thank Yous

New Headquarters!

Melissa Schilling Join the Team, Thank Yous

“Oh, but anyway, Toto, we’re home. Home! There’s no place like home!”

Unlike some of the bigger Non-Profits working in Haiti, we’ve never used donor money to purchase an all-terrain Land Rover.
(We use public taptaps or splurge on thrilling mototaxis)
KraftworksBldg-2 We have never treated volunteers to expensive three martini lunches.
(All of our volunteers pay for their own meals on the ground in Haiti) And we try to use free trash as the basis for most of our projects.
(Though we admit we love twirling in brand new tutu’s on occasion)

Really what we’re trying to say is that we are extremely budget conscious. Transparency is the name of the game. If you donate $20 we’ll tell you how we spent it. So it’s kind of a big deal to announce that we have rented a teeny little office space to store files, donations and supplies.
(Yay! No more dark garages filled with spiders and scampering rats.)

For the first time Project HOPE Art has an administrative homebase in the US.
You can find us in the ground floor, corner office space of the old Kraft Cheese Factory Warehouse, commonly called the Kraftwork Building where Oakland meets Emeryville.

Our new mailing address is 2601 Adeline Street, Suite 101A-Project HOPE Art, Oakland, CA 94607

KraftworksBldg

We need a few things to fill out our office space:
-Letter-Sized Hanging File Folders and Folders
-Labelmaker
-2 Floor Lamps
-Comfy couch/chaise lounge/arm chairs for visitors!
-Markers
-Pens
-Rolls and Reams of Paper for printing artwork, photographs and event invitations
-Beads, glitter, feathers, string, twine, scissors, erasers, pencils, watercolors, oil pastels, construction paper and any other misc. art and craft materials!

Contact Melissa@projectHOPEArt.org to make arrangements

Thank you in advance for your generosity to keep this project alive and kicking!

Bunnies to the Rescue | Rapid Reproduction Activate!

Melissa Schilling 2014 Gardening Class, Haitian Culture/Language, Partners, Thank Yous

The entire Project HOPE Art team would like to thank Brian Peltz of ISEC, Inc for single-handedly jump starting our new Bunny Rabbit Husbandry Program.
Want to help us continue our dynamic education and arts training?
CLICK HERE: Sponsor one of our Hardworking Students!
Download our 2012 Gardening HandBook, There Grows The Neighborhood here

In March 2014, our Gardening Class will take place each Saturday at the Project HOPE Art Center at Haiti Communitere from 8am-11am.
The goal of the class is to teach fundamentals of gardening to 12 students and one class Supervisor so they may return to their neighborhoods and spread knowledge about urban agronomy. We want to prepare each student to grow their own food at home.

Rabbits White Large

How Rabbits Can Save the World (It Ain’t Pretty)

With no religious taboos against consuming bunny meat, the animal may be a key ingredient in the fight against hunger. It also can be raised grain-free. It is a fact universally acknowledged that rabbits reproduce at a rapid rate. But did you know that rabbit meat is kosher, halal and acceptable for Hindus who decline beef for religious reasons? All of that is good news for the world-wide war on hunger—if bad news for bunnies.

Rabbits

Over 1,700 Haitian rabbit producers now maintain some 1,250 rabbit facilities, Dr. Steven Lukefahr says, which are home to 32,650 breeding rabbits. rabbits community

The program has grown by 142% in the last two years and has helped increase family income by an average of $19.95 a month per family with some producers seeing as much as $200 a month in income from meat sales, a significant boost in a country where the average annual family income is $1,700.
Read more: How Rabbits Can Save the World (It Ain’t Pretty) | TIME.com

Measuring Success: Each student in the class will keep a journal. In it they will be asked to write down notes, ideas, recipes and activities. We will invite local artists to attend the class and help the students learn botanical drawing. The students will take a field trip to the the Jaden Tap Tap Garden in Cite Soleil to see a working garden. At the end of the class, each student will be given seeds and asked to start their own mini-garden at home.

rabbitsbreeding_

Download our 2012 Gardening HandBook, There Grows The Neighborhood here
Want to help us continue our dynamic education and arts training?
CLICK HERE: Sponsor one of our Hardworking Students!

2nd Annual Voodoo Donor Dinner

Melissa Schilling Fundraiser, Thank Yous, Urban Agriculture

‘Art is the Universal Language”

All we want to do is create bright, stress-free moments in time for the children who live in some of the poorest communities on earth. Right now we are focused on Haiti. The money we raise goes towards English Lessons to support our Art + Literacy programming;  Urban Agriculture projects to support our Art + Nutrition programming and a hell of a lot of glitter to support dancing and twirling in our Intentional Whimsy programming.

Thank you to all of the beautiful people who support our joyful endeavors. Thank you Beauregard Vineyards, Edna Valley Vineyard and Odonata Vineyard, Live Earth Farm and High Ground Organics, Massa Organics, Dave Kramer-Urner for the organic homebrewed IPA made with organic ingredients from 7 Bridges Cooperative, all the beautiful organic fromage from Garden Variety Cheeses and The Penny Ice Creamery for your delicious contributions — along with Farmer Becky at Monkeyflower Ranch, American Nomad and the entire Project HOPE Art team for making our second annual donor dinner a huge success.

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We will be heading back to Haiti in January of 2013 for more art, laughter, learning, science and glitter tutu’s.

photos: Elizabeth Stella Hodges and Melissa Schilling

 

Menu by Carla Maria Lovato

appetizers…
Haitian Boulette: Uniquely Haitian meatballs made with green bell pepper, tomato and Cajun spices

Vegetarian Option: Corn Croquets; Deep fried corn meal with fresh corn and spring onion

from the garden…
Local fresh greens, mango and avocado tossed in a white wine and lime vinaigrette

from the farm…
A selection of Garden Variety Cheeses from Monkeyflower Ranch with sliced baguette

from the sea…
Tiger prawns in Cajun spiced cream sauce with hints of sweet paprika & garlic

Vegetarian Option: Toasted baguette in Cajun spiced cream sauce with hints of sweet paprika & garlic

from the land…
Griot: pork braised in onions, orange juice, Serrano peppers and garlic
Vegetarian Option: Cajun spiced fried tofu in a spicy orange sauce

Pois Noir: black bean puree with braised spring onions, green bell and scotch bonnets peppers

Riz Djon-Djon: long grain rice infused with djon mushrooms, onions and white wine, mixed with peas

Bannann Peze: crispy fried plantains served with sour cream and pikliz; a spicy pickled carrot and cabbage slaw

dessert…
Ice cream from The Penny Ice Creamery with homemade waffle cones

Thymus vulgaris

Melissa Schilling Thank Yous

We’d like to thank Cleanwell for providing us with hand sanitizer on each and every trip to Haiti. We are looking forward to expanding our programming into Rwanda and bringing more alcohol-free hand sanitizer with us. Thymus vulgaris has been used as an antiseptic for thousands of years in Roman, Greek, and Indian (Ayurvedic) medicine.

In medieval times, the plant symbolized courage, and to keep up their spirits, knights departing for the Crusades received scarves embroidered with a sprig of thyme from their ladies. There was a popular belief, too, that a leaf tea prevented nightmares, while another held that tea made of thyme and other herbs enabled one to see nymphs and fairies. Herbalists of the Middle Ages regarded thyme as a stimulant and antispasmodic, and recommended sleeping on thyme and inhaling it as a remedy for melancholy.

And we believe that Thymus vulgaris, the main cleansing ingrediant in Cleanwell helps all of our children stay fresh, alert and nightmare free. Contracting infectious disease in the developing world ain’t no picnic.

THANK YOU CLEANWELL.