October once more marks the beginning of the AllPeopleBeHappy Annual Fundraising Campaign. Thanks to the generous support from our many donors, in just under 8 years we surpassed the $1,000,000 milestone in grants awarded. More importantly, communities in 31 countries in the developing world are working their way out of poverty. A million dollars is a lot of money, and while we celebrate this accomplishment we are very aware that there is so much more that can be accomplished. Please help us to continue to invest in people and communities who are working their way out of poverty. Send your check to AllPeopleBeHappy foundation, 1302 Waugh Drive, #257, Houston, TX 77019-3908; or donate on-line at allpeoplebehappy.org.
The Foundation currently awards 4 different kinds of grants. The close of 2015 will mark the completion of the 1st 3 year cycle of our $100,000 Challenge Grant program and we are extremely impressed with the progress our long time partners Indego Africa and Global Emergency Care Collaborative have made in expanding their successful programs. Project Grants were awarded to 8 organizations, including two innovative organizations working in rural Nicaragua: Comunidad Connect encourages community members to complete service projects in order to earn water filtration systems, and Green Empowerment, with its impactful programs in reforestation, kitchen gardens, and installing solar panels, latrines and stoves. So far this year the Volunteer Service Award program has aided 15 incredible young people to give of their time and talents to help create a world where all people can be happy. Fellows Grants have enabled several remarkable future leaders to work full time for organizations. The 2015 Fellows named to date include an engineer who is working to improve hydroelectric capabilities in rural Myanmar and an experienced volunteer in Ecuador who is leveraging her familiarity with the community to develop entrepreneurship and vocational training classes.