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The feature below is brought to you by Canopy Life International, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. To learn more about Canopy Life International, please visit their website page: here.  Beauty, belonging, and innovationCanopy Life Academy is a boarding school in Kenya for elementary age students from rural communities. With the help of many amazing people, we are empowering these vulnerable children to become Godly innovators who can end the cycle of poverty for themselves and their communities. Our organization’s values are beauty, belonging and innovation. I (Christi Gordy | founder) had been working in Kenya for almost 10 years before I began to more fully understand the incredible barriers that are keeping rural children caught in the cycle of poverty. It was overwhelming to me to realize that the odds are stacked against them on every side. For students in rural Kenya, there’s only a 50% chance that they will make it to high school and even less of a chance they will go to college. No matter how far they go, students will graduate to a 42% unemployment rate. This means, there are no jobs waiting for them, and the current education system is not giving them the critical thinking or problem-solving skills they need to create a job for themselves. In addition, 100% of our students from rural villages have experienced multiple ACE’s (adverse childhood experience) or even childhood trauma before they come to us in grade four. Left in this reality, students phase out of the school system at the end of 8th grade when free public education ends with no skills to create a job for themselves, to provide for their families or even to dream of a future. While the relationships and community in rural areas are immensely meaningful, the severity of these statistics means that dignity, belonging, choice, agency and purpose are being erased in these children before they can even take root. At Canopy Life Academy, we are all working together to flip the odds for students like these, giving them the heart, home, mindset and skills that they need to dream with their Creator and become who they were meant to be. Canopy Life students live with two house parents (a husband and wife team) in a residential program that functions like a family, all the way down to chores, birthday celebrations, morning devotions and evening family worship. They are taught every day by teachers who are engaging their minds in discussion, comparison, and hands on activities that cultivate their critical thinking skills and ensure that they are learning to ask the right questions, not just memorize the right answer. Our students spend time every week in Innovation class where they are learning the hard skills needed to start their own business and bring solutions to their communities: everything from technical drawing and assembling prototypes, to money management, leadership styles, design thinking, and computer skills. And, every summer, teams come to expand their worldview and their idea banks with field trips and cultural experiences. Most importantly, day in and day out, Canopy Life students are living with spiritual guides and mentors who are encouraging them how to follow Jesus and practice His way of life. Whether or not they attend college, Canopy Life students will have the skills to cultivate an idea to market, grow a healthy business and lead others with integrity. Our vision is that they will return to their rural community as Godly innovators who will provide jobs, solutions and leadership to their whole community. In its very essence, this work is restoring beauty to those from whom poverty has done nothing but take. As a core value, beauty is seen in everything we do from programs that restore dignity, identity, and purpose to students and parents to the way we strive (within tight budget confines) to keep our environments beautiful, peaceful, inspiring and creative. This is not easy. Often in nonprofit work, beauty (and even quality) is quickly abandoned for the sake of maximizing funding or the intense demands of environmental challenges. Beauty is not considered essential when weighed against the immensity of the need. But at Canopy Life, we believe that beauty is essential for true restoration in any poverty alleviation efforts, and we strive to value this truth in all that we do. We are honored to be considered for the See Beautiful grant, and we are excited for more people to join this story. Learn about ways you can get involved at www.canopylife.org.  Submitted by Christ GordyFounder and Executive Director, Canopy Life International
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The feature below is brought to you by Lantern House, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. To learn more about Lantern House, please visit their website page: here.  Sharing meals, warmth, and hopeIt was crisp but sunny as all the Lantern House staff pitched in to decorate and stack gifts for our annual Lantern House Christmas party. A twelve-foot tree was lit in the corner of our St. Anne’s Soup Kitchen and the scent of roasted ham and stuffing filled the room. Everything looked cheerful and excitement truly buzzed when we mentioned Santa’s impending visit to children at the shelter. I, on the other hand, was feeling a little more like a Christmas Scrooge. Something I’d been working on wasn’t turning out as I wanted it to. I was doubting if my efforts even mattered and wondering if my work was making a difference. It’s something I think a lot of people who work with the homeless population feel; that they aren’t doing enough, or that the work they do is leading to dead ends. I think as humans, we all sometimes fail to recognize the many ways our efforts and work positively affect those around us, and I was plagued by those thoughts on that day. That evening hundreds of homeless men, women, and children poured into the kitchen, suspending all worries, and relaxing into the warmth only a Christmas party can induce. Unlike any other day of the year, I think Christmas (or whatever wonderful winter holiday brings you together with friends and family) grants us the greatest suspension of illness, pain, suffering, and poverty. The pains of the human condition can be forgotten as we gather to celebrate the holidays, and I couldn’t help but feel real happiness, as beaming men, women, children, and pets, all of whom had faced homelessness and countless afflictions, were truly filled with joy. One hour into our party the cafeteria was packed with celebrating clients, and more were still trickling in! A friend and I guessed how many people might be in the cafeteria at that moment. “More than 200.” I supposed. “Maybe more like 300.” she guessed. “Wow, 300!” I said. It reminded me of a number I had considered earlier that day while working on my frustrating project. The number was 394, and it represented the number of individuals that had successfully transitioned out of our shelter and into housing of their own last fiscal year. It was merely a statistic to report earlier in the day, but when I looked at a room filled with hundreds of people, the number came to life, and I couldn’t help but imagine those 394 individuals enjoying Christmas in the warmth of their very own homes, maybe for the very first time. The work I do at Lantern House is a tiny sliver of the work our leadership, case managers, security, kitchen staff, and thousands of volunteers perform, not to mention the hundreds of doctors, therapists, law enforcement, and government staff, who assist homeless individuals throughout the community every day. Nevertheless, it is moments like that; imagining the hundreds of people who have left our shelter and are decorating their own homes and sharing meals with their loved ones, that make me really proud to be a part of the work that helps so many at Lantern House. Submitted by Hannah BowcutGrant Writer, Lantern House The feature below is brought to you by IVA Foundation, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. To learn more about IVA Foundation, please visit their website page: here.  Beauty: a foundation of hope, love, and life for victims and survivors.Beauty is not what we see when we look in the mirror. Beauty is within us, beauty surrounds us, beauty is the foundation of hope, love, and life. Sometimes in life, we go through circumstances that hinder us from experiencing the amazing elements life has to offer and the journey back to recovering our 'beauty' can be lonely, overwhelming, and seem hopeless. According to the NCADV - National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.” This is one of many shocking statistics that reflects the unfortunate reality victims of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence are forced to endure. We see these numbers in the news, we scroll past them in tweets, we read about it in the newspaper, but it never really resonates until it happens to someone we know, or worse, ourselves. I remember my personal experience with domestic violence ever so vividly. It was the fourth of January, and the winter season was as chilly as ever. I will never forget standing in the cold, minutes after being physically assaulted once again. Fear, resentment, and the raging hurt I felt left me in tears but I stood on in the blistering cold. I’m quite certain that I blanked out after this thought, and every moment afterward became a passive flow of time in space. I was homeless for 8 months with my then 2-year-old, diagnosed with a major depressive disorder alongside various health issues. Living in a battered women’s shelter, I felt alone, helpless, and isolated. Though there was a roof over my head, food to eat, a means to survive, it was hard for me to see the beauty in anything. I blamed myself for my circumstances, I blamed myself for being a victim. If I had just been patient enough, if I had endured more, maybe things would have turned out differently. Like myself, many victims will experience drastic life shifts, trauma, turmoil, and stigma. Some may never fully recover from the damaging consequences of domestic violence. It took me a long time to piece together the blank spaces of my story but through it, I have found my voice. My journey has made me wiser, stronger and more resilient. And though it may seem that some challenges are hard enough to break us, through beauty - that brings hope, love and life, the right support system, and determination, victims and survivors can grow through what we go through. I founded the Foundation for Inspiring Victims of Abuse - IVA, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to uplifting victims of abuse in minority communities. IVA's approach is based on the notion that a problem shared is a problem half solved. Disclosure is one of the first steps a victim must take to see help. The race, religious, and cultural stigma that is rampant in minority communities hinders victims from seeking help, which in turn prevents them from gaining access to the resources and services they need to escape abuse. Through IVA, we will help victims and at-risk-individuals of domestic and intimate partner violence by bridging the gap between stigma and support and being their guide and best-friend on their journey from 'victim' to 'thriving survivor'.  Domestic violence is a national and global epidemic that knows no socioeconomic, religious or cultural bounds. 1 in 4 women in the U.S will experience severe domestic violence in their lifetime. One major reason why victims of domestic violence stay in abusive situations is due to fear of stigma and low self-esteem. Through IVA's inter-collaborative projects, we are focused on helping victims harness their inner confidence through beauty. Victims and survivors are judged by society at every step of the way … how could they fall for an abuser? Why don’t they just leave if it’s really so bad? How could they go back? A lot of what IVA hopes to accomplish is to break down these misconceptions and spotlight the underlying mental obstacles - unhealed trauma, societal stigma, lack of confidence – that victims face. We hope to breakdown the myth that victims are weak and frail, which is the opposite – To endure any type of abuse means to be determined, strategic, and resilient. Harnessing each individual's potential for self-discovery, self-development and empowering them to overcome any obstacle is what IVA plans to accomplish. Domestic violence is taking its toll in our communities, we need to unite as one to make meaningful change and we can begin by bridging the gap between stigma and support. Foundation for Inspiring Victims of Abuse (IVA) is dedicated to uplifting victims of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV) through counseling, life coaching, and mental health advocacy. By bridging the gap between stigma and support, IVA promotes healing, erases stigmatization, and reduces retraumatization in victims and at-risk-individuals. IVA's vision is to inspire and improve victims' quality of life through collaborative and innovative projects. A key activity of the organization is to advance a social connecting APP where users have the option of joining anonymously and connecting with survivor-advocates and licensed therapists. By working in collaboration with a trusted network of organizations and caregivers, IVA plans to simplify the task for victims seeking transformational resources towards living a healthy beautiful life, free of abuse. We invite you to join us in our mission to inspire change, one victim at a time. Connect with IVA: Web: https://www.ivafoundation.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivafoundationorg/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/iva_foundation Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ivafoundation/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ivafoundation/ Submitted by Bilikis AdebayoDirector, IVA Foundation The feature below is brought to you by Be-Ruth Foundation, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. To learn more about Be-Ruth Foundation, please visit their website page: here.  Why The Evolution of Ruth Sees BeautifulMy grandmother, Ruth, was a woman of strength, grace and poise who valued education and worked tirelessly alongside my grandfather to bless other people in the community. To her, education was a priority: she worked to support her children and grandchildren in their scholastic endeavors. She was a human rights advocate and marched during the Civil Rights movement. Her many sacrifices reminds me of a caterpillar. The strength of the caterpillar determined to soar as a butterfly. The struggles women and girls encounter are just like what butterflies face as they free themselves from the cocoon of darkness & uncertainty. Women & girls are disproportionately underrepresented in STEAM fields, and young girls that are coming behind us are strengthening their wings so they can take flight and lead the world to greater heights. My grandmother Ruth's sacrifices reminds me of a how a caterpillar persists despite her struggles and still nourishes herself & her family because she knows change is coming. Because of her generosity, I grew in love, in faith, in spirit and in truth. Now I am well prepared to launch young girls into the next phase of their lives by providing empowering educational opportunities. I want to show young girls how to shed the old mindset (depression, fear, doubt, etc.) that keeps them from flying high. I am creating a safe space for them to flap their majestic butterfly wings and SOAR. Just like butterflies, we have struggles. Homelessness, depression, addiction, unforgiveness, breaking glass ceilings, being lukewarm, domestic violence, stress, feeling unloved, lack of achievement and bullying. But we can use these struggles and gain strength to evolve & transform. Be-Ruth uplifts t(w)een girls through our extracurricular programs: Empowering through Exposure, Engaging through Mentorship and Educating in STEAM. Girls are transformed. Our grand vision: a generation of talented young girls who prevail; who are unwavering in using their gifts to succeed in STEAM professions, who champion diversity and who insist on environmental stewardship, who free themselves & free their communities. The butterfly’s only job is to reproduce and the cycle starts again. They live by process. A system that is their life. Beautiful in form & function. Butterflies go through every step of their transformation process gracefully, with purpose & vigor, knowing higher heights are on the horizon. We teach young girls to do the same. This is not easy. It even takes more time than we want it to. But when the butterfly transforms, it's easy to see it's worth the work. For me, the symbol of the butterfly is more than pretty colors. It represents every young girl that has overcome the adversities of life and flourishes into a beautiful young woman of character. My grandmother’s sacrifices remind me of the caterpillar that evolved, a multi-faceted jewel of the richest & most vibrant hues that glides above everything that tried to keep her down. I continue Ruth B. Settle’s legacy by giving girls life changing experiences and opening up doors for them to walk through. I use hindrances as help-mates. Struggles as stepping stones. Let's join together to help girls rise and continue to BE and See Beautiful!! Let's Be Ruth! Submitted by Philana SwanCEO of Be-Ruth Foundation |
See beautiful in yourself.
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