Palms for Life Fund has initiated a young designer series to benefit our projects around the world (many to support women’s education). These intimate events will be held every two months highlighting a different designer each time. We will be selecting from FIT, The Market NYC and other venues…

The Inaugural Soiree on November 16 featured Conspiracy Eight’s Fall 2007 Collection(1). The designer Angela Ciccone generously offered to donate all net proceeds from the sale of the clothes to Palms for Life Fund. About 10 pieces of fashions were sold!

The event was a success; we had about 30 friends and family; wine and cheese and much warmth. The clothes were attractive and the models were creative in talking about the clothes they were showing, highlighting the quality of the fabric and how it felt to wear these garments.

What is better than listening to what others have to say about the event. This is an excerpt from the Blog of our friend Sheryl Spanier:

The other night I was inspired at a very lovely, warm and event hosted by Palms For Life.
Unlike many fund raisers that are held at beautiful locations, require formal attire and involve endless speeches for upwards of @1,000 a plate, this soiree featured discounted beautiful dresses and a fashion show of a very talented young designer, in the home of the organization’s founder, Hannah Laufer-Rottman.
Hannah, who started this global not-for-profit only 18 months ago, epitomizes the ideal relationship nurturer. She has built her organization by her personal ability to reach out, listen and consider the needs of others, create alliances and partnerships based on mutual benefit, and never to take no for an answer in a charming, loving way. By persistently creating solutions, thinking opportunistically about every possible connection, she engages people who can help her spread the word, build the fund or promote the cause in unique ways. She always comes prepared with ideas that she molds and adapts to the situation, always with an eye toward mutual benefit.
In my mind, giving without guile is the truest form of relationship development. Executives and professionals I know who are able to lead change, engage colleagues, create successful organizations and ride transitions smoothly are those who are open to and anticipate what others need. They make connections, remove barriers, have hope and inspire others.
Thank you to the Hannah’s of this world for reminding us about the true nature of Giving!

To visit Sheryl’s blog and learn more about her Career Management Services, click here

For more information on the event or if you are interested in attending please call: (1) 212.686.2645 or write to fashion@palmsforlifefund.org

(1)Conspiracy Eight, has also won the contract to produce a limited edition of "Tees for Life" , a unique concept created by Maayan Laufer and co-designed by Naama and Maayan Laufer, Tatiana Osorio and Dylan Scott.

Palms for Life Fund is thrilled to have been able to send our first volunteer Liz Ross on a very special mission in Bukoba, Tanzania.  The trip was entirely sponsored by donations from you, our friends. Liz has spent four weeks working with dozens of orphans and disabled children, assisting them in their daily activities and promoting recreational events and physical conditioning. During her time there Liz lived and worked at the IZAAS center, which provides basic health and educational opportunities to children who would not otherwise have had them.

Much more information can be found on the Blog of Palms for Life Fund (click the Blog icon on the sidebar).

A large part of Liz's efforts were focused on the needs of the disabled and blind children whom she worked with on a frequent basis. These children often go without necessities here often considered basic, and suffer from near immobility. Liz, who is a personal trainer, developed an exercise regime that will keep the children occupied and improve their health long after she has left.

While Liz' time in Bukoba has been worthwhile for the attention and joy she has brought to the children, there are also more lasting implications. She now has the acute information necessary to help fulfill the needs of these children. Liz identified many unmet needs, such as more wheelchairs and supplies that can make a world of difference in these children’s lives. There is also a pressing need for more Braile writers and paper for the blind, and more adequate transportation for the disabled children to be able to get around more easily and frequently.

With your ongoing help, we will be able to address these and many other needs that will greatly improve the welfare of the children of Bukoba.

Click here to enjoy the show of pictures taken by Liz during her trip.

Palms for Life Fund is pleased to announce a new partnership to provide computer access and environmental upgrades to 37 elementary schools in marginal regions of Ecuador. Palms for Life and Mercy Corps will ship 200 computers and roughly 800 gallons of paint to education centers run by Fe y Alegría, an organization that operates throughout Central and South America in educating children in impoverished areas. For pictures please click here.

By the end of the year the computers, donated by Mercy Corps and featuring Pentium 3 processors and 500 MHz, will have high-speed broadband access. Fe y Alegría will be implementing IT educational programs for the school's teachers, and give the school children an electronic portal to the wider world. While the technology will be used to emphasize networking opportunities between the schools themselves, it will also serve the purpose "to adapt them to become the technical foundation of the struggle against the negative impacts of globalization and for social justice." The program's end goals are very much in keeping with Palm for Life's emphasis on the idea that "we are all connected to the poor:" This technology will allow the school children to enter the global digital family and share their experiences and culture with those around the world.

This new partnership will also provide the school children with the materials with which to enhance their classrooms and engage in creative teamwork. The paint will be used to commission murals emphasizing peace, non-violence and children's rights. These murals will encourage children through the creative process to work together, overcome their differences, and create a peaceful environment in their schools.

This is an exciting opportunity to combat poverty by empowering individuals to engage and overcome the challenges of their immediate environments as well as those of the wider world. In order for Palms for Life to continue to fund and explore opportunities like this one, please consider a contribution to the Fund via www.palmsforlifefund.org. For every gift of $100.00 or more, a FREE T-shirt will be donated.

Palms for Life Fund is proud to announce many new partnerships. Three agreements have been signed with large Ecuadorian NGOs dedicated to alleviating poverty: Fundación Esquel, Fundación Fe y Alegria and Centro del Muchacho Trabajador. These three organizations’ headquarters are in Quito but they operate countrywide.

We have also strengthened our relationship with Mercy Corps for the shipping of computers, educational kits and sports equipment to several countries in Latin America.

We have established a fruitful dialogue with the National Commission of Human Development in Pakistan.

We are also very excited to begin work in our two new focus countries, Angola and Mozambique. In Angola we are working hand in hand with the Development Workshop for projects that increase literacy rates (especially among girls and women), and create new income earning opportunities through micro-credit. In Mozambique, Palms for Life will direct its investment to educational gender disparities, reproductive health, and at-risk HIV/AIDS populations.

We are also so excited about Hannah’s Army or Volunteers for Life. A first volunteer will be traveling to Tanzania in June where she will work for 6 weeks with orphans and handicapped children helping them gain more physical strength and self-confidence.

This is our first major success of the year. It took us several months to germinate the idea and to put things to work. But then, one day, our lawyer Dan Alcott sent us this short note: PALMS EXISTS. It was a celebration. From that moment on, we started working on the website and on the logo and on all the many details that are part of starting a new business. Today, nine weeks later, we have the logo, the website, most of the paperwork done, the Board of Directors, the Advisory Board, a bunch of supporters and… a first donation check. We have also made our first grant.

In March 2006 we traveled to the Eastern Caribbean Islands of St Kitts and Nevis. One afternoon, we visited the Nevis Public Library in Charlestown. While there, we made a quick stop at the computer desks where we were able to access the internet. The computers worked perfectly however, typing was a real challenge because the letters had been totally erased from the keyboards. Many young students use the Library to browse the internet as most families in Nevis have no computers. It must have been the high traffic and the local warm climate that slowly removed the paint from the old keyboards. The idea came to our mind that something as simple as a decent keyboard – that we take for granted - can make such a big difference for so many young students who need to learn to type in order to use the computer.

Upon our return, we made contact with the Nevis Public Library and asked for their shipping information as Palms for Life had decided to donate two new keyboards to the Library. A few weeks later we received a letter announcing that the keyboards had arrived in perfect condition. We know the difference they make for so many young folks visiting the place every day, after school.

This was Palms for Life Fund’s first in-kind donation.

The creative Lila from Graphus in Ecuador has patiently designed as many variations as can exist on the theme of Palms for Life. Colors and fonts have been meticulously selected. “They need to speak to each other, to laugh at each other, to play with each other.” She got the message. Then came Lucio Furlani who never imagined on what he had embarked when he accepted to design our website. He thought it would be done in ten days. It took much longer and he never complained. “Lucio: we have a last last little change” has often been heard in our lengthy phone conversations. Lucio is brilliant and a generous soul.

Anne-Karine Brodeur has provided Palms with wonderful lively pictures of her trips abroad and the United Nations World Food Programme has given free use of its rich photo library.

Several senior retired employees of the United Nations World Food Programme have shown a lot of excitement about Palms for Life and have offered to help. This is the case of Bodo Henze who has an invaluable expertise working with WFP as Country Representative and Senior Evaluation Officer and joined Palms for Life as Program Director; German Valdivia who was Director in Pakistan; and Judit Katona-Apte who is a retired nutritionist and lives currently in Bangkok.

Our Board of Directors comprises in addition to the President, two exceptional individuals: Jody Weiss and Eduardo Mirsky. Both offer their professional expertise, their contacts and their strong social commitment. Our Advisory Board has family, friends and former colleagues who have in common a thorough understanding of poverty issues, a strong social commitment and have already made invaluable contributions to Palms. Naama and Maayan Laufer have spent most of their young life in poor countries and have provided an unconditional support to Palms since its early stages; Cara Yarkhan has lived in Asia and Latin America and currently resides in Shanghai from where she shares with us her creative ideas; Daniel Ahmad has lived in Africa and Latin America and does not miss one opportunity to help make new contacts for Palms; Dan Silverstein is the most creative social marketer; Kathy Hansen the most dedicated fundraiser and program manager; and David L. Rottman enlightens every day of Palms for Life’s… life with his brilliant ideas, his enthusiasm and his Jungian approach to ending poverty.