Monthly Archives: January 2011

A Video Update from Ivory Park

While there is still much work to be done, the amazing efforts of volunteers and supporters in Pennsylvania and across the country are making a substantial difference each and every day for the residents of Ivory Park.

This video montage is a celebration of the progress that has been made in Ivory Park over the past year. As you can see, there is much to celebrate.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

* Working with the Pennsylvania and Texas Association of Student Councils, we were able to raise enough money to get the library built. While the first round of books has made it to the shelves, our next task is to get the library fully stocked. Thanks especially to Governor Mifflin Middle School, Norwin High School, Kempner High School, North Allegheny High School, Union Middle School, Athens Middle School, Mars High School, North Penn High School, Riverview High School and many others for their assistance with the library project.

* The First Presbyterian Church in Greeneville, TN is well on its way to reaching the goal of raising enough money to pay for construction of the kitchen in the Ivory Park Community Center.

* We have been able to cover the salaries of four of the teachers in the day care center and after-school tutoring programs thanks to individual contributions and monthly donations.

* Our eBay Giving works site is up and running. A number of generous donations from corporate partners like Giansanti Design and Dynamx Digital have helped us to raise funds by recycling old software and electronic products.

* Our partnership with Awava allows us to offer wonderful handmade products from Uganda that will support women in that country with a living wage while also raising funds to support the Community Center in Ivory Park.

Check out the great products on our ebay Giving Works site

http://donations.ebay.com/charity/charity.jsp?NP_ID=32936

* Many donors have joined the Power of 10 monthly donation program which is generating regular income to support the Day Care Center and Soup Kitchen and Orphan Feeding Programs.

Join the Power of 10

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9357326

Step by step, the efforts of our supporters are resulting in steady progress toward the development of strong student leaders and the completion of project goals. It’s been a great year. Help us to keep it going by joining the Keep It! Campaign today.

Video montage photos by Edward Coll, “Step by Step” by John McCutcheon has been used with the artist’s permission.

PASC Progress Report

Thanks to PASC, “Keep It!” Reaches New Heights and Expands Its Challenge to “ACT LOCALLY, REACH GLOBALLY!”

While there is still much work to do, the efforts of our PASC partners and additional supporters are making a difference each and every day for the residents of Ivory Park. Read about the changes that have already taken place.

When the “Keep It!” Campaign was launched in September of 2009, our goal was to motivate young people to develop their capacity as social entrepreneurs. For the campaign’s inaugural project, young entrepreneurs were challenged to act locally and reach globally by helping to build a community of hope in Ivory Park, South Africa. Thanks to the Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils, hope is alive and well in Ivory Park.

Backed by critical support from our member schools, “Keep It!” is drawing an ever increasing number of dedicated volunteers. Their efforts are resulting in steady progress toward the development of strong student leaders and the completion of project goals.


The dream is to build a community of hope in Ivory park. Helping us is a national network of social entrepreneurs led by the PASC.

To date, we have raised a little more than $20,000. These funds have allowed PASC to make a positive impact in Ivory Park, where U.S. dollars go a long way. A library has been built and the first round of books is already on the shelves. We have been able to fund the salaries of three full-time teachers for an entire calendar year. A fourth teacher’s salary has been covered by regular monthly contributions from a small group of PASC alums who have embraced the “Power of Ten” concept by contributing ten dollars a month.

In addition, construction of the community center kitchen has been completed. Much of the funding is in place, and our partners at First Presbyterian Church in Greeneville, TN, have pledged enough funds to cover the remaining kitchen costs.

Funds have also been directed to support feeding programs for the daycare center, soup kitchen, and an after-school program for teen orphans who, because of the AIDS crisis, are parenting their younger siblings. The program allows the teens to continue their education while their siblings are cared for at the daycare center. It also provides a hot meal, a tutor, and a place to study after school. Altogether, these programs now feed 150 preschool children, 60 senior citizens, and 75 teens. Continue reading

Governor Mifflin Middle School: Reaching Out Across the Miles

This past December, students and staff at Governor Mifflin Middle School in Shillington, PA discovered that their actions at home are touching lives a world away. Through vibrant photos and wondrous tales of hope and progress, the Governor Mifflin community was witness to the difference they are making each and every day to the residents of Ivory Park, South Africa.

GM Kids Photo

Student council advisor Nancy Brady explains that students and staff first learned about Ivory Park through a presentation by the Keep It! Campaign’s founder, Bob Tryanski. When they heard about the challenges facing Ivory Park residents, the school community enthusiastically accepted the challenge to act locally and reach globally.

After the campaign presentation, each homeroom at the middle school received a photograph of a child from Ivory Park, a tangible representation to help students remember that they were reaching out to someone real. “Putting a name and a face on the project is important for middle school students,” says Brady. “Our students learned of places and people that they had never heard of before. They learned that they can do things right in their own backyard and touch the lives of children thousands of miles away.”

Brady explains that each of the 24 homeroom teams prepared care pGM Kids green blanketackages including blankets, friendship bracelets, pictures frames, and puzzles for their new friends. Teams also joined forces to create a children’s book, The ABC’s of Governor Mifflin Middle School. The book, which includes stories and pictures about America and Governor Mifflin students, now adorns the shelves at the new library in Ivory Park. To further their outreach, several fund raising events were planned.

In December of 2010, students and staff gathered to view photos and hear about the progress being made in Ivory Park thanks to the efforts of Keep It! Campaign supporters like Governor Mifflin MS. Perhaps most influential was the story of a three-week-old baby girl who recently arrived at the Sedimosang Day Care Center. Because the infant’s family could not care for her, she was brought to the day care center. Notes received by Keep It! organizers in Ivory Park indicated that day care workers wrapped the baby in a blanket sent by Governor Mifflin students: “The baby was happy in one of the warm blankets made by the students. It is good to know that with the help of these donations and the big mother heart of a care giver named Josephine, that this little girl will be okay.”

Baby in blanketBrady notes that the photos and stories from Ivory Park made a lasting impression on students and helped to solidify the fact that their service work has been important. “The story of the three-week-old baby being welcomed and wrapped in a blanket made right here at our school touched every heart in the gym,” she says. “And, the before and after pictures of the library and kitchen brought thunderous applause from the student body and staff. Knowing that they had made a significant impact in the lives of children and adults halfway across the globe was a wonderful way for our students and staff to start the holiday season.”

The First Presbyterian Church in Greeneville, TN: The Power of Ten in Action

The congregation at the First Presbyterian Church in Greeneville, TN, has a history of reaching out to others in need. Through mission works large and small, church members are committed to caring for people in their own community and beyond. Recently, the congregation embraced the Keep It! Campaign and the people of Ivory Park by agreeing to provide financial support for Ivory Park initiatives. Church member Ann VanBuskirk explains that the congregation is dedicated to raising enough funds to complete the Suppa du Mamma Soup Kitchen. The new central kitchen located in the Ivory Park community center will provide hot meals for senior citizens and children.

First Pres Youth Photo

A variety of groups throughout the church have joined the fundraising campaign. The women’s group hosted a benefit breakfast, the senior high youth group organized and performed at a church-based dinner theater, and in November, the congregation participated in an International Bazaar. VanBuskirk notes that the bazaar has become an annual tradition that provides shoppers with access to unique gifts and accessories while providing support to artisans from Palestine, Nicaragua, and other parts of the world. This year, the church sold $400 worth of Awava merchandise resulting in $200 in fair trade wages for the Awava artisans in Uganda and $200 for Ivory Park.

Bob Tryanski, founder of the Keep It! Campaign, explains that the new kitchen will consolidate existing efforts to provide nutritious meals to those most in need.  Previously, the soup kitchen operated separately from a feeding program in the Sedimosang Day Care Center and an after school meal program for teenage orphans.  Now, one central kitchen will serve all of these programs.  As a result, meal programs will become less costly and more time efficient. In addition, it will create sustainable jobs for the cooks.

Tryanski also points out the significant impact that has been created by building a network through the Power of Ten. “When you realize the effects this project can have, it’s difficult not to get involved,” says Tryanski. “Thanks to the efforts of great volunteers like our friends at the First Presbyterian Church, the new kitchen will feed 150 preschool children every day, 60 senior citizens several times a week and another 160 school-age children each day after school. In terms of dollars, $10 will feed three kids for a month, and $100 will pay the salary of two of the cooks for a month.” 

 To date, supporters at First Presbyterian have contributed over $2000 and are more than one third of the way toward reaching their goal.