The ApParent Project – Haiti
Does your family eat cereal? If so, how many empty cereal boxes does your household throw away each week? Each month? Each year?
What if I told you that your empty cereal boxes, instead of being simply trash, could provide for the needs of a child?
What if I told you that your empty cereal boxes could make it so parents didn’t have to consider giving their children to orphanages because of poverty?
Let me digress for a moment…
Haiti is known for being the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, the victim of this century’s worst natural disaster, and home to almost 500,000 orphans.
The number of orphans in Haiti has been labeled an “Orphan Crisis”.
The vast majority of Haiti’s “orphans” have not been orphaned by parental deaths, earthquakes, hurricanes, or floods, but are children of living parents who gave them up simply because they knew that the orphange could feed their child.
However, lagging adoptions, overcrowding and lack of accountability have made many orphanages less than adequate homes for children, who often develop severe emotional problems.
This is where The ApParent project comes in. They consider themselves to be an “un-orphanage” because they are finding creative ways for Haitians to be self-employed so that they can take care of their own children with dignity and joy.
To read more about their mission click here.
How YOU Can Help
One area of self-employment for Haitian men and women is jewelry making.
And this brings us back to our original topic….your empty cereal boxes. Instead of throwing them away, you can contribute to the livelihood of a Haitian family by sending your cereal boxes (and any other cardboard food package that is at least 8 inches long) to Haiti.
You can do this as a mission project for your family or maybe a group of families. Better yet….
Start a cereal box drive at your church or organization. Ask for not only cereal boxes, but also donors to cover the shipping and receiving costs.
Read this post to find out how to get your boxes to Haiti.
Hello, I'm Amanda...Christ follower, Wife, Mother, Step-mother, Frugalista and the person behind the blog. My goal is to help you practice frugality in the home by becoming a smarter shopper. Every day I'll show you how to save money on groceries and other household items by using store sales, coupons, customer reward programs, rebates and other shopping strategies. I'll also share ideas and encouragement for blessing others. So welcome! I am so blessed to have you here!