Toronto, Canada (1 March 2011) – In collaboration with the leadership and operations team of The G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho, GRO Canada is announcing a full transition for Lesotho programs to local personnel on March 31^st, 2011.

G.R.O. Canada seeks to alleviate the impact of global poverty on vulnerable communities everywhere by supporting grassroots development initiatives that build livelihoods.  The movement began six years ago when James White (Canada), Jean Margaritis and Greg Felsen (USA) launched a fundraising effort to support orphaned students and families affected by HIV in Lesotho, southern Africa.  The effort began with $3,000 CAD donated by Sharon Oatway in honour of her parents (and James’ grandparents) - John and Alice Oatway - committed volunteers and advocates for positive social change.

What began as a small collaborative effort between families in Lesotho and Canada soon grew to include advocates in several countries, and as of 2010, registered organizations in Lesotho, Canada and the USA.  The initial investment of $3,000 in 2005 enabled the creation of The G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho (registered in 2007), which is now funded by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, The European Union, and includes two self-financing social-enterprise businesses.

Moving toward full financial and program transition has always been G.R.O’s objective. “As a development workers who are wholly committed to sustainable social change, we have always reinforced the idea that successful and appropriately motivated international development workers must primarily advocate for the termination of their own roles,” says James White, Director. “Empowering communities means fostering local leadership, supporting local initiative, and promoting local ownership.”

Canada and GRO USA volunteers will continue to support the GRO Lesotho operations team with technical advice and support. As of March 31^st 2011, GRO Canada will no longer be pursuing private charitable funding on behalf of GRO Lesotho. Instead, we will be focusing on securing long-term development grants and promoting the financial self-sufficiency of the social enterprise collectives.

“This is a very exciting time for us,” says Jean Margaritis, Director of Programs. “We have reached a stage where the strength of the Lesotho team, and a desire to limit reliance on foreign charitable funding, makes a full transition appropriate and possible. We are very proud of the accomplishments and aspirations of the Lesotho team and look forward to assisting them through the transition.”

The successes mentioned above would not have been possible without the support, trust and advice of our many international supporters.  We thank you for supporting GRO Lesotho’s success and growth over the past six years.  As the final phase of transition begins on March 31^st we are very pleased to move forward knowing that the GRO effort has demonstrated that international social development can work – and that hope and solidarity do transcend borders.

More Questions? If you have any further questions related to the transition process or future of GRO Canada please contact James White at director@grocanada.org.

James White

Co-Founder / Director

Global Relief Outreach

director@grocanada.org

Posted under The Mission, The Movement, The Vision

Gifts of Growth 2010 campaign launches today

G.R.O. Canada is proud to announce the launch of the Gifts of Growth 2010 campaign!

G.R.O.’s Gifts of Growth campaign aims to honour the important people in our lives by providing you the opportunity to create positive change in the world. You can make a donation to the international poverty reduction projects of G.R.O. in the name of your loved ones this holiday season.  For your gift of any amount we will deliver a beautiful card describing the gift you’ve chosen and the social impact it will make in the developing world.  This card can be sent to you directly or can be sent to the gift recipient with your name and personal message.

For Immediate Release:

Posted under The Mission

Media Contact: Gen Scott  G.R.O. Canada Communications Officer 416.425.6220
Programming Contact: James White G.R.O. Canada Co-Founder/Director 647 922 0160

Posted under The Mission, The Movement

G.R.O. Lesotho was lucky enough to have Megan Landes, G.R.O. Canada Chairperson, visit us here in Hlotse-Leribe and time her visit around the LEAP Career Fair. We have tracked her down for a cross-continent Q&A.

We were really excited to have you visit once again and the whole team misses you already! Having been to Lesotho numerous times what was your impression of the programs on your most recent trip? Is there anything that really stood out to you?

Well, I have to say that it was incredible to be back in Lesotho to see the work that GRO has done in the last 12 months. We have gone from having volunteers only to now having full-time employees - what a change. And we seem to be exponentially growing - an office, a beading store, a truck!! It is great to see what tangible change is happening on the ground - and in such a good way. The GRO Lesotho team seems to be energetic, motivated and passionate about what GRO stands for.

You were honoured as one of the dignitaries at the Career Fair - could you explain what that experience is like for everyone?
Yes, I was a “dignitary” as the Chair of the Board of GRO Canada. How exciting!
During the Career Fair we hosted over a dozen other dignitaries from the Ministry of Education and from the District Administrator. It was a key moment for GRO to get this kind of exposure to those in the government - Jamie White, the Director of GRO Canada and I spent quite a bit of time talking about what GRO is, what we do and how we do it. At the end of the day we had the attention and understanding and support of the dignitaries that were invited - a success I believe!

We have talked about this on numerous occasions but for everyone taking the time to read your Q&A could you say a few words about what you miss most about Lesotho when you head home?
It is always the people. It has been such a special thing to be involved with the Artisans and Grannies and students over the past few years. It is remarkable to be able to come back to Lesotho to see them grow, and prosper and succeed…and I wish them all well and hope to see them soon again.

Typically in a Q&A you only have to answer 3 questions but because we don’t get the chance to sit down often we are going to hit you with a 4th one. There have been big developments brewing for G.R.O. in Canada over the past few months - without giving anything away what can you tell everyone about what the summer has in store for G.R.O. Canada?
Yes, GRO Canada has been undergoing its own remarkable developments. We have applied for CRA registration status, have updated the website, strengthened our board, executive and community of volunteers on this end…and we will be holding a big GRO Canada Launch party come late summer/early fall…GRO Canada is growing along with our GRO Lesotho project partners!

Thank you for taking the time to answer your first G.R.O. Q&A. We were so happy to have you visit us and always look forward to your return to Lesotho!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

On Saturday, February 20th G.R.O. really hit the pavement! Together, the Canadian fundraising team and our new volunteers taped, stapled, and glued posters in all the hottest Toronto neighbourhoods. The posters were promoting the Scholarship Challenge, an initiative designed to raise funds for the High School scholarships G.R.O. provides to vulnerable students of Hlotse-Leribe, southern Africa. After coffee and bagels, the group split off into two groups and plastered utility poles, message boards, and hoarding throughout downtown Toronto (yes, it’s legal).

It was great to meet the new volunteers – thanks so much Joel, Alex, Curtis and Nora! We are looking forward to working together again in the future!

Posted under The Movement

Calling all current and future G.R.O. Canada volunteers to meet up, team up, and spread the word about the G.R.O. 2010 Scholarship Challenge!

The Scholarship Challenge is G.R.O’s campaign to raise funds for Lesotho students whose families have been adversely affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Scholarships of $450/year provide one student the opportunity to attend High School in southern Africa and have access to life skills programs, career counselling, and library services that help ensure their success!

We need to spread the word to Toronto! We have the posters, we just need some help posting them at post-secondary campuses, community centers, cafes, and any other public places where people interested in our cause might hang out.

When: Saturday, February 20, 2010 10 am – 4 pm
Where: Gen Scott’s House – Gen is the G.R.O. Communications Officer.
What: We’ll gather at Gen’s house at 10 am for coffee and pastries and team up into small outreach teams of 2-3 people. Each team will be responsible for one segment of Toronto. Together, that team will go out to poster up the city (making sure to have any necessary permissions, of course).  We’ll regroup at Gen’s at 2 pm for cold refreshments.
What to bring: Your TTC pass (if you have one, we will make arrangements for those who don’t), staplers, tape, and/or tacks if you have some.

Who: Everyone is welcome! Please gather up your friends!

RSVP: If you are interested in joining, please email Jayne at jwilkins@grofoundation.org for details about the location of the event.

This is a fun way to really hit the pavement and get involved with G.R.O. We hope you’ll join us!

To learn more about G.R.O. and our family scholarship program, check out our website www.grofoundation.org.

Posted under The Mission, The Movement, The Vision

In October, Megan Landes, Chair of the G.R.O. Canada Board and James White, Director of G.R.O. Canada/Lesotho travelled to our nations capital to speak with various MPs and Senators about G.R.O.!   We had the opportunity to meet with the Honorables Mike Savage (MP - Dartmouth/Cole Harbour), Glen Pearson (MP - London North), Bob Rae (MP - Toronto Centre) and Jane Cordy (Senator).  Megan and Jamie spoke about the work G.R.O. is doing in Lesotho and our future directions, particularly in Canada.  As a result we learned a great deal about Canada’s position on development and foreign aid.  We commend those working in Ottawa to make Canadian investment in developing countries have a tangible impact on the poorest and most vulnerable global communities.

Additionally, G.R.O. was announced on both the floor of the House of Parliament by the Honorable Mr. Savage and the floor of the Senate by Senator Cordy.  G.R.O. would like to thank everyone who helped make this possible, and we look forward to further developing our Canadian initiatives in 2010!

Megan Landes and James White in Ottawa

Posted under The Vision

As the evening descended over the Toronto skyline the wind picked up off of Lake Ontario. One of the most beautiful patios in the city had undergone a transformation from its typical serene gardens into a vibrating buzz of excited conversation, soft floating light, and a great soundtrack provided by DJ Dave Ng. The 27th of September saw the patio filled with 75 GRO Canada supporters as they came together to celebrate the work of The GRO Foundation Lesotho, assist in pledging their support for our Basotho project partners, and mingle among other socially-conscious Torontonians.

As party-goers flowed through the doors they were treated to a projection-based slideshow of photos from the past year of project partners and beneficiaries from Lesotho. The evening was capped off with a short talk on ongoing and future initiatives by Megan Landes, who has just recently returned from a short working trip to Lesotho with OHAfrica and GRO. Inundated with the dark of evening and complimented by the shimmering city in the background the Red Party was ,in every respect, a glowing success. The evening was able to raise approximately $2000 for current programs and 100% of the donations have been given to the projects in Lesotho.

I want to share a personal thank you on behalf of GRO Canada and The GRO Foundation Lesotho to all of that came out to join us as well as the GRO Canada Team: Toby Whitfield and Megan Landes for hosting the event; Genevieve Scott and Hanna Faghfoury for all of your assistance with the wonderful spread of appetizers, decorations, as well as the beverages; Terry Alderbert for all of her setup assistance and bartending skills; and Jayne Wilkins for hand delivering all of the jewellery from The GRO Artisans Collective upon her return from visiting our projects in Lesotho. This will be the first of many GRO Canada Fundraising events so please contact us if you’re interested in hosting a future event.

Again, a deep thank you from all involved.

Jason Clark,

Operations Coordinator

jclark@grofoundation.org

Posted under The Movement