A PROJECT WORTH SUPPORTING

Recently, I have gotten to know a new, exciting project to help Congolese who live in the same area as those most amazing of our near cousins, the bonobos (the "make love not war" chimpanzees). A partnership now links Falls Church, Virginia to a remote village of 19,000 people in the Congo called Kokolopori. And, as part of the partnership, we are looking to support people in Kokolopori through micro-credit. This program is run by the Bonobo Conservation Initiative, an impressive organization working in the Congo to protect bonobos.

I urge people to look at these websites and give generously to help people in Kokolopori.

And if you live in the Washington, D.C. area, think about attending the fundraiser on April 19 from 6-8 PM to launch this micro-credit fund for Kokolopori.

Thanks,
Tony

SO LET'S DO MORE, PART II:
New Chance to Help Make Your Idea Become Real
Act Soon, Deadline is APRIL 30!!!

In the first entry to this blog, I said this about the RPCVs PROJECT! idea:

"The promise of this endeavor, once it takes hold, is to expand the number of PROJECTs, so that some day, and I hope soon, a project you like from YOUR country of service also will be on the site. "

That time has already come:

Do you have an idea that you believe in and you wish you could find a way to raise the funds to support it? Until now, you had to go through the process of creating an official charitable organization (a "501(c)(3)" organization) so that any donations would be tax deductible.

NO MORE!!! Now, the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) and GlobalGiving have launched a competition to choose worthy projects and post them on the dynamic GlobalGiving website (www.globalgiving.com).

If you are a member of NPCA and/or a leader of an NPCA affiliate group, you are eligible for this competition. Winning projects will be posted on the GlobalGiving/NPCA site, making it MUCH easier for people to contribute. When people contribute through the GlobalGiving site, they get to deduct it on their taxes.

For details on the competition, please go to http://rpcv.org/pages/sitepage.cfm?id=1224. Let's go!