The Project

Dear All,

Greetings from Macedonia! As some of you may know, I have been serving as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in a little village in Macedonia for the past year and a half. For the last few months, I have been working on a project with the local elementary school and together we have devised a plan to renovate three of the classrooms to be utilized for English language curriculum. With this project we intend to strengthen the curriculum with a clean and safe environment conducive to learning. The project will include; renovation, insulation and painting of the three rooms along with equipping them with proper materials that will make English learning both fun and rewarding for all students. Because children in my village live a more rural life, it is extremely important that they are afforded the necessary education and skills to help propel both themselves and their community toward a more prosperous future.

I have decided to utilize the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) to help facilitate this project for many reasons. One of which is that this program places a great deal of importance on community contribution. Most projects receive close to 100% funding from outside sources. The PCPP program, on the other hand, requires a 25% contribution from the community itself. This requirement produces a strong sense of ownership on the part of the community and greatly increases the sustainability of the project. The school and the mayor of the village have pledged 25% towards the funding of this project. From their portion we have secured funding for manual labor, paint, painting supplies, insulation and electronic equipment to be used in the curriculum. The second reason for using the PCPP is that it gives a chance for people at home a chance to help those less fortunate than themselves, as well as their volunteer (me) serving overseas.

As you have guessed by now, I am asking you to open your hearts and wallets (not necessarily in that order). Any donation made by you will be used in this project for the building of cabinets, bookshelves, a puppet show stage, encyclopedias, music instruments, electronic devices and other English language resources which will be immediately incorporated into the school's curriculum. 100% of your donation will be used for these purchases and will directly effect the lives of the children of my village. You will also be pleased to know that 100% of your donation is tax deductible.

The children of Rankovce, the teachers of the school and I would greatly appreciate your support in this project. We understand that donations are hard to come by in these tough economic times and money is already being donated to other causes around the world, but we hope that you can find a little extra to support our effort. Please help us reach our goal of $3,699.98. For just a nominal donation we can make many positive changes that will last a lifetime.

Links are to the right of the page to make donations. Also, please feel free to familiarize yourself with the Peace Corps and visit the FAQs for any information about the donating process you may need.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions/concerns about this project and how your hard-earned money will be spent.

Sincerely,

Joshua