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HOW TO SUPPORT
the Binghamton-El Charcón Sister City Project
Your donations help us fund projects we have agreed to support, like
scholarships and a regional program that works with young people in El
Charcón and neighboring communities. Beyond a personal financial
contribution, there are other ways to support our efforts:
Ø
Do you belong to a group that
could sponsor a scholarship student?
Ø
Do you know a local organization
looking for a speaker? We would be happy to make a presentation.
Ø
Can you interest your church or
office in switching to fair traded coffee? We raise money by
distributing fair traded coffee locally. We also have great fair
traded chocolates and other products.
We can use your talents:
o
for translation (Spanish -
English)
o
for web design and maintenance
o
for producing our annual
newsletter (desktop publishing)
o
to help organize fundraising
event
o
to promote our work in the media.
If you can help, contact Beth at
(607)785-0869, or elzbossong@aol.com.
Together
we
can do great things!
VOLUNTEER
Many hands make light work! If you would like to volunteer, these are
some of our current needs: Translation Spanish <-> English;
Selling Crafts & Cards; Help organize Fundraising events; Database
management; Help with the Newsletter; Web design and maintenance;
Graphic design; Promote our work in the media.
Contact Suzanne at suzanneg@stny.rr.com.
Together
we can do great things!
DONATE
BESCSP is a 501-c-3 organization. Your contribution is tax deductible.
Please make your check out to BECSCP and mail it to BECSCP, 4641 Vestal Parkway East, Vestal, NY 13850.
Become
a Sustainer by pledging an automatic annual contribution to the
national network for US-El Salvador Sister Cities. Whatever the amount
you pledge, it will offer us the peace of mind of knowing that the
national network will be able to count on that income as it continues
to support our local committee. Click
here
for the form.
Looking
for
great hostess gifts? Order Fair Trade tea and chocolates
together with Fair Trade Café Salvador coffee. Use this form: Fair Trade
coffee, tea and chocolates.
CONTACT
Email: Suzanne Geoghegan
Address: BECSCP, 4641 Vestal Parkway East, Vestal, NY 13850
Whatever your form of support,
it will be sincerely appreciated.
WHAT WE’VE BEEN
ABLE TO DO BECAUSE OF YOUR SUPPORT
We have accomplished a lot since
we began in 1992. We have:
- sent clothes, medicines, fabrics and sewing machines to El
Charcón; raised money for a potable water system, a tailoring workshop,
a chapel and benches, an education fund, and a regional youth project;
- collected books in Spanish to start a library in El Charcón;
- sent election observers and
delegations to El Salvador, and arranged for community representatives
to visit us here;
- responded to Hurricane Mitch and the 2001 earthquakes, sending money
that has been used, among other things, to build retaining walls in El
Charcón and decent housing in a nearby community.
- responded to human rights alerts while supporting a popular movement
demanding social and economic justice.
We currently support three
scholarship students, enabling them to continue their studies beyond
the level available in their local communities. We fund a regional
youth project that organizes educational workshops, leadership training
and sports activities for young people in eight rural communities,
including El Charcón. We support El Charcón itself as it organizes
internally to handle effectively the many problems it faces.
Our work through the years has been backed by your financial support
and by the tiny staff of the national US-El Salvador Sister Cities
network. Emily Carpenter, our national coordinator, knits
together the work of US-El Salvador sister city committees across the
country. She also handles the money we raise for projects and does
outreach that makes us more effective when lobbying on issues that
concern El Salvador.
In El Salvador, Sarah Bishop and Jan Morrill
facilitate communication and promote the work with our 'sistered'
Salvadoran communities. They visit the villages regularly, so can offer
us invaluable information and advice. They send us project updates and
reports and pass along the letters that go back and forth. These
dedicated people make it possible for us to continue our work on behalf
of El Salvador's rural poor. While we'll
continue to raise money for projects, the sister city committees also
need to pay the salaries and operating expenses of our (underpaid)
national staff.
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