Our Mission
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Buy Fair Trade!
Coffee, Tea, & Chocolate

 

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.