Our First Article in a Community Newspaper

The Peru Project has taken the first real step towards promoting our club by landing an article in our community newspaper, the Carmel Pine Cone on December 17, 2010. It is exciting to know that now the people of our community are informed about our goals! You can read the newspaper article by reading the copy & pasted one below, or visit the Carmel Pine Cone online archive by clicking the link below and visiting page 21:

http://www.pineconearchive.com/101217PCA.pdf

Thank you to everyone for all of your support!

If you would like to make a donation, click on the link on the right hand side. It will redirect you to a different site, and there you can insert your information and make a contribution!

Thanks so much!!

--Mai Lee



Here is the copy & pasted article, courtesy of the Carmel Pine Cone:

Teens solicit donations to build greenhouses in Peru
By MARY BROWNFIELD

CARMEL HIGH School junior Mai Lee and a handful
of her classmates hope to travel to Peru next summer to help
construct greenhouses so the country’s poor can grow better,
more diverse crops. But to get there, they need cash.
“We’re raising money to fund a greenhouse in Peru,
because they can’t really grow anything except potatoes and
certain greens because of the high altitude,” explained Lee,
founder of the CHS Peru Project. “So a greenhouse and basic
agricultural knowledge would help them out so much.”
Lee said she was inspired to form the club after hearing a
representative of the Becky Fund speak in her AP world history
class last year. Founded in 2003, the Becky Fund focuses
its efforts on providing school supplies to children and
teachers in rural areas of Peru. In 2005, it added nutrition to
its mission by helping schools to cultivate Guinea pigs — a
major source of protein for Peruvians — and last year, it
launched its summer greenhouse projects.
Working with Monterey Institute of International Studies
students who started an organization of their own called
Team Peru, the Becky Fund planned and collaborated on the
construction of its first two greenhouses on school grounds
last summer. Representatives also designed curriculum so
students and teachers in Peru could learn how to use them.
Eight MIIS students traveled to the rural mountain community
to do the work.
Next summer, Lee and her classmates want to make the
trip and lend a hand, too.
Lee said it will also serve as a cultural exchange.
“Students in Carmel really take energy and supplies for
granted, and it would be an eye opener for us if we see things
from a different perspective,” she said.
Since its founding at the beginning of the school year, the
group has held a few small fundraisers, and members have
begun mailing letters asking for grants and donations. The
club has about 25 students, but only 16 will make the trip to
Peru, according to Lee.
“We want the public to know about our club and what
we’re doing, so we can get public support,” she said.
To donate, write a check to Carmel High School ASB,
with “Peru Project” in the memo field, and mail it to CHS
ASB, P.O. Box 222780, Carmel, CA 93922.