A Bit About Peaceful People

     The idea for Peaceful People originated in 1993 while wandering around Asia after spending several years in Gabon, Africa teaching people to build and manage fish ponds.   In Bangkok a friend and I saw some very cool whale-tail shaped stone necklaces and thought people at home would love them.  We bought some and also grabbed some batik sarongs and friendship bracelets in passing.  As it turns out, the only person really interested in buying the whale-tail necklaces was my mom, and I think she just felt sorry for me.  Luckily, the sarongs and friendship bracelets were very popular and Peaceful People was on its way.

     In addition to the more detailed listing below, Peaceful People has donated to projects in Malawi, Philippines, Peru, Benin, Thailand, Indonesia and Paraguay, as well as here in the States.

2009 Charity Info

Foster Children:  This year Peaceful People sponsored foster children in Paraguay, India, Honduras & South Sudan

Micro-lending:  This year I decided on a change of direction towards micro-lending through Kiva.org.   Kiva connects lenders to people all over the world requesting small loans.   This is an amazing program where we as individuals, families, businesses, churches, etc.... can help our international (or domestic) brothers and sisters help themselves.     In short, you can loan as little as $25, see a photo and description of the person receiving the loan, and when it is paid back (currently about 98% of loans are paid back) you can select to take your money out of Kiva or relend it to someone else.  I'm tempted to type 10 pages about how this amazing project works but I hope you'll take a look at www.kiva.org/about to find out more. 

             2009 Micro-lending through Kiva:  This year Peaceful People made 75 loans totaling $1,950 to people in Armenia, Benin, Bolivia, Cambodia,  Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Honduras, Lebanon, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

2008 Charity Info

Foster Children:  This year Peaceful People sponsored foster children in Paraguay, India, Honduras & South Sudan

2008 Neighborhood Charity Sale:   We again had a charity sale in conjunction with a giant 300-or-so family neighborhood garage sale. 

Where the Money Went:  We got rained out and raised a meager $289.65 which was donated as follows:

      1) Kupu-Kupu Foundation:  This is a nonprofit organization in Indonesia that works towards improving the lives of physically and mentally challenged children, adolescents and adults. 

2007 Charity Info

Foster Children:  This year Peaceful People sponsored foster children in Paraguay, India, Cameroon, Honduras & South Sudan

2007 Neighborhood Charity Sale:   We again had a charity sale in conjunction with a giant 300-or-so family neighborhood garage sale. 

Where the Money Went:  We raised a total of $1,164 which was donated as follows:

      1) Kupu-Kupu Foundation:  This is a nonprofit organization in Indonesia that works towards improving the lives of physically and mentally challenged children, adolescents and adults.   I had a chance to meet the founder, Begonia (a social worker from Spain), her husband Made, and some of their clients and see some of their programs in Indonesia.  I was really bowled over by what they were getting done.  This is a great grass-roots project where a little money goes a long way.  

      2) Half the money this year was donated to a local family to help with expenses relating to their child with cancer.   This family is not related to me and are not close friends, but rather one member is an acquaintance from a past job.   I would like to try to protect the privacy of this family a little by not putting their name on this web page, but in the name of being open about where charity money goes, feel free to ask and I will tell you.

2006 Charity Info

This year Peaceful People sponsored foster children in Paraguay, India, Cameroon & Honduras

2006 Neighborhood Charity Sale:   We again had a charity sale in conjunction with a giant 300-or-so family neighborhood garage sale. 

Where the Money Went: We were partially rained out and raised a total of $511 which was donated as follows:

      1) Kupu-Kupu Foundation:  This is a nonprofit organization in Indonesia that works towards improving the lives of physically and mentally challenged children, adolescents and adults.   I had a chance to meet the founder, Begonia (a social worker from Spain), her husband Made, and some of their clients and see some of their programs.  I was really bowled over by what they were getting done.  This is a great grass-roots project where a little money goes a long way.  

2005 Charity Info

Foster Children:  This year Peaceful People sponsored foster children in Paraguay, India, Cameroon & Honduras

2005 Neighborhood Charity Sale:   We again had a charity sale in conjunction with a giant 300-or-so family neighborhood garage sale. 

Where the Money Went: We raised a total of $1,248 which was donated as follows:

      1) Kupu-Kupu Foundation:  This is a nonprofit organization in Indonesia that works towards improving the lives of physically and mentally challenged children, adolescents and adults.   I had a chance to meet the founder, Begonia (a social worker from Spain), her husband Made, and some of their clients and see some of their programs.  I was really bowled over by what they were getting done.  This is a great grass-roots project where a little money goes a long way.  

      2) Peace Corps Partnership Program.  We are contributing towards construction of a "Center for Women and Girls" in the village of Ouassa, Benin.  This center will be a place in which girl's education, technical skills and future opportunities will be promoted.  The local community will be providing labor and raw materials. 

      3) Heifer Project International. With this contribution we were able to donate: 1 goat, 3 hives of bees and 5 flocks of ducks.

2005 Eau Claire International Festival:  Went on another road trip to have a charity sale booth at the Eau Claire, Wisconsin International Festival.

Where the Money Went: We raised a total of $681 which was donated as follows:

     1) Kupu-Kupu Foundation:  This is a nonprofit organization in Indonesia that works towards improving the lives of physically and mentally challenged children, adolescents and adults.  This is a great grass-roots project where a little money goes a long way.  

     2) Heifer Project International. With this contribution we were able to donate: a sheep, half a goat, 2 flocks of ducks, a hive of bees, a flock of chicks, a flock of geese, and a 10% down-payment on a heifer.

2004 Charity Info

Foster Children:  This year Peaceful People sponsored foster children in Paraguay, India, Cameroon & Honduras

2004 Neighborhood Charity Sale:   We again had a charity sale in conjunction with a giant 300-or-so family neighborhood garage sale. 

     1) Peace Corps Partnership Program.  We are contributing towards building a community library in the village of Ban Na-Ngiew in Thailand. The library will be built at the village’s local primary school. A second part of the plan is to take advantage of the Thai government’s yearly grant to buy books for schools with libraries.

     2) Project Power which is a program that offers classes, social activities and outings to adults with developmental disabilities. We have arranged to get an early look at the schedule for next session (~in July) so we can decide specifically which programs we will contribute towards. These activities offer a great chance for people with developmental disabilities to get out of the house, socialize and have some fun.

      3) Heifer Project International, which donates animals to impoverished families worldwide.  Each family that receives an animal will pass on it’s first offspring to another family, and so on. With our contribution we were able to donate: the remainder of the water buffalo from last year, a goat, a flock of chicks, a hive of bees and about 37% of a llama (hopefully we’ll finish off the llama next year).

2004 Eau Claire International Festival:   Went on a road trip to have a charity sale booth at the Eau Claire, Wisconsin International Festival.

Where the Money Went: We raised a total of $1,534 which was donated as follows:

     1) Heifer Project International.  With our contribution this time we were able to donate:  5 flocks of ducks/geese, 1 llama, 2 hives of bees, 1 pig, 3 flocks of chickens, 2 trios of rabbits, and about 10% of a "Joy to the World Collection" which consists of 2 sheep, 4 goats, a heifer and 2 llamas.

     2) Project Power which is a program that offers classes, social activities and outings to adults with developmental disabilities. These activities offer a great chance for people with developmental disabilities to get out of the house, socialize and have some fun.

     3) Peace Corps Partnership Program.  We are contributing towards the Young Women's Scholarship Project, which will provide education scholarships to 30 Paraguayan women between the ages of 15 and 30. 

2003 Charity Info

2003 Neighborhood Charity Sale:     In May 2003 we had a charity sale in conjunction with a giant 300-or-so family neighborhood garage sale.  Peaceful People Imports and another company donated all the items for sale and we selected 4 charitable causes.  As people bought items at our sale we let them decide which cause they wanted their money to go towards.  

Where the Money Went:  We raised a total of $1,583.76 which was donated as follows:

    1) Alexandra House, to be used towards their Shelter Program and Emergency Relief Fund which help women and children trying to get out of abusive situations.

     2) Heifer Project International, which donates animals to impoverished families worldwide. Each family that receives an animal will pass on its first offspring to another family, and so on. With our contribution we were able to donate a goat, a flock of ducks, a hive of bees and about 90% of a water buffalo (hopefully we’ll get the back legs next year).

     3) Project Power which is a program that offers classes, social activities and outings to adults with developmental disabilities. Our donation will go towards a dance, a bowling league, tickets and transportation to outings, etc. These activities offer a great chance for people with developmental disabilities to get out of the house, socialize and have some fun.

     4) Peace Corps Partnership Program.  Peace Corps volunteers overseas who see a specific need in their communities can request funds from this program.  We contributed towards two of these projects:

           A) A two-part cooperative project in the Philippines. One part involves raising mud crabs in pens and the other raising goats.

           B) Cafeteria project for a school lunch program in Thailand. People in the village of Khogwan were trying to address the problem of poor nutrition among the children. Teachers and locals had raised some money and volunteered their labor towards adding a cafeteria to the school so they could make use of a free school lunch program available.

2002 Charity Info

2001 Charity Info

2000 Charity Info

1999 Charity Info

1998 Charity Info

1997 Charity Info

Foster Children:  This year Peaceful People sponsored foster children in Nepal, Bangladesh and Paraguay