HELP SAVE A SCHOOL AND SUPPORT INDIGENOUS CULTURE

As the author of the forthcoming (thanks Dancing Girl Press!) chap entitled THE GILDED AGE OF KICKSTARTERS, I've seen what's out there amongst e-fundraisers. Well, this is one I feel to be really worthy: a CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN to help avert the threat of school closure in Lake Sebu, Philippines. Climate change is real, and having a disastrous impact on indigenous communities. In Lake Sebu, Mindanao’s drought has wrought big-scale damages to the rice and corn fields, as well as impacted the fishing industry.  One of the adverse results on the community is the threatened closure of a indigenous school, LASIWWA.

Please consider even the smallest donation (yes, even $5!). After all, climate change's effects on the Philippines come from outside its borders too -- Hello, You!

UPDATE: The project has just received a Matching Grant--this means every dollar donated will be matched by an Anonymous Donor!  

If you are moved to donate at least $50, then you automatically will be entered into a raffle featuring a variety of prizes, including two of my recent books:

INVENT(ST)ORY: Selected Catalog Poems & New
and
AGAINST MISANTHROPY: A Life in Poetry

There are other prizes, as indicated on this flyer.

(click to enlarge)

You are encouraged to go HERE to read more about this worthwhile cause.  Meanwhile, here are some statements from the fundraiser's organizers:

“I am concerned about the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable populations - the indigenous communities! Focusing on this small-scale project is my own way of sharing responsibility for ways to mitigate climate change impact.”  
~ Leny Strobel, founder and co-director, Center for Babaylan Studies

“When you think about it, our lives as city-dwellers are not really separate from those of our indigenous brothers and sisters. They live the way they do (often impoverished, struggling, their very survival threatened) because we live the way we do (hungry for resources, dependent on raw materials often violently extracted from under their feet). We owe it to them to do what we can to halt the system that is killing them, and, in the meantime, to do what we can to keep them from totally going under.” 
~ S. Lily Mendoza, co-director, Center for Babaylan Studies

“Political unrest, religious intolerance, colonial mentality, and the dismal economic climate in the Philippines all contribute to pushing indigenous communities further out to the margins of society. Out of necessity and the everyday struggle to survive, indigenous peoples are forced to abandon their traditional ways. I believe that the work of Jenita Eko and the LASIWWAI is important in ensuring the continuity of indigenous knowledge in the Tiboli community, and provide children with a sense of self-worth, hope and determination to preserve customs and beliefs.” 
~ Maileen Hamto, project coordinator