Established in 1984, Boundless is dedicated to improving the lives of marginalized youth, adults and children at risk through a unique combination of counselling, social rehabilitation, alternative education and outdoor adventure.

Working in partnership with Ontario-based community agencies, mostly from Toronto, their program strives to prevent crime, promote alternatives to drug abuse and strengthen the bonds of families and communities ravaged by poverty, violence and mental illness across the Canadian province.

As well as their outdoor programs, Boundless also run community leadership initiatives, the issuance of high school credits, counselling/tutoring and social rehabilitation training. Their mission is to employ a non-traditional approach to education that is sensitive and motivating, and which builds the focus, vision and independence of participants.

Boundless works in close collaboration with roughly 50 agencies that represent health care providers, children’s mental health agencies, community centres in at-risk neighbourhoods, drop-in and recreation programs.

Their programs include:

• Youth. Supporting at-risk youth to complete their high school education and integrate into the community.
• Family. Supporting parents and children with social skill development and decreased aggressive behaviour.
• Mental Health. Using social rehabilitation to help those suffering mental health issues to feel less isolated and become more independent and healthy.
• Aboriginal. To help native youth in foster homes and receiving treatment for substance abuse to re-acquaint with their culture and nature, in collaboration with Native Elders.
• Acquired Brain Injury. A dedicated program centre to help sufferers of acquired brain injury to rehabilitate into everyday life through work, fitness, education and friendships.

As you can see, Boundless isn’t tied to one cause, but helps across a huge amount of need. 12for12k is delighted to be supporting them for April, and extremely grateful for any support you can offer for this wonderful organization.

Honest Foods is a retailer of healthy granola bars. All their food is made with organic product wherever possible, and they don’t use spray on vitamins or soy protein powders. This ensures their bars are a healthy snack alternative to junk food snacks.

For April, Honest Foods will donate 100% of all profits from the sale of their products through the Honest Foods online store. This is an amazing gesture by Honest Foods and we’re incredibly grateful to them for this offer. Special thanks go to our PR partner Rachel Kay for getting this all together.

To ensure all donations go to the charity, just put 12for12k in the comments section of your order and Honest Foods will allocate the profits to 12for12k and the April charity, Yehu.org.

Again, our thanks to Honest Foods. Now you can eat good and do good at the same time!

Visit the Honest Foods store for more details on their products and how you can contribute to the 12for12k/Mom It Forward April charity push.

• Note – at the moment, Honest Foods only deliver throughout the Continental U.S.

Bloggers: Please use this link for trackback: http://12for12k.org/2009/04/06/eat-good-do-good-with-12for12k-and-honest-foods/

After helping combat child hunger in the U.S. last month (and raising over $15,000 for Share Our Strength), the 12for12k Challenge is going international again. As part of a special project with Mom It Forward, we will be supporting Yehu.org as our April Charity.

A completely volunteer-driven non-profit, Yehu.org is making a huge difference to the lives of millions of women in rural Kenya. As Mother’s Day approaches, 12for12k is delighted to be helping mothers support their families and get them out of poverty. So who is Yehu.org and how are we going to support them?

The Charity

Yehu.org is a microfinance organization in the rural coastal region of Kenya for the poor, run by the poor. It provides financial and other support services for small businesses owned by very poor people.

Yehu operates in conjunction with Choice Humanitarian, an international NGO specializing in village development. Yehu was created based on the principles and procedures of the world-renowned Grameen Bank.

Yehu Microfinance works with BasaBody and Coast Coconut Farms to empower poor rural entrepreneurs in Kenya to help lift themselves out of poverty. This is done through enhanced accessibility to sustainable financial services, business opportunities, and skills training.

How It Works

First, women secure micro loans from Yehu Microfinance. Next, they purchase a franchise from Coast Coconut Farms, which gives them the materials, skills/business training, and opportunity to run a coconut oil extraction business right from their village.

Then, Coast Coconut Farms makes regular village runs to purchase the coconut oil and processes it in its plant. Finally, Coast Coconut Farms exports the oil to the U.S. where volunteers there use the oil to create and sell bath, body, and cooking products—part of the Basa Body and Coast Coconut Farms product lines—returning the proceeds right back to Africa to help more and more women.

It’s this approach that makes Yehu.org the perfect charity for our support. Our goal has always been to make sure as much money goes to those who need it and work towards eradication of problems through long-term programs and Yehu.org shares this vision.

How We’re Helping

To support Yehu.org as our April charity, 12for12k has joined forces with the Mom It Forward network. Their aim is to “change the world one mom at a time” and they are the perfect partners for this month’s charity.

As well as normal donations, we will be running a host of special events throughout April. These include virtual pajama parties, 24-hour fund-raising marathons and perhaps the most exciting event – international charity meet-ups.

Cities across the U.S., Canada and Australia will be hosting live events on April 18. These will be a mix of fun, drinks, socializing, prizes, silent auctions and much more. The 12for12k events will be held in San Diego, Toronto and Sydney (Australia), with more hosted by Mom It Forward. More details very soon.

We hope you’ll offer 12for12k your fantastic support again, as you have done from the start, and help make the April charity a huge success!

Thank you.

• Bloggers – please use this link for trackback: http://12for12k.org/2009/04/02/12for12k-supports-yehuorg-as-the-april-charity-with-mom-it-forward/