D-3 Foundation believes that empowering children through education leads to poverty reduction and a better chance of future success. It is crucial that we work with quality educators to help them hone their skills and improve the lives of those less fortunate. In 2008, in partnership with Imvelo Safari Lodges, we began our education initiative in Zimbabwe. This includes building new classroom blocks, repairing damaged ones, and providing students and administrators with steel chairs and desks. Additionally, new housing blocks were built for teachers’ quarters to encourage educators to feel safe and secure living in the bush.
In 2010, we developed a school feeding program to encourage families to send their children to school. Each day, over 200 students are provided with a free meal. The food program helps enormously with attendance rates, as well as school performance and grades because this is often the only meal a child will receive that day.
In Africa, clean drinking water has an immeasurable effect on health and quality of life. In 2010, D3 partnered with Global Water Partners to help build and repair water wells in rural villages of Zimbabwe. Through this program, no village has ever paid for a water well installation or repair. The program has successfully completed 76 new water wells and 108 water well repairs. It is estimated these wells service 100,000 Zimbabweans on a daily basis.
Nyamukani, founded in 2006, is an embroidery club aimed at alleviating rural poverty by empowering local women to help themselves and their families. Embroidered cloth and T-shirts form the keystone of their industry and members (currently 80 women) are paid according to each piece they produce. All raw materials are donated by the foundation.
As part of our ongoing women’s initiative, a new sewing program began in July 2014 near the outskirts of Harare. All raw materials are provided and one hundred percent of proceeds from sales are donated to the women. The women vote on where they see the money is most suitable for improvement in the community. Examples include clean drinking water, school tuition, school uniforms, livestock purchase and basic sundries. Please feel free to check out our Charity Shop to view their work.
In 2011, we teamed up with Imvelo Safari Lodge and 24 Spanish and Italian volunteer dentists in Zimbabwe to form our first mobile dental safari. The response from the local community was overwhelming. People travelled miles to receive vital and life saving dental procedures all free of charge. Currently, we are in our 10th year of operation and proud to report we have successfully treated over 20,000 patients.
The dental care provided to these communities includes:
- Regular annual dental care for an entire community that spans 250 km.
- Dental checkups for all children in a number of community schools.
- A free toothbrush and toothpaste for every patient treated.
- Extensive oral and root canal surgery.
-Removal of oral cysts and tumors (including cancerous tumors).
- Hygiene lectures to thousands of adults and children.
In 2015, we identified a need for an optometry component. Our optometry team fits patients with reading glasses and performs cataract surgeries in local hospitals where patients have less risk of infection. We have successfully treated over 7,000 patients in our 5 years of operation.
Most exciting of all, the Smile and See Safari is making plans for their December 2020 tour to ensure the continuation of this wonderful initiative.
Click here to make a donation to this cause.
Boreholes serve as essential life sustaining watering holes for wildlife who call Hwange National Park home during the dry season. The past couple of years have proved to be deadly due to extreme drought conditions. Our goal, in collaboration with Imvelo Safari Lodges, is to sustain the population of wildlife though the construction of boreholes. The program has successfully completed 76 new boreholes and 108 borehole repairs.
In 2013, with the help of our generous donors, a new borehole was built in honor of our friend, Chris “Stoffie” Nel. Chris was a member of the Imvelo Safari team and was well known for his conservation efforts and kind heart. In memory of this young man, his parents built a watering pan in his honor. The pan serves many conservation purposes, but most importantly, it is a reminder of Stoffie’s charismatic spirit.
Thanks to the vision and leadership of Dr. George Ferry, this is the 15th year that the Palmer Bolivia Mission will send a work team to Montero, Bolivia. The program has seen over 150 volunteers since its inception. The mission consists of three components: a medical team, a construction team, and a team that works with a local orphanage.
The medical team works in a clinic for the under-served, the Consejo Salud de Andino Rural. Donations provide medical and surgical services for indigent children. This includes examinations, evaluations, minor surgeries and various procedures. Additional funds are spent each year to provide various medical services in the community, including home visits and immunizations.
The construction team helps to repair older homes, as well as build new homes for the Guarani indigenous communities. Their skills are required for a number of construction projects at the clinics, hospital and orphanage as well.
Hogar Sagrado Corazón, the local orphanage, is home to 112 girls ranging in age from toddler to high school. The goal is to continue to support the orphanage with repairs, furnishings, tutoring programs, and college scholarships for those girls that excel in their studies. In addition, a home has been built for the older girls in advanced studies. These costs include food, utilities, books and tuition.
Over the last 15 years, this great team has established a wonderful presence in the community. For more information about volunteer opportunities, please contact us.
In 1987, Commissioner El Franco Lee created the ever popular Harris County Precinct One Street Olympics Program (Street Olympics). Since its inception, it has grown from a summer only recreational program to include four major components that address the social service, health care, educational and vocational needs of Harris County youth.
Working in concert with the Street Olympics Summer Games, the Northeast Adolescent Program seeks to address health issues for area youth through education and intervention. The Harris County Aquatics Program provides recreational and valuable specialized training for future swimmers.
The Discovery Camp Nature Program is the fourth component of Street Olympics and provides children with hands-on-education and orientation to natural and environmental experiences.
Together, these four programs represent a comprehensive community-based venture that is funded through the joint efforts of private and public community agencies. Street Olympics operates under the direction of its Board of Directors, which oversees the financial and operational functions of the organization.
El Franco Lee Scholarship Program
The mission of the El Franco Lee Scholarship is to provide qualified applicants with financial awards to assist in their goal of obtaining a college degree. The applicant pool consists of graduating high school students who are current participants in a Street Olympics Program.
The Harris County Street Olympics will distribute awards of $1,000 to each selected participant. The number of individuals each year will be determined by the Harris County Street Olympics Board of Directors.
In 1989, Palmer Memorial Church developed a program to assist the less fortunate in the community with the opening of the Way Station. The Way Station is a community funded program that serves over 400 men, women and children on a daily basis. Services include a daily hot meal, career counseling and medical and mental health services. Additional services include access to a mailing address, telephone, restrooms, identification cards, donated toiletries, bus service, and referrals to agencies that provide items such as clothes and other services.
*Please note the Way Station relocated to Star of Hope. For more information on this cause, please feel free to visit sohomission.org.