Cottonwood FoundationAnnuAl RepoRt foR 2005

protecting the environmentpromoting cultural diversityempowering peopleencouraging volunteerism

From the Executive Director

Thanks to all of Cottonwood Foundation’s contributors and volunteers for your wonderful support in 2005! With your help, Cottonwood awarded

$49,000 in grants to grassroots organizations worldwide that are working for a sustainable future – a record amount for the foundation. And, because of donations of hundreds of hours by volunteers as well as in-kind contributions, Cottonwood spent only $2,341.05 on administration and fundraising, allowing over 95% of its expenditures to be dedicated directly to grants.

Cottonwood has also been honored to work with a group of special Cottonwood Partner organizations – with over 60 organizations participating as partners as of the end of 2005. These partners invest considerable time and effort in the application process, implementing their important work, and letting us know the results. And while not every partner organization receives funding each year, thanks to support from Cottonwood’s contributors, most are able to receive this much needed support.

As a part of the grant process, each grant recipient is asked to submit a final report of how Cottonwood’s grant has made a difference and how the funds have been spent. Typically these reports are quite detailed, and often heartfelt. You are invited to review this report to read and to see for yourself how Cottonwood’s recent grants are having an impact.

Cottonwood’s board of 11 is continuing to work well as a team, with each board member acting as a primary liaison for several Cottonwood Partner organizations. These board liaisons work to provide honest guidance and assistance to their partner organizations in the development of their project proposals. Board members as a group also offer their own thoughtful perspectives and feedback when discussing the applications during the grants committee process and when making funding decisions.

Through your continued support for Cottonwood, small but real ripples of positive change are truly moving across the planet. Cottonwood-funded projects are now assisting literally thousands of people to meet their own basic needs like clean water, nutritious food, sanitation and housing, while also leading to the restoration of our environment through extensive tree planting and land and water protection, and contributing to the growth of trust and good will between diverse groups of people through fostering intercultural contact and respect. Regardless of the serious challenges that we as a world community are facing at this time, there is reason to believe that a better future can and is being created — with your help.

Thank you again for all of your support and involvement with Cottonwood Foundation. You are truly making a difference!

Paul MossExecutive Director

Our Mission

Cottonwood Foundation, a charitable, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization, is dedicated to promoting empowerment of people, protection of the environment, and respect for cultural diversity.

The foundation will focus its funding on committed, grassroots organizations that rely strongly on volunteer efforts, and where foundation support will make a significant difference. At least 90 percent of Cottonwood Foundation’s expenditures will be for grants to other organizations.

• Design donated by Scott Andre

• Pre-press services donated in part by Smart Set, Inc.

• Annual report printing donated by The Toro Company

Contact information

Cottonwood FoundationBox 10803White Bear Lake, MN 55110 USA

Phone: (651) 426-8797Fax: (651) 294-1012e-mail: info@cottonwoodfdn.org

www.cottonwoodfdn.org

Income

Grants and Corporate Giving $12,370.97Income from Investments $1,784.26Private Donations General and Land Fund Donations $36,163.94 Designated for Endowment $1,905.00

Total Income $52,224.17

Non-Grant Expenses

Bank Charges and Broker Fees $710.45Post Office Box $68.00Postage and Mailing Services $804.94Printing $432.32Internet Services and Telephone $255.34 Miscellaneous $70.00

Total Non-Grant Expenses $2,341.05

Charitable Disbursements $49,000.00

Percentage of expenses for grants 95.4%

Assets — December 31, 2005

General Fund $41,777.92 Endowment Fund $37,250.00Land Fund $3,618.00

Total Assets $82,645.92

“First and foremost I would like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt gratitude for the selfless support that Cottonwood Foundation has given to us.

Though small the financial assistance really makes a difference to 10 family-based organic farmers in the village of Siazon. More than that, the potable water component of the project has served to more or less 20 families who are residents of the village.

Without the assistance from Cottonwood the project could not have been made possible. For the first time, the organic farmers in the village, with different sources of water were able produce corn and vegetables during dry season. Not only that they were able to earn income too.

This is the biggest impact to ever happen to the family-based / organic farmers in the village. We’re hoping that they will continue these efforts in a whole year round basis for sustainability in their consumption and income.

Thank you and more power, May you’ll continue to support our next and future project.”

– Center for People’s Agricultural Plan for the 21st Century (PAP 21), Philippines

from a grant recipient

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Income and Grants Awarded:

Income

Grants

A Cottonwood grant to Center for People’s Agricultural Plan for the 21st Century purchased two pumps and piping that are now provid-ing irrigation water to 10 family-based organic farmers in the village of Siazon and clean drinking water to village families.

VolunteersBoard of Directors December 2005

Jan Lucke, Chair Craig Miller, Vice Chair Sarah Hannigan, TreasurerErik Nelson, SecretaryPaul Moss, Executive DirectorLaura Bray Karissa Huntington Kathy KinzigTom MeersmanCaleb WerthSuzanne Wisniewski

Other Volunteers 2005

Paul AndreScott AndreLaurie GustafsonGlenn Krocheski-MeyerMiriam MossSidney MossLucinda PepperJeff Washburne

Individual Donors: $38,068.94

List of individual donors removed from online version for privacy reasons.

Donors

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“Once again, a Cottonwood grant has brought a significant forward movement in our work. The wall is an inspiration to us, and we believe also to the people who see it. After all the years of intense efforts, defending the land rights of the Los Cimientos K’iche and providing humanitarian support during their hardest days, the work at this time is a great joy.

Most important are the direct benefits to local workers and the sense of empowerment the young people working with us feel. They helped construct the wall and learned how to do it. They will build additions to it as time and money allow. They are proud and inspired to be associated with K’aselem Mandala – a sense of identity and the feeling that they are doing something real for their town.

Financial limitations frequently limit the scope and effectiveness of our work yet somehow it seems to keep our work “real” for the impoverished people we serve. Like many other fine organizations in the world, we lack technical equipment (digital and video cameras, functional computer equipment, on-site internet access) and salaries for trained personnel (grant writers, etc.) that make it possible to develop a higher profile and access to major funding that is needed to make a “grand impact.” Yet, we appear to be doing just what is needed and having an effect.”

– Los Cimientos Alliance, USA/Guatemala.

Corporate and Foundation Donors

ALO Environmental Associates, LLCAon FoundationCommunity Solutions Fund (donor designated funds)Four KinshipFunding ExchangeGreaterGood.comGreater Twin Cities United Way (donor designated funds)JustGive.orgKopp Family FoundationLabScheduler, LLCLawson SoftwareMachine Dreams, Inc.PajWell FoundationPremier BanksRichardson, Richter and Associates, Inc.St. Martin’s TableStar Tribune FoundationThomson WestU.S. Bancorp FoundationH.E. and Helen R. Warren FoundationWhole Systems Foundation

In-Kind Donors

Edward Jones – Chuck Edson, Investment RepresentativePremier BanksRichardson, Richter and Associates, Inc.Smart Set, Inc.The Toro Company

Other in-kind donations of services, supplies, and materials by board members and volunteers.

Memorials

Gifts were donated in memory of the following individuals in 2005:

Mabel EdgertonBerenice ShawDean Austin Allen

from a grant recipient

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Four toilets serving a total of 80 – 100 people were built with full community participation in Manki village, Pakistan, where toilets had not been previously avail-able, including one in a primary girls school, through a Cottonwood grant to Blue Veins.

With support from a Cottonwood grant, Los Cimientos Alliance constructed a needed rock wall around a new environmental education center being built in a Maya K’iche community of Guatemala.

African Blackwood Conservation Project, USA/Tanzania - to double capacity of a tree nursery in Tanzania, allowing for an additional 50,000 seedlings of the overharvested African blackwood tree (mpingo) to be produced every 18 months for replanting in the Kilimanjaro/Moshi area.

Association “Green Alternative”, Republic Of Georgia - for a “rent-a-tree” program in which physically disabled children will handcraft 100 clay pots to be planted with native fir-tree saplings and “rented” to families during the holiday season as an alternative to using often illegally-cut trees, with the saplings to be replanted in landslide areas afterwards, also including public outreach on the negative impacts of illegal logging.

Association of Young Azerbaijani Friends of Europe (AYAFE), Azerbaijan - to organize a working camp in Baku, Azerbaijan with participation of 16 international and local volunteers to help clean up pollution and plant trees around Orphanage #3, which houses 150 children.

Benton Furniture Share, USA - to allow this volunteer-based organization focusing on the reuse and distribution of donated, used furniture and appliances to supply at least 40 needed household items to the low-income elderly in and near Benton County, Oregon.

Blue Veins, Pakistan - to build 6 publicly-accessible toilets in Manki village in Swabi District, NWFP, where toilets are currently not available, accompanied by community education on sanitation, which will reduce

current problems of disease, lack of privacy, and environmental degradation.

Borneo Project, USA/Malaysia - to assist an indigenous women’s organization in Long Lunyim, northeastern Sarawak, Malaysia to establish a cooperative community organic vegetable garden, with funds to be used for seeds, tools, nursery infrastructure, and other purposes, which will help to provide a needed food source for families who otherwise are facing malnutrition.

Center for Sustainable Development “Rural21”, Moldova - to purchase and install five large rust-resistant waste pre-collection containers equipped with special lids serving up to 320 households in multi-apartment blocks in the town of Stefan Voda, thus solving the most pressing problem of

waste management as well as reducing the threat of spread of infectious disease in this community.

Center for People’s Agricultural Plan for the 21st Century, Philippines - to construct a deep-well water irrigation system serving 10 organic family farmers in the village of Siazon, town of Murcia, province of Negros Occidental, which will allow the farmers to grow food crops throughout the year and provide potable water, as well as for purchase of vegetable seeds, farm equipment, and training on composting.

Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems, India - to help construct 10 grain storage structures in ten villages in Kancheepuram District of Tamil Nadu where farmers are growing indigenous rice varieties organically, which will help farmers store seeds safely from pests and rodents, allow sufficient storage time before processing, and increase the price the farmers receive for their grain.

Centro de Educación Creativa, Costa Rica - for purchase of tools, equipment, and materials to expand this environmental school’s reforestation program to 1,500 seedlings annually, which will extend a local

Summaries of 2005 Grants

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The Association of Young Azerbaijani Friends of Europe organized a working camp in Baku, Azerbaijan with 16 international and local volunteers to help clean up pollution and plant trees around Orphanage #3, which houses 150 children.

biological corridor, increase green space and attract local species of insects and birds, and teach students and community members about the natural world.

Comite de Emergencia Garifuna de Honduras, Honduras - to strengthen and expand work to replant balaire- a formerly common but now threatened plant with cultural importance to the Garifuna - in Iriona and Guadalupe villages, and to work with youth to reforest with yagua, a traditional wood-like palm, including establishing tree nurseries in the Garifuna towns of Santa Rosa de Aquan and Barra de Aguan.

Common Ground Program, Kenya - to empower members of the Bafubi Women Group in Matunda village to address chronic hunger by carrying out biointensive mini-farming and agroforestry, purchase of tools and seeds, starting a tree nursery in the community to grow 10,000 seedlings, and building a water tank to harvest roof runoff at a local school with gray water to be recycled for gardening.

Cultural Survival, USA/Mongolia - for a project to assist Mongolia’s nomadic herding Dukha people, including purchasing veterinary medicines to treat 600 Dukha reindeer against parasites and diseases, 20 carving tool kits for turning renewable reindeer antlers into crafts, 25 Tyvan language books for indigenous school children, and transportation costs for indigenous veterinarians.

Dos Pueblos: New York - Tipitapa Sister City Project, USA/Nicaragua – for purchase of equipment and related expenses to provide potable water to at least 50 families in the barrio of el parte este of San Benito Agricola, Tipitapa, Nicaragua which is currently without access to any water, with heavy involvement of local volunteer labor.

Ecoclub Nongovernmental Youth Organization, Ukraine - to insulate windows, replace doors, and for other needed energy conserving work at Nadvirna Baby Orphanage, which houses nearly 80 orphans ages one to five, including purchase of insulation materials, wood, glass, tools, and lunches and transportation for volunteers.

Eco-garden, Kenya - for training of 60 small farmers on organic gardening and sustainable environmental management, as well as for purchase of 15 educational videos on soil conservation, organic farming

techniques, and water harvesting and conservation for showing at school clubs.

Entebbe District Wildlife Association, Uganda - to buy materials to construct 10 energy saving stoves for use in schools and 40 stoves for households within Entebbe with construction of the stoves to be carried out by the recipients with assistance from EDWA volunteers.

Environment and Community Development Organization (ECDO), Nepal - to install a drinking water system and toilet for children at the Harihar Janta Primary School in Janakinagar, Nepal, where there is currently no source of safe drinking water or toilet facilities for the 297 students and 5 teachers at this remote rural school.

Friends Service Council, Nepal - to implement the Vegetable Farming for Livelihood Support program focused on helping small farmers, especially women, to earn income from selling fresh produce, including renting two ropani of land to establish a vegetable nursery and model farm, training, staff salaries, and for purchase of seeds, equipment, and a bicycle.

Global Children, USA/Cambodia - to help support a visual art program at the Kampong Cham Orphanage in Cambodia, home to about 65 orphans, that provides

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2005 Cottonwood Foundation grants: $49,000

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Bair Sharaev (right), Soyot herder and family in Sayan Mountains with healthy reindeer, partners in Cultural Survival’s Totem Project, Russia as supported by Cottonwood Foundation.

children with a better understanding of Khmer culture, identity and history through artistic endeavors, increases self-esteem and creativity, as well as providing young people with a skill that can open opportunities for them to earn an income.

Goriber Asroy, Bangladesh - for a Village Bee Keeping Program through which 100 village families will each receive a basic beehive and training to produce honey for their own nutrition, more crops through increased bee pollination, and an extra income source, as well as helping to protect an endangered bee species.

Green India Foundation, India - to provide financial and technical assistance to 20 women who had lost their livelihoods after the 2004 Tsunami, which will allow them to each re-start their own market fish sales businesses, including enough capital for each woman to purchase an ice box and about 20 kilograms of fish for resale, leading to potential earnings of $160 per month.

Haiti Outreach, USA/Haiti - to help support well drilling projects in two small communities outside of Mombin Crochu, in Haiti’s northern plateau, which will provide clean water to approximately 500 people per well, and where people currently need to walk one mile to town with 5 gallon buckets on their heads for water for their daily drinking, cooking, bathing and cleaning needs.

Harvest of Hope Self Help Community Centre, Kenya - to be used to support sustainable agriculture projects working to improve lives of the Kenyan communities on the coast, including purchase of tools and equipment for tree and vegetable nurseries, workshops, demonstrations, training, and other activities, with a goal of training 2,000 school students and teachers and 1,000 community people.

Health Education Adoption Rehabilitation Development Society (HEARDS), India - to allow 40 women in a Self Help Group in Vinayakapuram Urban Slum to get training and seed capital assistance to make natural fiber products for income generation (such as ropes, baskets, mats and bags), with each woman receiving a basic rope weaving machine as well as sisal and grass fibers.

Cottonwood’s grant supported purchase of materials and equipment used at an international vol-unteer work camp in Ukraine in which volunteers insulated windows at Nadvirna Baby Orphanage, housing nearly 80 orphans between the ages of one to five.

Los Cimientos Alliance, USA/Guatemala - to help construct a security fence for the first phase of an environmental education center serving the Maya K’iche community of Los Cimientos which will provide a model for sustainable environmental development and affordable housing, along with protection and reforestation of an endangered land site near Lake Atitlan.

Maasai Heritage Preservation Foundation, USA/Kenya - to complete two classrooms in an early childhood learning center for Maasai children in Kenya which currently has one teacher and 76 students between the ages of three to six in one room, including finishing the floors, spraying the inside and outside of the school with cement, and furnishing the classrooms with tables, chairs and shelves.

MADRE, USA/Guatemala - to allow the Barcenás Maquila Workers Committee in Guatemala to purchase two additional desktop computers for the center, allowing more women and youth from the community to receive computer literacy trainings and gain the skills they need to seek meaningful employment at a livable wage.

Mangrove Action Project, USA/Malaysia - to support a hydrological mangrove restoration training and demonstration

Indian National Trust for the Welfare of Tribals (INTWOT), India - to support an organic nursery demonstration project with vermicomposting in the Joradobra village in the Kalahandi State of Orissa, including constructing 16 vermi-pits for 8 farmers, training 20 farmers to become “Barefoot Agriculture Scientists,” and cultivation of 18 hectares owned by village farmers with bamboo, fruit trees, and vegetables.

Interaccion para el Desarrollo Sostenible, Bolivia - to support reforestation activities in the rural, indigenous communities of Sorata, San Pedro, Poquerani and Cirini through purchase of fruit tree and agroforestry seeds, to be accompanied by training courses presented in cooperation with local university student volunteers on the topics of sustainable tourism and the environment, agroforestry, and erosion control.

Jeevan Rekha Parishad, India - to set up a 20,000 liter capacity rainwater harvesting system that will provide drinking water and toilet facilities for 250 students and 3 teachers in Gandharubaru village school, Kalahandi district, Orissa State, which is located in a drought-prone area and currently has no source of water, as well as to conduct an educational campaign about rainwater systems for local communities.

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project in a tsunami-affected area of Malaysia, working in partnership with the Penang Inshore Fishermen’s Welfare Association in the state of Penang.

Nabichakha Women Group, Kenya - to help reverse deforestation in Kenya through ecologically-integrated self-help development initiatives that will increase indigenous forest cover while also having an economic application, including establishing tree nurseries, purchase of indigenous tree seeds, planting trees in livestock grazing paddocks, planting trees for fruit and fuel, and implementing other agroforestry practices.

Nepal Social Service Fund, USA/Nepal - to help pay for rent, utilities and kerosene for a “Safe House” in Kathmandu that serves as a homeless shelter for women and children, a home-away-from-home for surgical patients from rural areas who are in the city for medical care, an assistance provider for street children, and a community education center for health education and literacy.

New Forests Project, USA/Honduras & El Salvador - to provide clean water to 10 small rural communities in Honduras and El Salvador, including purchase of 10 chlorine drinking water disinfecting devices and training of community leaders and plumbers in water disinfection.

Outreach Asia, USA/Philippines - to help construct a 2-door restroom and a clean water drinking system at the Tomas Oppus Central School in South Leyte, Philippines, serving 380 preschoolers and students in grades 1 – 6, which currently has no toilet facilities, and which will also be available for community use on weekends.

Planet Drum Foundation, USA/Ecuador - to continue a six kilometer revegetation project in a seriously eroded area near Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador, including wages for tree planters, water transport, and fencing, with at least 3,000 new trees deliberately placed along water courses and on slopes in six new sites planted with 500 trees each.

Porters’ Progress, USA/Nepal - to continue daily education and empowerment programs offered free to working porters in Lukla, Nepal, estimated to serve at least 6,000 porters this year, including giving at least 500 English lessons, with funds used for part-time salary of a class facilitator, teaching materials and supplies, and a portion of office rent.

Project Mercy, USA/Mexico - to allow a volunteer-based organization to construct a solid house on a concrete slab made from used garage doors and second-hand windows for an impoverished family in immediate need of housing near Tijuana, Mexico, as well as to start a new basic latrine for another family in need.

Rainforest Information Centre, Australia/India - to be passed though to Rural Development Afforestation Society in Tamil Nadu, India for a Women’s Tailoring Vocational Training Project that aims to directly empower 20 low-income women to become self-reliant, including purchase of 10 tailoring machines, sewing materials, salary for two technical teachers and other expenditures.

Sanchuan Development Association, China - for general operating support for this nonprofit organization, located in China’s far west province of Qinghai, one of China’s poorest provinces with nearly half of its population composed of ethnic minorities, which is working to ensure that Qinghai’s rich cultural heritage and natural beauty are protected while improving living conditions and local economies.

Seacology, USA/Indonesia - to be used to upgrade the rainwater collection system for Kaibolafin Village on the remote Kola Island in Maluku, Indonesia, which will serve 55 fishing families in need of a local supply of fresh water, in exchange for the creation by the village of a 500-acre permanent forest reserve that will include a nearby mangrove forest island and critical migration grounds for endemic birds.

Sustainable Harvest International, USA/Nicaragua - to establish a system of seed storage and seed credit for three communities in the Kukra River area of Nicaragua which will help assure food security in the communities, including purchasing materials to build 6 metal silos and 3 basic warehouses for locally controlled seed banks of staple crops.

Trees for the Future, USA/Philippines - to purchase the harvest of five seed orchards, offering part-time employment to 16 families, that will produce an estimated 420,000 seeds of fast-growing trees to be planted by interested families in Zambales and Antique Provinces in the Philippines to help restore more than 880 acres of degraded lands to life, and sustainably produce food and fuel for more than 2,000 impoverished families.

Trees, Water and People, USA/Guatemala - to help expand the fuel-efficient stove training program to more families of Pueblo Nuevo Tiquisate, Guatemala, including helping 20 families to build cleaner and more efficient Justa stoves which reduce deforestation for fuelwood, improve the health of women and children, and strengthen the economic situation in the local community.

Village Volunteers, USA/Kenya - to initiate the Namunyak Orphan Poultry Project, offering about 50 orphaned Maasai youth an entrepreneurial opportunity and transferable skills in good management of poultry, while improving their health, providing income generation for school fees, uniforms, and books, and providing eggs and meat as sources of high quality protein to the community.

White Earth Land Recovery Project, USA - to help purchase a 13-acre parcel of land on Minnesota’s White Earth Indian Reservation, which includes a wetland area, small forest, and a building which houses the organization’s Native Harvest program as well as serving as a community facility.

Wild Flora and Fauna Fund / FWFF, Bulgaria - to purchase about 2.5 acres of a mountain meadow near the town of Kotel in eastern Bulgaria to protect it from industrial agricultural development while managing it sustainably for hand-cut hay for traditional varieties of sheep, which can serve as a model promoting environmentally friendly land management practices for local farmers.

Yayasan Peduli Sesama (Sanlima), Indonesia - to assist and empower local natural resource protection groups in each of Bone, Taloetan, and Oenif villages of Nekamese Sub District, including providing farm tools and planting of 300 mango trees and 300 orange trees which will provide income generation as well as environmental benefits.

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In their own w

ords

Cottonwood Foundation grant recipients are requested to submit final reports about how funding received has made a difference. Following are sample excerpts in their own words from Cottonwood Foundation’s 2005 grant recipients.

“Namunyak Maasai Welfare, a Kenya-based non-profit organization successfully applied for funding for the above project through Village Volunteers, a non-profit partner organization in the US to Cottonwood Foundation. The project has had immense impact on our mobilization capabilities and in realizing participation of the community in the projects that Namunyak Maasai Welfare undertakes.

The Cottonwood Foundation grant became a catalyst in providing idle but productive orphaned youth a sense of working towards the fulfillment of their dreams. It lead to innovation in the way we have never seen before in our community. The Maasai are known for cattle herding, but all of a sudden the youth engaged themselves in a chicken project that has high prospects of using what is available locally in a sustainable way. We have had 37 youths involved in the project both male and female. They are working hand-in-hand to reshape their future.

Namunyak Poultry Project for orphaned youth has injected a sense of co-operative work in our

village that has been missing for years. There are already gardens of sukuma-wiki (kales, a type of green vegetables) sprouting the different sites of the village, to feed the chickens. The successful completion and handing over the project to the youth concerned would not have been possible if funds were not available from Cottonwood Foundation. We at Namunyak are deeply gratified that our grant request was funded among so many others. We look forward to implementing other projects that sustains our fragile environment in the future.”

– Village Volunteers/Namunyak Maasai Welfare, USA/Kenya

“First of all we want to thank the Cottonwood Foundation for kindly providing a financial assistance and to both Azerbaijani and foreign volunteers, without humble efforts of whom, the project could not be a success.

AYAFE is the only organization in Azerbaijan organizing volunteer working camps throughout the country involving local as well as foreign volunteers to the work. In organizing working camps AYAFE tries to address

A Cottonwood grant funded the Namunyak Poultry Project for orphaned youth, which included construction of this poultry house.

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urgent problems of the society and be helpful in their solution. AYAFE supports equal opportunities for everybody and is against of any kind of sexual, racial, cultural discrimination. AYAFE is totally volunteer-based organization.

The Orphanage #3 is located at the suburb of Baku suffering from the pollution of its surrounding. The people living around the Orphanage make this pollution. The main reason of making such kind of things is unawareness of the population and failure to realize the urgency of the issue. Moreover, one of the reasons for this is the indifference of inhabitants towards orphans.

There are 150 kids in this Orphanage aged from 6 to 16. Most of these children lost their parents in Nagorno - Karabakh war (1988-1994) and they need at least a basic assistance. Within the framework of the proposed project, we were indented to clean pollution around the orphanage to make their living place more clean and fresh. In addition, this polluted area negatively affects on health of orphans and cause to infected disease among them. The project helped significantly eliminate pollution around the orphanage.

The orphans were very happy to meet the volunteers. During the first week of the camp the volunteers together with orphans cleaned back side of the orphanage, distributed booklets and posters among inhabitants living around the orphanage in order to involve as many as possible young people to this action. We also planted new trees at the garden of the orphanage. Second week we had couple meetings with youth living nearby on environmental awareness. At study sessions volunteers explained the local inhabitants the importance of a safe environment and the ways to improve the situation. Workshops on this topic attracted great attention of people.

The one of the important success of this project is that we had involved refugee kids from the Youth Center of UNHCR. Mainly these refugee kids were from Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iran and Iraq. The UNHCR had great support of involving these kids to the project. During the project refugee kids and orphans had interesting talks about themselves and they worked together cleaning the polluted area.

An initiative group of young people was set up in the settlement to follow-up the activities carried out during the camp. AYAFE undertook to support this group when necessary.

At the end of the camp volunteers together with the AYAFE people held an evaluation session to assess the progress and shortcomings. The general feeling was that the work was indeed useful and needs to be continued in the future. Thank You for cooperation!”

– Association of Young Azerbaijani Friends of Europe, Azerbaijan

“The project was carried out with great success. During the project 86 windows were insulated with a long lasting insulation. About 1200 meters were installed into the windows. Cracks between glass and glazing bead were filled in with silicone. Besides, those windows which could use small repairments were replaced, broken glass of windows were replaced. Thus, in all premises where children are placed (bedrooms, game rooms, dining rooms) the temperature has been considerably raised in the winter. Warm gratitude words of orphanage staff and director unconditionally testify about it. They stressed many times, that window draughts are a great construction problem. Old windows, installed in the building, which were produced in Soviet Union times, have many problems. Until this action orphanage staff filled gaps in windows with different materials for the wintertime. They used polyester, cotton wool, paper, scotch tape, etc. Now this problem is solved in overwhelming majority of premises.”

– Ecoclub, Ukraine

“This is the third grant our organization has received from Cottonwood Foundation. The purpose for this particular grant was to purchase materials for the construction of energy saving stoves for ten (10) schools and forty (40) homesteads within Entebbe. The actual construction was carried out by the recipients of the stoves assisted by volunteers who had expertise in energy-stove construction.

The success of our work was because of the local council leaders helped us identify members of the community who badly needed these energy saving stoves so as to make a difference in their lives. As for the schools, we were able to construct energy saving stoves in the remaining schools, which had not been covered in the first two grants of 2002 and 2003. The construction lasted several weeks because we had only four (4) volunteers who had to go round the schools and homesteads.

Cottonwood’s grant supported purchase of materials and equipment used to insulate windows at Nadvirna Baby Orphanage.

Sixteen youth volunteers from Azerbaijan, Europe, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran conducted a 2-week working camp at Baku’s Orphanage #3 which included cleaning up the grounds of the orphanage, tree planting, environmental education for the orphans and com-munity, and intercultural sharing.

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Pupils are carrying bricks to be used to construct an energy-saving stove in their school, with stones, bricks, pipes, clay, and metallic bars provided by a Cottonwood grant.

The recipients were trained in ways of maintaining the energy saving stoves. Practical demonstrations on the earlier stoves built were carried out by the volunteer experts. There is a remarkable decrease in the amount of fuel wood used making savings of up to 40% in some cases. There is improved cleanliness in the kitchens and the chimneys carry away the smoke making it less risky to get lung related diseases resulting from the smoke. Cases of accidents especially in the homesteads were minimized in cases where either saucepan can slip and splash boiling liquid on the nearby people or pieces of burning wood could fly out.

The funds were well utilized and in both the schools and the homesteads where the stoves were constructed people were very grateful. These stoves indeed have made a big difference in the lives of these people.”

– Entebbe District Wildlife Association, Uganda

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Box 10803 • White Bear Lake, MN • 55110 USA • www.cottonwoodfdn.org • Phone: (651) 426-8797 • Fax: (651) 294-1012

Cottonwood Foundation

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