Our Mission
The project exists to provide opportunities for at risk children and their families suffering from the effects of poverty to meet their basic needs and access services that serve to break the cycle of adversity and develop greater independence.
The society strives to empower families through supporting their communities to be better equipped to respond to their needs and capabilities. Serving the independent needs of families and their communities is a fundamental strategy in achieving our mission.
Why Donate?
Below is a chart of the costs to run the program per child.
| Cost Per Child | Per Month | Per Year |
| $21.04 | $300 |
Special Appeal
Meheret Worku, an Edmonton school teacher of Ethiopian origin, and her husband, Scott Smillie a social worker, founded and have for 10 years run a charity that supports school children and their parents and siblings in Ethiopia. The initiative is named ŌSEEDS of AlbertaĶ, for Sustainable East African Education and Development Society of Alberta.
The charityÕs work is commendable, and Meheret and ScottÕs commitment is unquestionable. SEEDS supports 80 families and students in the capital city, Addis Ababa, and near Sakota, in Wolo province (a remote area in the north).
The charity gives each child school supplies, uniform, a change of clothes, shoes, hygiene products, and about $10 per child per month for lunch during the school day. (Preschool and primary school students attend classes all day; those in high school attend half-days. The project has from time-to-time also assisted families with income generating opportunities through micro credit programming, provided recreation and outreach support to children and their families.
In the Addis Ababa site the charity rents a space that serves as the school, the projectÕs office, and a place where the students and their families may go after school and on weekends in order to escape the mean streets of the capital. The project also supports a number of children attending other schools.
In Wolo province the charity has dug a water-well and installed a pump so that the children donÕt have to walk miles for potable water, and the village has granted the project a site for the childrenÕs families to garden. This projectÕs support of primary school is especially attractive to the local authorities because its focus supports their goal of establishing/sustaining a high school in the area.
The project has experienced tremendous success in persuading parents in this Wolo area, to exempt their daughters from arranged marriages while the girls attend school. It is a common cultural practice that many young girls in this area are forced to marry at a very young age, and then experience health complications or death as a result of early pregnancy and child birth. Postponing marriage and providing access to education in a country that has a very low enrollment rate, especially for girls, is an essential strategy for improving and sustaining social, economic and health outcomes for these children and families.
SEEDS of Alberta is short of funding this year for a couple of reasons. First, the organization held a successful fundraising event last year, by hosting the internationally known St. Lawrence String Quartet, but havenÕt replicated a similar event for this year. Secondly, they have had to increase their costs in order to position the organization to become eligible for matching grants. The following is an explanation of how the timing of this is important, yet presents funding challenges.
Presently, donations requiring a Charitable Tax Receipt need to be made to Knox Metropolitan United Church, attention: Eye of the Horn Project (the former name of the project). As they await approval for Charitable Status (which is expected by this summer) SEEDS remains a Registered Non Profit Organization, which under Revenue Canada guidelines, can not issue charitable receipts. Because donations are made through a church, they do not show on SEEDS financial statements. Funds from Knox Met. are sent directly to Ethiopia rather than being transferred to the SEEDS account, because Charities (like the church) can only transfer funds to other charities. The organizationÕs intention therefore, upon receiving charitable status, is to transfer any remaining funds from Knox Met United, to the SEEDS of Alberta account in order to reflect enough revenue required for matching grants.
Upon receiving charitable status, they will be eligible for International matching grants through a couple of government funders, who do not fund religious organizations. These funders encourage partnerships that support the capacity building of overseas partners. For this reason, SEEDS is been supporting their Ethiopian staff to obtain their own local, non profit status which entails renting office space, developing a board of directors, etc. This will also enable them to apply locally for funding, i.e. through CIDA within Ethiopia and other sources such as USAID and other government consulate funding programs within Ethiopia.
Because SEEDS was decreasing its presence in Addis Ababa last year, it was decided for SEEDS to begin its own school program, and use this new project site for this added purpose. These two factors have created overhead/startup costs this year and created a $20,000 short fall in funding. Normally, $300/year supports the costs for 1 child/family receiving project services.
Extending resources in this way however is all about timing, because by adding these operational elements, the organization better positions itself for grant funding when it receives charitable status. This is a typical scenario that developing International Charities face when transitioning from a non profit organization to acquiring Charitable Status, one which often determines whether the organizational will survive and be sustainable in the long-term.
It is for this reason, SEEDS of Alberta is making an urgent appeal for your help in any way you are able, whether it be, by making a donation or passing on this information to others you think might be interested. So, over this holiday season, please keep the children and families in Ethiopia that SEEDS supports, in your thoughts.
*Note: SEEDS of Alberta is developing its web-site and encourages you to visit it and follow its development over the next couple of months. Visit: www.seedseastafrica.com
To make a donation, make out cheque to: Knox Metropolitan United Church, and put Eye of The Horn Project, in the note section on your cheque, and mail to: 8307-109 Street, Edmonton, AB. T6G 1E1
If you would like to talk to us, feel free to call us at 780-436-6521
We wish you a safe and joyous Christmas and New Years.
Sincerely,
Meheret Worku & Scott Smillie
