To ring in a joyous holiday season, we’re bringing you heartwarming updates from some of our projects around the world.
While uncertainty has become a constant in our current world, there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: the unwavering dedication of our TreadRight-funded projects to their causes. We’re incredibly thankful to be able to continue our support of these organizations despite the challenges posed by Covid. For all of them, funding cuts, imposed restrictions, and the lack of travel are among the factors threatening their very existence. And still, they continue to demonstrate their resilience, adaptability, and tremendous heart. We’re excited to share some of their triumphs and joyful moments with you as we usher in the holiday season, and a brand-new year:
The Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital plays a vital role in conserving Australia’s native species. Through our partnership with Wildlife Warriors and AAT Kings, the Wildlife Hospital has treated over 4,190 koalas since 2014. In 2021 alone, they’ve treated almost 10,000 animals.
Flourish Forever is a non-profit working to eliminate health injustices in Los Angeles, California. This year they successfully installed a garden at the Crenshaw United Methodist Church. Not only was it the fastest installation since their founding, but they were able to incorporate all the community’s wishes. Initially the garden was just in the front of the church but became so popular that the church decided to expand. This community garden impacts 80-100 community members through access to fresh produce, which provides them with a healthy and free food option.
Wilderness Foundation Africa relies on aerial patrol to carry out its critical anti-poaching and wildlife conservation efforts. One of the light aircrafts they use is the TreadRight-funded Bat Hawk, to monitor and protect rhinos in reserves and national parks in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. In the last 20+ months, not one single incident of poaching has been detected in this region, thanks to the high level of security monitoring by Wilderness Foundation Africa. In addition, they’ve reported that the black rhino populations in the Eastern Cape are the only populations of rhino growing at a very fast rate – incredible news for the critically endangered species!
Our Anatolian Shepherd Dogs Project is reliant on donations and since the start of Covid, they’ve seen a decrease in contributions which has created a substantial financial setback. Thankfully, with our support they’ve been able to cover the costs for all the needs of the 11 dogs in the project, including the feeding, veterinary care, monitoring and training. Thanks to the shepherd dogs, an estimated 2,000 sheep and 200 goats have been successfully protected in 2021, to date. In more great news, this project’s success can be further seen by the reduction of losses due to predation by an average of about 95% on all the farms where the dogs are.
The Cristina Heeren Foundation of Flamenco Art is a non-profit created in 1993 in Seville to promote, share, teach, and maintain the traditional art of flamenco. We are happy to share that the 4 students that TreadRight’s second set of annual scholarships supported finished their school program in June and have gone on to participate at different venues around Spain, including the notable Teatro Real in Madrid in July. In September, TreadRight sponsored the third set of scholarship recipients for the Foundation of Flamenco Art, to begin their fourth–year studies. They are: dancers Lucía Fernandez and Juan Jose Ortega, singer Elena de Morón, and guitarist Emiliano Liti.
Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti has been hard at work designing a new fashion collection. The atelier has been keeping the traditional art of Italian hand weaving alive in Perugia. They were thrilled in 2021 to begin welcoming visitors again, which is critical to their mission of keeping this piece of their culture alive. They are hopeful to continue sharing the tradition with more visitors in the new year.
Proyecto Titi’s efforts to protect the critically endangered cotton-top tamarin in Colombia are essential. This year, after the successful installation of solar panels at their facility, the organization pursued the next stage of its forest restoration work involving the establishment of a seed bank in the forest’s nursery for propagation of target tree species. These reforestation efforts will benefit cotton-top tamarins as well as the abundant local wildlife in general.
Despite COVID-19, it has been a very busy year for The Amy Foundation. This year they opened a new after school centre in Browns Farm Philippi – their fourth centre! They continue to provide youth living in at-risk communities with after school and skills development programs. What’s more, as a reaction to the devastating effects of Covid on their communities, they created a feeding scheme in 2020 to support families in need, which they continue to this day.
The National Kiwi Hatchery is working to conserve New Zealand’s beloved national bird, and is the country’s leader in kiwi husbandry, egg incubation systems, hatching techniques and kiwi chick rearing. This year with the help of TreadRight funds, the project purchased 2 new incubators to increase hatching capacity. This season, 91 kiwi chicks were hatched! Since 1995 they’ve hatched over 2,100 chicks with an average hatch success of 95%, whereas in the wild, the successful hatch rate of kiwis is approximately 50%. The kiwis hatched at the National Kiwi Hatchery represent 75% of all kiwi species hatched in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Centro de Textile Tradicionales del Cusco continues to eagerly await travelers, since the weavers that make up the organization depend on the visitor economy for their incomes and to support their families. This year we were happy to be able to support the organization in re-building its textile show room and new textile gallery at its facility, which are critical in promoting the work of the incredible women that come from 10 communities of weavers. We are hopeful that 2022 will bring visitors to Peru to support, experience and learn from these skilled artisans!