This month we continue our Charitable Partner Profile series with one of our newest partners, Jordan International Aid!We encourage our employees to give back to their community as well as their global community, whenever possible. Our employees give us feedback on where they’d like to allocate a portion of our yearly philanthropic contributions and are given a full paid day every year to volunteer, anywhere they choose.
To read more about Cheryl’s philosophy on giving back, click here.
Occasionally, an employee will come to us with the desire to give back in an even bigger way.One of our designers, Emmy, came to us a few months ago with a proposition: She wanted to spend a week in Cambodia on a medical mission trip with Jordan International Aid and asked us to help sponsor her. How could we pass up this opportunity?
Check in next week for a blog post by Emmy, detailing her trip and the inspiration she gained in Cambodia and Hong Kong!
Jordan International Aid (JIA) is a relatively new presence in Cambodia. Cambodia is home to roughly 15 million people and is, tragically, infamous as the home of the “Killing Fields” where over 1.4 million people were executed in a genocidal massacre. As many as 2.5 million people died of starvation, disease, or violence, in addition.The quality of healthcare is improving in Cambodia, however the mortality rate for children is shocking, with nearly 23% of all children dying before they reach their fifth birthday.In 2011, JIA provided medical aid to approximately 1800 children. In 2012, JIA brought basic medical care to members of a floating community and in 2013, JIA reopened a previously closed school in that same community. This involved restoring the school building and empowering local leaders to support teachers. Educating children helps provide families with the opportunity to improve their situation and is a major deterrent to children being forced into the child sex trade in Cambodia.
Besides their work in Cambodia, JIA brings relief to communities in need in Nicaragua, Haiti, Japan, Kenya, Tanzania, Mexico, India, and even in the United States after disasters such as hurricane Katrina and hurricane Sandy.
JIA believes in the “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime!” maxim. They strive to provide immediate needs such as water, food, and medical care as well as to develop the skills of people in the communities they assist. They hope that with this development will come self-reliance and generational change.
To learn more about JIA, click here.
On Emmy’s philanthropic trip, she worked with a medical team to offer free medical care, vitamins, hygiene products, and to educate the community on nutritional needs and how to filter their water. Check back in next week for her guest blog detailing her mission trip to Cambodia and the inspiration she drew from her stopover in Hong Kong!
