GreenEarth is now a Wi-Fi zone!

We started our journey here at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains, almost three years ago this month, with no electricity, running water, toilets and many other basic amenities that bring dignity to human existence.

As we come close to celebrating our third year anniversary on May 22nd, our pleas for a bridge over our river are still unheard. We remain geographically isolated from the nearest township. Our roads continue to be rough and unpaved.

However, our vision remains unstifled.

The dream to connect our community to the rest of the world lives on! We desire to see every Child who hinges his or her hope upon GreenEarth to see a world full of possibilities outside.

It all began over 2 years ago when geodetic engineers from the University of the Philippines camped out at GreenEarth for weeks to monument GreenEarth’s land. Their inquisitiveness led to the discovery of areas on our land where the broadband signal was strongest.

We thank ACER Philippines for believing in our mission. Just this month, they gifted us with 8 more computers, thereby pushing our total number of PCs on-site to 17!

We continue to invest in software programs related to phonics, reading, and other subjects to help our kids with their academic deficiencies.

Through the help of Joe Gene Quesada of Asia Pacific College, we were able to bring over 3,000 free online tutorials from one of Silicon Valley’s best and brightest people, Salman Khan, who was named by Time Magazine in 2012 as “one of the most influential people in the world”. As a result, the indigent Children of GreenEarth now have unlimited access to a wide range of Khan Academy’s superb academic tutorials on a server platform.

Our entire IT set-up at GreenEarth from Day One was made possible by the hard work and ingeniousness of Jan Vincent Realisan (JV), without whom the Children of GreenEarth will never enjoy cutting-edge technology “in the middle of nowhere”.

Thanks to him, we now have wi-fi in our entire Learning Center, celebration hut, and farm office, which are all within a distance of 300 meters.

Our deep gratitude goes to JV for working so hard to bring GreenEarth up-to-speed this past weekend.

Jesus is LORD at GreenEarth!

All glory and honor belongs to Him!

From August 16 to 31 2011, Tourné by Chef Sandralyn Hataway will showcase GreenEarth’s varied sustainably farmed vegetables such as eggplant, sweet potato sprouts (talbos ng kamote), basil, etc. to complement its modern cuisine highlighting farm fresh Philippine local produce.

The Cordon Bléu -trained Sandra Hataway, an active member and advocate of the Slow Food Movement, promises to serve you deliciously fresh good food on a daily basis (even her ketchup is home-made).

At a recent lunch, we were amazed by the combination of distinct organic flavors combined to create heart- healthy and savory dishes, ranging from comfort food to gourmet entreés, all using top-notch Philippine sourced organic ingredients . These include the renowned cheeses from Davao’s Malagos farm and organic sweet pineapples from Ormoc, Leyte.

In essence, Tourné by Chef Sandralyn Hataway is to Manila what Alice Waters’ Chez Panissé is to the San Francisco-Bay Area and the Barack and Michelle Obama favorite, Blue Hill is to New York City.

Tourne is presently looking for a new restaurant location, so please stay tuned!

We hope to see you all at Tourné!

As we’ve become more aware about the benefits of going green, Town and Country Magazine scoured the city for the BEST choices for healthy lifestyle needs and found GreenEarth’s Organic Produce worthy of their endorsement. Please check out page 63 of their August 2011 issue today!

Thank you very much, Town and Country!

Our heartfelt gratitude goes to the Breakfast Magazine team for featuring us on their Healthy Summer April-May issue! We are so honored to be a part of this ultimate food and lifestyle magazine that not only celebrates food, but more importantly, provides a holistic experience for its readers by celebrating the people behind the continuously growing food industry.

Go grab your copies today!

http://www.breakfastmag.com/

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” – Frederick Douglass

Thanks to our faithful donors and supporters, we now have over 2,000 books for all ages at our Learning Center after only a year! However, given that we only have a small storage room, the need to circulate the books and make them very accessible to the underprivileged children of GreenEarth has loomed larger each day.

Our deep gratitude goes to Metrobank Foundation, Inc. for their grant that allowed us to purchase 4 rolling booktrucks this month.

The kids are having fun rolling the trucks around and picking their books of choice.

Our enormous thanks once again, Metrobank Foundation, Inc.!

GreenEarth’s aim to provide only the freshest, highest-quality organically grown produce is being appreciated by a growing number of enthusiasts.

Highly acclaimed International Master Chef (IMC) Kavino Lau wholeheartedly decided to join the bandwagon.

Chef Kavino Lau, a Hongkong Chinese national, has won several international awards . In 2004, he joined the 5th World Championship of Chinese Cuisine held in Guangzhou, China, and won a silver medal in the Hot Dish Category. In 2008, he was awarded a Certificate of International Master Chef for Chinese Cuisine by the World Association of Chinese Cuisine. In 2008, he won the Gold Medal in the Hot Dish Category at the 6th World Championship of Chinese Cuisine held in Beijing, China.

Chef Lau has over 8 years of cooking experience here in Manila. His position as one of the most acclaimed chefs in the Philippines has been further solidified when he recently opened IMC Kavino, a Chinese fusion restaurant located on Jupiter St., Makati. With the restaurant’s extensive array of innovative Asian fusion dishes, Chef Lau only promises to serve food that will please even those customers with the most discriminating taste.

Chef Lau was delighted when he found out about GreenEarth’s mission. After personally tasting the vegetables himself, he did not hesitate to immediately order and try out GreenEarth’s produce for his popular menu offerings.

In his own words, the vegetables are “very crunchy, clean, and are truly high-quality.”Unsurprisingly, the customers of IMC Kavino also joined him in attesting to the freshness and amazing taste of GreenEarth’s organic vegetables.

On behalf of the farmers of GreenEarth, we are deeply grateful to Chef Lau’s heartwarming support of our organic produce. Despite the challenges we face daily, his kind endorsement further motivates us to always stay true to our commitment of producing only the healthiest, most delicious-tasting organic produce.

IMC Kavino Restaurant
136 Jupiter Place, Makati City
Call for reservations: 899-7808

Meet Romnick Blanco, a 14-year old sponsored child of GreenEarth.

May this photogallery bless you as you get to know his inspiring journey from being a child with humble beginnings at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains to becoming a Filipino scholar at the prestigious International School of Manila.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

One Meralco Foundation brings the gift of light to GreenEarth

For the entire rural poor community of GreenEarth, another prayer has been answered.

On March 26, 2012, the energetic team of One Meralco Foundation (OMF), led by its President and Chief CSR Officer Jeffrey O. Tarayao, inaugurated the 1-kilometer electrification extension project within the grounds of GreenEarth’s donated land. This “Let there be Light and Livelihood at GreenEarth” project of One Meralco Foundation has finally brought power to this once dark, gloomy, seemingly hopeless God-forsaken foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains, San Miguel, Bulacan where illegal deforestation, insurgency and rural idleness has been the way of life of many settlers for decades.GreenEarth received a donation of over 100 hectares of land at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains in San Miguel Bulacan back in May of 2009. Before One Meralco Foundation came, GreenEarth could only afford to bring one electric post to its frontage area serving a very small span of land within the foundation grounds.This electrification expansion brings power now from the frontage creek of GreenEarth’s duly-titled land all the way to its Northern hilltop, allowing agricultural development to continue along GreenEarth’s slopes, while at the same time bringing much-needed light and convenience to the homes of the farmers living right on GreenEarth’s land. These very farmers are protecting the forests of GreenEarth from deforestation.

“Thank you Lord for answering our prayer! I will no longer be afraid walking home every night and I can do my homework and study till the wee hours…”, exclaims Elgen Sulat, one of GreenEarth’s farm children.

“I look forward to being able to water our trees better and plant much more now that we have an electric-powered water pump and hopefully drip irrigation soon,” says Farmer Aldrin jubilantly.

The guests from OMF were warmly welcomed by the entire GreenEarth community. Dr. Mylene Matti, GreenEarth’s Founder and Executive Director, shared with our guests the GreenEarth story—how it all began and where we are today despite our challenges, giving glory to our Almighty God for touching the hearts of One Meralco Foundation, to partner with us in making our countryside a haven of peace and opportunity for all.”The course uncharted, the stars unreached, the road not there—this is where GreenEarth is, bringing nature back to life and starting opportunities where no one will go.”

GreenEarth Heritage Foundation is the only NGO working in this underserved area. After listening to the GreenEarth story, our partners and guests toured our greenhouses, vermiculture shed, biochar station and other service areas. This was followed by a visit to our on-site Learning Center where the Children of GreenEarth sang the GreenEarth Theme Song, recited an acrostic poem on the environment and rendered songs about Light and Love.After the short program of our children, everyone trooped to our northern hilltop where a Thanksgiving Service was held to praise God for His goodness. We wish to thank our friends from the Asian Seminary of Christian Missions, headed by their Dean of Students, Bro. Vic Cuarto, for providing such uplifting musical accompaniment to our praise songs to the LORD who has given us every blessing at GreenEarth.Immediately after, our newly installed water pump serving this newly electrified section of GreenEarth was powered up, pumping out waters of life much to the jubilation of everyone. The event was capped off by a bountiful feast consisting of GreenEarth’s organic vegetables, grilled tilapia, a noodle dish and three fruit shakes to celebrate God’s undying faithfulness to His people. Our guests and partners from OMF warmed the hearts of our farming families with their purchase of many bags of farm-fresh and heart-healthy organic produce from our farmer beneficiaries before leaving. It is the dawn of a new day at GreenEarth! Alas, our farmers and their respective families no longer have to live in darkness. Their children can now read books and study even at night. Our forests will now be much more guarded from fires and illegal loggers. It will also ease our farmers’ burden of crossing a bridgeless river and walking on unpaved roads just to buy fuel to power up our one and only diesel pump. Quite importantly, this electrification extension will help in developing our Moringa plantation, which when fully operational can eventually provide livelihood and sustenance to many more farming families in the months and years to come. We now have almost 10,000 seedlings over a meter high being planted one by one. At this juncture, we already have a wait-list of families desiring housing at GreenEarth.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH One Meralco Foundation for believing in GreenEarth! We so look forward to your continuing partnership in the months and years to come.

Australian Embassy’s Direct Aid Program partners with GreenEarth

Thanks to the support provided by the Australian Embassy to GreenEarth Heritage Foundation, Inc. (GEHFI), our poor rural farmers will be given access to green farming technology.

According to Australia’s Ambassador to the Philippines, Mr. Bill Tweddell, his Embassy’s support will make a difference: “Through this modest assistance, we aim to help the farming households in Bulacan attain a measure of economic empowerment. The longer term objective is self-sufficiency for these rural families.”

The GEHFI project promotes the use of micro water sprinklers and drip irrigation systems for optimum water utilisation. The system not only avoids water wastage but also reduces nutrient loss and leaching of organic fertilizer. This makes it possible for GEHFI’s farmer-partners to achieve increased yields of high-value, organically grown crops.

In photo with Ambassador Bill Tweddell are the Australian Embassy’s Direct Aid Program (DAP) Secretary Tammie Dawes (far left), GEHFI’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees James Matti (centre), GEHFI’s Resource Mobilization and Communications Officer Arthur Demain and the Australian Embassy’s DAP Resource Officer, Doris Avila (far right).

The Embassy’s Direct Aid Program supports small-scale developmental projects that directly contribute to the welfare and income-generating capacity of disadvantaged groups in the Philippines. It also assists projects that enhance the long-term productivity and sustainability of the physical environment. For information on how to apply for DAP funding, contact the DAP Resource Officer at (02) 757 8262.