Make Child Poverty History: Ventanilla & Beyond

About Ventanilla

Ventanilla, Peru is situated in one of the most water-starved areas of the world. WSI first got involved in helping the children of Ventanilla when we began a sponsorship campaign, through World Vision, nearly two years ago. We currently sponsor all eligible children in the village, providing them with the nourishment and education they need, and subsequently helping their family, and the whole community improve their standard of living and move closer towards being able to sustain themselves.
Recently, members of the WSI board decided it was time to take a more active role, on a more global scale with the goal to end child hunger one village at a time.

Make Child Poverty History

WSI hopes to make a greater impact towards ending child hunger by engaging both individuals and corporations to follow our example and sponsor a child via any charitable organization. To facilitate this, we will act as a catalyst, using our Internet expertise and personal connections, to get other corporations and individuals to join the fight to end child hunger. For every child sponsored by an individual or organization, our corporate sponsors will match the number by sponsoring another child.
We recently took the first step towards this role with the founding of a new initiative we named the Make Child Poverty History program. As the name clearly states, our mandate is to MAKE CHILD POVERY HISTORY. Our work as a “corporate” catalyst officially begins today, with the introduction of this program to you. It is our greatest hope that you, and each WSI team member, will support this goal in any way you can.

How can you Make Child Poverty History?

Through our new Make Child Poverty History Committee and the efforts of all team members, WSI will lead by example and get other corporations to join our efforts to end child poverty. At this time we feel the best way to achieve this is to increase the sponsorship of children. Working with World Vision, Canada’s largest relief and development organization, WSI supports community development via life-giving programs carried out by individuals in these communities. World Vision is only the first of what we hope will be a growing group of aid/development organizations, who will join the Make Child Poverty History campaign.
Through the Make Child Poverty History program, WSI will utilize our Internet expertise to facilitate fundraising towards the programs of various established, experienced and trusted humanitarian aid and development organizations. These organizations will join us, in much the same way as World Vision has, working with us to share information that will encourage other corporations and individuals to sponsor children and support the efforts of these organizations to make child hunger history.

August 18th

On August 18th WSI is hosting a very special event in support of the Firefighters of Mississauga who are in the midst of building the infrastructure of Ventanilla so that the entire community will have access to secure clean water and adequate sanitation. The firefighters became involved in helping Ventanilla in the same way WSI did, because of a desire to help children and the guidance of World Vision. It came as a huge surprise to them when they found out that thousands of miles away in Mississauga, just minutes from their Fire Station, an Internet company was helping the same town. So, when the Firefighters returned home with the daunting task of raising the $300,000 CDN needed for necessary infrastructure-building projects, they immediately turned to WSI for help.

It is our pleasure to assist the firefighters in their fundraising campaign. To do this we have invited our business partners and friends to come and learn more about Ventanilla and the work being done there. The Firefighters of Mississauga, representatives of World Vision Canada and WSI management will be on hand to share with you more information about the progress being made on the ground right now in Ventanilla, why it’s so important to act now and contribute to creating a fair and just world; one village, one child at a time.
As the host, WSI will also encourage our suppliers and other corporate leaders in attendance to follow the example of WSI employees and lend their support to the firefighters. We will also share more details about the Make Child Poverty History campaign with you.

• Date: August 18th, 2005
• Time: 7:30 – 11:00 a.m. (Coffee and networking 8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Program begins at 8:30 a.m. sharp)
• Where: Wyndham Bristol Hotel, 950 Dixon Road, Toronto, Ontario, M9W 5N4
• Join us as we take important steps towards helping the children of Ventanilla and beyond!