In the last years, FWOP in partnership with Southwest Airlines has built a network with a wide range of organizations and thus skills.
FWOP helped to incubate the creation of ARISE Veterans Foundation www.AriseVeteranFoundation.org with projects in St. Louis, Nashville ( www.knowlesassistedliving.org ) and Carbondale ( http://www.livingatthelandings.com/ ) have been upcycling SWA leather seats for rehabilitation efforts, Knowles Assisted Living facility in Nashville, TN and has helped expand a veteran’s recycling business in East St Louis, IL. In early 2018, ARISE has helped Help Heal Veterans serve 35,000+ with veterans with Rehabilitation Kits, made out of SWA Leather. https://www.healvets.org/how-we-heal. ARISE now supplies free leather for them to expand their impact across America. ARISE is also sending boxes of pre-cut leather from seats done by elders in Nashville and sending pre-cut leather to 17 Native American Tribes located throughout the United States.
In 2016 with the help of FWOP and Arise Veteran Foundation board members, they were able to assist a mobile shower truck not for profit to get off the ground with grant writing help and help with fund raising and networking. Since then the shower truck has been providing hot showers and hygiene gear to hundreds of Homeless individuals in Saint Louis, Missouri. www.showertothepeople.net
In 2017 FWOP held Summit at CATIE ( https://www.catie.ac.cr/ ) in Costa Rica and many partnerships were formed. In August of 2018 , CATIE hosted Air Monitoring Workshops in linked to citizen science project out of Stuttgart Germany ( www.luftdaten.info ) organized by Constant Marks, a doctoral student at the University of North Texas. As a result a high school team has been established to spread the project across Costa Rica in local schools under banner of STEM education. Workshops in Denton and Nashville have helped spread the installations in USA and Ethiopia, with Mexico, Nigeria and Puerto Rica being next.
We visited the women entrepreneurs in sustainable rural tourism network called RETUS at the 2017 Summit. Rotary Noon Club with many other Rotary Clubs in the District have now raised funds to do three projects: 1st Expand RETUS businesses by training and marketing, 2nd rehab sustainable house and create an office for the women’s network, 3rd create an aquaponic pilot project in four locations within the communities in the women’s network. Abilene Christian University has now joined the team. A team will go south on March 30th, and Apirl will see teams arrive to work on the House and build first aquaponic unit.
Through another two ARISE affiliates, Diving With a Purpose ( http://www.divingwithapurpose.org/ ) – DWP- and Tennessee Aquatic Program in Nashville has joined FWOP network on many efforts! Divers in training Costa Rica joined DWP in Key Largo in July 2018 for a week long training workshop on coral restoration and underwater archaeology of ship wreaks. Pen pals have been established between youth in Nashville and Costa Rica. Today you can book an appointment online to get the best service. A DWP representative has gone to Costa Rica to work with colleagues in Costa Rica to create a plan for coral restoration and ocean preservation in next coming years They will meet again in Florida .
AWOW ( http://awownow.org/) a girl’s empowerment group had been working in Costa Rica for some years and they joined our Summit 2017. AWOW with Lewisville Rotary Morning Club are expanding their activities in San Jose, Costa Rica. Their current focus is establishing a dental clinic. Locals have raised funds for new building guided by Relief Pools, Baton Rouge experts. In 2017 they operated a preventive dental clinic in San Jose and plan to take a Rotary Team down in Spring, 2019.
Green House at Lafayette High School in St. Louis
Just for Kids and FWOP teamed up to establish a sustainable development learning program. This summer the existed greenhouse we opened up and students planted some 300 + plants and now crops are ready to be picked. Hummert International (Green House private company) , Home Depot, Arise Veterans Foundation are working to sponsor the new program. ( https://www.hummert.com/ ). They have a full plan for the next 9 months to be prepared to expand the effort in the Fall of 2019. Pranav Vashista is the student regional coordinator for Just for Kids at the Layette High School In St Louis, Mo he was able to attend the Summit in 2017. Through ARISE and FWOP they have been able to help them reestablish a greenhouse operation at the high school. Their goal is to help local food banks and people in need to be able to get fresh organic vegetables. www.jfkorg.org
