(This event, previously scheduled for Feb.1, was rescheduled due to inclement weather.)
On Tuesday, March 1, Waynepeace will host a presentation about a locally founded, global charitable organization called “OneBigBoost.” The presentation will begin at 5 PM, at the Wayne County Public Library on North Main Street in Honesdale.
OneBigBoost started just over a year ago, when two friends, retired art teacher Beth Burkhauser of Scranton and music teacher Marianne Milks of Honesdale, were invited to visit an impoverished public school in south-central Nepal. Friends pitched in to help purchase two laptop computers, a video projector, software and many books, which the women brought with them.
While they were finishing up their visit to Nepal, the quake struck in Haiti. it was an automatic response for all who know Beth and Marianne to contribute assistance for those affected by the quake, and since then other projects have emerged.
Marianne Kuiper Milks has been active in aid programs of many types and in many places. A life-long musician and private music teacher, she has a deep interest in global equality. She and her husband Carl, an allergist in Honesdale, have been deeply involved with relief efforts in Haiti since 2000. Haiti, says Marianne, “manages to steal volunteers’ hearts, in spite of all the pain and suffering.”
Beth Burkhauser currently teaches art education curriculum at Keystone College. She is Founder and Chair of The Hexagon Project, which guides students through a process of social comprehension and subsequent expression through art.
Over the past year, OneBigBoost has been inundated by gifts and support from people around the world, including a grant from the NE PA chapter of the United Nations Association, and has been able to accomplish far more than initially anticipated. Marianne and Beth believe that this is in part because they tend to all deliveries themselves, and 99.9% of gifts go directly to the intended causes.
For more information about OneBigBoost, visit their website at www.onebigboost.org, or contact Marianne Milks, (570) 226-6888, sunnyday.mkm@gmail.com.
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