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The All For One Foundation is dedicated to improving the health and educational opportunities of children throughout the world. In October of 2003, Jeff Levitan and Chris Bell traveled to Nicaragua to create partnerships with International Non-Governmental Organizations who are providing critical services to children. Our mission was exploratory in nature and enabled Jeff to understand the current economic and social conditions in Nicaragua.
They met with International Non-Governmental organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, CARE, Save the Children and UNICEF. The purposes of these meetings were to see their child development programs in action and, by talking to their staff and interacting with the children of Nicaragua, to understand where All For One should make an impact.
Before leaving Nicaragua, All For One contributed initial funding to Save the Children. Funding was used to purchase school supplies, including paper, pens, pencils, coloring books and other teaching materials for ninety childcare centers in Managua.
Our second contribution was to CARE Nicaragua. Monies were allocated for the purchase of 10 white dry erase boards to be used in rural school surrounding the city of Matagalpa. These boards will improve classrooms by replacing the existing chalkboards that are dusty and a potential health risk.
This was the first step in our plans to expand All For One Foundation onto the international level. In October 2004, a follow up trip to Nicaragua was completed.
Again, we met with Non-governmental Organizations CARE and Save the Children. We created two special projects for each of our program partners in Managua and the Matagalpa area focusing on children's health and educational needs including SICOs (primary age day care centers).
Key to the trip was a lengthy goal setting session led by All For One Founder and Chairman Jeff Levitan. The group identified a library as the key component to community cohesion and learning in the Nicaraguan mountain village of Jinotega. Nestled amongst the hills of Nicaragua, Jinotega would serve as a prime educational resource for the neighboring communities. A capital project such as a library would serve long-term educational needs and facilitate day-to-day learning across age groups.
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