ACT 2011 interACT NYC Trip

As many of you know, I am on the Board for Active Compassion Transforms (ACT). ACT is a 501(c)(3) based here in NYC that seeks to impact the lives of underprivileged youth in developing worlds. You have a neat opportunity to support our efforts!

ACT sponsors an international online mentoring program for underprivileged students in developing countries. We currently host the interACT Mentor Program wherein Grade 11 and Grade 12 students in Cape Town, South Africa are motivated and encouraged by caring New Yorkers. The online curriculum covers life skills, academic excellence, and community volunteerism.

After a year of mentoring, we fly the interACT students to New York to meet their mentors and to job shadow professionals in their chosen field. Some of our students live in the shanty communities of Cape Town townships, so the mentoring program and trip is life changing. You can hear the needs we address in the words of one of our 2009 interACT graduates:

“...my mother and father were not around, they just could not care...alcohol was more important than we were. Where I come from, that is very common. It's pretty normal for our cousins to drop out of school and stay home and watch people walk by...” Lee-Anne Jumat, 2009 School of Hope valedictorian and interACT graduate

The trip costs are significant and we are completely supported by donors like you. We hope that you will open your heart and partner with us to help the students pictured in the photo below, which was snapped from my living room during the student trip in January 2010. Together, we can make an impACT!