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Causes: Education, International, International Relief, Philanthropy
Mission: Marc Gold, the founder of the 100 Friends Project, is a philanthropic traveller who aims to provide assistance to some of the most needy people in the poorest parts of the world who are lacking in medical, educational and financial resources. The organization improves these people’s quality of life in a number of ways. Sometimes the help comes in the form of financial assistance. Usually this would be a one-time donation but sometimes this can be followed up with further payments. In some circumstances, donations can consist of blankets, medications, food, and other practical everyday items that can significantly improve people’s standard of living. The 100 Friends Project has helped people living in poverty and deprivation to set up businesses of their own, get off the streets and into safe housing, benefit from an education, access vaccinations and medical care and brings people hope and the chance of a future. The project also proves what an important and significant difference can be made with very small amounts of money and resources, when it is distributed directly into the hands of those whose needs are the greatest.
Programs: 100 Friends operates a wide and diverse range of projects, including the following examples: - 12 children who formerly lived and worked in a garbage dump in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, are sponsored while they live at a residential care facility. - Every year, the project provides the funds for essential surgical procedures for six to twelve children in Third World countries including Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Indonesia. - The 100 Friends Project aims to provide funding for construction of schools in Third World countries. The first school in Ghazni, Afghanistan, is nearing completion. - 100 Friends provides a salary and budget for a young man in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, who then seeks out unaccompanied elderly people in poor areas and slums and provides food, medicine, clothing and other essentials. Currently the caseload consists of 12 elderly recipients. - 100 Friends travels to countries affected by wars and natural disasters and provides emergency assistance to families. For example, we provided microloans in Pakistan for families recovering from the 2005 earthquake. Small livelihood grants were provided to approximately 400 tsunami survivors in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. - In partnership with the NGO War Child, 100 Friends provided $10,000 for street children in Southern Iraq. This money was used for counselling, outreach materials, food, medicine, shelter, clothing, books, school supplies and other services including livelihood grants for 200 families. Several thousand children have benefitted from this grant. - 100 Friends provided mosquito nets for 360 families in Kompot Province, Cambodia, where malaria kills thousands of people each year. - 100 Friends actively seeks out the people who are not receiving any kind of assistance from any other sources and provides them with the means to improve their circumstances. Whether this consists of a one-off financial donation to pay for medicines, food or living expenses or a ongoing program of educational sponsorship. 100 Friends also provides funding to small local NGO's for salaries, computers, clothing and training programs. - The ultimate aim of 100 Friends is to find the people whose need is the greatest and to provide them with immediate, direct assistance, with no strings, no red tape and no middle men. - At home, Marc Gold, the founder of the 100 Friends Project, travels to schools around the USA to speak to the children about his work. He establishes 'sister school' programs with schools in the Third World so that the children can exchange letters and learn about each others' countries. They also take part in fundraising activities to benefit the children in their sister schools.