Flight Attendants Combat Poverty an a Local Community in Ethiopia by Forming Friends of Fresh and Green Academy Inc.

NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Story: Fresh and Green Academy is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The school was originally founded by local teacher Muday Mitiku, as a private, for-profit kindergarten in Kotebe, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Addis. In Ethiopia, education is free, but no food is provided to the students. The poorest children spend their days begging rather than going to school. There were so many children begging near Fresh and Green Academy, Muday began to allow them to attend for free. The parents of the paying children objected and removed their children from the school. Without this funding, the school would close. The Academy was in danger of closing when flight attendant Trish Hack-Rubinstein and a group of her colleagues visited the school on a volunteer trip. Inspired by Mitiku's vision, they returned to the United States and founded Friends of Fresh and Green Academy, Inc. Today, the organization fully funds Fresh and Green Academy, and makes several volunteer visits to the school per year.

Education and Support:  Friends of Fresh and Green Academy, Inc. is making a positive impact on one of Addis Ababa's poorest communities through the shared vision of Mitiku and Hack-Rubinstein. The school is unique in that it offers its 125 students three nutritious meals per day, clean water, clothing, medical and chiropractic care, and a free education. Besides the basic government sanctioned courses, the curriculum has been expanded to include art, music and physical education.

The organization is pleased to announce its classroom expansion, which will enable the current fourth graders to stay at the school and attend fifth grade. Classroom construction is underway and the necessary funds were raised at this year's Fourth Annual Casino Night Fundraiser. The fifth grade classrooms will include a library, science lab, an arts & crafts center and several other government mandated areas. Now, the school will be able to accommodate pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

Friends of Fresh and Green Academy, Inc. also supports a Mothers Cooperative, involving 60 of the students' mothers. They help out at the school and create goods that are sold and earn an income to help support their families.

Hope for the Future: Friends of Fresh and Green is working to raise enough funds to build a school that can accommodate these students through the twelfth grade, which would include a boarding facility. They would also like to establish a scholarship fund for higher education. Friends of Fresh and Green Academy's vision is to instill a spirit of giving and compassion in the poorest of children with nourishment, an education and hope for their own future.

Friends of Fresh and Green Academy, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, fully dependent on donations. They operate a student sponsorship program through the organization's website, www.FriendsOfFreshAndGreen.org. Through organized fundraisers and private donations, every penny raised goes directly to the operation of the Academy.

CONTACT:
Trish Hack-Rubinstein
[email protected]
646-567-7672

SOURCE Friends of Fresh and Green Academy Inc