Atlanta, GA (1888PressRelease)
March 17, 2008 - China School Project Summary
The Company: Mission Grounds Gourmet Coffee is a non profit dedicated to helping impoverished children around the world. We generate our revenue through the sale of a coffee in local Kroger grocery stores(in Atlanta) and through corporate partnerships.
Projects to Date: We currently are building schools in rural China, orphanages in Venezuela and Costa Rica, and remodeling 2 children’s homeless shelters in Atlanta Georgia. We also provide monthly support for orphanages in Venezuela, Africa, and Russia.
China Project: We completed our first school in China this spring and started our second school in October and started our third school last week. The firs two schools were smaller local village schools and the third one is a larger central school that will serve many villages and will also have a large dorm to house the children who travel there from the neighboring villages.We have partnered with the Chinese government to build the second school – which means they will contribute financially to the construction but more importantly will accept the school into their education system. This means they will set up the curriculum; supply the books and material, and supply and pay the teachers and officially recognize students who attend this school. They have also accepted the first school.
Future Projects: We currently have a team in the Yunnan Province identifying more villages that are in desperate need of schools. We have to date identified 14 villages and are working with the Chinese government to either partner with us or to at least approve and accept these new schools. All the future schools are in the Yunnan Province which is extremely rural; poor and generally ignored by the Chinese government and has not modernized or been part of the economic boom going on in eastern China.
Costs: The first schools budget was $10,000 and actually costs $8820. The second school budget is $12,000 which we have committed to $10,000 and the Chinese government will cover anything over $10,000. We are in charge of the budget and the spending. Looking at the future schools the average costs is in the $12,000 to $15,000 range. The first school was built in 120 days – we hope to finish this one in 150 days. We can currently fund about 2 schools per year.
Salaries and Overhead: No one on the projects or at Mission Grounds receives a salary nor is there any overhead related to the China school projects. 100% of any donation for the school goes to the school. There are minor or insignificant banking fees associated with getting the money from here to rural China.
Pictures: we have detailed pictures of the built schools and the future sites. We will also be able to provide pictures of the construction projects in progress.
Future schools: we have a detailed plan and pictures for each future school, which I will be happy to share with you. We are waiting on the Chinese government as to which schools we build next and how much they will be involved if at all.
Construction: The projects are managed by family members of a MG volunteer who live in the Yunnan province. They rally the people of the villager to help with the project and to provide a lot of the manual labor for free.
Villages: The first school was built in the Tu Gua De Zhung village of Wu Ding County, nearest big city: Kunming; in Yunnan Province. ; the second is being built in the XinTang village. The third school is being built in the central village – the Dazuo village. For pictures please go to www.missiongrounds.com
