Happy Hearts Fund Launches the “Bring Happiness Back” Campaign at the United Nations to Commemorate Fifth Anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami
Campaign stresses the need for a focus on Millennium Development Goals for education in areas stricken by natural disasters
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK— Happy Hearts Fund (HHF) founder and chair Petra Nemcova and executive director Phillip Caputo today announced an awareness campaign to highlight the benefits of providing access to education and technology in a self-sustaining way to children in areas devastated by natural disasters. The campaign – “Bring Happiness Back” – focuses on rebuilding schools, and establishing community-oriented businesses to create empowerment and independence in areas adversely affected by natural disasters.
”Bring Happiness Back” launched at the United Nations to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, which struck on December 26, 2004. The tsunami killed more than 230,000 people in 11 countries and displaced more than 1.4 million. Nemcova founded Happy Hearts Fund to help rebuild the lives of children affected by the tsunami and then expanded these efforts to restore the lives of children affected by natural disasters in other parts of the world.
HHF was founded as a nonprofit organization in 2006 and has launched initiatives in eight countries impacted by natural disasters: Indonesia, Thailand, Haiti, India, Mexico, Peru, Sri Lanka and the United States (New Orleans). Globally, HHF programs benefit more than 12,000 children and 230,000 members of surrounding communities annually. The “Bring Happiness Back” campaign includes the launch of HHF’s first-ever video campaign, entitled “Bring Happiness Back,” featuring children HHF has helped.
“Natural disasters change the life of a child in an instant and forever,” said Petra Nemcova, founder and chair of Happy Hearts Fund. “The most effective way to help entire communities recover and rebuild is to help children return to school as soon as possible. When the children have access to a safe school environment, the healing and recovery can begin. While the children are at school, the rest of the family can concentrate on reconstructing their lives and going back to their day jobs. Rebuilding of schools helps children in their recovery process and helps bring the community back on its feet. Too often, rebuilding schools is not as high on the reconstruction priority list as it should be. “
While disaster relief meets immediate needs for food, shelter, water and disease control, it can be some time before governments step in to rebuild infrastructure and that creates a gap in the recovery process. HHF focuses its initiatives within this gap. HHF establishes computer labs within its schools, which enhances the quality of education for the children while teaching new skills. HHF also incubates and fosters a community-oriented business, as a programmatic companion to the new schools, thereby ensuring a long-term funding stream for the maintenance and development of the school, and, by extension, the community.
“We are making a conscious effort to ensure all of our programs are sustainable,” said Phil Caputo, executive director of Happy Hearts Fund. “By creating a community-based small enterprise to help support the school over the long-term, we are also helping the community with its long road back to economic reconstruction.”
Currently, HHF is raising funds to rebuild six kindergartens for children affected by the September 2nd earthquake in Java, Indonesia. The first effort of the “Bring Happiness Back” campaign will be to raise $200,000 in two months starting December 15, for the construction of six kindergartens in Java, Indonesia, to bring happiness back to children forgotten since the earthquake happened.
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ABOUT HAPPY HEARTS FUND
The Happy Hearts Fund (HHF), founded in 2006 by Petra Nemcova, aims to empower children in disaster- affected areas by providing access to education and technology in a sustainable way. HHF has initiatives in eight countries that have been impacted by natural disasters, including Indonesia, Thailand, Haiti, India, Mexico, Peru, Sri Lanka and the United States (New Orleans). Our initiatives are focused on bridging the gap between emergency post-disaster relief and fully restored infrastructure. In doing so, HHF has seen our schools serve as a stabilizing and recovery force in rebuilding lives of children and whole communities affected by natural disaster. For more information, go to www.HappyHeartsFund.org. You can also follow us on Facebook or Twitter. |
