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Untours Foundation Fundees for 2016

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Eco/living green Untours Foundation

December 6, 2016 by Robin Lasersohn

If you travel with UnTours, you should feel good about how you are spending your travel dollars. Your UnTours booking helps support the work of our owners, the UnTours Foundation. They fund grassroots projects and green businesses that create jobs and strengthen communities. Here are the UnTours Foundation investees for 2016.
 
Kitchen Harvest collects food scraps and yard trimmings, composts them at local farms, then distributes the finished compost back to customers for use in their gardens. Using such a simple, low-impact design, they are leading the way in this sector. Another green, replicable model creating jobs – and gorgeous soil. (See above.)

New Day Chester is a real estate redevelopment company in Chester, PA, a town with the tragic distinction of having the highest homicide rate in the US. New Day Chester will eventually be owned exclusively by Chester residents. Renters of NDC’s renovated properties include a professional theater, businesses that service the residents, and an arts organization that’s getting residents painting pictures and making music.

Fonkoze is a comprehensive, microfinance institution in Haiti offering soup to nuts financial services to its low-wealth community. From basic education in handling money to entrepreneurial launches, Fonkoze uses a peer support, shoulder-to-shoulder approach that we so believe in. We have invested with Fonkoze before and wanted to give its loan program a boost before moving our funds along. (See the image to the left.)

Lancaster Food Company exists just to create jobs in distressed communities. It produces breads, jams, and other wholesome goodies using local, certified organic grains and fruits and Fair Trade sugars. It focuses on proactive assistance to its employees and offers a $15/hour minimum wage. As it expands, it will add other factory locations in different areas to reduce the food-miles its products travel to reach your home.

 
 
Iron Man crafts beautiful iron work ranging from elegant fencing to fire escapes. We love this mom-and-pop shop and have funded it before. Hard hit by big box stores, this company forges ahead – pun intended – sometimes hiring returning citizens from prison.

AnaOno designs and produces undergarments for breast cancer survivors. Production includes a no-waste practice, meaning every scrap of fabric is later used, repurposed, or recycled, which is not the norm in the garment industry. Entrepreneur Dana Donofree is a fashion designer and a survivor herself, who seeks to employ other survivors.

Thank you for your support! Your travel helps lift people from poverty. Plan an UnTours trip today or donate directly to the UnTours Foundation.