Shining a Light on Literacy: Chicago Solar Start-Up Joins Forces with buildOn in the Name of Adult Literacy
Chicago Solar Start-Up Joins Forces with buildOn in the Name of Adult Literacy
CHICAGO, Dec. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- This holiday season, Chicago solar start-up LuminAID is partnering with the service and education nonprofit buildOn to bring light to women around the world working to improve their circumstances through literacy. In the first 3 weeks of this holiday campaign, supporters have already raised 700 solar inflatable lights for adult literacy.
One in five adults across the globe cannot read or write. Two-thirds of these adults are women. buildOn works in 7 countries across the globe to empower people through service and education. Through the buildOn Adult Literacy Program, participants are given the education they need to gain a stronger voice in society. To date, 90% of all participants have completed the Adult Literacy Program, and 70% of the participants have been women.
However, the schools that house these literacy programs are most often not electrified. That's where LuminAID comes in. LuminAID has partnered with buildOn to send solar lanterns to their Adult Literacy Programs across the globe, allowing classes to go on even after the sun has set.
"To not disrupt the school schedule of the kids who have class until 5 pm, the adult learners go to school afterwards and need light. The LuminAID solar lanterns are going to help them learn and lead their income generating activities in better conditions," reported Assane Ngom, buildOn's Country Director in Senegal.
By the light of a LuminAID solar lantern, a woman can learn the math skills she needs to make correct change and start a business; she can learn to read and write letters to keep in contact with family members; and she can learn the skills she needs to become a voice for change in her community.
With every purchase of LuminAID's Special Edition buildOn Give Light, Get Light Package, customers receive a Literacy Edition PackLite Nova USB solar lantern and send one light to buildOn to be used in their Adult Literacy Program. Through this partnership, people are able to share light, literacy, and growth of opportunity with those who need it most.
LuminAID's Press Kit with high-res images can be found here: https://bit.ly/2Eg5HX2
Special Edition buildOn Give Light, Get Light Package: https://bit.ly/2P3HJzd
For more information, please contact:
Dahlia Leffell
LuminAID Communications Manager
(312) 600-8997
dahlia(at)luminaid(dot)com
Carrie Pena
buildOn Chief Marketing Officer
(224) 420-1825
carrie.pena(at)buildOn(dot)org
About LuminAID
When we think of our most basic human needs, we often think of food, water and shelter. But when architecture graduate students Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta were asked to design a product to assist post-earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, they considered the dangerous conditions at night in the tent cities and turned their attention to another critical need: light. They designed the LuminAID light to be easily distributed in time of need by packing and shipping flat.
In 2015, Anna and Andrea went on the hit TV show Shark Tank, and wowed the "Sharks" so much that they got offers from every Shark! They accepted an offer from Mark Cuban, and he became the company's first investor. Since then, LuminAID has continued to innovate, and in 2017 released dual solar phone chargers + lanterns. Learn more at luminaid.com/about.
About LuminAID's Give Light, Get Light Program
Through LuminAID's Give Light, Get Light program, supporters are able to sponsor solar lanterns and phone chargers that are distributed by our humanitarian partners. They may also choose to purchase a lantern for themselves and sponsor another lantern for humanitarian relief. To date, LuminAID lights have been distributed to over 100 countries around the world. In 2017, LuminAID's supporters sponsored over 50,000 solar lights to be sent to Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean following hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Learn more at luminaid.com/give-light.
About buildOn
buildOn's goal is to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education. By mobilizing rural communities that have never had adequate school structures to build new schools, the organization empowers entire villages in Burkina Faso, Haiti, Nepal, Nicaragua, Malawi, Mali, and Senegal to increase their own access to life-changing education and literacy. More than 14,000 buildOn schools have been built to date. Across the U.S., buildOn empowers youth to transform their neighborhoods from within through intensive community service. These students have contributed nearly 2.2 million hours of service in the U.S. and have helped build many of the schools abroad. Learn more at https://www.buildon.org/.
SOURCE buildOn
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