Supporting the gift of literacy for girls in South Sudan
The literacy rate of South Sudanese women is about 10%. The Bill Cook Foundation is doing something to change that. We are the principal funder of the first high school for girls in South Sudan, in the town of Mayen Abun. To date, we have been supporting an elementary school for girls, and the Bill Cook High School—which is 90% boys. Now, the first high school for girls is under construction, and its six classrooms and its toilets are all funded by our foundation. Of course, schools need teachers, and the foundation is also paying to train women teachers and hire a woman principal. We are on track for a January 2023 dedication and expect several hundred girls to enroll. We are being cheered on by Natalina Edward, South Sudan’s Ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and one of the highest ranking women in the nation’s government. Please consider donating today to support girls in South Sudan.
Recovering from hurricanes in Honduras
The Bill Cook Foundation often partners with other like-minded organizations, which magnifies the impact of your donation. One of the newest commitments for the foundation is the First Responders for Children, a small American charity in South Carolina. First Responders has several programs in and around the town of Copan, Honduras. Our support is for school supplies, and to give lots of encouragement to the children of the coffee farmers who live in the area. Last year, there was virtually no crop because of hurricanes. Thanks to your support, we have been sending school supplies, which we replenish periodically. This summer we will be sending an intern, a rising senior at Indiana University and a graduate of my alma mater, Arsenal Tech HS in Indianapolis. Johnathan Bautista will deliver even more school supplies, along with a healthy serving of hope to these kids.
Keeping the walls from crumbling in Kenya
We support several schools in the poorest neighborhoods of Nairobi, Kenya. One school is Baraka za Ibrahim, deep inside the neighborhood of Kibera. It was founded by a wonderful woman named Praxedes, who, unfortunately, died last year. However, her legacy lives on. Out of sheer will, she created a school that educates more than 300 of the neediest children. While the walls need constant repairs, the school remains a citadel of hope. As the school’s biggest contributor, our foundation has kept the school from closing. Thank you.
Support for pre-schools in Sri Lanka
Through a meeting with Episcopal Bishop Emeritus William Swing of San Francisco, I learned about an interfaith organization in Sri Lanka, United Religions Initiative (URI). When I met the founder in Colombo, he suggested that the Bill Cook Foundation would do great good by funding the building of pre-schools in remote villages in the nation’s interior. So far, we have built six. Actually, we buy the building materials, and the people of the village do the building. Not only do the children get a good start to their education, but the facility is used as a meeting place to bring together locals to discuss religious diversity and ways to live and work with one another peacefully. And each school also has a micro lending bank, helping to support small family businesses.
Orphans of Agent Orange in Vietnam
Our foundation supports two orphanages in the city of Bien Hoa, near Saigon—one run by the government and the other by nuns. The government orphanage has severely disabled children, primarily 4th generation victims of Agent Orange. We have provided simple yet critical educational toys for these children. At the Be Tho orphanage, we are providing exercise instruction for their most disabled children, and we pay for schooling for all of those who qualify for high school.
As we are thinking about the children we support here at the Bill Cook Foundation, let us remember those in Ukraine. Our dollars are much needed and much appreciated at the Bill Cook Foundation, and beyond. And for anything you can give, we are so very grateful.
With sincere thanks,
Bill Cook