“Smart Neighbors in Valparaíso” – Your support is needed!

It is more than a year ago now, that I was part of IBM Executive Service Corps in Valparaíso, Chile, working on a project addressing the many challenges facing the city and people of that region. (you may have followed my Blog on this). Personally, but also as a team, we were truly taken by the people, culture and beauty of this UNESCO world heritage site. During this assignment our team also performed community service in conjunction with an organization, “Junto al Barrio” (JAB), which is a Chile based foundation, caring and improving the quality of vulnerable neighborhoods. With recent events in Valparaiso, Chile, our help is needed again and I am asking for yours.

Smart Neighbors

You may have read of the devastating fires that swept through Valparaíso, Chile last April. In many of the same neighborhoods where we spent time, 2,500 homes were destroyed, leaving more than 10,000 people homeless and reconstruction is urgently needed. In response we are, again, working with JAB to support a project /organisation called “Comite de Autoconstrucción El Vergel”, to provide building materials to help reconstruct the homes of about 50 families, 250 people.

I – and my colleagues from the Executive Service Corps – invite you to help us help the people that welcomed us so warmly a year ago and hope that you will follow the impact of your kindness through this project on betterplace.org, where we’ll also be adding news and report the final results.

Thank you!

P.S.: How to donate: It’s easy; just follow this link and click on “donate now”. There are different needs (you may select a specific one) and payment methods, so you’ll certainly find your preferences. Donation is given in Euro. So you may use this currency converter, to decide on the right Euro value. (Betterplace.org is a internet community and a non-profit organisation. 100% of the donations will be passed to our project. However, while donating you will have the option to add a tip to betterplace.org (only if you like) to finance the required infrastructure to maintain and host such a online donation platform.)

#smartercities challenge