Every now and again you hear about someone doing something so selfless it makes you stop and think “Wow, this is incredible, how can I get involved?”. Reading up on Jacinta McDonell and her Human Kind Project was one of those Wow Moments for me. A successful Australian business woman, Co-Founder of Australia’s most successful fitness brand Anytime Fitness, with a young family of three, she has done that rare act of looking beyond her own success and found a way to not only share it, but to use it to empower and help develop others in Australia, overseas and currently in particularly in Malawi.
Her charity foundation, the Human Kind Project, will host a breakfast at Dolton House on Wednesday 11th November to launch the fund raising campaign “Double the Love Project” to support The Hunger Project. The breakfast connects entrepreneurs, CEOs and visionaries who will share their own experience of how anyone can create an impact that can help to change the world, simply by making a change within themselves and exploring the potential and power of your own mindset.
Guest speakers include Rowlands Kaotcha, the Country Director of The Hunger Project Malawi and introduced incredible innovations in rural health-care and HIV/AIDS prevention, along with Cathy Burke, CEO of the Hunger Project Australia, Glen Carlson speaker and co-founder of the Key Person of Influence program.
To keep you tuned to the talks, guests will be offered plated smoked salmon, asparagus, scrambled eggs, brioche, avruga caviar with seasonal fruit platters and bircher muesli on the table, all served with a selection of French handcrafted teas, Vittoria coffee, juice and Santa Vittoria still and lightly sparkling mineral water.
For me the real kicker though will be Ms McDonell, herself – not only does she cover all administration costs of the foundation, but she has also promised to personally match, dollar for dollar, all donations up to a total of $222,000 raised by November 30 to hopefully reach their goal of $444,000!
Akin to the United Nation’s goal to end world hunger by 2030, Ms McDonell founded the Human Kind Project after a 2014 visit to Malawi. She travelled to see first hand how the $111,000 she had raised for the Hunger Project Australia could be put towards purchasing food-processing equipment for 200 communities; providing 2000 people with microfinance loans that are often used by communities to buy seeds/fertiliser; and training up to 50,000 rural villagers on agricultural practices.
On their YouTube video about the Human Kind Project, Mr Kaotcha explains that in Malawi many generations have grown up with a mindset towards poverty that “this condition is not going to change”. However through the work of the Hunger Project, Malawians are learning to create that change themselves. Malawian Sara Dzenza sought a microfinance loan, “through the profit I have been able to buy a cell phone, I have been able to build this house and I have been able to buy a bed and a pig. When I am gone I will have taught my children to be self-reliant by understanding business.” It’s a beautiful video to watch and to see how these people are truly effecting change at a grass-roots level that is expanding to improve their families’ lives and their communities as well.
Malawi is a south-eastern landlocked slip of a country in Africa where many of the 16M people rely on subsistence farming which is challenged by both severe droughts and extensive floods, as seen in January this year when the President of the Republic of Malawi declared a State of Emergency in 15 out of the 28 districts. HIV-Aids, lack of education and poverty are also substantial challenges facing the country.
When asked about the effect of the January floods on Malawi and the Human Kind Project, Mark Slater, gave an encouraging response, “there were many areas affected by this flood and in some instances complete rebuilds of towns and regions had to be undertaken. Much of this work is still ongoing. However the work of The Hunger Project that Human Kind Project supports still carries on in these areas. It is through strong community and local government relations that this can occur.”
The Human Kind Project’s aim is two-fold creating links for businesses to give back to communities without needing to build their own foundations and inspiring people who can create change. One of the Human Kind Project’s goals is to end the inequality in the global community through mindset change, disrupting the status quo and as Mc McDonell puts it, always asking “why does it have to be that way?”. The Human Kind Project also supports advocacy for women as leaders, adult literacy, school and nursery programs, child health education for mothers and forward thinking microfinance loans to expand agricultural production and empower the people of Malawi to be the ones to end their own hunger.
To be a part of this breakfast, the most important meal of the year, you can purchase a ticket here.
Donations can be made to the to the campaign ‘Double the Love Project’ via www.humankindproject.org.au which believes that every human deserves opportunity, “it encourages and empowers people and business to create REAL change in the world.”
Venue: Doltone House, 26-32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW
Date/Time: Wednesday, 11th November 2015 7am-9am (registration at 6:45am)
Tickets: $129 single, $109 at a table of ten
More info: http://jacintamcdonell.com/upcomingevents/
Join the conversation: To help spread the word and start doubling the love, supporters are invited to draw two hearts on their palm then post the photo on social media, tagging #doubletheloveproject #humankindproject #family2family #peopleforpurpose
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