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We all have important values and ideas, things we care about and want to share. This website was created in order to
allow you to access more information, find necessary resources, and exchange ideas about how we can all work together to make
this a better place for the next generation.
Our mission is to address the root causes of poverty by :
- promoting existing programs and services that meet the needs of low-income families and individuals
- identifying perceived gaps in services and finding or creating collaborative opportunities to meet those needs
- encouraging entrepreneurial efforts and better lifeskills in order to raise the standard of living and ultimately break
the current cycle of poverty
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The Story of " Stone Soup" :
There once was a poor young widow trying to raise two small children. Our story takes place in England
during the Middle Ages: crops had failed from drought in some places or been washed away by torrential rains in others,
creating wide-spread hunger and famine in the land. The young widow eeked what she could from her small plot of ground,
but there was no suitable work to be had and no-one to watch her children if she could find the odd job here and there.
To supplement their small store of food, she would go into the forest every day -- seeking whatever roots or berries she could
add to the meager stew they ate each night. Often there was nothing to be had, so [ being a loving parent who did not
want her children to worry that there was nothing to eat ] she would gather small smooth stones and add them with fresh
water to what was left from the night before -- stirring the small pot slowly over the open flames. Early one
evening as she was tending her "stone soup" and the children were playing nearby, a neighbor walked past on his way home from
the fields. Knowing the young widow was alone in the world and eyeing the small children, he stopped to ask how they
were doing. After glancing in the empty pot, he reached guiltily into his tattered pocket and drew out a withered looking
carrot -- offering it to her as he apologized for not having more to share. While the two of them were talking, another
neighbor stopped to see if there was a problem: upon hearing about the widow's plight, he promptly offered up a large
leek left over from his day at the local market. One by one, the neighbors stopped to see what the commotion was all
about -- each offering some small contribution to the simmering stew. Soon the small pot could no longer contain the
delicous smelling dinner, and each of the families gathered there scurried home to find their own pots before it spilled over
the edge and into the fire... At the end of the night, no-one in the small village went to bed hungry -- and all they
had was one carrot, one leek, one potato...
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