Philanthropiece is honored to have the presence of two amazing interns this summer. Christine Evans joined our team earlier this month and we couldn’t be happier to have her. Christine will begin her senior year this fall at the College of Wooster, but before that, she will spend the summer helping Philanthropiece learn more about sustainable agriculture and family gardens. Just like her counterpart Carrie, we have asked Christine to share her observations and highlights of her research here on the Philanthropiece blog. Check back regularly for words from the extraordinary Philanthropiece interns.

And now, we present the first installment of “The Viewpoint of an Intern” by Christine, our Fabulous Intern.

Although this is technically my second week at Philanthropiece, I am going to pretend for this blog that it is week one. Last week I was only in two days because Monday was a holiday, Wednesdays we have staff meetings and Thursday Katie, Carrie and I had a wonderful lunch with Katie’s cousin Emily who works at the Wild Foundation. We learned all about the amazing things they are doing and it was very eye opening to see how another non-profit operates. This week I have primarily been researching international development organizations that have implemented successful family or community gardens in Latin America. The two organizations I have so far, Project Harvest and The Garden’s Edge, are actually both in Guatemala and the fact that they have been very successful for a number of years demonstrates that they could both be a good model to work off of with family gardens in Chajul. The garden initiative in Chajul is currently at the point where, if little is done, all the momentum behind it could easily burn out. It’s exciting though, because with more attention I think it could easily become an integral part of the community and one that would help combat hunger and malnutrition, be an extra source of income, and help the community to be more self-sufficient and sustainable.