Raise Money for Appalachia with the Flat Monkey Project
Did you know that in the US, the Appalachia area is the poorest? From the MonkeyDoProject website:
The Appalachia region is 205,000-square miles that stretch along the Appalachian Mountains from southern New York to northern Mississippi. It covers parts of 13 different states–Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and all of West Virginia–encompassing 420 counties and 25 million people.
42% of Appalachia is rural, compared to 20% of the rest of the United States.
In 2011, 96 of the 420 counties were considered “economically distressed”–defined as the poorest regions in the country. Over 16% of the homes are classified as “substandard,” meaning the homes have more people than they have room for, and there is no indoor plumbing.
Some regions of the Appalachia have poverty rates over 150% of the average U.S. poverty rates.
With this in mind, I want to introduce my readers to an awesome project that would help raise money for Appalachia through the Monkey Do Project.
You may have heard of Flat Stanley – an educational story that many elementary schools have turned into a project. Pictures of Flat Stanley have been printed out and each child sends their Flat Stanley to family members who then logs everywhere that Flat Stanley has been.
Similar to this project that helps students learn about geography, the Monkey Do Project has begun the Flat Monkey Project. With the Flat Monkey Project, participants name their Flat Monkey, decide on their initial donation (even $10 will do!), and then send the Flat Monkey on to the next person or group.
All money is donated safely online at the Monkey Do Project. And while participants are helping those in need in Appalachia, they can still learn about geography. The Monkey Do Project has set up a Flat Monkey tracking system.
What are you waiting for? Have questions or just want further details? You can check out more specific information at the Monkey Do Project’s Flat Monkey site.
