Our First Bottle Drive & Volta, Ghana

Our First Bottle Drive

On Saturday, November 16, we held our first bottle drive in order to raise money for the community we are sponsoring through PLAN International and our club’s future awareness events. With the help of many local businesses, our fantastic executive team & associate members, and the Windermere Bottle Depot, we were able to raise $1200! 40% of these funds will go directly towards Volta, Ghana, while 60% of the collected funds will go towards planning our future events and raising awareness for global issues.

Volta, Ghana, The Community we are Supporting

Volta, Ghana, is a small community located in Western Africa with more than 50% of its citizens living in poverty. The main water source for the community is a nearby river. However, latrines located next to this river as well as the other water sources lead to contamination in many cases. Having access to only untreated water from the river, infectious diseases are a leading cause of death among children, leading to an infant mortality rate of 451/10 000 live births. Unfortunately, gender discrimination in the community places the burden of collecting safe drinking water on young girls and women; this added responsibility often keeps many girls too busy to attend school. According to statistics collected by PLAN International, about 50% of women in Volta are not literate.

The community we are sponsoring is Volta, Ghana. Ghana is located in Western Africa and more than 50% of its citizens live in poverty. Photo credits to PLAN International.

But change in Volta is happening now, and we are excited to be a part of it. PLAN International is providing support in Volta in areas such as education, gender equality, water and sanitation, and healthcare. By sponsoring Volta, we hope to make a change in the lives of members of the community by tackling systemic gender equality issues, improving access to clean drinking water, prioritizing education for women and girls, and raising the overall quality of life.

We want to thank everyone who made our first bottle drive the amazing success that it was! Every bottle collected propelled us forward in our mission to make sustainable change possible for our friends in Volta.

Written by:

Aiman Saqlain & Rupali Manek

All information credited to PLAN International.