Tariq Farid Foundation Announces Grant—and Matching Challenge—to Heshima Kenya

Grant will provide Chicago-based organization with funding to help refugee girls in Nairobi, Kenya.

—— Press Release ——

WALLINGFORD, Conn. (December 22, 2015) — The Tariq Farid Foundation today announced a $25,000 grant and an additional challenge grant of up to $25,000 to Heshima Kenya, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization that protects and empowers unaccompanied refugee girls and young women in Nairobi, Kenya.

Heshima Kenya provides support for girls ages 13 to 23 years old from Somalia, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, and Burundi that have lost their families and, in many cases, been victims of kidnapping, rape, trafficking, unlawful detainment, or torture due to wars going on in their homelands. Among the many holistic services provided by Heshima Kenya are shelter, medical care, education, and legal advocacy.

The grant from the Tariq Farid Foundation will help fund an expansion of Heshima Kenya’s Girls’ Empowerment Project, the education component of its holistic model. The project includes basic education courses, life skills workshops, vocational training in tailoring, and a collective in which young women learn business management skills and earn an income through the production of hand-dyed scarves and textiles.

The project currently serves 140 girls and young women with an expansion scheduled for January 2016 that will enable the organization to support up to 200 girls, allowing the Girls’ Empower Project to accept many that are currently on a waiting list.

In addition to the initial grant of $25,000, the Tariq Farid Foundation will provide up to an additional $25,000 in matching funds for contributions raised by Heshima Kenya for expansion of the Girls’ Empowerment Project from new donors.

“Heshima Kenya reaches out to some of the most vulnerable people in our world, and provides them with hope as well as the skills they need for a better future,” said Tariq Farid, who operates his own private charitable foundation and is Founder and CEO of Edible Arrangements and numerous other companies. “These girls have been through unthinkable horrors, but thanks to the work of Heshima Kenya they are now being empowered so that their future can be different. I’m truly honored to play a role in supporting them, and hope that others will join us in helping Heshima Kenya expand to reach more young women.”

“We are so very honored to receive support from the Tariq Farid Foundation,” said Alisa Roadcup, Executive Director of Heshima Kenya. “This grant will help us provide crucial educational programing to help some of the world’s most vulnerable individuals – girls who have lost their families to war. This grant will help us expand and serve even more girls and young women. We are truly grateful.”

Scarves created by the young women of Heshima Kenya can be purchased online.

“Especially with the holiday season upon us, I hope that many people will purchase scarves as gifts, or make a contribution to support expansion of the project,” said Kelly Hebrank, Director of the Tariq Farid Foundation. “The Tariq Farid Foundation would be honored to match these contributions.”

Founded in 2013 by Tariq Farid, the Founder and CEO of Edible Arrangements, the mission of the Tariq Farid Foundation is to alleviate suffering by providing for the basic needs of food and healthcare, and to improve lives through the support of education and skill development opportunities that enable individuals to reach their full potential.

 

More information on the Tariq Farid Foundation is available at tariqfaridfoundation.org.

To learn more about Heshima Kenya, visit www.heshimakenya.org.

To donate to the matching campaign, please visit the website at https://www.heshimakenya.org/donateNow.php.

To purchase a handmade scarf created by the young women served by Heshima Kenya, visit https://www.etsy.com/shop/HeshimaKenya.

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