Top 10 Costa Rica

Costa Rican women benefit from Kalamazoo resident’s efforts

World Connect, a non-profit organization founded five years ago to empower the leaders in underserved communities worldwide, has awarded a grant to Chamisa MacKenzie, originally from Kalamazoo, to support her work with a women’s group in Costa Rica. She will help the organization construct a greenhouse and nursery for fruit, vegetables, medicinal and ornamental plants in hopes of improving nutrition in a vitamin-deficient community and generate income for the women’s group, a press release says.

MacKenzie, who is serving in Costa Rica with the Peace Corps, is working in partnership with a community leader in her host country dedicated to improving the health and well-being of women and children in their village. World Connect began its grant program earlier this year to connect mothers to mothers worldwide to address social problems affecting women, children and communities through health, education and income generation projects. MacKenzie’s project is among one of the first to receive support through this new program.

To learn more, donate or volunteer with World Connect, visit www.worldconnect-us.org.