Our first permaculture training successfully ended on January 16, 2019. Last week, we shared photos and information about the first five days of training. This week’s article focuses on the remaining four days of the Permaculture Design Certification Training. Day 6 – Polyculture & Introduction to Group Projects Bruce Blair (Board Member & Trainer for SLFND) demonstrated[…]

Happy New Year! 2019 began on a high note with the Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) training starting on January 7. This training equips people with the knowledge and skills needed to implement a project for food security. First, the PDC training teaches our students about available resources–organic material and soil–to use for sustainable living. Second,[…]

Your continued generous support gave Uniting Distant Stars their best year ever! As a result of your efforts, you accomplished the following: Raised $25,426! This is a record for our small organization. Compared to last year, you raised 28% more. Increased our Monthly Donors from three to seven. Also, please consider our Star Champion Monthly[…]

As you know, one of our greatest challenges is reliable electricity. In late November, the transformer blew-out near our center. Additionally, the company said it would not be fixed until February. Previously, the transformer failed numerous times in the last three years. However, it never took this long to be repaired.  Due to this issue, we purchased a[…]

We are excited to announce a collaboration with the Sierra Leone Foundation of New Democracy (SLFND) starting January 7, 2019. UDS Co-Founder, Heather Cannon, and SLFND Founder, Hindolo Pokawa, have known each other since 2011. Furthermore, we started our organizations about the same time and wanted to find a way to collaborate. Initially, we talked about holding the training in[…]

On Saturday, December 8, Uniting Distant Stars held their annual board meeting to elect officers and start planning for 2019. First, we like to announce the re-appointment of our officers (Philip Kaleewoun II, Adam Pederson, and Diane Anastos) for another year. Congrats to our 2019 Board Officers! Fundraising Team Second, we like to share that three of our[…]

We greatly appreciate your support on Giving Tuesday! As a result, you raised $420 on Facebook. Despite our best efforts, we did not benefit from the matching funds from PayPal. In fact, the number of donations within seconds of event start time exhausted the funds. To sum it up, every dollar of your donation goes[…]

I served as the guest speaker at the Osseo Secondary Transition Center’s (OSTC) Large Group Activity on November 21. This school serves students ages 17 to 21 with varying abilities and disabilities. OSTC provides students needed assistance to transition from school to life. Also, their programs include expanding interpersonal and job skills and building confidence. This is why[…]

Your generous support of 150 students enrolled in one of eight courses gives them the learning equipment, materials, and tools they need to spend at least 85% of their course time doing practicals. Can you believe that November 20 marked the eighth month of their year-long program? Well, our students know the clock is running[…]

In our October 11 article, “Making UDS Known to the Surrounding Community,” we highlighted the different marketing strategies employed to encourage people to stop and visit our center. One strategy involves our students doing their practicals outside our center and this gets us noticed. An example of this occurred on November 21. A 68-year-old Ghana man named Joseph[…]