I came across this article from the New York Times that highlights Bead for Life, a non-profit and fair trade organization based in Colorado, that is helping women in Uganda and other parts of the world out of poverty by teaching them to make beads and jewelry out of rolled recycled colored magazine paper. The money that is raised helps the families with food, housing, school, and medical expenses. Bead For Life is also helping with vocational and entrepreneurial training for the families.
The paper bead jewelry is sold in the United States through bead parties, similar to Tupperware parties.
Here is the New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/opinion/14kristof.html?hp
Here is the Bead For Life Website, where the beads and jewelry can also be purchased online:
http://beadforlife.org/indexA.html
As I was reading the article, I remembered that the King Library is hosting an event this Saturday, March 20th called From Trash to Treasures: Garden Art in Room 257, 2nd floor, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm presented by the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County.
http://www.sjlibrary.org/popup.htm?id=20079&/about/events/eventPopup
Green Tip of the Week: Consider what you can create out of materials headed for the recycling bin or trash.
How about gift bags made from book jackets?
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/paraprof_08/upload/SM_GLUING_Gift_Bags.pdf
