Harvesting leaders, growing opportunities

NewsletterVolume IV JUNE/JULY 2015

FRUKTUS Foundation

Road to sustainability

andres@fruktus.org

Last June 2nd, Pueblo Nuevo community leaders took action and renovated the dressing rooms in the Pueblo Nuevo Central Plaza, as part of the Community Beautification Project. This endeavor has been in effect since April 14th, conceived to encourage the artistic rescue of the public spaces in the Guácimo, Limón communities.

The Project was developed with the support of Pueblo Nuevo School students, local artists, and members of the Pueblo Nuevo Development Association, with guidance by the FRUKTUS Foundation and RBA through the creation of win-win alliances.

Empowered Community Acts For The Greater Good

“I really like supporting community projects, especially the Community Beautification Project. We started back in November with the paperwork and in April we were able to paint the common areas for the community. In its inception, this project was intended for the Villafranca community during the Líderes Sembrando Oportunidades, Cosechando Bienestar (Leaders Sowing Opportunities, Reaping Well-Being) program led by the FRUKTUS Foundation, but speaking with the other Pueblo Nuevo Leaders we decided to work hard and bring it to our own community as well.” - Melissa Muñóz Espinoza, Pueblo Nuevo community leader.

Mrs. Melissa and the group of leaders requested a paint donation to SUR Group through the Pueblo Nuevo Development Association President. The paint firm agreed to the donation, in exchange for 1,600 recyclable PET plastic bottles. This proved to be a real challenge for the community, who sought collaboration with nearby communities to achieve the desired number of bottles for the project.

When Mrs. Melissa requested her support, the Pueblo Nuevo School Headmistress became very excited about the project, so she created a recycling program. “Ecologic Kingdom”, as was its name, achieved the impressive number of 1,900 collected PET plastic bottles. The program’s success encouraged future repetitions to continue supporting community development and beautification programs.

With the intent to efficiently repurpose the leftover paint, the community leaders are currently considering the beautification of the Pueblo Nuevo delegation, as well as the creation of a welcome sign for the community.

This project evidences the substantial potential of win-win relationships between nonprofit organizations such as the FRUKTUS Foundation, development associations, the education sector, community leaders and private firms such as SUR Group, Piñera Parismina, Piñera Caribe, Bananatica and RBA.

We thank SUR Group for the support they offered to the Community Beautification Project and the actions that were carried out in the Guácimo-Limón communities and we recognize their exemplary vision in which they encourage community development projects through recycling of PET plastic and protection of the environment.

For more information on the Líderes Sembrando Oportunidades, Cosechando Bienestar (Leaders Sowing Opportunities, Reaping Well-Being) program, click here.

Sustainable Farming WorkshopMay 16th & 30th, 2014

Over 30 community members, farmers and workers were invited to attend a 2-day semininar regarding sustainable farming practices. Thanks to Maria Luisa Jimnez, our on-site coordinator, for her lectures and field work. As well we’d like to thank INTA for their support. Our next step is to create organic orchards in several communities for local consumption and benefit of our neighbors.

Mr. Melvin Jiménez Official Designation - Guácimo Municipality June 3rd, 2014

Mr. Melvin Jiménez, representantive from El Limbo community, has become a role model by pursuing community welfare throughout his life. For such we are very fortunate that Guácimo Municipality has named Mr. Jiménez as a permanent member of FRUKTUS Foundation. Welcome, Don Melvin!

EARTH University CSR ForumJuly 16th, 2014

Thanks to an invitation extended by EARTH University, we were invited to participate along with Del Monte and Pinturas SUR in a CSR forum addresssed to senior year students. The purpose of the forum was to share with them our corporate social responsible programs and experiences, as well as motivate them to engage in this type of initiatives once they join the labor force. It was a great experience to learn from other companies programs as well as students input.

1 year Program “Sowing Leaders, Growing Opportunities” Graduation

FRUKTUS Foundation - Video

August 9th, 2014

September 12th, 2014

After a very intensive year of learning and development through our workshops, 29 community leaders graduated from the program “Sowing Leaders, Growing Opportunities”, which was designed and executed by RBA for FRUKTUS Foundation. The ceremony was attended by community leaders, family members, CANAPEP representatives, Pococí Municipality, Costa Rica’s Vice President and our former motorbike champion, Ernesto “Lobito” Fonseca who shared his inspiring life testimony with all the attendees.

We were really happy for the filming of the video for our foundation which will help as a great tool to explain our roots and legacy as well as our challenges for the upcoming years. We thank our sponsors for making this project possible, along with our community leaders and collaborators for their help and support throughout the years.

Ministry of Labor – Official VisitSeptember 17th, 2014

Our Ministry of Labor, Mr. Víctor Morales Mora, Vice-Minister, Harold Villegas, and other official delegates from his ministry, visited Agroindustrial Bananera del Caribe as recognition to the pineapple industry and the company for its commitment to the welfare of our working industry. The minister thanked the members of the company for their best practices and encouraged us all to keep up the good work.

Dulcis ChocolatesOctober 18th, 2014

After several months of research and development, two members of our Foundation came along with a mix of dried candied pineapple covered with dark chocolate named Dulcis. Dulcis Chocolates blend Costa Rica’s best-hidden treasures: it’s cocoa beans and golden sweet pineapples into a perfect treat for any occassion.

Everytime you buy their chocolates you contribute to our foundation, as a percentage of its sales goes to support our projects. On October 18th, 2014 they proudly made the official launch of their product at the PMA Fruitrade in Anaheim, California, USA.

ICT - Costa Rica Institute of Tourism - AllianceNov 1st - 7th, 2014 / Jan 27th - Feb 3rd, 2015 / March 2nd - 9th, 2015

An alliance was developed with Costa Rica’s Institute of Tourism to support our industry in international tourism markets in which our country participates. In the stands our country had at the WTM (World Trade Market) in London, FITUR in Madrid, and ITB in Berlin, we had

Abel Morales from Piñera Parismina and Frank Pérez from Agroindustrial Bananera del Caribe representing our pineapple industry.

We feel especially proud that both Abel and Frank had the opportunity to develop themselves and represent our country in such an important way, through the art and promotion of our worldwide famous golden pineapple.

2nd Hand – Social Initiative February 27, 2015

Through the recollection, recycling, and later selling of used clothing garments in good conditions, a shared value chain is produced and

the social initiative 2nd Hand Company is born. The 2nd Hand promotes and encourages an entrepreneurial culture within women that are the heads of their household. This concept was created by a group of friends of FRUKTUS Foundation and has started benefiting exemplary women such as Melissa Muñoz from Pueblo Nuevo in Guácimo. Thanks to this great social initiative this hard working women has become an entrepreneur of her own creating an additional source of income for her family’s benefit.

Pinturas Sur – Community Enhancement Program April 14th, 2015

Pinturas Sur and FRUKTUS Foundation developed an alliance aiming towards the enhancemente of our local communities. The partnership consistsed of developing a campaign to recyclye more than 2,500 plastic bottles in exchange of paint to decorate 4 murals from Villafranca, Pueblo Nuevo, El Limbo and La Lidia communities. Also, each community was responsible to raise funds to pay for a local artist to draw the murals. Additionaly the children were involved in their own competition. From each school within the community the children were asked to draw something they were passionate about and felt represented their community. Each drawing was voted upon and the winning art work became the mural painted by the artist hired.

On April 14th, we painted our first mural along with several community leaders and of course our local school students. Thank you, to all who supported this wonderful project.

Road Maintenance SuppportMay 30th, 2015

Piñera Parismina S.A., one of our main sponsors, recently donated $10,000.00 worth of materials to give maintenance to the road that links two of our sister communities, La Lidia and La Curia. We coordinated this 14km road maintenance program with Pococí Municipality along with one of our commuinty leaders and mentorship program graduates, Mr. Yuddy Solano.

“Harvesting leaders,growing opportunities”

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