AZACUALPA, HONDURAS and SURRY, ME, January 19, 2004 - On the cool morning of January 12, 2004, in the community of Pinabete, located in the municipality of Azacualpa in the District of Santa Bárbara, Honduras, Juan Alberto Pérez planted the one-millionth tree in the 6-year history of Sustainable Harvest International. SHI, a 501c3 non-profit with U.S. headquarters in Surry, Maine, has worked with over 670 family farmers in four Central American countries since 1997.

“I thank God and Sustainable Harvest International for the support that they have given to all of the families. We feel so proud of this accomplishment. The tree that was planted was a mahogany that we planted in a spot close to our community’s watershed,” said Mr. Pérez.

When asked what motivated him to plant trees on his land, Mr. Pérez replied, “We motivated ourselves to do this. We saw that the streams that run by our land were drying up more each day because there were no trees to shelter them. I spoke to [SHI extension worker] Juan Carlos so that he would help me and my brothers build a nursery to grow both forest and fruit trees. That was 3 years ago. Since then, we have planted 11,000 trees.”

Founded by Florence Reed, a former Peace Corp volunteer in Panama, Sustainable Harvest International works with local farmers, cooperatives, environmental organizations, and indigenous groups that invite SHI into their communities. SHI extension agents provide these groups with long-term assistance adopting sustainable land-use practices such as reforestation, agro-forestry, and organic farming. In so doing, SHI has converted thousands of acres of degraded land to sustainable uses, thus saving tens of thousands of acres of tropical forest from the “slash-and-burn” devastation typical to the region.

In addition to reforestation, Sustainable Harvest International has helped families in Pinabete establish vegetable gardens to improve family nutrition, build wood-conserving stoves, construct better chicken coops, as well as learn organic composting, vermin-composting, and agro-forestry techniques. With SHI’s support, they have also established a community loan fund, established fishponds for both food and market, built a small irrigation system, and increased income by diversifying cash crops.

For more information please contact:
Sarah Kennedy
Sustainable Harvest International
779 North Bend Road
Surry, ME 04684
207.669.8254 (phone)
shi@sustainableharvest.org
www.sustainableharvest.org

Waterville, ME, April 17, 2009 – Maine Association of Nonprofits (MANP) honored three Maine organizations as leaders in nonprofit excellence at their Annual Leadership Conference at Colby College on April 17, 2008.

Goodwill Industries of Northern New England in Portland, Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center located in Bangor, and Belfast-based Maine Farmland Trust. All received $2,000 and a Maine-made handcrafted wooden award as the winners of the Dirigo Awards for Nonprofit Excellence. The awards are given annually to one large, medium and small nonprofit that has achieved significant results by utilizing ingenuity combined with sound management practices.

This year’s large division nonprofit award went to Goodwill Industries of Northern New England, an organization that demonstrated true ingenuity and solid business practices. In response to their employee’s desire for greater learning opportunities and for career growth, the organization established a model of professional development where emerging leaders are grouped into cohorts. The program helps the employees gain experience with real leadership challenges and fits seamlessly with their Innovation Starts Here initiative which encourages all employees to offer innovative suggestions to enhance and streamline the organization’s work. These programs have proven to be effective ways to engage all employees in the creative process while helping to develop new leadership within the organization.

Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center was awarded the medium division nonprofit award for its progressive approach to advocacy and commitment to evaluation. Through its research from their MaineCare clients, Mabel Wadsworth learned that the average waiting time for a woman to receive a colposcopy was nine months. The organization proactively alleviated this strain by investing in the necessary training and supplies to purchase their own machine thereby reducing the wait time to only two weeks.

The small division award went to Maine Farmland Trust, a rapidly growing organization dedicated to preserving and protecting Maine’s agricultural land. They have taken advantage of their downtown Belfast location to create an art gallery that celebrates agriculture. The gallery draws people into their office where they can ask questions about the organization’s work and become more familiar with the organization. The gallery also allows them to showcase the vitality of Maine farms. Since opening this gallery space, their membership has grown from 300 to over 2,000 active members.

Second place winners in each category receive $1,000 cash. The second place winning organization in the large division was Pine Tree Legal Assistance located in Portland. Sustainable Harvest International, located in Surry, received second place in the medium nonprofit division and Portland-based The Telling Room received the honor in the small nonprofit division. Organizations that received Honorable Mention were Rumford Group Homes, Spruce Run Association located in Bangor and Hardy Girls Healthy Women in Waterville.

"All award winners represent excellent examples of organizations that are adapting to the challenging funding environment currently facing nonprofits," says Scott Schnapp, Executive Director of MANP, "they utilize innovation and ingenuity to achieve a greater social mission impact."

The Dirigo Awards for Nonprofit Excellence program, launched in 2007, is built upon a series of assessment and capacity building tools, called the Guiding Principles and Practices of Nonprofit Excellence in Maine, that were developed by MANP. The awards program seeks to reward and encourage the nonprofit organizations that are continually innovating, experimenting and improving their operations to better accomplish their social missions.

ABOUT MANP: The Maine Association of Nonprofits (MANP) is statewide organization committed to strengthening the capacity of Maine’s nonprofit sector, and currently has a membership of over 650 nonprofit organizations and more than 110 for profit supporters. Founded in 1994, MANP provides a broad range of management support programs, resources and services for the boards, staff and volunteers of Maine’s nonprofits. These include management training programs, statewide conferences, capacity building programs for nonprofit leaders, assessment tools, legislative alerts, a job board, marketing opportunities, technical assistance and referrals, sector reports, access to affordable healthcare and benefits plans, and a compilation of management resources to assist nonprofit leaders in achieving mission related goals.

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Surry, ME - April 28, 2009 - There's been another crack in the glass ceiling, and we can thank Florence Reed for that.  President of Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), a non-profit organization dedicated to helping third world countries practice sustainable farming techniques, SHI made Charity Navigator's most recent top ten list of best managed environmental non-profits in the country.  But even more impressive is that it was the only organization on the list run by a woman.

"When people work together, things change for the better," says Reed, whose mission began in the Peace Corps in the early 90s.  It was during her tenure in Panama that she first realized the consequences of tropical deforestation: slash and burn techniques often led to unusable land and diminished wages for its farmers.  She never stopped working on the problem, even after she returned to the states, and in 1997 founded SHI.  Since then she and her small but dedicated staff here and overseas have helped 1,800 families and over 120 rural farming communities in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama to dramatically improve their quality of life while restoring the environment. The organization has planted more than 2,300,000 trees, converted 9,000 acres to sustainable uses, thereby saving 45,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction, and improved nutrition through the establishment of more than 4700 organic vegetable gardens.  

Reed does all this and still manages to care for her family, including her toddler son.   And while he might miss a few Mommy and Me classes, he instead gets to watch first hand as his own mom helps to change the world.

Given the proximity of Mother's Day, and the urgency of responsible environmentalism, I think your audience would find Florence Reed's story both timely and inspirational.    If you would like any more information, please contact:

Sarah Kennedy
Outreach Director
919 967-3662
sarah@sustainableharvest.org
To learn more about SHI, go to http://www.sustainableharvest.org

Waterville, Maine, April 17, 2009 - The Maine Association of Nonprofits (MANP) recognized Surry-based Sustainable Harvest International with Second Place honors in the medium nonprofit category of MANP's Dirigo Nonprofit Awards for Nonprofit Excellence at their Annual Leadership Conference on April 17th.  The awards are given to nonprofits that have achieved significant results by utilizing ingenuity combined with sound management practices.  As the Second Place winner, Sustainable Harvest International received $1,000 cash and a certificate of excellence.  

Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) provides farming families in Central America with the training and tools to overcome poverty while restoring our planet's tropical forests.  The organization has demonstrated creativity in their use of technology at their field sites: Field staff in the villages where they work are now using handheld PDA's to collect information on the progress of the farm families.  The handhelds provide a useful tool to save time in writing down data on clipboards and then entering data at the office.

SHI is also creative in the way they develop leadership within the organization.  They recently instituted an "Advisor" position: individuals who come to the organization with some certain skill, are permitted to join a Board committee, but are not voting members of the Board.  They learn about SHI in more detail and the organization learns more about them, their level of commitment, ability to work constructively, and assess if some Advisors might be good candidates to transition to the Board.  

While the organization has a global focus, they are dedicated to improving the connections that Mainers have with the land.  SHI has committed to leveraging the award to either help develop a public education component at their community garden or to help subsidize service trips for Maine high school students to one of their Central American programs.

"The fact that Sustainable Harvest International was selected as a finalist recognizes that the organization is adapting to the challenging funding environment currently facing nonprofits," says Scott Schnapp, Executive Director of MANP, "the organization is utilizing innovation and ingenuity to achieve a greater social mission impact."

This year's first place award winners were Goodwill Industries of Northern New England, Mabel Wadsworth Women's Health Center and Maine Farmland Trust.  Other Dirigo finalists include Pine Tree Legal Assistance, The Telling Room, Rumford Group Homes, Spruce Run Association and Hardy Girls Healthy Women.  

The Dirigo Awards for Nonprofit Excellence program, launched in 2007, is built upon a series of assessment and capacity building tools, called the Guiding Principles and Practices of Nonprofit Excellence in Maine,  that were developed by MANP. The awards program seeks to reward and encourage the nonprofit organizations that are continually innovating, experimenting and improving their operations to better accomplish their social missions.

ABOUT MANP: The Maine Association of Nonprofits (MANP) is statewide organization committed to strengthening the capacity of Maine's nonprofit sector, and currently has a membership of over 650 nonprofit organizations and more than 110 for profit supporters. Founded in 1994, MANP provides a broad range of management support programs, resources and services for the boards, staff and volunteers of Maine's nonprofits. These include management training programs, statewide conferences, capacity building programs for nonprofit leaders, assessment tools, legislative alerts, a job board, marketing opportunities, technical assistance and referrals, sector reports, access to affordable healthcare and benefits plans, and a compilation of management resources to assist nonprofit leaders in achieving mission related goals.

Contact:
Annie Sutton
Maine Association of Nonprofits
207-871-1885
asutton@nonprofitmaine.org
http://www.nonprofitmaine.org

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Surry, ME - May 3, 2009 - Florence Reed, Founder and President of Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) received the Distinguished Service Medal from the Garden Club of America (GCA) on Sunday, May 3rd in Providence, RI.  SHI, a non profit organization first established by Reed in 1997, provides farming families in Central America with the training and tools to overcome poverty while restoring the planet's tropical forests.

"I am thrilled to join so many people who find myriad ways to better our world through the bounty of plant life.  And I am honored to accept this award on behalf of 1,800 Central American families working with Sustainable Harvest International.  They are raising themselves out of poverty while protecting our fragile planet thanks to generous supporters including garden clubs and their members," Reed told the crowd of 650 who had assembled at the Providence Convention Center for the event.  Reed, whose interest in sustainable farming techniques was first piqued during her work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama, went on to relate the experiences of one of SHI's participants, Antonio Ramirez of Honduras, whose work with SHI has resulted in better nutrition and financial security for his family.  "There is a different kind of vegetable every day and he is able to bring them to market. We expect that by the end of the 5-year program, he will have achieved the goals we proposed, as much for his nutritional as economic benefit, and with environmental protection," she told the audience.

Reed was one of ten recipients for awards at the annual event; Nell Newman, co-founder and president of Newman's Own Organics and daughter of Paul Newman, was also honored for her work.

For three consecutive years SHI received a 4 star rating from Charity Navigator; SHI was also recently named one of Charity Navigator's top ten best managed environmental non profits in the country - and of those ten, it is the only one run by a woman.  And SHI was just recognized for Non Profit Excellence at the Annual Maine Association of Non Profits (MANP) Dirigo Awards.

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About SHI: Since 1997, SHI has planted more than 2.3 million trees and converted thousands of acres to sustainable uses; thereby saving tens of thousands of acres of tropical forest from slash-and-burn destruction.  The 48 members of SHI's Central American staff have worked with more than 1,800 families in over 120 communities in Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua and Panama to implement sustainable land-use practices that alleviate poverty while restoring the environment.  More than 600 families have graduated from the SHI program and no longer need assistance.

To learn more about SHI, go to http://www.sustainableharvest.org

For further information, contact:
Sarah Kennedy
Outreach Director
919-967-3662
sarah@sustainableharvest.org

For a link to photos from the event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sustainableharvest/sets/72157618324481623/

Surry, ME - September 22, 2009 - Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), a Maine-based non profit that provides Central American farming families with the tools and training to overcome poverty while restoring our planet's tropical forests, has received Charity Navigator's highest four star rating for the fourth year in a row, an achievement shared with only 7 percent of the charities rated nationwide. 

This rating, which SHI has received each year it was evaluated, indicates that it "consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way, and outperforms most other charities in America," says Trent Stamp, President of Charity Navigator (http://www.charitynavigator.org), one of the nation's largest independent charity evaluators.  "This 'exceptional' designation from Charity Navigator differentiates Sustainable Harvest International from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust," he concludes.

In Maine, 15 non profit organizations received the 4 star rating from Charity Navigator, but only 4 of them, including SHI,  have received it for four consecutive years.  They are:  Maine Community Foundation, Preble Street, and Safe Passage, which, besides SHI, is the only other charity falling within the international category.  Only two organizations on the list have received 5 consecutive 4 star ratings:  Camp Sunshine and Maine Sea Coast Vision, and only Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory has received 6 consecutive 4 star ratings.   

The annual rating, which is designed to help Charity Navigator meet its mission of guiding "intelligent giving," is based on two broad areas of a charity's financial health:  organizational efficiency and organizational capacity, or, how responsibly a charity functions day to day, and how well positioned it is to sustain its programs over time.  The charity is then awarded an overall rating, ranging from zero to four stars, with four stars being the highest rating.  Only 501(c) (3) organizations, which are considered public charities, meaning that all donations to them are tax-exempt, are evaluated.

Last year SHI ranked among just 10% of all charities rated nationwide that had received 3 consecutive 4- star evaluations, according to Charity Navigator.   Prestigious ratings like these are all the more important today, as the economy poses problems for people and organizations alike, and non profits in particular.  

Says Florence Reed, Founder and President of SHI, "We are very proud that we have maintained our outstanding rating over the years.  With an exceptional score in organizational efficiency and low overhead, we spend just 8% of our budget on administration.     This rating is particularly important to us at this time, given the overall climate of economic uncertainty.   We hope to continue to merit Charity Navigator's exceptional rating for years to come."


To find out more about SHI, go to their web site at http://www.sustainableharvest.org

For further information, contact:
Sarah Kennedy
Outreach Director
919-967-3662
sarah@sustainableharvest.org.

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About Sustainable Harvest International: SHI was founded in 1997 by Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Florence Reed. Since its inception, the 501 (c) (3) non profit organization has planted more than 2.3 million trees, converted 9,000 acres to sustainable uses, thereby saving 45,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction, and improved nutrition through the establishment of more than 4700 organic vegetable gardens.

About Charity Navigator: Founded in 2001, Charity Navigator is one of the nation's largest independent evaluator of charities. Since its inception, it has assessed the financial health of over 5,000 of America's best known charities. A 501 (c) (3) non profit organization itself, it depends on support from individuals, corporations and foundations to provide what it believes is a much-needed service to America's charitable givers.

Surry, ME - September 22, 2009 - What do Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, and Florence Reed have in common?

They are all Americans who have spoken the truth.

And they are all featured in Robert Shetterly's series Americans Who Tell the Truth, http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/,  a collection of portraits and quotes of those who have helped to make America strong.  Shetterly, a Brooksville, ME-based artist, recently added Reed to his collection because of her work with Central American farming families; as the Founder and President of Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), Reed has been working to lift them out of poverty and restore the planet's tropical forests since 1997.   When asked why she has committed her self to her decades-long mission, she explains in the quote that accompanies her image:  "A farmer in a remote village in Honduras is providing us with organic coffee, providing winter habitat for our song birds, stabilizing our global climate, preserving the forests that are the source of most of our medicines, creating oxygen to breathe and protecting the coral reefs from siltation as a result of deforestation.  So if a poor farmer in Honduras can do all this for us, what can we do for him?"

Shetterly is hoping his inclusion of Reed will draw more attention to her cause.  "I chose to paint Flo because I think her work is right at the intersection of the food, environmental, climate change, and economic exploitation problems. She does not simply describe a problem but implements a solution. And her solution has both local and global ramifications," he says.  "All the issues around food ---- health, local autonomy, pollution, pesticides, deforestation, climate change, transportation, soil loss, poverty, malnutrition, economic imperialism, etc., are key issues that we must solve if we are going to live sustainably."

Apparently, his plan is working.  Before the paint on his acrylic painting was dry, Reed's portrait  was selected to be part of an upcoming show at Bar Harbor, ME's College of the Atlantic (COA):  "Food for Thought, Time for Action: Sustainable food, farming and fisheries for the 21st century."   http://www.coa.edu/html/foodsystemsconference09.htm   Organized by Maine Farmland Trust, and running from October 2nd through 4th, the show is designed to bring together a diverse range of practitioners, farmers, fishermen and scholars to discuss current issues and chart a course toward a sustainable future.  Reed's portrait will share the stage with Alice Waters' portrait, another one of Shetterly's subjects.   Anna Witholt Abaldo, Gallery Coordinator for Maine Farmland Trust, thought Shetterly's portraits could help make a link between the cause and those who dedicate their lives to it.  Both Waters and Reed were chosen for their major contributions to food and sustainability; Reed's ties to Maine also help to make her a particularly relevant choice, says Abaldo.   
Shetterly began painting this series of portraits several years ago as a way to channel his anger and grief after the events of September 11.   The process of painting these "truth tellers" helped transform those emotions into pride and hope, he says on his web site.  Reed admits to being a long time admirer of Shetterly and his work, and is honored to be included in his series.    "I hope that together we expand peoples understanding that we can all have a role, big or small, in making the world a better place."

For more information on SHI and Florence Reed, please contact:
Sarah Kennedy
Outreach Director
919-967-3662
sarah@sustainableharvest org

For more information on Food for Thought, Time for Action Conference, please contact:
Heather Albert-Knopp
Sustainable Food Systems Program Administrator
207-288-5015
halbert-knopp@coa.edu

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About Florence Reed and Sustainable Harvest International: SHI was founded in 1997 by Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Florence Reed. Since its inception, the non profit organization has planted more than 2.3 million trees, converted 9,000 acres to sustainable uses, thereby saving 45,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction, and improved nutrition through the establishment of more than 4700 organic vegetable gardens.

About Robert Shetterly: "Americans Who Tell the Truth" is a series of portraits by Brooksville, ME based artist Robert Shetterly. His portraits of past and current Americans form a traveling exhibit that is hosted by schools, universities, churches, and various community groups around the country.

"A farmer in a remote village in Honduras is providing us with organic coffee,
providing winter habitat for our song birds, stabilizing our global climate,
preserving the forests that are the source of most of our medicines,
creating oxygen to breathe and protecting the coral reefs
from siltation as a result of deforestation.
So if a poor farmer in Honduras can do all this for us, what can we do for him?"

- Florence Reed, Founder & President of Sustainable Harvest International

SURRY, ME - OCTOBER 5, 2009 - Florence Reed, founder and president of Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), will be a delegate at The Opportunity Collaboration, a four day strategic poverty alleviation summit commencing on October 17th, World Poverty Day.  Reed, whose Maine-based international non-profit provides farming families in Central America with the training and tools to overcome poverty while restoring the planet's tropical forests, will join about 250 other delegates from such organizations as Ashoka, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, Calvert Social Investment Foundation, Global Philanthropy Forum, and the Women Donors Network.

"The Opportunity Collaboration is about leveraging resources and creating influential partnerships," states Opportunity Collaboration CEO Jonathan C. Lewis. "Every delegate brings an important point of view to the summit and a hands-on, working solution to poverty.  Reed's work in social change is exceptional, high-impact and compelling. She will have a unique opportunity to share insights with other delegates, but most importantly to pursue concrete actions for real solutions and new partnerships to advance economic justice."

Reed will discuss the global and local impacts of slash-and-burn agriculture in the tropics, and how SHI's unique and successful model for reversing this harmful trend has helped to decrease hunger and alleviate poverty.  "As far as I know, we are the only organization in the world providing long-term technical assistance to rural families in the tropics, offering them alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture," says Reed. Since launching SHI from a spare bedroom in her parents' New Hampshire home, SHI and its network of trained staff,  farmers and grass roots community groups, have reached more than 1800 families in 120 communities in Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua and Panama.  To date, SHI farmers have helped to save thousands of acres of tropical forest, planted more than 2.3 million trees, improved nutrition through the establishment of more than 4,700 organic vegetable gardens, and raised their income as much as eight-fold.

"It is easy for me to see the positive impact SHI has had on overcoming poverty while restoring the environment," says Reed. "I also know that collaborating with complementary organizations would allow us to do much more to further our work and theirs.  I look forward to starting those conversations at the Opportunity Collaboration," Reed adds.

For more information on SHI and Florence Reed, please contact:
Sarah Kennedy
Outreach Director
919-967-3662
sarah@sustainableharvest.org

About Florence Reed and Sustainable Harvest International:
SHI was founded in 1997 by Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Florence Reed. Since its inception, the non-profit organization has planted more than 2.3 million trees, converted 9,000 acres to sustainable uses (thereby saving 45,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction), sequestered 73,425,000 pounds of carbon as a result of our planting efforts, increased farm income up to 800%, and built more than 750 wood-conserving stoves (saving 7,500 trees per year). http://www.sustainableharvest.org

About the Opportunity Collaboration:
Convening from October 17-20, 2009, the Opportunity Collaboration is a strategic networking summit of social investors/social ventures, entrepreneurial non-profit leaders, foundation trustees/executives and policy thought leaders. The Opportunity Collaboration brings together leaders from all over the world to leverage resources and create new alliances in the fight against poverty. http://www.opportunitycollaboration.net

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