Sustainability: Philanthropy
Committed to Philanthropy
In our philanthropic efforts, we partner with organizations that meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Focus on human health
- Act as environmental stewards
- Work to further the accessibility and awareness of organic food, farming and traditional herbal medicine.
- Contribute to community life in the Brattleboro, Vermont area - our hometown.
Sacred Seeds:
A global initiative to save endangered plants and healing knowledge
In 2005, New Chapter created Semillas Sagradas (Sacred Seeds) at our Costa Rican farm, Luna Nueva. It began as a single sanctuary for medicinal plants that were vulnerable to the loss of habitat, inappropriate harvesting, or climate change. We worked with indigenous communities, a leading Costa Rican ethnobotanist, and passionate student interns to maintain this unique sanctuary. Our hope was that through the protection of these culturally and scientifically significant plant species, we would promote awareness of critical plant conservation, preserve biodiversity, and reconnect indigenous communities to their healing heritage.
Today we are working with the Missouri Botanical Garden’s William L. Brown Center, and our collective goal is to have sacred seed sanctuaries in ecosystems throughout the world. Currently there are over a dozen foundational sacred seed gardens around the globe, benefiting indigenous communities, universities and individuals. For more information, please visit http://sacredseedssanctuary.org/.
Friends of the Children's Eternal Rainforest
Supporting the conservation and rehabilitation of rainforest in Costa Rica
In 1987, Swedish school children started a worldwide effort by sending money to Monteverde, Costa Rica, to purchase rainforest and protect its priceless natural treasures forever. Today children from 44 nations have preserved 54,000+ acres and helped the Children’s Eternal Rainforest become the largest private reserve in Costa Rica.
We have partnered with the Monteverde Conservation League US, Inc., and raised funds to purchase a tract of land, which was donated to the not-for-profit organization responsible for maintaining the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. We are now reforesting and protecting this land – creating an important wildlife corridor for migrating species and connecting the Children’s Eternal Rainforest with the Luna Nueva rainforest. For more information on this extraordinarily beautiful and biologically significant private reserve, please visit: http://friendsoftherainforest.org
Bumi Sehat:
Ensuring vital whole-food nourishment to malnourished expectant mothers in Indonesia
Because of widespread malnutrition, a significant number of pregnant women in Indonesia have severe complications and life-altering injuries during birth. Postpartum hemorrhaging, in particular, has contributed to increases in the country’s maternal mortality rates. To address these needs, renowned midwife Robin Lim is operating birthing clinics in Bali and Aceh through Bumi Sehat (Healthy Mother Earth Foundation).
When Katherine Bramhall, a midwife from Barre, Vt., traveled to Bali in 2006, she approached New Chapter for a product donation. Inspired by her and Robin’s dedication, we have committed to fulfilling the clinics’ natural health product needs with New Chapter’s Perfect Prenatal multi-vitamins. To learn more visit: www.bumisehatbali.org or www.amillionmothers.org.
Nourish America
Since 1999, Nourish America has provided nutritional support and education to hundreds of thousands of children, prenatal mothers, teens, senior citizens, veterans, and natural disaster victims throughout the United States. New Chapter supplies a steady flow of donated products to this cause. Our products have aided New York City homeless, Louisiana and Texas hurricane victims, and American Indian reservation residents in South Dakota. To learn more visit: www.nourishamerica.org.