Recently, our creative and proficient copywriter and project manager, Corenna VanderWeele, decided to move on from Cultivate. While Cultivate is already missing her contributions and incredible talents, we couldn’t be more excited for her next steps. Corenna left for Huaycan, Peru in mid-January to volunteer with start up non-profit The Light and Leadership Initiative.

The Light and Leadership Initiative (LLI) was founded in 2008 as an education-based, non-profit organization with the mission of responding specifically to the needs of women and children in Huaycan, of the Alte-Vitarte District in Lima, Peru. This past year, LLI has been hard at work getting to know the community it serves and building a solid base of educational programs in an area that could easily be characterized as having extreme need.

Corenna is teaching English classes throughout her stay, but she was also hoping to establish a community garden. I say “was” because it turns out the creation of said garden might be pretty difficult. Recently, Corenna updated me on her progress thus far.

“LLI’s Peruvian volunteers told me that maintaining a community garden would be impossible because plants and tools would get stolen,” Corenna wrote. “So instead I’m teaching a gardening class 3 days a week for 6-10 year olds. The kids were very excited to plant their own seeds and were stoked to see little baby green things sprouting out of the earth.”

While I’m sure the news about the community garden is disappointing, Corenna has adapted well.

“My new hope is that the class will inspire these young kids to become lifelong stewards of the earth and that it will introduce them to a sustainable source of nutritional food. It’s also great for these kids in particular to be able to call something their own and to see the results of their hard work.”

To keep up with the exploits and efforts of Corenna and LLI in Huaycan, Peru, visit Corenna’s blog at the aptly named www.corenna.com. The site was designed and developed by Cultivate’s Schuyler Roozeboom – once again showing our people are making interesting stuff after hours as well. Big Congratulations to Corenna and Schuyler on the launch of the blog.

We’re excited for Corenna and thrilled that she can contribute to the work of LLI in Huaycan. Maybe, she’ll even find time for some freelance copywriting while she’s there! It’s not even cool of us to ask. Keep on Cultivating, Corenna!