With your support, the Canadian International Learning Foundation (CanILF) can turn $1 into $5,000. How, you ask? By helping us win the CanadaHelps Giving Challenge!

The Challenge will award $5,000 for the charity with the most donations between November 23rd and noon on December 20th.

Donate $1 for the Foundation and you’ll bring us a step closer to winning – and send one of our students in Uganda or Afghanistan to school for two days!

Please donate and invite your friends to do the same – it only takes a dollar! What’s more, just one dollar is enough to help a student in Uganda or Afghanistan to school for two days. Just imagine – if we win, that’s 10,000 days of schooling for students in need!

Are you willing to help us even more? There’s a second category for “most funds raised” – if we can win both categories, we can raise as much as an additional $10,000 to help students in need!

Please click here to donate now!

Can you help us spread the word? See below for tweets, facebook posts, and e-mails that you can send to friends and family to encourage them to get involved. Thanks for your help – let’s make every dollar count!

Want to see how we’re doing? Click here to check out the results.

Sample E-mail

Subject: Donate $1 to help CanILF win the CanadaHelps Giving Challenge

Hello,

I’m a supporter of the Canadian International Learning Foundation (CanILF), a grassroots registered Canadian charity which helps to provide and promote education in Afghanistan, Uganda and other developing countries. They are a volunteer-run charity and all donations go directly toward student scholarships and educational equipment, unless donors request otherwise.

The Foundation is taking part in the CanadaHelps Giving Challenge, and is eligible to win up to $10,000 depending on the number and amount of donations they can raise within the next month. They have a real shot at winning both prizes, but need our help to do so.

All you need to do is donate $1, and you’ll bring us one step closer to winning at least one of the categories – and bringing in $5,000 toward a great cause. Your $1 donation is also enough to send a student in Uganda or Afghanistan to school for two days. They accept both credit card and Interac. Please click here to donate: http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=5791

For more information, please visit the Foundation at www.canilf.org. I’d be glad to answer any questions you may have, or you can write to CanILF President Ryan Aldred at staff@canilf.org.

Thanks!

Facebook Post

Link: http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=5791

“Your $1 donation will help a grassroots international education charity win a $5000 award — plus it’s enough to send a student in Uganda or Afghanistan to school for two days! (which is way, way cooler than what a chocolate bar can do). It’s an awesome charity and nice way to give overseas without worrying where the money really goes. Please give – and help spread the word!”

Tweet

RT @CanILF Donate $1 to help us win $5K in the Canada Helps Giving Challenge! $1 = 2 days of school! (Debit accepted!) http://act.ly/R1he

CanILF NR-0901 November 2, 2009 OTTAWA - Despite recent insecurity, more than two hundred students at the Afghan-Canadian Community Center (ACCC) in Kandahar, Afghanistan graduated on November 2, 2009 from a professional education program funded largely by the Canadian International Development Agency.

“Through the education and support provided by the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, the Government of Canada and the Canadian people, the Center has given us hope for a better future,” said Class Valedictorian Bibi Zhilla, “Now it is our responsibility to share this precious gift with others in  need.”

The ACCC provides professional education to approximately 1,000 students in Kandahar, more than half of them women. A group of 30 students have had the opportunity to study Business Management with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) via the Internet.

ACCC Director Ehsanullah Ehsan travelled to Calgary to receive an honourary degree from SAIT in June 2009. ACCC students had planned to accompany Ehsan during the trip, but were unable to do so for security reasons. This group of students received graduation certificates from SAIT during this ceremony.

The ACCC was founded by Ehsan in early 2007 with the support of the Afghan School Project, which sponsors student scholarships and provides the Center with educational equipment, such as computers and textbooks.

The Project is managed by the Canadian International Learning Foundation (CanILF), a registered Canadian charity. The Foundation also provides Canadians with the opportunity to communicate with students in Kandahar via www.theafghanschool.org and an online Pen Pal program.

“We are incredibly proud of what our students have achieved under such difficult circumstances,” said Ryan Aldred, President of CanILF, “With the assistance of the Government of Canada, we have helped the people of Kandahar to create a vibrant and thriving school which has made a lasting difference in the lives of thousands of people.”

Several hundred students and graduates of the Afghan-Canadian Community Center have obtained long-term employment with local businesses and international organizations. On average, each employed student provides economic support to more than seven family members.

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Notes to the editor: Further details regarding the Afghan-Canadian Community Center (ACCC) are available online at www.theafghanschool.org. Photos of the ACCC and its students are available at www.canilf.org/gallery/. A link to video footage from the ACCC is available upon request. Further information regarding the Canadian International Learning Foundation is available at www.canilf.org.

For more information, please contact Ryan Aldred, President of the Canadian International Learning Foundation at 613-614-5349 or e-mail staff@canilf.org.