Information
“When we went out into the countryside, we were a kind of beachhead”, Steven Gaskin remembers. “We were like the people who went down to the beach, dug a hole and tried to survive”. In 1974, Stephen Gaskin and The Farm, an intentional community, started an outreach program called Plenty. In its first ten years, Plenty established a clinic and orphanage in Bangladesh, an appropriate technology training centre and reforestation program in Lesotho, and a wind-powered electric lighting system in a Carib Indian school in Dominica. It provided disaster relief in the Third World and free ambulance service to the South Bronx. It went to sea with Greenpeace and gave the Rainbow Warrior its ham radio, sol-scan TV and radiation monitoring equipment. They also enabled Native Americans to have their first own radio station. In 1978, Plenty formed a scientific research team, Ethos Research Group, and a litigation project to work on environmental issues and human rights, the Natural Rights Centre. Plenty has helped women in more than 120 rural communities across Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala, to gain their economic independence.
What connects all these projects is the strong belief that the remaining resources of the earth can be enough for everybody, if only they are used in the right way. Plenty’s primary goal is a better world for the future generations. They emphasis intercultural cooperation and a generation-spanning communication, as a mandatory requirement to reach this goal. Furthermore, the success of Plenty lies in the belief that each individual has the ability to bring about a crucial change. But it remains Plenty’s strong intention to establish a valuable network and to use its synergies.
The Farm as a pilot project is still smiled upon but it is growing continuously. Steven Gaskin : “We live of 700 Dollars, per person, per year. That’s only one-seventh of the normal income - using the lowest tax group as a benchmark. We are below the American poverty line. But we are not poor. We are strong because our community makes us strong.”
Short Description and Facts
| Members/Size: | medium | Email: | Plenty@plenty.org |
| Foundation Date: | 1974 | Webseite: | Plenty International |
| Address: | PO Box 394 | Phone: | +1 (931) 964-4323 |
| 38483Summertown | Fax: |
Arbeitet an den folgenden Globalen Herausforderungen
Has projects with following themes
Working closely together with local schools, the Project Plenty Belize fights against the malnutrition and undernourishment of the people of Punta Gordon Town, a town close to Guatemala. The children learn the basic skills in gardening and using workshops and within a short period of time, the living conditions of the children and their families increased significantly.
Food Security is mostly responsible for improving the nourishment and distribution of foods to the people of Belize. This involves helping with the production and allocation of the locally produced goods. Apart from its ecological aspect – supporting local goods – this project has significantly reduced the unemployment rate in the areas.
This project was founded in 1986 and supports traumatized children from crisis regions. During countless activities in Camps in Tennessee, they try rebuilding the childrens self-confidence and trust. Living in and with nature is an important aspect. About 3000 children have already participated in this project.
