Wellington, Florida – Horseware Ireland is leading by example when it comes to supporting JustWorld International, pledging its continued support to the not-for-profit humanitarian organization and the work it does helping impoverished children in Cambodia, Honduras, Guatemala, and Brazil.Top horse blanket and equestrian clothing manufacturer Horseware Ireland has been an official JustWorld International sponsor since 2005. Giving in numerous ways over the course of their partnership, Horseware Ireland has recently committed to upgrading an existing school at JustWorld’s project site in Cambodia, just one year after pledging their support for the construction of a third school at the site, which was recently completed thanks to funding by the manufacturer and fellow JustWorld supporter Maria Newman.“We’re just that kind of company,” said Horseware Ireland founder Tom MacGuinness. “We like to do what we can for others, and to give back to those who are in need. JustWorld International helps us realize those goals, and we are delighted to be counted among its supporters.”He continued, “They just finished the new school in Cambodia and it’s already packed to the gills, and now the idea now is to knock down one of the older schools and build a new four-storey building in its place. Anyone who knows JustWorld’s founder, Jessica Newman, knows how persuasive she can be. She’s a very dedicated and committed person, which is a very rare thing in this day and age. She asked us to fund the first floor of the building, so we’re taking on the costs as part of the ‘Adopt a Project’ campaign.”
The ‘Adopt a Project’ campaign, JustWorld’s newest initiative, identifies opportunities to support a number of highly successful nutrition, health and hygiene, education, and leadership and cultural development programs and allows donors to choose which of JustWorld’s numerous projects they would like to support.Horseware Ireland plans to directly donate half of the $40,000 needed to build the first floor of the upgraded facility and host a fundraising event to generate the rest. For the past two years, Horseware Ireland has presented the ‘STRUT! Fashion for a Just World’ Fashion Show in Wellington, FL, which featured riders sauntering down the catwalk in the latest equestrian fashions to help raise funds for JustWorld’s projects. This year, MacGuinness is hoping to host an Irish-themed celebration.“We’d love to do something for St. Patrick’s Day,” he said. “An Irish company and an Irish saint, it just seems so fitting. We’d have a blow-out party in support of the school in Cambodia and really highlight the project so people know what they’re supporting.”
MacGuinness chose the school in Cambodia because of a personal connection with the country. Horseware Ireland owns and operates a manufacturing factory there and employs approximately 80 people, including many local residents.
“There are a lot of young people in Cambodia but not a lot of employment opportunities,” explained MacGuinness. “It has taken a few years to train staff and get a team in place, but things are starting to go very well. Cambodia has had a really rough time over the last 30 years, but life is steadily improving for the people there are we’re eager to help in any way that we can.”
MacGuinness has traveled to Cambodia on several occasions, and has seen first-hand the difference that JustWorld’s work makes in the lives of those it serves to help. In 2007, MacGuinness helped distribute more than 10,000 life-saving mosquito nets to families at the Stung Mean Chey and Borey Keila project sites through JustWorld’s grassroots partner, People’s Improvement Organization. The mosquito nets are manufactured using materials found in Horseware Ireland’s fly sheets and, in many cases, provide the only protection that impoverished Cambodian people have against the life-threatening diseases carried by mosquitoes including malaria, dengue fever, and Japanese encephalitis. A portion of the proceeds from Horseware Ireland’s ‘Rambo Fly Protector Rug’ and ‘Amigo Bug Rug’ blankets are used for the mosquito net project.
Horseware Ireland became JustWorld’s first official sponsor in 2005 after being introduced to the organization by JustWorld Rider Ambassador and Irish Olympian Kevin Babington. For the past seven years, Horseware Ireland has manufactured and donated JustWorld signature show coolers for its Professional Rider Ambassadors.
Founded in 2003 by Jessica Newman, JustWorld International is a not-for-profit, humanitarian organization which funds life-changing nutrition, health and hygiene, education, and leadership and cultural development programs for impoverished children in Cambodia, Honduras, Guatemala, and Brazil. There are currently more than 500 Rider and Technical Official Ambassadors representing 40 different countries, whose efforts to support JustWorld's projects have helped raise more than $5.4 million to date. For more information on JustWorld International, or how to support the ‘Adopt a Project’ campaign, please visit www.justworldinternational.org.
