INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 19, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Christel House International has received a grant of $200,000 from the Stichting af Jochnick Foundation. This one-year grant will support the entire English language instruction program for the students of Christel House Mexico by providing books, learning materials and four language instructors. In addition to its support of the English program, the Jochnick Foundation grant will also supply 30% of the school's nutritional program.
This is the third grant the Jochnick Foundation has awarded Christel House International.
"Our graduates who are fluent in English will have career and advancement opportunities that would have been impossible otherwise," said Executive Director of Christel House Mexico, Javier Alarcón Benet. "The Stichting af Jochnick Foundation's English Essentials Program recognizes the importance of language skills in a global society. This grant fulfills a critical need for Christel House Mexico, and we are enormously grateful to the Foundation for its generous support."
Christel House Mexico was established in Mexico City in 1998 and serves more than 450 severely impoverished students in grades 1-9. It combines the highest quality education with a strong character building program to give students the tools to escape generational poverty. Good, nutrition, regular health care, life skills training, and career counseling form a strong foundation to support students' success.
"It is no doubt that Christel House is very important for the children enrolled. That is even clearer to us after visiting the school in September 2013. We are convinced that education is essential in so many ways and are happy to support Christel House in their important work within that field," said Kajsa Åberg, Stichting af Jochnick Foundation.
Since 2004, the Stichting af Jochnick Foundation, based in the Netherlands, has supported projects that focus on children, youth, education and world health for the past ten years. In 2005 the Foundation outlined an objective to assist 100,000 children with education over a period of 10 years. Now, nine years later, the objective has already been completed.
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About Christel House International
Christel House International (CHI) is transforming how kids, their families and future generations permanently escape poverty. Much more than a school, CHI was established in 1998 by founder Christel DeHaan and currently serves over 4,000 impoverished children around the world. By providing high quality education, nutritious meals, regular health care, character and life skills development, and career counseling, CHI helps students grow into confident, hardworking and ethical young adults who give back to their families and communities. CHI operates six learning centers in India, Mexico, South Africa and the U.S., as well as a scholars program in Venezuela. For more information, please visit www.christelhouse.org.
About the Stichting af Jochnick Foundation
The Stichting af Jochnick Foundation was established in 2004 by the af Jochnick family who wanted to contribute to the greater good and give something back to society. After establishing Oriflame Cosmetics (www.oriflame.com) in 1967, Jonas and Robert af Jochnick started visiting developing countries. It was then that they realized the tremendous need for social contribution. For more information, please visit www.afjochnickfoundation.nl
A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=23692
