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Friday, November 23, 2012 - North Shore News - A27
YOUR NORTH SHORE GUIDE to FASHION & STYLE
A heartwarming holiday project Down jackets to support Nepali schoolchildren
Manisha Krishnan mkrishnan@nsnews.com
A North Shore couple has figured out the secret to being stylish, cozy and charitable this holiday season.
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Elizabeth Leboe and Lenard Reid recently founded Jackets for Jasper: Heartwarming Down Jackets, a small company that sells lightweight jackets made in Nepal to support Nepali families. The couple’s goal is to put two Nepali children through school. They were inspired on a 2011 trip to the country where they developed a close bond with their trekking guide Kamal Adhikari. “You’re with someone night and day, trekking in these spectacular areas,” said Reid. “We got to know him extremely well.” After the expedition, they were invited to visit Adhikari’s family in a mountain village east of Kathmandu. There, they found their hosts to be warm and generous, in spite of them leading a very modest lifestyle. Adhikari and his wife live in a room the size of a kitchen with no running water. “The average wage is $100 a month, yet they will be the first ones to offer their food, their home, anything,” said Reid. Adhikari’s niece Resmi Nagarkoti, a charming fiveyear-old girl, is also from the village. Near the end of their visit, Leboe and Reid were asked to sponsor her so that she could get an education. After locating a private school that was equipped with a pool, gym, computer lab and, most importantly, excellent teachers, the pair agreed.
NEWS photo Paul McGrath
NORTH Vancouver residents Lenard Reid and Elizabeth Leboe founded Jackets for Jasper, a small business through which they will sell down jackets made in Nepal to support Nepali families. The couple was inspired when they visited the nation last year. “The challenge in Nepal is there’s about a 66 per cent illiteracy amongst girls. Even if you attend public school there is a good chance you won’t actually be able to learn to read or write very well,” said Reid. “Everyone in the family knew they just needed to give an opportunity to these children to break the cycle of poverty.” When Leboe and Reid returned to Canada, Adhikari revealed that his wife was pregnant with their first-born — a boy that he later asked the couple to name. They settled on Jasper, a tribute to the Rocky Mountains, where they first met, and to Nepal’s See Coats page 29
photo supplied
Rajan Dulal, a manufacturer working with Jackets for Jasper, sizes up material for the garments in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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