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Natural Calm Canada~Business With A Mission~
D
ale and Linda Bolton were not looking for another career. For three decades, Dale had been a pastor, both in Canada and in developing countries, and Linda had worked as a director of nursing and a pastor.But in 2004, their lives changed. It began when Linda, who struggled with sleep problems, fibromyalgia and bone density issues, discovered the magnesium supplement Natural Calm. Linda knew magnesium was used in hospitals to treat heart attack, stroke, migraines and high blood pressure,but she had not considered it as a health supplement until her sister,who had been helped by the product for severe migraines,recommended it. She decided to give it a try, and the results amazed her. Right away, Linda began to sleep better,and within a week much of her muscle pain from fibromyalgia was gone. Not only that, but her next medical test came back showing higher bone density for the first time in 10 years. Soon after, the Bolton’s visited Malawi, Africa and were astounded by the scale of the suffering they witnessed there. Dale and Linda had done a number of projects in Haiti, but they were overwhelmed by the need they saw in Africa. The AIDS pandemic had left about 40 million children orphaned, and Dale and Linda felt they couldn’t turn their backs. When they returned to Canada, Dale and his son Jason did a house renovation to raise the funds to help build an orphan home, but the family realized a problem this big required new kinds of solutions. The answer they were looking for came from Linda’s business success with Natural Calm. The American company’s supplements were not available in Canada, so Linda began importing them, initially just for family and friends. Then she began approaching retail health stores. The products sold so well she was given the exclusive distribution rights for Canada. Dale and Linda decided to work together and turn Natural Calm Canada into a social enterprise, meaning that all the profits after expenses go to help orphans in Africa. At first, donations went to the organization Hope for the Nations in Kelowna, BC. The money was used to build orphan homes and schools and to drill water wells. Linda and Dale also began visiting Africa twice a year and taking others with them to see the difference they could make. However, the Bolton’s felt there was more they could be doing to make real, lasting change where it was needed most. Dale, who grew up on a farm, noticed that none of the orphanages had gardens and that kids were struggling with health issues because of their low-nutrient diet. He learned that food production all over Africa had plummeted because of the spiraling costs of chemical fertilizers, fuel, pesticides and genetically modified seed.
Dale spent a month at an African organic agricultural college which taught trainers how to make their own fertilizers and pesticides and to save their own seeds. One of the teachers there was keen to help grow better food for orphans, and that was the beginning of Organics 4 Orphans, an organization created to help improve the food security, health and self-sufficiency of children and their communities. Natural Calm Canada covers all the overhead for Organics 4 Orphans. This means that 100% of donations go toward the projects. To date, Organics 4 Orphans has reached more than 120 orphanages and communities in four countries with its fiveday Grow Biointensive workshop. For every project created, there are three more communities asking to be taught the secrets of organic growing. The work of Organics 4 Orphans doesn’t stop with teaching optimal growing methods. The second phase of each project involves a five-day natural medicine course developed by Anamed International, an organization that specializes in the identification of indigenous African plants with high medicinal properties. Between improved natural medicine knowledge and access and improved nutrition, the incidence of diseases in participating communities has been reduced by up to 80%. The third phase of Organics 4 Orphans projects focuses on growing surplus food to create income and teach skills that will be useful to children in the future. The aim is for the orphanages or communities involved to be self-sufficient by this point. It is incredible how inexpensive it is to create change with the Organics 4 Orphans model. Forty-two dollars a month can provide an orphanage or a struggling community with tools, fencing, seed and 10 visits from an organic trainer. Even in very dry areas, the resulting gardens are able to grow food for around 50 people after one year. This works out to a cost of just $10 a year per person. The Bolton’s could not be more excited. Even though they’re not far from retirement age, they can’t imagine stopping this work. In fact, they are still expanding the reach of Organics 4 Orphans. The latest addition to their list of programs is a one-year organic farming/natural medicine internship program in Africa, for which several Canadians have already signed up. Many young people want to work for Natural Calm Canada because it is a social enterprise. Several Canadians also are planning to volunteer for Organics 4 Orphans’ one year organic farming/natural medicine program in Africa (info@organics4orphans.org). To find the benefits of magnesium supplementation and where to get Natural Calm health products go to www.naturalcalm.ca. Go to www.Organics4Orphans.org to find out how anyone can transform their lives through organic growing and natural medicine.
Profit from the sale of Natural Calm Canada’s Family of Products goes to support Organics 4 Orphans www.naturalcalm.ca or call 1 (866) 854 2256 www.organics4orphans.org