The Education Transforms Lives (ETL) Foundation invites the community to learn about its important educational mission and efforts in Liberia.

Its first public event will take place at Bucks’ Newtown Campus, at the Orangery, 275 Swamp Road, Newtown, PA on Friday, Oct. 25 from 5-7 PM.

The gathering will feature a meet-and-greet with the organization’s Board of Directors, light jazz and refreshments, and a keynote presentation on the hardships and hazards Liberian children face. The program is open to the public, with a suggested donation of $15, $5 for students.

The Foundation also welcomes school supplies, new and gently-used backpacks, and children’s books for the K-8 library which it will establish at a school where most students have never seen a storybook. Also are textbooks for community college students in Sinoe, Liberia. Collection receptacles will be available at the event.

The ETL Foundation was created in 2016, after ifounder, Clovis Dixon, an American Liberian native, returned to visit Liberia after being away for over 20 years.

“I found the conditions to be even more dire than I remembered them to be when I left as a child. I was so compelled to do something,” asserted Dixon.

With the support of several fellow professionals at Bucks County Community College, as well as from volunteers on the ground in Liberia, he began the international campaign to help the severely challenged health and education systems in his native country.

A goal for the Oct. 25 ETL Foundation event is to raise capital to fill the immediate need for a water pump that will bring fresh water to the Todee Elementary School, located just outside the capital city of Monrovia.

The school has no running water, so students walk half a mile each way to drink from a creek also used by locals for washing laundry and for bathing. The tainted, muddied water exposes children to illness and parasites, as well as to other dangers such as snakes.

The nonprofit ETL Foundation has been accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) by the Republic of Liberia, thereby acknowledged as an independent partner in building resilience and transformative self-determination among the country’s communities and individuals.

The ETL Foundation’s mission in Liberia is to bring education, a basic human right, to those with the passion and desire to learn, especially to the disadvantaged.

“Beginning with Liberia, the ETL Foundation envisions a world where all people will have the power to create satisfactory living conditions and opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities. This includes those living in the poorest, remote villages, and those with disabilities, whose possibilities are exponentially diminished in comparison to those of their peers,” said Dixon.

For more information about the event or the ETL Foundation visit their website: https://etlfoundation.org or call 215-789-086