With a little help, chocolate may save Ecuador’s rainforest.
Cacao, the fruit from which chocolate is made, has been cultivated by the inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest for decades. Cacao is the ideal agricultural commodity for the rainforest because it's a shade-grown, understory crop; it depends on the rainforest canopy for its survival.
The Yachana Foundation USA (formally Friends of Funedesin) recognized the importance of cacao several years ago and has been working to establish it as the principal income producer in Ecuador’s northern Amazon rainforest ever since. In 2000, the Foundation created Yachana Gourmet, a green company designed to purchase cacao at Fair Trade prices and produce a unique chocolate product, known as Yachana Jungle Chocolate.
As long as the region's people can earn a living by cultivating cacao they will not have to turn to logging and cattle ranching, the two biggest threats to the remaining rainforest.
Your adopting a Chocolate Tree will allow us to continue our work in our high school agriculture extension program and the promotion of cacao as a viable income producer for thousands of farmers in the Amazon
When you Adopt a Chocolate Tree, you receive:
- A Certificate of Adoption. This certificate acknowledges your important contribution to the future of Ecuador’s rainforest and the wellbeing of its people. The certificate is suitable for framing.
- Yachana Jungle Chocolate. Along with your Certificate of Adoption, we send you two bags of our delicious Fair Trade Yachana Jungle Chocolate.
- Discounted Jungle Tours. Participants in the Adopt a Chocolate Tree program receive a 10% discount off of the regular price of Yachana Lodge tours during the one year term of the adoption.
In addition to receiving these great gifts, you know that you've helped Ecuador's rainforest and done your part to protect the Earth's biological heritage. Your adoption supports the YACHANA TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL's agriculture education program and community agro forestry extension work.
- Please Note: Delivery for Trees takes 4-6 weeks.
Yachana Foundation USA (formerly Friends of Funedesin) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and all donations made to Adopt a Chocolate Tree Acre are tax-deductible in the U.S.
$49 Commitment - Certificate of Adoption, two boxes of Yachana Jungle Chocolate, and a 10% discount off the regular price of Yachana Lodge tours. Click on the icon to the right to make a $49 commitment using PayPal's secure online payment system.
If you would prefer to pay by check, please send a check made out to "Yachana Foundation USA" (formerly Friends of Funedesin) in the amount of $55 ($49 plus $6 shipping) to:
Yachana Foundation USAPO Box 35,
Mascoutah, Illinois 62258
If you are giving the adoption as a gift, please make sure to send us the name you would like to have printed on the certificate.
For more information about our Adopt a Chocolate Tree program, please email us at info@funedesin.org.
