**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
MATTER RECEIVES $40,000 GRANT FROM THE PENTAIR FOUNDATION
St. Louis Park, MN | October 30, 2017 | www.matter.ngo
October 30, 2017 (St Louis Park, MN) – MATTER is pleased to announce it is a 2017 grant recipient of The Pentair Foundation. The $40,000 grant will support MATTER’s Lukosi Community Demonstration Farm project in the Northern Matabeleland Province of Zimbabwe.
The community demonstration farm will be located on the grounds of the rural Lukosi Maternity Hospital. In this region, there is often no access to prenatal or postnatal care for mothers. Without access to ultrasound machines, expectant mothers may stay at the hospital for up to two months before delivery. And with no food currently provided on site, there is a prevalence of malnourished mother and baby. The hospital farm will not only provide nutrient dense food for the expectant mothers at the hospital and the surrounding community, but also provide the opportunity to educate families about the importance and benefits of a healthy diet for both mother and baby.
The hospital farm will also serve as a community outreach hub and training center, assisting and empowering smallholder families in the area to create their own plots based on the hospital farm model. An essential component of this project is the community outreach training, a 24-week practicum designed to promote rural household food security. The focus will be on intensive, well-managed, high yielding gardens and plots rather than extensive fields that are hard to manage and protect from wildlife. The farm will also promote waste management and recycling, efficient water use, renewable energy, and appropriate land use and wildlife management.
MATTER believes that by giving farmers the tools and education needed to make their own operations more efficient and sustainable, we can help create prosperous communities. Successful, sustainable farms produce local jobs, keep children in school longer, and create higher yields to feed the communities they serve.
The Pentair Foundation grant will launch the implementation of the Lukosi Community Demonstration Farm project, which is a collaborative effort between MATTER and Love for Africa in Zimbabwe.
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About MATTER
MATTER is a Minnesota-based global nonprofit on a mission to expand access to health, next door and around the world. Internationally, MATTER works with partners in developing countries to design and implement sustainable farms for feeding communities, and provide life-saving medical supplies and equipment to hospitals and clinics. Locally, MATTER fights the poverty barrier associated with access to healthy food through the MATTERbox program, an innovative solution to food relief and nutrition education. Learn more at www.matter.ngo.
About Pentair and The Pentair Foundation
Pentair plc (NYSE: PNR) is a global company dedicated to building a safer, more sustainable world. Pentair delivers industry leading products, services and solutions that help people make the best use of the resources they rely on most. Its technology moves the world forward by ensuring that water is plentiful, useful and pure, and that critical equipment and those near it are protected. With 2016 revenues of $4.9 billion, Pentair employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide. To learn more, visit pentair.com.
Since 1998, the Pentair Foundation has donated more than $59 million to philanthropic causes— strengthening communities around the world, increasing access to quality education, and providing safe, clean water to three million people in developing countries.
Download the full press release: MATTER Pentair Foundation Grant Press Release
