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What We Do

How we're already showing up for children and families.

FGF is a U.S.-based nonprofit headquartered in the New Jersey/New York area. We raise support here at home — from individual donors and foundation grants alike — to fund programs on the ground in Ethiopia, starting with hands-on aid already delivered in Gondar and Addis Ababa, alongside the long-term vision of a children's center we hope to build in Addis Ababa.

Three rounds, delivered and complete. We're now fundraising money, school supplies and women's hygiene products for the next rounds — new schools and communities across Ethiopia we haven't identified yet.

Ongoing Programs

Ongoing · Fundraising now

Supplies & Support for What's Next

With three rounds of aid already delivered, we're raising money, school supplies and women's hygiene products for the next communities we'll reach — schools and families in Ethiopia we haven't identified yet, so we're ready to act the moment we do.

Every gift of funds or supplies goes toward this next round as soon as we confirm where it's needed most.

Help fund the next round →

Completed Programs

Completed · Gondar

Mothers & Children Initiative

Rather than build a new program from the ground up, we're identifying organizations already doing excellent work with mothers and children across Ethiopia — and funding what they do best. It's a faster path to impact, and it backs local expertise instead of duplicating it.

One early step in that direction: partnering with Bloom Empowerment, a fellow nonprofit based in the New Jersey area, which donated women's hygiene kits that FGF distributed in Gondar alongside school supplies for children in the same community — meeting two needs in one visit.

FGF and Bloom Empowerment team members with school supplies and hygiene kits at a joint distribution in Gondar, Ethiopia FGF and Bloom Empowerment team members with children at a joint distribution event in Gondar, Ethiopia FGF and Bloom Empowerment team members with children at the joint school-supply and hygiene-kit distribution in Gondar, Ethiopia Children receiving new backpacks at the joint FGF and Bloom Empowerment distribution in Gondar, Ethiopia
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Completed · Gondar

School Supply Drive — Gondar

We packed and shipped backpacks, notebooks and pencils from the U.S. to an elementary school in Gondar, Ethiopia, and handed them out in person to more than 150 children, alongside women’s hygiene kits for the same community — so students could start the year ready to learn while ACDC takes shape.

A volunteer hands a new backpack and school supplies to a student at an elementary school in Gondar, Ethiopia, as classmates and families look on A student holds his new backpack at a school supply distribution at an elementary school in Gondar, Ethiopia Students raise their hands in a classroom at an elementary school in Gondar, Ethiopia, during an FGF visit FGF team members with students and their teachers in a classroom at an elementary school in Gondar, Ethiopia
150+ children reached
Completed · Addis Ababa

School Supply Drive — Addis Ababa

FGF packed and shipped backpacks and school supplies to Felege Yordanos Elementary School in Addis Ababa — the same city where ACDC's long-term vision is centered — and provided financial support for additional school supplies, including desks and chairs, putting real, hands-on and financial support behind students there today.

Shelves of backpacks and school supplies donated by FGF in Addis Ababa Students in a classroom in Addis Ababa supported by FGF Students raising their hands in a classroom in Addis Ababa supported by FGF Students studying at new individual desks in a library room lined with shelving at Felege Yordanos Elementary School in Addis Ababa

Our Long-Term Vision

Abaye's Children Development Center (ACDC)

ACDC will be a multi-faceted center in Addis Ababa focused on the specific needs and education of less fortunate children — those at the poverty level of existence with little or no family able to support them. Each child is assessed individually for admission.

Our goal is simple to state and hard-won to deliver: a safe place to live, a warm bed to sleep, proper nourishment, and an education for the mind — brightening the future of these children one child at a time.

LocationAddis Ababa, Ethiopia
Capacity200 children
Ages served7–18 years
Grades1–12
StatusPlanning stage

Housing & Safety

Four dormitory buildings housing 50 children each, plus a staff housing unit for full-time employees who live on site.

Nutrition

A full-service kitchen and dining hall preparing three meals a day, supplemented by a garden and mini-farm the students help run.

Education, Grades 1–12

Core curriculum from certified educators, plus computer, art and music programs alongside math, science, language and history.

Vocational & College Pathways

Grades 11–12 focus on trades — mechanical engineering, agriculture, business — plus support finding scholarships in Ethiopia and abroad.

Life at ACDC

Built for dignity — and for sustainability.

Dormitories & lounges

Beds, sheets and blankets for every child, with a shared lounge, TV and study area in each unit. Ages are mixed deliberately, so older children help look after younger ones.

Dining hall & kitchen

Two full-time cooks and student volunteers prepare three meals a day at a full-scale kitchen and dining hall.

Garden & mini-farm

Run by the students themselves — growing vegetables for the kitchen while teaching hands-on agriculture in a country still primarily agricultural.

Sustainable by design

Composting toilets that feed the farm, rainwater-catching tanks for irrigation, and showers designed to limit water runoff and usage.

Play & study space

A field to play and enjoy, and quiet areas to study and relax — because growing a child's mind, body and spirit all take room to breathe.

Education develops the intellect; and intellect distinguishes man from other creatures. It is education that enables man to harness nature and utilize her resources for the well-being and improvement of his life.
— Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step" — the motto we hold to in building ACDC, one child at a time.