AlterNatives' Bluegrass & Brews

in good, ole Carytown. They get amazing products from fair trade craftspeople and companies that support them with livable wages and safe working conditions. The same people who own AlterNatives also are the founders of Richmond's Highland Support Project (HSP), which is a 501c3 nonprofit that helps enable positive change and empowers individuals and whole communities in the Guatemalan Highlands.

Volunteer teams make annual trips to these places to do various projects affiliated with HSP - in this case, we are focusing on the root of change for many women, families, and communities - building stoves. HSP works with its partner-organization called Asociación de Mujeres del Altiplano (AMA) - Association of Highland Women - to construct these stoves for families and communities that would normally cook food over an open-pit fire inside of their homes. These stoves prevent illnesses and deaths from smoke inhalation, reduce deforestation because they use less wood, and they allot women more time to pursue other educational opportunities and trainings within and outside of their rural communities, which are coordinated and provided by AMA and its affiliates. This, in turn, helps empower the women and builds confidence, which makes these communities stronger to protect their specific interests in these regions.