A Dollar A Day : meet the project founders : Stephen Smith of The Papillon Foundation

As I mentioned in my post yesterday A Dollar A Day is all about people.

The people that run the projects we donate to. The people who benefit from the projects we support.

The people who donate to A Dollar A Day, the people who delegate, the people who join the A Dollar A Day curation trail, and the people who upvote our posts.

To learn more about these people I am starting with a series of interviews with the hardworking, dedicated and resourceful people who run the projects that A Dollar A Day supports.

First off I am talking with Stephen Smith, who together with his wife Marian, has run the non-profit charity The Papillon Foundation @papilloncharity in South Africa since they founded it in 2002.

To find out more about The Papillon Foundation you can also visit their website :

• http://papillonfoundation.com/

---

1. Tell us a little about yourself... who you are, where you and what you do?

My name is Stephen Smith and I reside with my wife Marian in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

I am the founder of The Papillon Foundation, a charity Non Profit that was officially registered in 2002.

2. How did you find steem?

A friend @stresskiller invited us to join steem.

3. Tell us about your project... what it does , where you operate, who you work with?

No space here to tell you about the many amazing results of Papillon's work in the poor communities, but in a nutshell, we operate nationally across South Africa. Our projects are researched and a big focus is placed on the wants and input of the communities.

We have short term projects such as clothing and feeding. Then we have empowerment projects that include skills training. Our first love is charity and we also distribute donated goods to poor communities.

4. What made you decide to start your project?

I had a Damascus moment at the age of 40 and although I was successful in the business world, I decided to pack it all up and to change my life. Since then I have followed my heart and the results can be clearly seen on our website.

5. What do you enjoy most about running your project?

The freedom to help others. No money can pay for the tears of a thankful little child. Or a tired old gran that is looking after her orphaned grandchildren.

6. What do you enjoy least or find most difficult about running your project?

Asking for money. If the world had hearts like @pennsif and his team at A Dollar A Day then we could do our work in peace. But sadly we have now determinedly struggled along for 17 years and our work has become legendary.

7. What are your hopes and plans for your project in five years time?

(a) Succession planning and expansion of the proven projects. In fact this has started, as we have relocated from the Papillon Center in Johannesburg and handed the projects there over to a church mission team of 500 eager souls that are right now expanding the projects. In the meantime at our new home we have already supplied 20 computers to a poor farm school and linked them up with the suppliers of the "Minecraft" courses for children.

Just recently on 18 October 2018 the last load of 9540 adult diapers will also be freely delivered by us to the frail care center of a poor old age home in a farming town. Papillon has already distributed the bulk to 3 other towns in the area and the thank you's are streaming in.

(b) Now how do two strangers in a new town distribute 9540 donated adult diapers to the poor in little farming towns? First I contacted a local radio station and placed a free advertisement that Papillon has adult diapers available. As these are very expensive items and at some old age homes people were wrapped in brown paper and newspapers, the requests flooded in.

Now we had a lack of funding to move the mountain of nappies, but I approached one of the big farms in the area and the owner decided to help us with the transport and a driver. Voila problem solved.

8. What advice would you give to anyone else thinking of starting a charitable project on the steem blockchain?

As a veteran of the old Tsu platform that shut down overnight, leaving thousands with losses, I feel that it's still early days on steem and the fear is always there that everything can collapse as in the past. However, in saying this one also has to have a look at all possibilities. I would advise that community engagement is the most important, that and quality verifiable own content. I would not advise start up charities to join, as we have a huge number of charities closing down here in their first year.

Then of course there's always the problem of the "Big Name" charities that get millions in sponsorships and that pay millions for advertising. They draw most of the support leaving very little for the "small-fry" like us, even though if at times our results in service delivery are much more than theirs.

And lastly there are the scammers. People with no heart or conscience that enter the charity arena with sob stories only to abscond with the money, giving every other legitimate charity a bad name.

And finally, I think you can sense that I have been around the block with regards to charities and the tricks of the trade. We are now in our 17th year and we have seen most, if not all of it! But one is always open to learning new things every day. The bottom line is, if one starts a charity for the money's sake, it will fail. If one starts a charity because a parent died of some illness, rather partner with an existing charity with the same focus. And lastly, if one is not prepared to sacrifice than don't start a charity.

---

---

HOW TO SUPPORT A DOLLAR A DAY

The A Dollar A Day project is based on the simple idea of people donating one Steem Backed Dollar (SBD) each day. Those SBDs are pooled to give to a bigger daily donation to a good cause around the world.

If you would like to support the work of A Dollar A Day there are five ways you can help :

1. Donate SBDs to @adollaraday

Just send SBDs for however many days you would like to support to @adollaraday. You can also send steem and these will be converted to the equivalent number of SBD.

---

2. Delegate to @adollaraday

A Dollar A Day uses SteemAuto to vote on the posts of all the projects currently supported to provide an extra regular income. The aim is to achieve sufficient steempower to provide a $1 upvote to each project each day.

Delegations of all sizes are welcome - you can use these links for quick delegations :

50SP	100SP	250SP	500SP	1000SP	2000SP	5000SP

Delegators (and regular donors) also receive a small auto-vote as a token of appreciation.

---

3. Follow the @adollaraday curation trail

We have recently set up a curation trail for the @adollaraday account. You can follow this to help the projects A Dollar A Day supports. Check out @cryptocurator's excellent post for more informaton about the A Dollar A Day Curation Trail :

• https://steemit.com/charity/@cryptocurator/nice-humans-required-a-dollar-a-day-auto-curation-trail

---

4. Upvote @adollaraday posts

All upvotes on @adollaraday posts are welcome. All post rewards are ploughed back into supporting the project.

If you can add @adollaraday to your auto-voter even better.

---

---

Thank you for your support.

---

---

Previous A Dollar A Day posts :

• A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : it's all about the people

• A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : A Big, Big Thank You & A Big, Big Ask - vote for steem on Netcoins

• A Dollar A Day : targetting US$ 5000 by 31 December - can you help?

• Five ways you can support A Dollar A Day

• A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : September 2018 - summary of donations received & given out - another $500 donated

• A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : August 2018 - summary of donations received & given out - another $500+ donated

• A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : July 2018 - summary of donations received and given out

• A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : June 2018 - summary of donations received and given out

• A Dollar A Day charitable giving project update : May report : over US$ 1100 donated

---

---

[ logo by @hungryhustle // photos provided by Stephen Smith of @papilloncharity]