The mission of the High Cloud Foundation is to help alleviate world poverty for the vulnerable among us—marginalized and displaced children and mothers who are victims of violence throughout the world. We began in Colombia and are now operating worldwide, providing humanitarian assistance and support to orphanages, foundations, and rural schools through educational programs, sports, and additional extracurricular activities. High Cloud also provides basic needs, including (but not limited to) clothing, food, school supplies, and direct financial support. In addition to providing for physical needs, we are also dedicated to providing displaced children and families with a sense of belonging, self-esteem, empowerment, and opportunity. Currently, the High Cloud Foundation has ongoing humanitarian activities in the United States and Colombia and has provided support to children worldwide

History – “Starting the Dream”

The seeds of High Cloud started when Adriana and Matt Anderson visited family in South America’s Colombia. Observing the low levels of economic poverty in the country, they started collecting small donations and jam packed them into suitcases to take to rural schools. Their desire to help the less fortunate continued into 2006, when they realized that in order to substantially make a difference, it would be best to establish the High Cloud Foundation. Once the High Cloud Foundation also became Incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia, this non-profit organization was able to provide materials and financial support throughout Latin America and our international community.

The High Cloud Foundation provides support to numerous philanthropic initiatives within the Washington DC area and globally. Some of these initiatives include:

1) High Cloud is working with the Child and Family Network Center in Alexandria to continue to support 138 at-risk, four-year old children and their families (345 individuals) for kindergarten success while improving family stability and health outcomes to reduce barriers to learning. We have a couple of initiatives that we support:

a. The school switched their academic curriculum to the Creative Curriculum. The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool is a comprehensive, bilingual set of research-based resources that helps teachers establish effective, developmentally appropriate preschool programs for children with diverse family backgrounds, life experiences, languages, and skill levels. This year, it is really exciting for our High Cloud kids at CFNC to be able to leverage this new curriculum to expand their learning experience and skillsets.

b. High Cloud supports their Summer Program by funding one or two field trips for the summer school kids (18 in total). CFNC has recommended some fun and educational places to go such as the Arcadia Farms in Alexandria, the National Building museum in DC and a horse sanctuary in Aldie – we just do not yet have the funding for the field trips.

c. High Cloud will also continue to support Strive 2 Tri triathlon training camps for at-risk children in wards 5 and 7 in Washington DC

d. High Cloud in conjunction with the “Abriendo Puertas” (Knocking on Doors) Foundation

will continue to support an annual kids classical music concert with low-income kids in South America (this is our fifth year supporting this project). High Cloud provides instruments used in classical music such as the violin, viola, and cello as well as funding to provide music teachers for this after school program and funding to organize the yearly concert and provide refreshments and transportation for all the children part of the program. Similarly, High Cloud provides support to low income kids to attend a classical music program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). These kids attend a short-term program at VCU while performing at different venues.

e. High Cloud also supports CFNC with vision and hearing screenings for the High Cloud children in Alexandria