2018 Global Impact Award Finalist
CameroonONE & ONETrack International
Ameriprise Financial
David Shnitzer co-founded CameroonONE after a heartwrenching trip to Cameroon opened his eyes to the plight of orphans in the country. The organization is essentially a foster care system which helps children who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other tragedies. CameroonONE identifies children who do not need to be in orphanages and places them in households of surviving family members within their birth villages, easing the burden on overcrowded orphanages and creating more stable living situations for the children. Caretaker families receive support from the organization, jobs and proceeds from the bee-farming sustainability project. David’s family-preservation practices have been so successful in Central Africa that the organization is currently expanding the model to new countries with ONETrack and has begun operations in Liberia, Zimbabwe, and Gambia. The organization is currently in discussions to begin programs in India and Tanzania. More than 800 children have been served by CameroonONE since 2010.