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Guest Name
Brett Weiss
Guest Occupation
Founder and Executive Director of The Weiss Scholarship Foundation
Guest Biography

You pitch: Despite lots of money being spent and hard work by many people in the developed world, today more than half of the children in the world get little to no education and, in Africa, this number is about 80%. And, we believe we cannot end poverty until every child in the world gets at least a high school education. So, here at the Weiss Scholarship Foundation we have built an holistic business model that can create a world where every child gets a great education which is how we end poverty.

Already in Kenya we have awarded 141 scholarships. Already we have four university graduates and eight vocational school graduates. We also have one of our students who is at Elmhurst University in Elmhurst, IL. We support children through high school and then on to either University or Vocational School. We do this through our holistic business model that recognizes children need much more than having their school fees paid. This is why we have seven staff people on the ground who are totally engaged in the lives of our children to make sure we are doing everything possible to help our children be successful.

We started in one community in 2012 and now we have scaled our holistic business model to four communities. We have proven the quality of our model and that we can scale it. Additional resources will allow us to scale even more.

We look for donors of all kinds. We send children to four years of boarding high schools for only $3,500 which covers all expenses for all four years. This is $3 per day. So, we welcome all donations from a few dollars to many thousands of dollars. Donors have the opportunity to support a student on their own for all four years of high school with a $3,500 donation.

We ask people to picture a world with no poverty. This is our goal.

Biography: Brett Weiss spent eighteen years as a high school social studies teacher and twenty-five years in software sales. He made a volunteer trip to Kenya in 2009 that dramatically changed his life. He was able to get to know people who are among the poorest in the world and whose children were getting little to no education. Yet, they were incredibly kind and hard-working people who just wanted a chance for their children to have a better life. This led to the creation of the Weiss Scholarship Foundation.

Brett and his wife Chris have two adult children and three grandchildren.

Mobile, business and Res Phone: 1-630-248-5405

State: Illinois

Country: USA

Book: The cover of my book is attached and is called, “Just Give Them A Hug…And The Rest Will Be Easy”

Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/weissscholarshipfoundation

Twitter URL: https://twitter.com/weissfoundation