Ballwin-Based "Lighting the Path" Chosen for Billion Acts of Peace Hero Award

May 31, 2016, St. Louis, Missouri… Lighting the Path, a non-profit organization that works to empower marginalized populations with education, training and supplies to help people improve their lives, has been chosen to receive a “Billion Acts of Peace Hero Award,” one of only five such awards given annually by the international Billion Acts of Peace Campaign. (https://www.lightingthepath.org).

“I am humbled and honored that Lighting the Path has been selected for this global award, and very excited about what it may mean for the future of our organization and the people we serve,” said Dawn Malcolm, who founded the Ballwin-based nonprofit group in 2011.

Lighting the Path partners with missionaries, social service agencies and community outreach organizations to develop and implement empowerment projects for marginalized people in poverty stricken countries.

“We believe in demonstrating the love of Christ in our actions by meeting needs, empowering through enterprise projects and building long term relationships with our mission partners and the people we serve in remote areas of the world and in the United States,” Malcolm said.

“We were chosen for this 2016 Billion Acts of Peace Hero Award for our efforts to help end poverty and empower marginalized people, most recently for our work in Burkina Faso, one of the five most undeveloped and poorest countries in Africa,” she said.

Malcolm has visited Burkina Faso nine times in the last five years, staying for about a month each time. The landlocked nation in West Africa is about the size of Colorado. Approximately 80 percent of its population of 17.5 million people live in poverty without electrical power or running water. The nation has a long history of political corruption and instability.

Malcolm has worked in the villages of Yako and Kimini implementing projects teaching women to make soap, lotion and other shea butter products for personal hygiene, including soaps with essential oils that repel mosquitos to help fight malaria. In addition, Malcolm has taught women to sew, make wood looms to weave mats for sleeping and make sugared peanuts to sell. She hopes to raise funds for an education center in the village of Niangaloko, plus a soap production facility and an enriched peanut butter production facility in the village of Kimini.

Malcolm earned B.A. degrees in psychology and art/photography from Webster University in St. Louis. She speaks fluent French, the official language in many parts of Africa, having studied at the Sorbonne and the Alliance Francaise in Paris. Malcolm and her husband Gregory, a chemical engineer, will travel to Monaco later in June to accept the “Billion Acts of Peace Hero Award” at ceremonies in Monte Carlo.

Lighting the Path is a 501(c)3 organization whose mission complements the United Nations Millennium Development Goal to end extreme poverty. By empowering individuals with education, job skills, instruction in production of salable goods and creation of sustainable businesses, Lighting the Path works to help families in poverty increase their income, nutrition, education and access to healthcare.

The "One Billion Acts of Peace" Campaign (https://blog.billionacts.org) is an international global citizens' movement designed to tackle important humanitarian problems. It is affiliated with the Peace JamFoundation (http://www.peacejam.org) an international organization whose mission is "to create young leaders committed to positive change in themselves, their communities, and the world through the inspiration of Nobel Peace Laureates who pass on the spirit, skills, and wisdom they embody." Thirteen Nobel Peace Laureates, including the 14th Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Leymah Gbowee, currently serve as members of the PeaceJam Foundation (http://www.peacejam.org).

Dawn Malcolm can be reached via email at dawnmalcolm25@gmail.com.

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