Tropics Foundation Partners With IHG to Provide Funding to Enhance Organic Coffee & Sugar Cane Farm

ATLANTA, April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Atlanta-based Tropics Foundation, the non-profit fundraising division of CATIE, has, because of a grant from IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) (ADRs) issued its first micro-enterprise loan to a rural Costa Rican family.

The $10,000 gift to CATIE from IHG will enable the Fuentes-Gamboa family to enhance the operation of their organic coffee and sugar cane farm. The farm is located in a rural agricultural area in Costa Rica near the city of Turrialba, some 30 miles from the capital city of San Jose.

Members of the Tropics Foundation and representatives of IHG recently visited the Fuentes-Gamboa farm where Mr. Fuentes-Gamboa stated that the money is already being put to use: "We have just finished the construction of a sugar cane processing area that would have taken an additional three years to complete without the funding."

Ruth Junkin who manages the micro-enterprise loan fund for CECOECO (Center for Competitiveness of Eco-enterprises) stated that the money will be paid back by the Fuentes-Gamboa family over a period of time and will then enable other qualified loan applicants to benefit from IHG's gift.

For IHG, the gift is an example of the company's objective to link its philanthropic outreach to its public policy program for greater impact in the global community. The micro-enterprise loan created from the IHG gift is designed to help people who utilize environmentally-friendly agricultural practices.

"When I visited the Fuentes-Gamboa farm last year I was impressed by what this family of eight has been able to accomplish on their farm without support, and I knew that with a little help their dream of having a fully functioning organic coffee and sugar cane farm could be realized" said Vicki Gordon, senior vice president for corporate affairs, IHG.

CATIE - the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center - is a regional institution established in the early 1940s committed to agriculture, the environment and rural peoples. It is one of the few regional institutions in the world combining scientific research, graduate education and technical cooperation, integrated in a wide range of hands-on projects that generate tangible results.

As a regional institution, CATIE has 13 member countries from Mexico to Paraguay and carries out exciting research and development initiatives in approximately 17 countries. In 2006 CATIE was involved in more than 100 such projects. These projects are crucial to improving the quality of life for rural families and for addressing the immediate needs of the region.

CATIE focuses on improving economic conditions throughout rural Latin America and the Caribbean as well as leadership development. Since its inception, CATIE has produced more than 1,700 M.Sc. and Ph.D. graduates from 43 countries who are now decision makers in local, national, and international institutions and organizations.

Pronounced KAH TEE EH - http://www.catie.ac.cr/ - the school is headquartered in an agricultural area in Turrialba, 30 miles east of Costa Rica's capital of San Jose. The 2,655-acre center encompasses:

-- Laboratories; -- Research farms; -- A world-renowned seed bank and germplasm collection of tropical crops; -- A botanical garden containing more than 400 species from around the world; -- A 400,000 volume library; -- A fully functional university environment with classrooms, offices, faculty and student housing.

Immediate needs include air-conditioning for the library to protect the valuable collections it houses, dormitories and additional funding for scholarships as well as endowed chairs.

For more information about the Tropics Foundation, founded in 1997, and CATIE, contact HollyBeth Anderson, executive director of the foundation, hbanderson@tropicsfoundation.org or (404) 373-1656.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC of the United Kingdom (ADRs) is the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 3,700 hotels and 556,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognized and respected hotel brands including InterContinental(R) Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza(R) Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn(R) Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express(R), Staybridge Suites(R), Candlewood Suites(R) and Hotel Indigo(R), and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty program, Priority Club(R) Rewards with over 31 million members worldwide.

IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at http://www.ihg.com/ and information or the Priority Club Rewards program at http://www.priorityclub.com/.

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For More Information Contact: Nick Gold/Gold Concepts Public Relations 404-869-7960 (office); 404-775-9375 (cell) Ngold@GoldConceptsPR.com or Louise Plonowski/GCPR 404-869-7960 Lplonowski@GoldConceptsPR.com Stephen Boggs/ IHG 770-604-5793 Stephen.boggs@ihg.com