By Katherine Peach
Sean Carasso has come a long way from eight “crazy” idealists working out of a garage to his company’s warehouse in downtown LA. The 26 year old founded the grassroots Falling Whistles just two-and-a-half years ago, with the commitment of supporting peace and prosperity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Traveling in search of adventure, Carasso instead saw a country ravaged by corruption and a five-year conflict that has claimed the lives of an estimated 6 million people. He returned home with just $5 in his pocket and started writing letters to friends and family detailing the atrocities of war. His call to action brought thousands of emails and was the beginning of a grassroots movement.
Today Falling Whistles has blossomed into a robust company that funds rehabilitation camps for Congolese women and children affected by the war. The nonprofit sells simple and fashion-forward whistle 
necklaces to fund these efforts. The necklaces serve as a reminder of the many innocent children, too small to carry a gun, thrown to the frontlines of war armed with only a whistle. Their only choices are to feign death or face it, thus the whistles fall.
Carasso perceives the whistles not only as a symbol for the peace movement, but also a catalyst for conversation: “There is the first person who says what needs to be said… and then it creates space and creates change for what needs to come after.”
The Congolese rehabilitation centers serve as safe houses and education facilities for women and children oppressed by ongoing civil war. Here kids receive schooling, participate in sports and human rights education, and receive medical treatment. The organization also gives support and vocational training to the staggering 70 percent of Congolese women who are survivors of sexual violence.
Funding also aids community-building projects, working with six organizations in the Congo to connect local visionaries with resources from sewing machines to HIV treatment.
Carasso’s goal is to utilize 100 percent of profits for Congo projects. With about 190 retail partners nationwide, the group is headed in the right direction.
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