Charity Profile Archives - Page 13 of 13

Charity Profile November 19, 2014

Write Girl

A few years ago, I did a post on an amazing organization that gives girls a voice. No, it wasn’t about public speaking or singing but rather, writing. Writing for me is the place when my voice comes alive and my soul speaks. It is the purest connection of who I am. Writing is the way I articulate my path and purpose, and I’m obviously not alone in my passion for expression.

When I discovered the New York City non-profit called Girls Write Now that gave girls their voice through a writing mentorship program, I found myself wondering why this didn’t exist in other parts of the country? When I decided to revisit the topic this week, I discovered an amazing woman here in Los Angeles named Keren Taylor who has done just that with her non-profit WriteGirl.

In December 2001, Keren Taylor wanted to partner girls with writers to help them find their way through pain, adolescence and provide them with a tool to improve their lives and move forward. That tool was a pen and a mentor. Six months later, after a handful of workshops that began partnering girls with writers/mentors, WriteGirl had published its first book and that was just chapter one.

Thirteen years later, WriteGirl has received over 58 Book Awards, in 2011 they received the prestigious honor of Non Profit of the Year and last year, the First Lady awarded WriteGirl with a National Art and Humanity Award. As their slogan says, “Never underestimate the power of a girl and her pen!” I couldn’t agree more.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Profile September 24, 2014

Caring for the Caregiver: CAN

The other day, I mentioned my friend, who has an adult child that is ill. This recent change of events has put her in a role that millions of us find ourselves in each year, becoming a caregiver. Whether it is an aging parent, a sick family member and or everything in between. The question becomes, who cares for the caregiver?

This was a question asked by two friends, Suzanne Mintz and Cindy Fowler, over twenty years ago. The two were discussing their similar roles with Suzanne caring for her husband with MS and Cindy caring for a mother with Parkinson’s. Their conversation led to the realization that there must be others in the same situation. They were right, it turns out that there were 65 million caregivers in this country.

The two made it their mission to provide support to others who may not know how to reach out for help and who did not even know the phrase “family caregiver.” The result was their founding the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) in 1993. “Our original vision was to get information and resources into people’s hands and to let them know they weren’t alone,” according to Fowler. NCFA focused on providing a voice for caregivers that would enable them to speak up and get the help they need.

As Suzanne Mintz recalled: “We wondered why no one seemed to be focused on the fact that helping a loved one with a deteriorating illness had a very real impact on not only the person with the illness, but also on those of us who were primarily responsible for helping them.”

For the celebration of the National Family Caregivers Association 20th anniversary, they renamed their non-profit to the Caregiver Action Network or CAN. These two women took their challenges and turned them into an awareness, a non-profit and a movement to inform each of us that family caregiving is a lifespan issue, not one restricted to the aging community.

They are an inspiration and their newly named organization CAN, simply says it all.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Profile September 17, 2014

Getting rid of Mean Girls: The Kind Campaign

photo via: USA Today

The other day I had lunch with a girlfriend and we began talking about mean girls. No, not the movie but how cruel girls can be to one another, especially young girls. As the mother of sons, I was saddened by this and came upon an amazing and inspiring campaign….one that makes me proud to be a girl and its called The Kind Campaign.

It all began in 2009 when two college girl friends, Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson, who were both affected by female bullying decided to create a documentary, a non-profit, a school program and a movement towards kindness and away from bullying. Their movement is based upon their powerful belief that kindness brings healing to the negative and lasting effects of girl-against-girl “crime.” Their mission to stop and change this behavior, was a very personal one to both of them.

Molly was bullied in high school, ostracized by a group of girls and felt an incredible loneliness. The bullying Lauren experienced in 7th and 8th grade lead her to avoiding school, failing grades, depression and an eventually a suicide attempt. When Molly and Lauren met at Pepperdine University and began sharing their experiences they knew they were not alone and decided to start with a documentary on the topic, Finding Kind. That film lead to the national tour, the non-profit and now the movement.

Today, Lauren and Molly continue their mission. Their Kind Campaign has been implemented in hundreds of schools across the country. They have Kind Clubs, a Kind Magazine that features powerful stories of Kindness and even a place on their site to apologize or spread some Kindness. Two girls who took their pain and turned it into kindness. The result has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across America, simply being KIND.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Profile April 2, 2014

Girls on the Run

Last week social media was all a flutter over a tutu, a photo and a very inappropriate comment from a magazine. While the story of Monika Allen was interesting, the real story was about supporting a non-profit, called Girls on the Run. A story that is just as impressive and with an amazing founder behind it all, Molly Barker.

In 1993, Molly Barker was on a run and had an epiphany that changed everything. A four-time winning Ironman competitor, Molly had life-long struggles with issues of self-worth. On that fateful run, she began to plan a program to provide preadolescent girls with the tools to embrace their strengths and navigate life’s challenges. In 1996 that is exactly what Molly did with the help of thirteen brave girls. Twenty-six girls came the next season, then seventy-five and by 2000, Girls on the Run International, a 501c3 organization was born, when Molly realized that so many girls could not pay for the program.

Girls on The Run’s mission is to create a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams.They meet twice a week in small teams of 8-20 girls, teaching life skills through dynamic, interactive lessons and running games. The girls learn understanding themselves, valuing relationships, teamwork and understanding how to connect with and shape the world at large.

Today with the help of over 55,000 volunteers, the Girls on the Run program currently serves over 130,000 girls in 200+ cities across North America each year. They have served 713,855 girls since inception.

I came across this quote from President, Elizabeth Kunz in regards to the tutu story, which I think sums up what makes this organization so inspirational.

“At Girls on the Run, we believe that girls have the power to change the world. While it is easy to silence or ignore the voice of one person, the voices of many united in purpose has power! Amazing transformation is possible when we embrace and live our core values of joy, gratitude, empowerment, connectedness, responsibility and intentionality. By celebrating one another, connecting with one another and coming together as one powerful movement, we can create healthy dialogue, elevate thought and, indeed, change the world.”

Charity Matters.

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Charity Profile March 26, 2014

Project ALS

The other night at dinner I was discussing my heroes, people who take a bad situation and make them better for others…or in most cases, non-profit founders. My friend asked me if I had ever heard of woman named Jennifer Estes? I said,”No.” My dinner guest said, look her up, she sounds like your type of hero. How right she was.

Jennifer Estes and her sisters founded the non-profit, Project ALS. I had heard of ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease but I wasn’t clear about the impact that one woman’s life could have on this disease. Simply extraordinary.

Since 1998, Project A.L.S. has raised over $67 million and changed the paradigm for medical research. Jennifer lost her battle to this insidious disease on December 23, 2003 but her legacy lives on through her sister’s tireless efforts to find a cure for ALS. Jennifer Estes was not only a hero but a reminder to each of us to treasure each moment, the power of voice and a shining example of what one person can accomplish.

Charity Matters.

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Cancer October 16, 2013

A mother’s legacy of Hope

The other day I received the sad news that a high school class mate of mine had died from cancer at the age of 47. She had battled the disease for almost half of her life. Stephanie, was an only child and a single mother. Upon reflection of her life, I began to wonder what the journey was really like for her and her beautiful daughter.

That lead me to uncover a fact that there are over 700,000 children each year who deal with a parent that has life-threatening cancer. In this discovery, I came across a remarkable woman named Kristen Milligan, who walked a similar path to my friend, as a parent who was ill, and looking for ways to help her family.

In 2003, when Kristen was diagnosed with a rare terminal illness her children were only four, two and seven months. She wanted to find a great book that helped explain her illness, when she couldn’t find it, she wrote her own.The book was called A Train’s Rust, A Toy Maker’s Love, the story of a train family whose mother begins to rust, prompting questions of the toy maker about what will happen next. Kristen and her husband Deric, then expanded their mission to help other families dealing with serious illness and in May 2007 began the non-profit Inheritance of Hope.

Their mission was to improve the well-being in the lives of children and families, dealing with a parent diagnosed with a life threatening illness. They achieved that goal by providing books, family retreats and support that was spiritual, emotional and financial. The Milligans believed that the more the family is helped, the more it helps the ill parent.

Kristen endured her disease for nearly ten years, including six surgeries, twenty-two months of chemotherapy, two rounds of radiation, and two more books. She died on October 26, 2012 and her legacy of hope lives on in every life she continues to touch.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration September 25, 2013

Augie’s Quest

What would you do if you were told you had Lou Gerhigs disease? A disease also known as ALS, which is a disease where parts nerve cells that control muscle cells are gradually lost. I honestly don’t know what I would do but I can tell you what a remarkable man named Augie Nieto did. He got busy!

In March of 2005, at the age of 53 Augie Nieto was a thriving entrepreneur and fitness industry leader. His diagnosis of ALS changed the course of his life and positively inspired thousands of others. Augie’s first reaction was, “My first priority is to spend time with my family. What I learned later in my career is that it is not the quantity but the quality of time you spend that matters.”

His next step was to be part of the solution to find a cure for this disease. “My very first step in fighting back was to partner with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which offers the best ALS doctors and health care professionals in the country. Together, MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) and I formed “Augie’s Quest,” which coordinates fundraising events that benefit MDA’s worldwide ALS research program.”

Augie didn’t start his own non-profit but rather partnered with an existing one and created a contract with MDS, clearly defining his terms. First and foremost was that 100% of the donations he raised went to research and to date that figure is somewhere around the 30 million dollar mark and counting. As if that wasn’t enough, in 2007 he co-authored a book entitled Augies Quest: One man’s journey from success to significance.

It has been over eight years since Augie’s diagnosis and the man who built his empire building other’s people’s muscles, has now lost the use of his own. Although he has lost the ability to speak his spirit continues to be unstoppable in his quest to find a cure. Success to significance doesn’t begin to describe this journey.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration March 6, 2013

Tell me “No” I dare you!

Twitter is a miraculous platform for those of you who have not yet jumped into the social media deep end. Last week, a random or perhaps, purposeful connection on Twitter lead me to this man, Scott Silverman and his remarkable story.

In 1984, Scott an upcoming executive sitting by an open window 44 floors up in a New York City skyscraper ready to jump, when a co-worker walked in and asked him what he was doing. Scott broke down, cried and realized he was an addict and needed help. That moment was his first, second chance.

Scott got out of rehab and began volunteering at St. Vincent de Paul in San Diego, where he saw people like himself (recovering addicts) most coming out of prison and beginning the cycle all over again. He realized that there were thousands who also needed a second chance. But Scott told me it really started with helping one homeless man. The man listened to Scott, got a haircut, then clean clothes and eventually a job. He came back three months later and said, “What can I do to pay you back?” Scott’s answer was simply,”Pay it forward.”

After 4 years of volunteering Scott saw a problem that needed a solution and that was the beginning of the non-profit, Second Chance. He started out with a small dilapidated building, a few donations and a whole lot of hutspa. Scott had seen a tv show on tough love and decided that is exactly what his clients needed to get employed. So he incorporated a readiness program called STRIVE that teaches appropriate workplace behavior, interviewing skills, job search techniques, and a positive outlook toward working and more importantly to employment.

(click the link below)

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/03/19/heroes.scott.silverman.cnn?iref=videosearch

Today, Second Chance operates out of large facility, has graduated over 5,000 individuals and helped over 30,000 with everything from clothing to housing and everything in between. 70% of Second Chance graduates do not return to jail, instead they are now contributing members of society, earning wages and paying taxes.

Almost twenty years later, the organization still runs on donations but is now a national model for turning unemployment into employment. Scott, whose life motto, is “Tell me NO I dare you!” Continues to change lives, inspire, motivate and give second chances. Isn’t is amazing the difference one tweet can make?

Charity Matters.

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Charity Profile January 28, 2013

SOS Outreach

Since this week finds me in Colorado looking at colleges and making a few glorious turns on that magical white powder I wanted to share the amazing story of one snow boarder who has created change for thousands of underserved kids. Yes, even snow borders can create more than turns.

His name is Arn Menconi and he grew up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago’s south side in the 1960’s. A trip to Colorado with high school ski club changed everything. In 1991, Arn moved to Vail, Colorado and decided to replicate his experience for other underserved children by using skiing and snow boarding as the “carrot” to get them going.

In 1993, what started as a way to get underprivileged kids to see the mountaintop turned into a non-profit called SOS Outreach. A non-profit that is much more than skiing and snow boarding but really core values training and mentoring, with a little winter fun mixed in.

SOS teaches courage, discipline, integrity, wisdom, and compassion. The goal is to keep kids in year-round, multi-year outdoor programs with service projects, peer mentoring, and leadership workshops.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Or_ooK3L0]

Today SOS Outreach, is the country’s largest winter sports based youth developmental agency teaching over 5,000 kids each year at 30 ski resorts with 500 adult volunteers in 15 states.

Arn told Mountain Online, “I started SOS because I saw injustice and wanted kids to have fun. What matters is that something is happening that positively affects the lives of kids growing up in neighborhoods like the South Side, where decades of crime and poverty make it seem like there’s no way out; like there are no mountaintops.”

You don’t need to be a skier or a snow boarder to create change, but simply someone with a passion who cares. Goodness is everywhere and each encounter I have with a snowboarder this week will remind me that Charity Matters.

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Charity Profile April 27, 2012

Can you Make a Wish?

Did you know that April 29th is World Wish Day? It all started with just one wish. One little boy’s wish. All these non-profits started with a dream, a purpose…a wish, and the Make A Wish Foundation began….the exact same way…with just one wish.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation^® traces its beginning to one boy’s wish, 7-year-old Chris Greicius was being treated for leukemia. Little Chris dreamed of becoming a police officer and on April 29, 1980 a few special people decided to make his wish come true. A police helicopter picked him up and the officers had a custom police uniform made for him and arranged a motorcycle test so he could earn wings to pin on his uniform.

On May 2, Chris was back in the hospital and not well. He asked to arrange the room so he could always see his new police uniform, his motorcycle helmet and his “Smokey Bear”-style hat. DPS motor officer, Frank Shankwitz, presented Chris with his motorcycle wings. He accepted them with a smile that lit up the room.

The following day, Chris passed away, but not before seeing his dream come true and experiencing the hope, strength and joy that came from receiving his wish. The police officers and Chris’s mom thought that if one boy’s wish could create such happiness, maybe they could do the same for other children. They presented the plan to the people who helped grant Chris’ wish. In that moment, the Chris Greicius Make-A-Wish^® Memorial – which later became known as the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® – was born.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mro-hWPZmI]

So, on Sunday, April 29th Make a wish and know that dreams do come true everyday…at least every 38 minutes this foundation is granting them. Charity Matters.

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Charity Profile March 28, 2012

Girls with Sole

I might have mentioned before that I am married to a tri-athlete. There is something incredibly unique about this group of people. Their minds are laser focused on impossible goals and they seem to be able to push their bodies to whatever their mind dictates.

Well, this type of focus is nothing new for Liz Ferro, a dedicated tri-athlete and founder of the non-profit Girls with Sole. Liz believes that sports gave her the personal strength to overcome her childhood abuse in foster care and wanted to share that strength with other girls going through the same challenges. So in 2009 she had an idea.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okT8KgpV8ME]

This quote is on the Girls With Sole website and I think it really says it all.

“Sport has the power to change the world.
It has the power to inspire.
It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.
Sport can awaken hope where there was previously only despair.”
– Nelson Mandela

Liz Ferro has done just that, awakened hope for so many girls. Charity Matters.

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Charity Profile March 12, 2012

Give and Take Tees

As you all know by now there is nothing I love more than that moment, that spark that inspires someone to turn passion into action. Its always unexpected and inspiring and Shea Mullen of Give and Take Tees moment is no different.

Shea’s moment didn’t turn into a non-profit but an incredibly cool way to support them.

In Shea’s words: “It started out about my story. I had been designing t-shirts for about 15 years and was looking to do something more authentic and positive. I have multiple sclerosis, I have a nephew with epilepsy, and my mom died of cancer, but my parents always taught me to turn my challenges into something positive, so I thought, what can I do with that? I was thinking and then one day I saw a college-aged kid wearing a t-shirt that said “1979 Dance-a-thon for Leukemia” and I went up to him and said, “Where did you get your shirt? It fits great, it’s a perfect wash, great graphic…” and he said, “Oh, I got it at Goodwill.” So it was a real shirt, it had been a real event and I thought these charities, these domestic American charities, are being sort of forgotten about – like multiple sclerosis and epilepsy or the American Heart Association –

So why don’t I contact these organizations and see if I can recreate events they did or make up some fictitious ones that would have been events to raise money and create t-shirts around it and donate money back. I’d bring them to the stores that I’ve sold to, great department stores and boutiques that will raise awareness and get a whole new demographic talking about autism and talking about these challenges.

So I just started calling them and working with them and now what started out with my story has become about other people’s stories, which is my favorite part of the whole business. I get emails from people every day saying, “I bought your shirt because…” Some just say “It’s a cool shirt, I love how it fits,” but most people say they bought it because of their relationship to one of the causes or their boyfriend’s niece has epilepsy or their mom had cancer, and I love that. I love that it’s become other people’s stories. Then, we started reaching out more globally.”

Give and Take Tees gives 20 percent of the proceeds of each shirt going to the respective organization. Shea’s moment turned her job into a passion and makes a difference for so many.

As Shea said, “I think there’s something for everyone and there’s a cause for everyone, too.”

Charity Matters.

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