The feature below is brought to you by HOW Global, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. See Beautiful in a world of those shunned  I have worked hard as the Founder of the Non-profit HOW Global Inc. to establish myself as a small organization with heart and passion that gets things done. I also learned, in doing this since 2006, that there must be a strong business plan for my mission. Along with that there needs to be true partnerships with others who are not just seeking handouts but, like me, want to see real change in the world- a true solution that can end poverty and lend a hand to peace on earth. I see providing clean water as the answer to that problem. I also see bringing water as a tool to encourage peace, love beauty and new life. Every week I get a new request from those living outside of our developed world; the basic needs of life come easily for many of us. In some developing countries, people live each day with the sole purpose of just trying to survive without the basic needs of life. They are out of our sight and reach, yet my calling to do this work keeps them right here in my mind as if they are next door. With each request to become one of HOW Global’s new Green Hubs of sustainability, I read the words begging me to bring water to a new country I have never visited and put water into their community school. I often wonder, how do I begin to choose? Everyone deserves to have water and the basic needs of life. We try to put on our list those rural communities in far out places in the world where roads are unpaved and a family of 6 lives in a mud hut without water or electric. They are the forgotten people in our world, living without a voice. Our model picks a school, orphanage or community center that will act as the model of sustainability for that entire community. It takes special leaders who live on the property to want to head such project. Our goal is to have the next water well ignite hope and motivation with lots of action from the place where water will act as a bridge to many more phases of development. So, we assess our yearly water well projects by seeking out on the ground leadership within that small village and we form relationships to find a school village that will have a huge impact on the entire surrounding community. The strategy is that this new model will spread information and knowledge to others. Word of mouth spreads like wildfire in extremely rural areas of the world. They have little entertainment and media and spend most of their time with eye to eye contact, chatting to each other. Most of my success of expansion of projects in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Haiti came this way. We would bring water and food sustainability to a school village and before you knew it, ten other school principals were reaching out to me asking how they could become a Green Hub school and become a more sustainable force in their village community. Our newest request came from Tanzania. We were told the story of children born with Albinism and how they are hunted down and killed in many parts of Africa. As I started my research, my heart sank as I read and saw photos of what was done to those with this genetic mutation all because of them looking so differently with their pure white skin, no eyebrows, white hair. This stands out even more within a black skinned community. The body parts are also seen as something special and so it is not safe to have to have a child with Albinism in these places in the world because they will be dismembered. Many are hunted down and killed as they are viewed as evil. People fear the unknown. Lack of education and information causes people to create their own reality of what a person with Albinism is about. The issue of them being different is what is causing them to be shunned and even killed. I formed a relationship with the leaders of this mission. I spent many months getting to know about the land, the people, the drilling that needed to be done in Shinyanga, Tanzania. I collected reports, I made calls, I brought on college interns to inspire them to learn more about this potential project where we can bring water to change lives or, even better, change the idea of what beauty is all about. We included USA primary schools with a presentation on how we need to accept people for their difference and help those who need us the most in this world. They helped us raise funds for the new well. In the meantime, in Tanzania, the government that once housed this group of people, has now closed all programs of the preschool and teens. This means that they are not being housed anymore or protected. They are sent home to their own villages until the new purchased property now owned by the founders is built and ready for them. There is now an emergency need. The newly created village will hold these outcasted souls from birth to adult while working to integrate them into the community. There is agriculture in place for a huge garden where they will sell crops. There will be family-like homes on the property instead of an orphanage. A school, a training center and more is all in the plans and is being funded by a large group of individuals who have taken on this cause My organization, HOW Global was asked to bring our most magical gift of bringing water to this property. Water that I see as a clean start to wash away the ugly thoughts and actions done to these unique humans. We will visit the property in August and start our engagement of the surrounding community to try and create a relationship with the new neighboring villages preparing them for the arrival of these angels on earth. Bringing water that can be shared by expanding pipes will open the gates of ignorance allowing them to learn more about these people that look so different yet are just the same as all of us. This is our chosen project of 2018 and we will bring a water well followed by a solar pump to this group of people in waiting so they are safe and loved and seen as beautiful. Written by Rachael Paulson, Founder of HOW GlobalEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful
0 Comments
The feature below is brought to you by Lead to Life, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. We live in a time of intense social and environmental injustice, and these issues are not separate. We are re-membering that the interconnectedness of social and environmental destruction are rooted in the same cultural underpinnings: from deforestation to the prison-industrial complex. We dwell in a myth of separation, separation from each other and separation from the Earth. This is how some can kill so easily, consume so mindlessly, and how life can be paved over on the planet. Systems of oppression interrupt our possibility to grieve and honor those we have lost to violence - we find ourselves in the wake of violence fighting for freedom - in resistance, in protest, in the courthouse, on the news. Our collective, Lead to Life was born to embody that freedom, that breath - inviting communities together in ceremony to grieve, to heal, to restore, to repair, to reconnect, to be. We are transforming weapons into shovels and holding ceremonial tree plantings at sacred sites and sites impacted by violence. We accompany our plantings with offerings for popular education centered in disrupting environmental racism, reimagining violence and inspiring radical imagination. This past April, in Atlanta, GA, we held our first ceremonies in honor of the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination; our work will continue into the fall of 2018 in Oakland, CA with a similar arc of gatherings rooted in healing justice. In Atlanta we held a public alchemy ceremony where we transformed weapons into 50 shovels with families directly impacted by gun violence. And over the next two days, we planted 50 trees around Atlanta at sites impacted by violence and sacred sites - the trees were planted with soil collected from the lynching site of Mack Brown in GA in service to the National Lynching Memorial work by Equal Justice Initiative. You can read about some of the stories that came out about our work on Upworthy, HuffPost, and Truthout. Lead to Life’s ceremonies are committed to radical aesthetic - beauty that brings us towards justice. When we utilize radical and aesthetic in their etymologies, we engage our senses at the root or root our senses. This rooting our senses brings us into a deeper attunement to repairing our relationship to environments impacted by persistent-traumatic stress. Making healing work a visible intervention grounds us in Cornel West’s prayer that “justice is what love looks like in public.” Through intergenerational ceremony, we live into the declaration by Mark-Anthony Johnson that “black wellness is the antithesis to state violence.” By centering the wellness of the most marginalized and weaving together activists, community leaders, faith groups, farmers, scientists, healers, environmentalists and artists we witness the ways repairing relationship and connection invokes liberation for both the human and more-than-human world. Our physical act of "turning swords into plowshares," creatively fulfills the prophecy Dr. King invoked throughout his speeches— gun metal is liberated from their histories of murder and the soil & air where violence took place is remediated by the trees. Following February’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida followed by the shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, millions in despair are empowered to continue their commitment to nonviolence at the personal, community, and systemic level. After our April gatherings, we have been met by a plethora of folks asking us how they can liberate themselves from their weapons who previously did not know what to do with them. They are able to connect to a direct channel to transform a material of violence into a material of life! And now we are gearing up for another momentous gathering - A Time for Healing Justice in Oakland this November - mobilizing hundreds of people to wield shovels made from melted down guns to plant trees and other food-producing plants at sites impacted by violence and colonization, as well as black-led urban farms and community gardens across the city. We invite you to join us to co-liberate in Oakland or from afar! Check out our website and sign up for our newsletter and see how you can get involved! Written by Brontë Velez, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Lead to LifeThe feature below is brought to you by Oasis Center for Hope, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here.   Daring to Own Your Story™ Retreats There is such beauty and connection in coming together and knowing you are not alone. These retreats bring 10-15 women who are blind, visually impaired, or newly diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition together from across the country to explore their shame, vulnerability, and strengths through activities and group discussions. The group is kept small with three facilitators (two licensed therapists, one like myself who is blind, and a student who is also blind completing her master's in social work). Through these retreats, a beautiful sisterhood is formed of shared understanding, connection, laughter, stories and tools of empowerment. They leave with the desire to show up in their lives in new ways. This beautiful empowerment felt inside is taken back to their families and communities. In the past two years, we have conducted four retreats- each with ten blind women. These women have stayed in touch - through email, phone calls, WhatsApp, and even reunions. These women have helped one another in the transitions of blindness. They truly have helped one another See Beautiful in themselves and others and in their unique struggles and triumphs. Our goal of these retreats is increased empowerment, connection, and sisterhood. When we know we are not alone in our struggles, we feel empowered to help each other and show up with empathy and courage in our lives. We achieve this goal through activities like hiking, ropes course, foot soaks, yoga, tandem cycling, and thoughtful, research-based processes identifying where we want to show up in our life and what is holding us back. Time each day is spent on exploring courage, vulnerability, shame and worthiness. As we say, if I can climb that beautiful mountain, what else can I do in my life? 2018 RETREAT WILL BE SEPTEMBER 20-23, 2018 AT THE NATIONAL ABILITY CENTER IN PARK CITY, UTAH. THE COST FOR THE RETREAT IS $595 (SHARING A ROOM) AND $695 (SINGLE) AND INCLUDES ACTIVITIES LISTED ABOVE, LODGING, AND FOOD AND TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE SLC AIRPORT!WHAT PARTICIPANTS OF THE 2016/2017 RETREATS ARE SAYING: “I really treasured everything about this experience more than I ever imagined. I will definitely recommend this program!” – J “I felt such a sense of renewal after the retreat. The facilitators were fantastic. Felt like you kept things safe and compassionate for everyone. Really appreciate all the details and planning.” –S "I continually feel like I dare show up in my life after coming to the retreat. When I am scared I have a tribe to turn to for support. Shame is not in the driver's seat any more in my life." -- Ann “Location was perfect, liked the variety too. It was awesome to walk about in two cities using my cane skills with visually impaired ladies. Made me feel like a warrior at times! The food was amazing!” – K "Not only was the program excellent. I learned so many practical tips and tools from the other attendees. Forever grateful." -- K “I learned a lot from the curriculum. It helped me understand myself better. I can now talk about being in the arena of life and really living wholeheartedly. Blog posts of women who have attended: https://adventuresinlowvision.wordpress.com/2016/06/16/truth-and-daring/ https://adventuresinlowvision.wordpress.com/2017/07/11/on-the-boat-again/ http://doublevisionblog.com/2018/05/16/now-is-the-time/ Tag us! Instagram: @becky__andrews Facebook: Oasis Center for Hope & Becky Andrews, Resilient Vision Blog: [email protected] Written by Becky Andrews, President of Oasis Center for HopeEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful The feature below is brought to you by Heart of Courage, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. Uniting Families. Changing Futures. Heart of Courage focuses on mentoring and advocating for women who have had their children placed in Child Protective Services and wish to be reunited with their children and create better lives for themselves. Since our inception, we have been able to extend our reach to working with mothers who have aged out of foster care and whose children are either in foster care, or have a strong possibility of being placed in foster care themselves. The overall purpose of our program is to help the mothers in our program become self-sufficient both mentally, emotionally and physically so that they can become better individuals and better mothers to their children. The end result being children united with their mothers into loving and sustainable environments . Our original goal was to help with the large number of placements in foster care. We believed that if possible, children should be with their mothers if their mothers are willing to work hard to make the changes in their lives to create positive and sustainable futures for their children. What we begin to learn, and continue to learn, is that these mothers need a voice. That many of them have a story and their story deserves to be told. We learned that these mothers have incredible strengths, strengths they don’t realize that they have until you as their mentor point it out to them. These mothers have fought abuse of all kinds, teen parents at 12 and 13, addictions, homelessness, abandonment, mental health... and yet they continue to fight for their children. They continue to desire to provide a better life for their children than they had. They just need the support and encouragement- encouragement that they may have never had. We try to offer that to them. Heart of Courage is completely volunteer based. We know that the women in our program, genuinely want to benefit from our array of services, such as education and advocacy, one on one mentoring, parent support groups, job readiness, educational services and community outreach. When we mentor these mothers, they become so excited to have our support because many feel alone. But it is a reward for all of us. The joy we feel when we see a mother, 9 months clean from meth, and know that her child will be coming home to live with her next month is amazing. When we witnessed first-hand the sacrifices she made by making the decision to not go back to the friends and family that she knew would try to keep her in that negative environment. Or the excitement as a few of our mothers enrolled in school, and you watch tears in their eyes because people in their past had told them they weren’t smart. We have one mom, whose goal is to get her GED before she turns 30, which is later this year. She is now in a GED program! We work with each mother to see how she can become self-sufficient and come up with her own set of goals. Each week we work on those goals as well as talk about other things going on in her life. Sometimes it is just listening to her, sometimes it is encouraging her, and sometimes it delivering her tough support and telling her she has to be patient. Telling her to be patient is probably the most difficult because she can easily get disappointed or discouraged. Sometime she gets tired of fighting because she feels like she has been fighting most of her life. It’s during those times that we show her how special she really is and that she has to ignore people’s misjudgments of her and that negative voice inside her head. Instead we tell her to look at how far she has come and to remember that child who she is fighting to make a difference for. That child just sees her as his or her beautiful mommy. We want her to see that same beautiful inside herself and see beautiful in the world. Instead of just living each day as it comes, we see her now living for the future. To get further insight into Heart of Courage and meet one of the mothers we are helping you can watch us on Plugged Into DFW: https://dfw.cbslocal.com/show/plugged-into-dfw/video-3804719-heart-of-courage-3-4/ Written by Dania Carter, Founder/ CEO of Heart of CourageEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful The feature below is brought to you by Safe Haven Transitional, Inc., an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here.  Safe Haven Transitional Inc. offers SAFE dwelling Transitional Housing for abused single women and women with children living in the Atlanta Metropolitan area. Our program provides a variety of supportive services with the necessary tools that will strengthen and equip the women as they re-enter society as healthy independent people. One of our goals is to transform the abused from being Victims to living Victoriously as we educate, empower and raise awareness of the various types of abuse and crimes in the home and in our communities. The Transformers Youth Intervention Program focuses on breaking the inter-generational cycle of abuse and decreasing children’s use of aggressive and internalizing behaviors and the negative effects that domestic violence has on children. The second component of the Transformers Youth Intervention Program is the Haven Girlz and Haven Boyz Program, entitled “No More Pain No More Drama”! This entails regular meetings/sessions for teens in a therapeutic environment that addresses the effects of dysfunctional and unhealthy friendships and relationships such as peer pressure, bullying, abuse, teen pregnancies, self-hatred, sexual molestation, neglect, and abandonment. Please visit our website for more information please visit www.safehaventransitional.org Remember: NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO BE ABUSED and ABUSE OF ANY KIND IS UNACCEPTABLE! Written by Mary Winfrey, Executive Director of Safe Haven Transitional, Inc.Edited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful The feature below is brought to you by helloHope, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. Hi, See Beautiful community! Thank you for the invitation to write a guest post today! It is a joy to share about our organization, and we are tremendously grateful for the opportunity to be considered for this grant. The journey for helloHOPE began seven years ago this month. Just after our oldest daughter celebrated her first birthday, she began exhibiting alarming symptoms and started to lose weight. In our search for answers, the next several months held visits to specialists, numerous medical procedures, and lots of fear surrounding what our daughter’s future held. During this season, we were immersed into the world of medical adversity. We discovered that it can take months to get an appointment with a specialist. Every waiting room we sat in was full of parents wearing brave faces as they waited for answers for their sons or daughters. Isolation and fear came easily. And an overwhelming amount of clinical words and information pointed more toward what was “wrong” with children than what was to be celebrated in them. In the winter of 2012, our daughter was diagnosed with EoE, a chronic GI disease that occurs when white blood cells attack the lining of the esophagus. In his wisdom, our doctor advised us not to Google the diagnosis, but we were anxious to learn everything we could about what life was going to be like with this disease. Every website or story that we found pointed to either worst-case scenario stories or, at best, perpetuated the fear and questions in our hearts. We finally stepped away from the computer, looked at our daughter, and with the help of our community and prayer, we decided that it was time to turn off this stream of negative information. We carefully followed all of her doctor’s instructions, but our focus shifted. Rather than obsessing over all that was wrong, we started paying attention to the things that made our daughter’s face light up. The things that made her come alive. Exploring outside or running through the grass with her infectious giggle.  As we watched her grow and gradually come to a place of healing, we knew that we wanted to steward the story we had been given. A little bit of research uncovered that 1 in 5 children in America face special healthcare needs. That explained the full waiting rooms. And the place those parents are turning to for more information? The Internet. We began dreaming together about creating a community built on hope for families walking through a diagnosis with their child. Families could share how they navigated through their journey with hope and faith. We could share resources that provided truth and encouragement for parents who are feeling overwhelmed or alone. In July of 2015, helloHOPE was born with a mission of providing hope-filled stories and resources to families facing medical adversity. It has been a privilege to share 21 real, honest, stories of families who have walked through a childhood diagnosis with hope. Additionally, more than 100 resource articles have been published, providing parents with much-needed support and encouragement. The feedback that comes through our website continues to both humble us and propel us forward in our mission.  Based in Atlanta, helloHOPE has also had the unique opportunity to serve families at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta through in-person events. Our team has partnered with the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Egleston campus to support patient families in various ways, including serving dinner to patient families in the PICU waiting room several times a year. We have expanded our program offerings at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to reach even more families by introducing Free Parking Day. The last two summers, we have surprised more than 2,000 patient families by paying for their parking, and the response is phenomenal every time. From tears of relief and gratitude to cheerful smiles, each family is reminded that they are not alone. Here’s a glimpse into this year’s Free Parking Day for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, powered by helloHOPE: We have applied for See Beautiful’s grant in order to lay an important foundation for our next Free Parking Day. The fundraising model for next year’s event is through corporate sponsorships, and See Beautiful’s grant opportunity would allow them to join us in spreading hope to more than a thousand families at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta next year. A diagnosis isn’t everything. You are not alone. Your story matters. helloHOPE. https://www.hellohope.com Find us on Facebook and Instagram! Writte by Mary Beth Thomas, Co-founder of helloHopeThe feature below is brought to you by Helping Mamas, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here.  Helping Mamas began as a labor of love by two social workers and moms. After 15 years in the social service field, we noticed a huge gap in services. This gap was preventing families from being able to move out of poverty, feel confident in their parenting skills and provide the most basic needs for their children. Prior to Helping Mamas there was no coordinated effort to collect and distribute essential infant and children items. Diapers, wipes, car seats, and cribs are critical to the health and safety of children and are often the most expensive items to purchase. These items cannot be purchased through Public Assistance Programs like WIC and SNAP (formerly Food Stamps). 1 in 3 moms in the United States has to choose between diapers and food for her children. Without an adequate supply of diapers, children can’t attend early childhood education programs. Without childcare, parents can’t work. This gap in services was keeping families stuck in the diaper gap and unable to see the beautiful of being a parent. If you are constantly worried about providing for your child’s most basic needs, you can’t stop and feel the joy of parenting. Helping Mamas was formed to provide these essential basic needs for families who need them the most. At Helping Mamas our mission is to connect helping mamas to mamas needing help. We collect and distribute essential infant and child items to organizations that serve women and children in need. We are the baby supply bank of metro Atlanta. In 2017 we distributed over 500,000 essential items to over 15,000 children living in poverty in Atlanta. We collect and distribute diapers, wipes, clothes, bottles, car seats, cribs, strollers and so much more. We are able to serve children birth to age 12 with our services. We currently partner with over 95 agencies throughout the state of Georgia to provide these items.  Our team was thrilled to learn of the See Beautiful grant! One of our biggest and most effective program to help others see beautiful is our Volunteer Program. We have over 200 volunteers that donate over 2000 hours a year in service to our mission. Helping Mamas is requesting funding to support creating a space in our new building that is solely dedicated to our volunteers. In this space we will have a wall of recognition of our volunteers and a break area that is specifically for them to rest and recharge. The funds from See Beautiful will also help us create more user-friendly work spaces for our volunteers. Our organization is 90% volunteer run. Without their help, the 15,000 children we serve every year wouldn’t get near the amount of items they need to be successful. Our volunteers sort and organize our warehouse, fill wish lists for the families we serve and volunteer at our play date events. Our volunteers help the parents we serve see the beautiful in parenting again. They pack the wish lists with so much love and kindness! Our volunteers help us see beautiful through their service every day. Without them, our work wouldn’t be possible. We want to create an efficient and comfortable work space for them while they are here. We want Helping Mamas to be the place to volunteer in Atlanta. When we encourage others to give back, they are then able to see the beautiful in themselves as well! This funding will also help us create a special place for children to come and volunteer. We love having two generations of volunteers impacting two generations of poverty. This funding will allow us to create a space where kids want to come and give back. They will have tables their size, projects they can complete to help other children and art to go out with each of our wish lists. Engaging children in service is critical in helping us to promote beautiful in every generation. This space will allow for individuals, families, children, and groups to come and help families living in poverty see the beautiful in the world. For more information on how to volunteer with Helping Mamas, please visit their volunteer page of their website, here. Written by Jamie Lackey, CEO and Founder of Helping MamasEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful The feature below is brought to you by Love Beyond Walls, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. To see the Voiceless Documentary, please click the link below: https://vimeo.com/222830083 To see the Voiceless Documentary Trailer, please click the link below: https://vimeo.com/186256582 To see the First Screening Recap, please click the link below. https://vimeo.com/231732059 Love Beyond Walls was created as a hopeful response to a society building higher and higher walls. We are an organization that focuses on telling the stories of and working with those wrestling with poverty and homelessness. As an organization, we believe that tangible love overcomes these barriers. Walls exist more than ever in our current society. We looked around and saw nations building higher and higher barriers between one another. These walls separated people in different classes, sexes, races, and everything in between. We are an organization that is not afraid to address these barriers and we are committed to breaking them down. We believe in action over words and making service a part of our daily lives. One of the most distinguishable characteristics about our organization is our focus on telling the stories of the unseen and building relationships with people as a way of walking with them to get out of poverty and homelessness. We are committed to people that the world passes by because we believe the people struggling with poverty and sleeping on the streets have lives and stories that are just as valuable as ours. We exist to provide dignity to the homeless and poor by providing a voice, visibility, shelter, community, and grooming and support services to achieve self-sufficiency. Since our beginning, we have been committed to telling stories in ways that are both empowering to those we serve and also educational for those who are unaware of what people dealing with poverty face day to day. Currently, our political and social climate has pointed to that fact that we need a moral centering and healing. More and more, we are starting to see issues and walls being formed surrounding the issues of race and poverty. We recently launched a campaign called MAP18 (March Against Poverty 2018) to bring attention to both poverty and racial injustice and reconciliation in our country. The 386 mile journey beginning March 3rd and ended on April 4th commemorates Dr. King’s legacy and brings awareness to the fight against systemic poverty and racial injustice. Before Dr. King was killed, he planned his next initiative, “The Poor People’s Campaign.” Dr. King believed that the next step towards equality was to eradicate a system that even today keeps members of society enslaved to poverty. This march was a testament to the legacy of Dr. King and to shed light on the millions of people across the nation from all walks of life and nationalities who experience the harsh realities of homelessness and poverty. My personal connection to the story starts with my desire to bridge the gap between groups that are divided. I am a social activist, and work with many race groups, and clearly see the distance between many different groups of people. Some people don't realize that racism still exists; through my journey from Atlanta to Memphis I experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. In fact, I wrote a blog on my journey to Memphis that documented the threats I received, number of times the police were called on me, and the encounters I had while attempting to advocate on behalf of the poor. Here are some of those words: “For instance, yesterday I was walking with my friends and had three experiences that made my flesh crawl and eyes water. The first experience was when a young guy threatened to hit my friend and I. Harvey and I were walking on the side of the road with a good shoulder between us and the actual road. We thought we were safe because we were not in the road. We were feeling good, and then I saw a car coming at us. Yes. A car intentionally coming at us.The driver was not texting and driving, and he was not distracted. I know this because he looked me dead in my eyes as he pointed the moving vehicle towards us. As he got closer, at the last minute he swerved the car and flipped us the finger and sped off. What would make this guy do that? Racism? Hate? I don’t know but it made me feel unwanted as I walked through a city where people were looking at us strange and dealing with tons of poverty. As soon as we got past that incident, we encountered another incident. I’ll never forget 10 minutes later two guys in a red pick up truck (with a confederate flag on the bumper) pulled up beside Harvey and I and stared us down and pulled off fast and yelled out the window, “Be safe out here.” After the second incident, I then noticed I wasn’t wanted in the city. But, I continued to walk. Why? Because although I was being treated wrong I still saw their poverty. I saw that many of people that were being mean towards us also were in poverty.” I applied for the See Beautiful grant for to create a film that will highlight our need to bring peace and healing to a nation divided racially and economically. This docs-series will explore conversations from many different people that will give insights into the tension, but also talk about ways in which the gap between groups can be closed through unity. It is our hope to create a film that not only creates conversation, but brings unity to different race groups. The name of the film is called, “Divided We Stand: A Docu-Series on Racial Justice & Reconciliation”. It has been said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. What, then, can be said of the racial tension in The United States of America? America has a deep and dark history with racial tension, and still continues to be divided amidst the current political and cultural climate. What happens if the country continues down a divided path? The house eventually crumbles. History reveals that oppression has always been the dividing force that still separates many today. The See Beautiful grant will help us with some special equipment and help us tell this story in a way that could possibly bring people together from all walks of life in love. In the same way that MLK Jr. dreamed about it while here. We are aiming to create more beautiful in the world. For me, I measure success through conversations, connectivity, and diverse community involvement. Since I lead an organization that leverages community service as a reconciler between races, I desire to see this film inspire more people to build intentional relationships with people opposite of them as a way of joining forces to do justice work in the community. We currently have a digital following of over 30K followers. We plan to use local media, the power of social media via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Additionally, our last film (Voiceless) was aired on the AIB Network and they have a audience of 2 million people. Lastly, we plan on doing screenings. We completed over 52 screenings of our last film with an average audience of 300-400 people in attendance at each screening. Will you help us bring love into the world through truth, love, and conversation? Written by Terence Lester, Founder of Love Beyond WallsEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful The feature below is brought to you by The Peaceful Project, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here.   Discovery, Trust, and Living from Your Values In fourth grade, his face was a rigid mask. Throughout the exercise where the students related to experiences where they had felt sad, hurt, happy, scared, and mad, he only related to mad. He said that he felt angry all of the time. It was later in the small group, when we were talking, that he began to cry. He sobbed, surrounded by supportive classmates, and shared how his two-year-old brother had died. He had no one to talk to about it. He was afraid to talk to his father. His mother was out of the country. We spent two hours with his class, and when it came time to leave, his face was alive with a brilliant smile. He hugged me goodbye and wouldn’t let go. This was the most profound time of gratitude for me in teaching The Peaceful Project’s Community in Unity Program. There are more stories about fourth and fifth graders seeing how courageous they are: stories of students sitting at The Peace Table learning to respectfully resolve conflicts, and of children discovering their core values and examining how they will handle challenging situations from those values. There is such gravity in this work. We applied to See Beautiful to further Community in Unity in Ferguson, Missouri, where we have been working with fourth and fifth graders. Community in Unity is The Peaceful Project’s social-emotional learning program focused on peaceful conflict resolution, developing trust, understanding feelings, and discovering values. Discovery In many character-building programs, traits are laid out as something lofty to aspire to and something that is ever so slightly out of reach. Students are encouraged to display a particular character trait over a course of time, and there are awards given to a select group. We approach values and character traits as the beginning of a great, continuing discovery! In Community in Unity, all students discover those traits within themselves. They begin by identifying the traits they highly admire in someone else. It could be their mother who is loving, devoted, and kind. It could be Martin Luther King who was compassionate, patient, and eloquent. It could be a cousin who is supportive, funny, and smart. They use three of those traits in an “I AM Statement” that they will then practice. That statement is a springboard for their relationships and for how they show up at home, with friends, and in the classroom. They learn that those traits admired in others are actually within them and are indeed who they are! Teachers have the children read their statements before tests or at challenging times as a reminder of who they are. The “I AM Statement” not only sets the foundation for the classroom community, but it is also a powerful tool for teachers to use throughout the year. When there is an argument, teachers can guide students to remember their statement and choose how to respond from their values. Trust During Community in Unity, every student makes a Trust Agreement with one another. They agree to respect one another, to come directly to the individual with a problem rather than talking about it with others, and to honor each other’s opinions. This agreement sets the tone for the classroom. Knowing that others commit to being trustworthy makes a huge difference in how students view their classroom lives and in the level of safety and comfort they feel. When there is gossip, the teacher can discuss the value of the Trust Agreement and how gossip creates mistrust, judgement, and fear without solving the problem. Teachers can have the class remake their agreement throughout the year, especially when new students join the classroom. Students learn to hold themselves and each other accountable. Living from Your Values The students live from their values through The Peace Table, where they come together to peacefully resolve conflict. Everywhere we have introduced The Peace Table, students have loved it and have always reached resolution, sometimes after long standing feuds. The Peaceful Project’s mission is to guide young people to live their unique lives’ purposes. A large part of that is recognizing the beautiful in themselves as well as the beautiful in others. It is a shift in the way they view the world. Others become compatriots rather than adversaries. Students become their own advocates as well as compassionate advocates for one another. Our programs provide opportunities for participants to experience the often unexpected power of peace in their lives and to connect to a vision of the future that they truly desire. We have worked with young people in the juvenile justice system, members of the LGBTQ community, and students in elementary through high school. Each heart that opens to new possibilities is a chance for peace. Community in Unity is a heart-opening experience that embraces peace building from the inside out. Written by Maggie Macaulay for The Peaceful ProjectEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful The feature below is brought to you by For Life an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. We Do Beautiful They say to make a difference in this world, you must dream big. It started with the death of our founder’s father. Upon returning home, Madame Athena recognized that her birth home in Manchester, Jamaica had become plagued with hardship; increased crime rate, food shortage, an increase in diet related disorders, limited education for youth and adults, and lack of access to running water played out before her and she returned to the states with a yearning that penetrated her dreams and made its way into her everyday. On Christmas morning of 2011, she decided to put desire into action and wrote a letter to friends and family asking them to assist her in empowering her community. With donated funds in hand, she returned home in August 2012 and launched the Jamaica for Life project, the first of the For Life programs. Created from a place of passion and love, For Life Inc is a non-profit organization that houses education and wellness projects globally. Our projects are formulated to fit the needs of the local populous and are centered around empowerment rather than dependence. We assist individuals, families and communities in becoming healthier and self sufficient. Our mission is to increase access to education, raise health awareness, decrease the risk of obesity, malnutrition, and diet related disorders in underrepresented communities around the world. Presently, we have For Life projects in the United States, Jamaica and Cape Verde, West Africa. Our LA for Life project focuses on decreasing the obesity rate within Black and Latino communities. For Life classes are taught within schools and are formulated according to region, age and needs. Classes range from yoga to cooking. Through the Adopt a Family Program, high risk families work one on one with our Health and Wellness Coach and Personal Trainer to create healthy lifestyle changes. Believing that the way out of poverty is by lessening barriers to education, we adopted 4 schools in Cape Verde and Jamaica. Through the Jamaica for Life and Cape Verde for Life projects, we provide students with school supplies and book bags; we also assist in making healthy breakfast programs available at school sites. On an individual basis, we sponsor students and work closely with their families providing them with additional educational support and healthy food bag deliveries. The See Beautiful grant will assist For Life in providing uniforms to students with the greatest need in Cape Verde and Jamaica. The high cost of uniforms keeps many students at home due to the families’ inability to purchase them. With removing this barrier, we are able to increase attendance rates. With the money awarded, our goal is to supply 392 families with uniforms. With a team of volunteers and all monies raised going directly to the communities we serve, we create beautiful. We live beautiful. We do beautiful. To make a difference, we will continue to dream big eradicating barriers and always remembering the vision that became reality. Written by Madame Athena Chang, Founder and President of For Life |
See beautiful in yourself.
|
RSS Feed
