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
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The 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 Empowered Readers, 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.  Who We Are We are the Empowered Readers Literacy Project, a non-profit dreamed up by a 5-year-old little girl who set out to tackle illiteracy by helping families build strong reading rituals and by getting kids excited about reading. With this See Beautiful grant, we will fund Project 500. We take a holistic, emergent approach to literacy. We believe that literacy is more than a set of skills that enables a child or adult to memorize words and sound out phonics. We believe that literacy is not something that is simply taught, and it does not start when a child begins school. Literacy is a complex process that starts at birth and requires family and community connection. We are helping kids and families change the focus of reading by engaging them in imaginative adventures and tapping into their creativity. We believe that books with diverse and engaging content, shared in connection with real human interaction, will get kids excited about reading on their own and with their families. The Work We Do "Every kid deserves to read." - Selah Nicole We create hope and inspire dreams in the hearts of at-risk children (ages 0-9) and their families through the empowerment of reading and providing access to books. We achieve this through our 4 core programs that impact families and children at key intersections that are at the heart of the DNA of a creating a good habit. Adventure Time Readers Club After-school Program Our free after-school program for K-3rd grade students at Title 1 schools within the Atlanta Public Schools District. We gamify reading for kids, engage them in readers’ theatre, and provide them with free books monthly to add to their Project 500 Library at home. Project 500 Our initiative to give families access to the necessary tools to literacy by helping them build an in-home library of 500 books. Studies show that when kids have 500 books or more in their homes, their education is boosted 3.2 years on average. Adventure Bag of Books -- Pediatrician Partnerships Building strong reading rituals starts early. Our initiative to get books in the hands of new parents and young, non-school-aged children (ages 0-3). Children and Parents receive an Adventure Bag of Books at their Well Visit doctor’s appointments to add to their Project 500 Libraries at home. Out of the Margins Our initiative to eradicate library deserts and help move communities out of the margins of literacy. We identify library deserts and build and maintain Little Free Libraries, giving under served communities access to books. The Beauty We Create We are creating beautiful in children, beautiful in families and beautiful in communities. The joy that children experience when books comes to life for them is beautiful. The unity that families share when they build reading rituals together is beautiful. The empathy exhibited by a community of children and adults giving back to help their neighbors learn to love reading is beautiful. If you are passionate about reading, family and community, contact us today to see how you can help us positively impact people's’ lives. Contact: [email protected] Written by Nicole E. Thompson, Executive Director of Empowered ReadersEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful The feature below is brought to you by Diversify Dietetics, 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. Registered dietitians nutritionists (RDNs) are the nation’s nutrition experts. We are the healthcare providers you come to in order to learn how to navigate eating out when your child has a life-threatening food allergy, when you’re diagnosed with gestational diabetes during your first pregnancy, or when your friend is in a traumatic car accident and placed on a feeding tube as his only source of nutrition. We can be found in every hospital caring for patients, every school system creating healthy meals for kids, and pretty much at any other community organization or corporation that has anything to do with food. If you’ve eaten a meal anytime lately (read: all of us!) an RDN has influenced your food choices somewhere along the way. But here’s the problem: our profession is comprised of only 9% professionals of color. We do not reflect the diverse populations that we serve. This lack of diversityin our profession has persisted for years. For some groups, such as for African Americans, the number of students choosing to study nutrition in accredited programs (the only pathway of becoming an RDN) has fallen in recent years. This lack of diversity affects the quality of care that we give to the clients, patients and students that we serve. When there is less diversity amongst healthcare professionals, research has shown that the care for patients and students of color also suffers. Our patients and students are more receptive to taking recommendations from providers that look like them because they feel that the provider or educator might understand them and their needs better. The nation’s population is rapidly becoming more diverse and needs its food and nutrition healthcare experts to reflect its diversity.  How do we create a more diverse RDN workforce? It’s simple: by increasing the number of dietetics students of color. Except that it’s not so simple: the educational pathway to dietetics is not an easy one. It requires a student to complete a bachelor’s degree in a science-heavy curriculum, with courses such as biochemistry, metabolism, microbiology, organic chemistry (I and II!). Students must also compete to be accepted into a post-baccalaureate internship, where only about 50% of students who apply are accepted. These internships are not only unpaid, the students usually have to pay tuition to attend. This all culminates to the largest exam any of us RDNs ever take: The Registration Exam for Dietitians. If you don’t pass this exam, you don’t become an RDN. Oh yes, and in 2024, a master’s degree will become the minimum requirement to become an RDN. All of this means: barriers along the way for students of color who want to become RDNs. This is where Diversify Dietetics comes in. After all of this seemingly bad news for students of color it was time to See Beautiful! Diversify Dietetics’ mission is to increase diversity in the field of nutrition by empowering students and young professionals from underrepresented minority groups to join the next generation of nutrition experts. We are aiming to achieve this by creating a community for students, professionals and educators, dedicated to increasing ethnic and racial diversity in the field of nutrition and dietetics. In just our first few months of launching, we have connected with hundreds of current students and dietetic interns of color, finding them where students are these days: on Instagram and Facebook. We are offering free or low-cost, high quality programming that uses social media and technology to extend our reach. Some of the programs are our RDN Spotlight Series, where we highlight RDNs of color, because we believe representation matters. We are also recruiting mentors and mentees for our 2018-19 Mentor Program. Our program is a little different from other mentor programs, because where we don’t see success in a current method, we always aim to go beyond the status quo and find a more effective way. We have also launched our “Feed Me the Facts” Facebook Live Series, which covers topics and offers resources critical to the educational success, specifically targeted to students of color.  Tamara Melton with her students at Georgia State University We have also connected with hundreds of educators- which is critical to our mission. Educators are the gatekeepers- the ones who get to decide who is accepted into these accredited dietetics programs and internships. Using ideas stemming from our own lived experiences, and from the feedback from the students we’ve connected with, we are developing training webinars and workshops for dietetics educators to better prepare them for recruiting, retaining and supporting students of color. These professional development experiences will include such skills as unconscious-bias training for faculty, admissions committees and preceptors, will showcase effective recruitment techniques, and will offer examples for promoting cultural and structural sensitivity throughout the curriculum and in student advisement. If we are selected for to receive the See Beautiful grant, we will be using this support to host our first large-scale Educators’ Workshop during this fall’s Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE). FNCE is the largest annual conference for RDNs; it will allow us to offer this workshop to educators from all over the country. We will then tweak the workshop based on evaluations from our attendees and our own observations. The funds generated at this first workshop will provide us the capital needed to refine and offer an improved and more focused workshop to educators on their campuses all around the country. All of these initiatives will help us to increase the number of RDNs of color, and better serve all of our patients, clients and students. We are so excited to have found the See Beautiful community, and are thankful for this opportunity to share our story! You can read more about the co-founders of Diversify Dietetics, Deanna Belleny and Tamara Melton, here. Written by Tamara Melton, Co-founder of Diversify DieteticsEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful The feature below is brought to you by Paint Love, 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. Paint Love brings free, high-quality arts programming to youth facing poverty or trauma. “Sometimes when I feel mad at myself, I will say mean things about myself like I’m stupid, or I’m ugly. But since we did this Paint Love project, now I will think about myself that I’m smart, and unique, and perfect just the way I am.” Fourth grader at Powder Springs Elementary School, working with Artfully Made Club The ten-year-old girl smiles and goes back to creating a mosaic border around a mirror on which she has written “I am smart and quirky,” as a daily reminder to herself. Being a kid is hard enough- facing self-doubt, bullying, and peer pressure. But for the two thousand young people Paint Love works with each year, growing up is even more stressful. Most of the kids in this project, this school, and throughout other schools and nonprofits Paint Love serves, are growing up facing poverty or trauma.  Paint Love empowers kids through art. Our programs go above and beyond the ordinary. Paint Love projects introduce youth to new ways of seeing beautiful in the world, their community, and themselves. Through projects like screen printing, wax encaustics, collaborative murals, metal pours and metalsmithing, writing and storytelling, design and illustration, stop-motion animation, glass blowing, quilt making, sculpture, paper making, photography, and more, our programs teach new mediums while incorporating intentional themes and social-emotional skill building focused on seeing and creating beauty and goodness. Paint Love serves young people who often have the least access to the arts and creative self- expression, but could benefit the most. To reach youth who face, or risk facing, poverty or trauma, we pair local, professional artists with Title 1 schools and youth-serving nonprofits. Paint Love takes care of all the planning and provides all the supplies to create extraordinary projects that our partners wouldn’t be able to do on their own.  Our nonprofit partners serve children fleeing domestic violence, facing sexual abuse, grieving after the loss of a parent or sibling, homeless youth, new immigrants and refugees, and more. Our school partners are designated Title 1 by the GA Department of Education based on the number of students eligible for free/ reduced lunch (FRL). On average, 65-95% of their students are eligible for FRL. Over half of the art teachers have zero budget for supplies, and at best, serve between 500-1000 students with a supply budget of $1- $3 per student for the entire year. Since Atlanta is a hub for newcomer refugees and immigrants, most school partners have a high rate of English language learners and children who do not speak English as well as high numbers of transient students- including homeless children and those in the foster care system.  Studies show that constant stress (like growing up in poverty) or trauma (like losing a parent or being abused) impacts kids’ developing brains and has a permanent effect on their lifelong ability to do everything from have healthy relationships to manage emotions. Arts engagement is actually proven to reduce stress and teach skills that can help them live healthy, happy lives. Here is one example of how Paint Love’s art programs make a difference in kids’ lives: Cat Goolsby, a professional metalsmith and Paint Love artist, works often with teens from Wellspring Living, a residential program for girls who have been removed from sex trafficking. A young woman participating in Cat’s jewelry making workshop is trusted with real tools like a motorized drill and experiences how good it feels to earn trust, and even overcomes a little bit of fear operating the machine or stamping a piece of metal. When she gets discouraged that her pendant didn’t come out how she wanted, she is supported and encouraged to try again and she learns persistence. When she is finished, she gifted the necklace to a friend, and she feels pride that she created something beautiful and unique and happy to have something to give away. Through this project, she learns new skills and her mind is challenged in new ways with designing and creating. She acknowledges and manages tough emotions, and thinks of a way to do something kind for someone else. She sees that everyone’s projects came out differently and there is more than one way to do the project. She learns to control her anger and frustration, maybe she realizes that drawing designs is calming to her and recognizes that is something she can do next time she gets upset. She has fun and leaves feeling good about herself, and like she can successfully tackle new challenges.  Paint Love would use support from See Beautiful to bring empowering arts programming to new Title 1 school partners in the upcoming school year. We currently have a waiting list of teachers and principals from Title 1 schools across the Metro-Atlanta area who want to bring Paint Love projects to their students. Our school partners receive a minimum of 8-12 hours of programming, but sometimes, with funding support from the community, we have the capacity to offer even more, like the recent 200- foot mural artist Brent Coleman created with students at Clarkdale Elementary. At Clarkdale, 86% of students are economically disadvantaged and receive free or reduced lunch. Brent volunteered over 80 hours and worked with all 800 students during every stage from planning the mural to the final touches. The mural highlights the STEAM focus at Clarkdale and the international community at the school, as well as includes sections where the kids could paint anything they wanted to represent themselves and leave their mark on their school in a big way!  We believe every child should have access to programming that helps them see beautiful and encourages them to spread that beauty. Paint Love serves See Beautiful’s priorities of equity, inclusion, justice, and peace, as our core mission is built around providing opportunities to youth across the spectrum of access, ability, and privilege, with a special focus on those who are often overlooked and underserved. At Paint Love, we choose art as our tool because we know how transformational it can be, but our main priority is always empowering youth to create and see the beautiful in themselves and their world, even beyond the time they are holding a paintbrush.  Written by Laura Shaw, Operations Manager at Paint LoveEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful  In 2016 Terence Lester, co-founder of Love Beyond Walls, walked 648 miles from Atlanta, Georgia to Washington D.C. to be a voice for people living in poverty. Beyond a voice, the goal was to lift them above the status of poverty and bring together a community of you and I to become part of the story of empowerment, light and love.
This year, Love Beyond Walls Documentary, Voiceless, will be released and we are honored that the $1000 See Beautiful Milestone Grant will be used to create a workbook used alongside the film to deepen conversation, move to action, and create more beautiful in the lives of those experiencing poverty. People experiencing poverty are often some of the most vulnerable, yet most worthy of love and kindness - two things that we are ever-free to give and cost nothing. Together we can use our voices and we are honored walk alongside you, Love Beyond Walls.  We have a lot of caregivers, educational stakeholders, and families in our See Beautiful Community. We also have an amazing opportunity for you to get kids involved in an art project that leads to more beautiful for an extraordinary non-profit: Helping Mamas! Short story: Your kid(s) creates a piece of art depicting "A Vision of Unity" and it will be on display at Helping Mama's Art Show!  More details: Helping Mamas is an amazing Atlanta non-profit doing incredible work to empower families and organizations in need. They're hosting an Art Exhibit called: A Vision of Unity. All of the art displayed will be student art work and YOUR kid(s) can create it! The art will be matted by Helping Mama's and on display at their event on Saturday, May 13th at The Hudgens Center for the Arts. Please let us, or Helping Mama's, know if you'd like to participate and we can get you additional details! Visit Helping Mama's invitation HERE. Know a non-profit we should partner with? Tell us about them on our nomination/application page. Inspired by this post and want to spread the word? Share away.... Author: Lydia Criss MaysFounder & Owner, See Beautiful “Love knows nothing of short hauls because it has committed itself for the long haul.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough We're in it for the long haul. Our love isn't going anywhere. I stare at the faces of these amazing, resilient, loving, trusting, hope-filled girls and they make me see beautiful. I listen to their conversations that empower each other and come together to plan ways to make the world - THE WHOLE WORLD - a better place and it gives me chills. I watch them turn dreams into action and I cannot imagine not having learned from them. Their lives have been filled with much fear as refugees, losing their home and all they know. Can you imagine? As a child? Their lives have been shaken in ways children should never experience. I love knowing that when they needed comfort and love our Country had open arms and provided a home of refuge - a place where children could run and play and feel safe. We are a people who love and serve and give. We love our neighbor. We love strangers. This is why we are here: To love everyone. Always. When our ability to love others is threatened, we dig in. We're strong and awesome like that. Love can't be stopped. The girls in our See Beautiful Clubs know this and I'm so glad they do. I'm so glad they'll never have to wonder if they're valued and loved here. They are. We work to reinforce this understanding all the time. We're a country of WE - a WE that brings love to the table and we're in it to win it. Love always wins.  Author: Lydia Criss Mays; Founder of See BeautifulThe beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." ~ B.B. King Join us in celebrating our newest giving initiative with the Kutemwa Foundation. The Kutemwa Foundation, alleviates the cost of schooling for young children in Lusaka, Zambia, by providing funding for required school supplies. Additionally, many children with whom they support are vulnerable to not being able to continue education or are orphans and must receive supplemental financial support to attend school. Since schools in Zambia work on a trimester schedule, there are three points during the year they look provide funding for school supplies including books, pencils, paper and more to the tune of $6-7 per child. Additionally, when the school year starts many children do not have the means to pay for tuition or school uniforms. And while this is only Kutemwa Foundation's first year of operation, they are working to collect livelihood gifts to bless children with for the coming year (i.e., soap, toothbrushes, etc). How your purchase helps: Your purchase provides a child with required school supplies for an entire trimester. Additional funding from this Giving Initiative will provide tuition for students who need the supplemental support. Connect with Kutemwa Foundation directly here, Facebook, & Instagram.
Brilliantly written by one of the most inspiring educators, theorist and curriculum developers, Loris Malaguzzi of Reggio Emilia, it honors the beautiful and many languages of children and ways we can honor them: The Hundred Languages of Children No way. The hundred is there. The child is made of one hundred. The child has a hundred languages a hundred hands a hundred thoughts a hundred ways of thinking of playing, of speaking. a hundred, always a hundred ways of listening of marveling, of loving a hundred joys for singing and understanding a hundred worlds to discover a hundred worlds to invent a hundred worlds to dream. The child has a hundred languages (and a hundred hundred hundred more) but they steal ninety-nine. The school and the culture separate the head from the body. They tell the child to think without hands to do without head to listen and not to speak to understand without joy to love and to marvel only at Easter and Christmas. They tell the child to discover the world already there and of the hundred they steal ninety-nine. They tell the child that work and play reality and fantasy science and imagination sky and earth reason and dream are things that do not belong together. And thus they tell the child that the hundred is not there. The child says “No way – The hundred is there.” What hundred ways can you see beautiful in the actions of a child today? It's a wonderful task to set about doing. Author: Lydia Criss MaysFounder & CEO, See Beautiful |
See beautiful in yourself.
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