As you know THE ACTORS FUND fosters stability and resiliency and provides a safety net for performing arts and entertainment professionals over their lifespan. With so many in the entertainment industry adversely impacted by the pandemic, your support would be greatly appreciated. Please join this Premiere event on November 7th. 2021 presented to benefit THE ACTORS FUND. It is a great way to enjoy great performances from major Broadway Shows and simultaneously help THE ACTORS FUND. For Information and Tickets: https://celebration.swigit.com/app/celebbroadway Please click on the PROGRAM DESCRIPTION for more information and cast bios. Please forward this e-mail to your friends and associates.

An international non-profit 501c3, with a center in Los Angeles, has donated thousands of PPE's to local hospitals and healthcare professionals. The organization has extended its reach to veteran's homes, homeless shelters, and youth centers as well in aiding them with food and masks. Additionally, different teams within this organization have created a mindfulness app that they've sent to more than 800+ hospitals and publish weekly psychology seminars with a core focus on maintaining positive emotional and mental states during this time. Though we've been getting some coverage on these events, it's been difficult spreading the word about the amazing initiative of these volunteers so that others can benefit. If you have a media/press background, please message me!

From Harvard alumni Ben Wei, Christina Traugott, & Jonathan Chu:

NYC hospitals are running out of supplies for NYC frontline workers -- Doctors, Nurses & healthcare staff who are treating COVID-19 patients. In Italy, 1 in every 10 Coronavirus cases are healthcare workers. The head of Italy’s medical association died of Cornavirus last Tuesday night, 3/10, because he had to continue to see infected patients without a mask. We must not let what happened in Italy happen to our healthcare workers.

Our friends who are working in NYC’s most active emergency rooms have messaged us telling us that they are already caring for Coronavirus patients without any masks, because there is a shortage. Some have told us that they are most likely sick with Coronavirus, but there aren’t enough tests for them to get a definitive answer. We have started this fundraising campaign to secure medical masks, and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), to the healthcare workers who need it most.

As New Yorkers, we can’t just sit around and watch -- we’re fighters. We spoke with medical professionals and hospital administrators to identify that their greatest needs are masks. Due to strong personal & professional relationships, we are able to secure a large supply of N95 & surgical masks from certified equipment manufacturers to be shipped to NYC.

All donations will go directly into the purchase and delivery of N95 masks, surgical masks, and Personal Protective Equipment for frontline healthcare workers in NYC’s busiest Emergency Rooms and Intensive Care Units. We already have doctors waiting for these masks at all the major hospitals in the NYC area. They have told us that their hospitals have either run out of masks or are asking them to reuse the ones they have, which creates major health risks.

More info here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-million-masks-coronavirus-support-fund

Any old tech, phones or tablets (even with cracked screens) hanging around? Human I-T will fix it and put it to use in a low income community. https://www.human-i-t.org - they even do some pick ups!

•Technology recipients are not charged. Technology is donated for FREE.
•We pick up your unwanted technology from your home or work for FREE.
•We DO NOT shred, smelter, grind or throw technology away.
•Recipients DO NOT have to volunteer to receive technology.

The Safety Net Fund is a non-profit designed to help support artists in the Bay Area during the COVID-19 crisis. As the world around us descends into bedlam, we turn towards each other to find hope, support, and community.

We prioritize artists that typically make their living offline at events & retail establishments that have been cancelled or closed due to coronavirus. This includes performing artists, musicians, visual artists, event producers, and other types of creators.

This fund will offer grants to artists, with no expectation of repayment, to help provide direct monetary support through this crisis. This money is offered with the intent of helping artists survive and continue to create despite the maelstrom. The maximum grant is $500 per person per month, and the number of grants per month is dependent upon the funds raised.

Grants will be offered on a needs-basis with the following criteria:

1. The grantee must reside in the Bay Area (See attached list of eligible zip codes)
2. The grantee must provide proof of artistic endeavor within the last 6 months
3. The grantee must not be eligible for unemployment
4. The grantee must have less than $1000 of income within the last 30 days
5. Grants will be evaluated in the order received.

The fund is made possible through a fiscal sponsorship from the California Intersection for the Arts (The Intersection). The Intersection has agreed to support this project with accounting, governance, and compliance with the minimum administrative fees possible (7%). The fund will employ the minimum number of claims administrators necessary to manage incoming claims. All other funds will be disbursed to eligible applicants. The fund will provide a transparency report yearly.

Edit: For corporate matching please use submit the receipt from the flipcause campaign to your corporate matching department through benevity (or equivalent tool) or make a donation directly in benevity using the following criteria:

Organization: Intersection for the Arts
EIN: 94–1593216
Sponsored Org or Sub Org: Safety Net Fund

Times are hard. The only way that communities survive is by working to support one another together. We urge anyone whose income is not heavily impacted by coronavirus precautions, such as full-time employees working from home or anyone with sizable savings, to consider donating to the fund to support those whose income has been obliterated by necessary social distancing efforts. When we can all gather again, we’ll be thankful to still have these artists providing culture to the Bay.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Wishing Good Health,
The Safety Fund

Thank you to everyone who helped bring this together. Thank you to Leslie Fine, Christopher Bisignani, Michael Morgenstern, Josh Constine, Scarlet La Mar, and Inga Goldbard for editorial review.

Click this link to donate to the Safety Net Fund.

The Longest Day is all about love. Love for all those affected by Alzheimer's disease. On the summer solstice, team up with the Alzheimer’s Association and select any activity you love — or an activity loved by those affected — to help end Alzheimer’s. Together, we will raise funds and awareness for care and support while advancing research toward the first survivor of Alzheimer’s.

Amy Aquino is participating to honor her father and his siblings:

So for the 2nd year, on The Longest Day my friends and I will be honoring my inspirational Aquino forebears by making jam from the blackberries that I grow alongside my Hollywood bungalow.

The first 10 people who donate $250 or more will receive an 8oz jar of this special EndALZ jam as a thank-you from me. Anyonedonating $500 or more will receive a special 12 oz jar. And anyone donating $25 or more will be placed in a raffle for jam and other prizes.

So please give right now (preferably before the 21st) to help raise awareness, support those affected and find a cure!

DONATE HERE

Join #OperationComfort on June 20th or June 23rd in Los Angeles to help Southwet Key Programs! If you can't be there in person, there are instructions below on how you can participate.

The LA Neighborhood Land Trust is growing- over 30 parks and gardens created with community input- and our Board needs to grow too! This nationally known non-profit, created by the City of LA to be a faster pipeline to parks and garden development- is changing things for Angelinos. Did you know that thousands of children lack access to a park or playground within a mile from their home? That children of color, in particular, have poor access? And that LA has the least green space of almost any major city? We have a truly top notch board and leadership, and are recruiting potential Board members with time and talents to match our profile. Check it out and e-mail me at [email protected] http://www.lanlt.org/

Where to Donate Money, Goods and Housing to Napa Valley Residents: http://www.newsweek.com/how-help-wine-country-wildfire-victims-where-donate-683350

Non-profit, 501 (c) (3) Uniting People for Peace hosted the first UPP Day music festival in Plymouth, MA on Aug. 5, 2017. Already planning next year's festival. Looking for donations and volunteers. The purpose of Uniting People for Peace is to promote inclusion and collaboration and to bridge unity and peace locally and around the world. Common people, such as you & I, wield the power to bring about a peaceful & united humanity with peace, patience, cooperation, and compassion among ALL PEOPLE. www.upforpeace.com [email protected]

Tribe + Glory, a jewelry line handcrafted by artisans in Uganda, is in the business of saying yes to big dreams.

T+G will be releasing their exquisite Ankole Cattle Horn line this October and invite you to join them for a night of cocktails, food, and female empowerment. Join Co-Founders Loren Thomas and Caragh Bennet at the exclusive 41 Ocean Club as Tribe + Glory continues to empower and activate female entrepreneurs to achieve self sustainability through relationship, craftsmanship, and entrepreneurship. This fundraising pop-up shop party is the perfect way to celebrate females and Fall!

Be the first to check out Tribe + Glory's stunning line and have the chance to meet entrepreneurs, fashionistas, and influencers. Each ticket will support Tribe + Glory and their mission to empower entrepreneurially minded women living below the poverty line in rural areas. T+G acts as a stepping stone for them in starting their own businesses and supporting them to create self sustainable livelihoods.

Thursday, October 12th | 6:30p - 9:30p
41 Ocean Club
TICKETS HERE

After receiving an overwhelming number of inquiries from citizens and companies who want to help, Mayor Sylvester Turner has established the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund that will accept tax deductible flood relief donations for victims that have been affected by the recent floods. The fund will be housed at the Greater Houston Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity.

DONATE HERE

Let Them Rock  www.letthemrock.org   www.letthemrock.org/give

www.letthemrock.org/about      www.letthemrock.org/gallery

Volunteer opportunities are passion-inspired pursuits with remote positions available. www.letthemrock.org/volunteer      

"The Let Them Rock student scholarship provided opportunities that have broadened my son's world, and empowered him to take something he loves to the next level. Performing on stage has been character defining. It's made a huge impact!" - Leonor P. | Let Them Rock Student Scholarship Parent, School of Rock Mainline + AllStars

From the ACLU:

We hope you will join us for an event on June 13 as we kickoff the 2018 Lunch. The Lunch is our largest event to date, and the proceeds raise much needed funds for the critical work that the ACLU is doing to protect civil liberties in Illinois.

Join us from 5:30 - 7 for a reception featuring staff from our Women's and Reproductive Rights Project. Enjoy light appetizers and drinks, learn about the work that the ACLU is doing to protect the rights of women in our state, and hear from our 2018 co-chairs about the 2018 Lunch.

RSVP by visiting http://www.aclu-il.org/lunch-kickoff and completing the online form. If you have any questions about this event, please contact Jay Bach at [email protected].

We hope to see you on June 13 at Schiff Hardin (Chicago, IL).

Calling all poets, activists, and aspiring educators for YCA’s Write to the City (WTTC), the freshest summer camp in Chicago!

Over one hundred young writers from all corners of the city and across the country come together for one week of nonstop art. Students take daily field trips within Chicago’s arts scene and rich cultural landscape, exploring visual, performance, and literary arts, building community, and developing a body of work through workshops led by world-class poets and artists. WTTC is a fee-based program, with scholarships available to qualifying students.

Registration for Write to the City 2017 is now open! Send any questions to Program Coordinator Bayana Davis at [email protected].

To register for Write To The City 2017, sign up here.

Join Westside Writing Project to celebrate the organization's 10-year anniversary!

The Westside Writing Project (WWP) is an enrichment organization that provides exposure, guidance and support in the areas of digital media, journalism and new technology to expand the realm of opportunities on Chicago’s west side. The mission of WWP is to provoke individual and community transformation by using writing, digital media and journalism as tools for civic engagement and youth development.

What began in 2007 as a small volunteer effort has developed into a full-fledged, multi-faceted community journalism and media initiative that impacts 200 students annually from 6th grade to graduate school and engages multiple community partners.

More info here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/westside-stories-gala-celebrating-10-years-of-westside-writing-project-tickets-32413706268

The U.S. Reading Team Foundation is launching a program to build national awareness and begin the critical changes now possible both to improve early human cognitive development and to help end inter-generational American poverty. Recent research has discovered that human intelligence is not fixed at birth, but can be dramatically strengthened. We now know it's actually possible to program a smarter, more cognitively functional generation of children, what we call post-Homo Sapiens. Just as with CRISPR we can now change and fix our own DNA like no animal before us, we can also strongly improve our cognitive wiring in the 12-36 month period of our developing brains. No need to mess with our DNA, or actually create GMO humans – although that, too, is probably coming – just wire our speech development to a much higher level of complexity while the wiring is easy.

The opportunity was first recognized as an inversion of focus on the results of a major longitudinal study by educational researchers Hart and Risley [The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3, In: American Educator, Spring, 2003]. While the Hart Risley study focus was on cognitive underdevelopment among impoverished children, the inversion or larger possibility revealed by the same research was the opportunity to optimize cognitive development – by lifting early cognitive wiring to the highest level – for all children. It might seem counter-intuitive but it was soon recognized that the best, most versatile scaffold to support this new high-development cognitive objective – with the in-home parent spending more time talking to the baby and the toddler listening and seeing and learning – was the classic on-paper, page-turning book. For that, a unique language-based learning program for toddlers has been developed using standard, non-electronic on-paper books, with which parents can teach toddlers both to speak and to read at the same time. Compared to any other program that might be developed, Read At Two promises to be relatively inexpensive. Our objective now is to put the program into the hands of as many parents we can find who will help us in a larger research project to confirm what works and what might work better for every child. Parents can now purchase the program for their own children or make a tax-deductible contribution to the U.S. Reading Team Foundation to help us put the program in the hands of others. Until March 30 we are offering the Read At Two program preview on the stage of Kickstarter. For a greater understanding of the program this Kickstarter beta project may be viewed at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/777266643/teach-your...

Or, to learn more, any parent who might wish to participate could simply google - search Read At Two Kickstarter. But we're not looking for contributions here. Rather, we're looking for interested partners – daycare centers, libraries, universities and school districts – anyone who might like to work with us in this very unique project. If that includes you, or you have questions, please write to me at h.schwarz@usreadingteam,foundation.org Join us.

WriteGirl is a creative writing and mentoring organization that spotlights the power of girls. WriteGirl hosts monthly mentorship events, among other activities. The girls chosen for the mentorship program come from underserved communities and have limited resources within their school systems and homes. To support or get involved with WriteGirl, please visit: http://www.writegirl.org

Please consider helping to clothe at-risk women looking for jobs in the Pasadena/LA area through Norma's Nook, a part of the larger Friends In Deed organization (which runs a variety of amazing programs). Norma's Nook is a physical space in Pasadena where at-risk women can come for personal and caring attention as they try on new or gently used work-appropriate attire that they can then take with them for job interviews and the like. They accept clothing and monetary donations (though currently they've suspended regular clothing donations and are focusing on the donation of undergarments). (http://www.friendsindeedpas.org/what-we-do/our-programs/normas-nook/)

Join me on Saturdays to support this terrific organization. The next volunteer orientation is Saturday, March 18, 2017 at 11:00 AM. From the website: "BUILDING COMMUNITY FOR FOSTER YOUTH SINCE 1998, PEACE4KIDS IS A NON-PROFIT, VOLUNTEER SUPPORTED ORGANIZATION PROMOTING TRUST, EQUITY AND STABILITY FOR CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE. At Peace4Kids, we employ an approach that we call 'Community as Family'. Youth in foster care, supported by a responsive, consistent and culturally sensitive volunteer community, develop a sense of belonging and permanence. 'Community as Family' serves to create positive group bonding. Where individuals have failed before, the consistent group dynamic represents safety and security. Organically provides opportunities for trust development. Changes the expectations that foster youth have for adults and facilitates nutritious relationships. Kids in foster care may move homes several times in one year, and this lack of permanency contributes to an inability to form strong, positive relationships, especially with adults. Trained staff and volunteers interface with youth on a consistent basis to model healthy relationship building and effective communication. The Peace4Kids community becomes a family for youth in foster care."

Go to http://www.peace4kids.org/ to learn more.