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By Toby, November 18, 2008 4:32 pm

As a project in the Landmark Education SELP Program, Hamilton Simons-Jones took on having a fundraiser dinner for the Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund be an extraordinary event. Based in New Orleans, the GYAF is a youth-led philanthropy initiative developed to empower them to make strategic investments in their peers and their community. Hamilton’s work culminated in a dinner held this spring on May 31. Here’s a report from the event.

Youth Change Campaign Culminates with Food, Fun and Philanthropy

The atmosphere was electric— akin to a modern–day presidential rally. This event, however, was focused on change in the New Orleans community, not America’s political scene. And the stars were middle and high school age youth from different cultural, religious, racial and socio–economic backgrounds, not presidential hopefuls. The one commonality the national and local events shared, however, is change. The young leaders and philanthropists gathered on Saturday, May 31 at Xavier University of Louisiana for the Youth Change Campaign Awards Dinner to proclaim to all that would listen that youth can change the world.

The Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund’s (GYAF) Youth Advisory Board hosted the inaugural Youth Change Campaign Awards Dinner honoring outstanding middle and high school students and featured the “Change Maker Awards,” which highlighted individual youth who have shown exemplary leadership in projects related to the recovery of this region.

The Youth Change Campaign is comprised of a Coin Collection Drive and an Awards Dinner designed to raise funds to support youth–led and youth–driven initiatives that demonstrate the power of youth motivated to create change in the Greater New Orleans community.

The 2008 Youth Change Campaign Coin Collection Drive kicked–off March 31 and ended May 31 at the Awards Dinner.

Members of the GYAF–s Youth Advisory Board added to the $10,000 in funding they have already awarded to area youth–led organizations–including Youth Rebuilding New Orleans, the Warren Easton Fundamental Senior High School’s Interact Club and the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association–by giving away an additional $2,500 during the event.

Kayla Allain was selected as the ‘Change Maker of the Year’ – she received $2,000 to be awarded to Kids for Community. The runner-up, Patrick Dale, received $500 to be awarded to Youth Rebuilding New Orleans

The 2009 Youth Change Campaign has already begun – Contact them at (504) 529-1922 extension 106 for more information on how to get involved, or visit the GYAC website.

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By Toby, September 30, 2008 8:33 pm

Kim Henry took the Self-Expression and Leadership Program in Houston this summer, and her project was “Heart Thru Art,” a fundraiser that both promoted art to the local community and benefited children in need. The Fort Bend and Harris County community came together over the weekend of September 27 and 28 to see art in a wide variety of mediums – watercolor, pastel, oil, acrylic, sculpture, collage, fiber art, metalwork, photography and ceramics.

The event took place at the Sugar Land Town center through tickets available to the public and also featured food and beverages, art demonstrations and a silent auction.

Money raised from the sales went to the artists except for 20% that went to Heart Thru Art, which funded Artbridge, a worthy charity that develops art programs for homeless children and which is on pace to assist 3,000 Houston-area children in 2008.

Visit the websites of these groups to find out more about Artbridge and Heart Thru Art.

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By Toby, September 26, 2008 6:22 pm

The Vindicator, a leading newspaper of Youngstown, OH, recently wrote about the Self-Expression and Leadership progam project of Keith Coleman, who teamed up with his brother Kevin to form a worthy scholarship fund.

YOUNGSTOWN — A runathon has been scheduled from 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Wick Park as an inaugural fundraiser for the Otis Christian Scholarship Fund.

The goal is to raise $10,000 to be used as tuition for a deserving low-income minority student to attend Ursuline High School.

The event has been organized by Kevin and Keith Coleman in recognition of the influence Otis Christian has had on their lives by making it possible for them to acquire educations.

Residents are invited to pledge runners per mile or to make lump sum donations.

Since this appeared, The Vindicator published a quick follow up report:

More than 20 participants took part in a runathon Aug. 21 at Wick Park to launch a fund-raising campaign for the Otis Christian Scholarship Fund.

The Otis family, friends, and members of Ursuline Cross Country Team raised more than $1,000 at the event.

The goal of the campaign is to raise $10,000 for a scholarship that will enable a deserving low-income minority student to attend Ursuline High School.

For more information or to donate to the fund, contact Kevin Coleman, (614) 264-7430, or Keith Coleman, (330) 402-2995.

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By Toby, September 22, 2008 6:33 pm

The Dayton Daily News, of Dayton, Ohio, recently recognized the Self-Expression and Leadership program project of Julie Olmsted, a pastor for Trinity United Church in nearby Miamisburg. The project, titeled Fit the Journey Weight Launch Challenge, created a dietary program focused on healthy eating and exercise.

Shift the weight and restore your balance

Trinity United Church of Christ, 203 E. Linden Ave., Miamisburg is offering a 12-week dietary program focused on exercise, healthy food choices and nutrition. Trinity pastor Julie Olmsted said the Fit the Journey Weight Launch Challenge grew out of a Landmark Education leadership program that encourages positive and permanent shifts in the quality of life.

“We have so many obesity-related diseases and the temptation to overeat is everywhere,” Olmsted said. “My idea is to shift the weight and the objective is to restore balance in our personal lives and restore balance in the world.”

Olmsted’s passion for making a difference in fitness and well being hasn’t ended with her project. Since initiating this program, Olmsted has continued to write about the subject of eating and exercise for the Dayton Daily News. Here are parts of a story that she contributed on August 30.

Put your quest to lose weight into God’s hands

by Julie Olmsted

Contributing Writer

Saturday, August 30, 2008

A great secret of life is to ask for help when you need it. That’s what happened over a year ago when I spoke to my friend Laura. Laura had been involved in a spiritual weight-loss program and lost 50 pounds that year. I figured I needed to lose close to that, so I reached out.

We agreed to speak daily on the phone to support my weight loss efforts. I was foundering; there was no doubt about it. Days went by and I could not say no to myself. That “no” muscle was flabby, and so was everything else. I learned a lot in our brief conversations; I also lost more than 35 pounds. Following are some lessons I relearned in those talks, in case losing weight is on your list of to-do’s as the seasons turn.

Stop pretending: In any area of life that has us whipped or in a bind, we have to stop pretending that it doesn’t bother us. This is what it means to come empty-handed to God. Blessed are the poor in spirit, says one of the Beatitudes. This means blessed are those who come to God (and to each other) saying, “I need help. I am not well.”

Get support: It is no secret what God can do. What he does for others he’ll do for you. We exclude ourselves from what’s possible with God and with others. But you have to reach out and take the support, like you don’t know everything, like you don’t have it all together.

Your world in a day: If you can discipline yourself to lay down yesterday, its failures, its cravings and its looming shadows of guilt, you can start fresh today. Commit that you will have a day of conscious and healthy eating and then go about fulfilling your own prophecy. Do it for only one day, then another and another.

Never give up: Stop disempowering yourself by saying, “This isn’t a good time. I can’t do it. Maybe someday.” This is your life. Establish credibility with yourself by being true, one meal at a time. You deserve the freedom and self-expression that comes with a lighter body. Lay claim to better health and greater service to God by handling the food issue in a way that suits and honors the real you.

The Rev. Julie G. Olmsted is pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Miamisburg. Contact her at jgolmsted@woh.rr.com.

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By Toby, August 25, 2008 8:22 pm

Caralea Arnold designed a novel way of fighting breast cancer as her project in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program, creating Bust Out! Eating Awareness Day among businesses in her Philadelphia community. So far 14 restaurants and cafes have signed on to participate in the event, which took place August 1. The eateries will sell special menu items, with the proceeds from this Bust Out day going to Living Beyond Breast Cancer, a national non-profit organization based out of Haverford, PA. The City Paper of Philadelphia recently ran a story about the project.

Bust Out! Breast Cancer Awareness Day Starting Friday, Aug. 1st

by Clare Bullen

Caralea Arnold first devised the idea for Breast Cancer Eating Awareness Day while enrolled in a Landmark Education self-expression and leadership course. After getting to know women battling cancer who were struggling to stay afloat amidst the anxiety and depression that the illness created, she realized there was a void in terms of connecting to people suffering with the disease.

Arnold decided to turn to Philly’s restaurant scene. “I’ve always been interested in food,” she says, “so I wanted to start approaching restaurants about a fundraiser.” The resulting Awareness Day, which will be held on Fri., Aug. 1, is being sponsored by 12 Philadelphia restaurants. Each eatery will offer breast-inspired appetizers and desserts, and 50 percent of profits will go directly to Living Beyond Breast Cancer, a Haverford-based nonprofit.

“Everyone really got into it,” Arnold says of Bust-Out!’s participants. Northern Liberties is well-represented, with participants ranging from Swallow and Arbol Cafe to the Abbaye N. 3rd. A Full Plate Café is planning on serving cool watermelon soup and Bar Ferdinand is getting into the action with duck breast flavored with an orange juice demi-glace. Still, nothing beats Café Estelle in terms of creativity and dedication: All of its female employees agreed to make molds of their breasts, which will be used to bake anatomically correct tres leches cake.