Dance for Donations, which appears to be Evarts’ project from the self-expression and leadership program, is being held Sunday, September 12th at the Cabana Bar in St. Leonards, from 12-10pm. A $10 minimum donation is required.

A variety of performers will be there to perform or play for the cause, including DJ Libre, DJ Samrai, Carlito Bangs and many more. To find out the latest news, visit the Dance 4 Donations Facebook page(where 277 are currently confirmed as attending the event) – or go directly to this contributions page to give directly to Open Family Australia.

Attendees, who contributed at least $10 to take part, were given fitness assessments by LA Fitness, saw a Judo exhibition, and got to observe or take part in Zumba Gold, a mix of samba and belly dance. Food and drinks were served, and a prize drawing took place in the afternoon, featuring prizes donated by the Florida Marlins and Miami Dolphins sports teams.

All proceeds went to Danita’s Children, which currently provides full time care to over 130 orphans. Orphan care is urgently needed in Haiti, where half the population is under the age of 18, and a great many of these people are orphans. They also serve almost 20,000 meals per month. To find out more or make a donation, go to http://www.danitaschildren.org.

Tickets for the event, which is taking place at The Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, cost $20 – the event begins at 6:30pm. To buy tickets or learn more about the event, email CampInspiration@aol.com or call Robinson at 310-683-9966.

Formed almost 20 years ago, HOLA has a unique partnership with the city of Los Angeles, leading to the creation of open space facilities for inner city youth – a soccer field, gym, and basketball courts. HOLA’s volunteer program, which includes experts in a variety of fields, supports youth ages 6-19 in fulfilling all their potential.

In 2007 Wrinn heard of the work being done by an organization called Sunflower House in South Africa, and she began with a simple garage sale to support their efforts. In 2008 she visited Sunflower House to see how No Child Dies Alone could positively impact their efforts. Last year, Wrinn went to Honduras to assess conditions there at a children’s cancer clinic and hospital.

Wrinn saw how basic pedicatric hospice training could make a huge difference for caregivers, patients and family members. No Child Dies Alone is committed to delivering the tools by which caregivers can take care of children, their families and themselves.

This fall Wrinn is delivering a caregiver wellness presentation to an international audience of children’s hospice professionals at the Children’s Hospice International World Congress in Washington, DC. To find out more about No Child Dies Alone and the work they are doing, or to make a donation, visit them online at http://nochilddiesalone.org

The reason for the day is environmental education, creation and inspiration, and features a variety of workshops, crafts and musical activities.

The day is being held Saturday, June 5th, starting at 9:30 in the morning with a compostable waffle breakfast, for which a $5 donation is suggested. At 10 there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the new school garden. The garden actually began in the fall with planter boxes provided by the school’s Dad’s Club – student grown vegetables from the planter boxes will be on sale at the Green Day.

According to Opas, the project was designed to “create community, empowerment and education centered around caring for our planet and for each other.”

To find out more, call Opas at 510-879-1220. Here is the Oakland Local story.

The project, which Elyssa Renert formed in Landmark’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program and expanded by her friend Jill Ruddy, created 200 coloring books from the artwork from celebrated artists from the Miami area, which were distributed to the Miami and Joe Dimaggio Children’s hospitals.

‘Color us Well days’ were held in the hospitals in December, where the books were distributed, and the artists actually gave art lessons for the children at the hospital.

On May 13 an event is being held from 6:30-9:30 to both raise money to fight diseases and to highlight the contribution of artists to the project. The event, which is taking place at the Viceroy Hotel’s Club 50, will feature an art auction, appearances by the artists, and an interactive painting by John DeFaro.

Money raised from ticket sales and the art auction will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. There will also be a raffle for attendees – the grand prize is a four-day Bahamas cruise donated by Norwegian Cruise Lines. Tickets will cost $10. For more information, visit Color us Well.

Valentia McGahern, who is both a retired art teacher and the chairperson of the Kilbarron Parish Pastoral Group, took up the project in the Landmark programme, which has now become a joint venture between the pastoral group and the Neighbourhood Youth Project (NYP).

McGahern indicates in the article that the project was an evolution of a recent community cleanup, which left waste materials to be discarded. Having young people take the materials and create sculptures which they could take real ownership of was a natural fit, she indicates. The project is designed to not only allow children to contribute in this way but also to allow them to make new friends.

The children, ages 10-13, have apparently shown great enthusiasm as workshops have taught them how to take the recycled materials, combine them with plaster and make a variety of sculptured works, such as masks.

Dara Hand, who led the workshops, sees the creation of a true community sculpture as a real possibility. McGahern and the pastoral group deeply thanked all the children and parents for taking part.

Allnut partnered with foster mother Sam Weir to give children something that was there own and for them to know someone cares about them. They combined to collect 500 teddy bears and 300 other soft toys through the Bears2Care and Cuddles2Keep organisations, and gave them away to foster kids through other organisastions.

Then Weir came up with the Kits2Kids concept, through which each young person got a kit of personal items. Weir also convinced Allnut that it was worth going through red tape to form their own non-profit, Foster Hope Charitable Trust. This enabled them to receive product donations from businesses all around New Zealand.

Child development expert Ngarie Wroslie has become part of the Foster Hope Team, coordinating donations into kits and making sure they are distributed to local foster care organisations.

To find out more or contribute to this worthy organisation, visit the website of Foster Hope now.

The outing, created by Carolyn Huey, gives dogs and their owners a chance to compete in a wide variety of events: a Temptation Tunnel, an Agility Demonstration, Certificates of achievement for a dog walkathon, Micro-Chipping, Dog Photography and more.

Funds raised from the event will benefit the Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA), a charity formed in 1840. The DSPCA fights animal cruelty in every variety and provides mobile veterinary clinics – for more information, visit their website at www.dspca.ie.

As part of the day there is also an essay competition for young dog owners titled “How my lovely dog has brought fun into my life”. Those 13 years of age or less can enter this competition by mailing their entry of 100 words or less to Huey at:

Carolyn Huey, Doggy Day Essay Competition, 33 The Rise, Boden Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.

1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will have their entries copied and distributed to the day’s attendees. Huey is also looking for more volunteers to help put on the day – to get involved contact her at 087 993 8157.

The organization gathers books to be sent to schools in Africa. Previously, we covered King Dunsmore’s Big Book Swap which benefitted Pelican Post. The Amersham and Littlefont Examiner has now covered the SELP project of David Sommer, which also involved generating books for Pelican Post, this time through a local school:

Youngsters learned about a scheme to send books to children in Africa.

Parent David Sommer visited the Chestnut Lane Infant School in Amersham to speak to the pupils about the Pelican Post effort, which involves pledging to post children’s story books to Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda to inspire their peers in these countries to develop a love of reading.

He spoke to the children on March 3, the day before World Book Day activities got underway at the school and nationwide.