Category Archives: PHILANTHROPY

Meet the Most Badass Moms of America

Say the word “mom” and you’ll probably—depending how much terrible television you grew up with—think one of the following: khaki pants, roomy jeans, school lunches, air conditioned cars, supermarket u-hauls, coupon collections. Of course, these are all miserable stereotypes, but they exert real influence, conscious and unconscious, on the American imagination. The media has mothered our vision of mothering.

That’s why it’s important to highlight the moms of this world that aren’t just challenging exhausted stereotypes, but doing real, hardcore, social justice work in their communities and families. Activism typically (in our cultural imagination) belongs to boys and their fathers—yet it’s often women who serve on the frontlines.

Here’s a look at some of the most badass moms in America doing some of the hardest work in America—compassion, with a vengeance.

 

1. The Mothers Against Senseless Killings

Every summer, hundreds of young kids in Chicago die due to gun violence. While the problem has lessened somewhat in recent years, it’s a brutal reality for many of the youth living in the Englewood neighborhood. So a group of moms known as MASK (Mothers Against Senseless Killings) recently decided to start patrolling the Chicago city streets, hoping to keep their kids safe from violence. Founded by Englewood resident Tamar Manasseh, moms hit the streets every day from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m, checking in with neighborhood kids, cooking hot dogs and hamburgers, and looking for potential trouble. The police alone have been unable to keep the neighborhood safe, so these moms stepped in. “I’m a mom who hasn’t lost her kids, and I don’t want to,” Manasseh told ABC7.

 

2. Michelle Obama

First lady, supermom, and outrageously instrumental in the (now successful) fight against American obesity. Is there anything Michelle Obama can, or has done, wrong? Short answer: no.

 

3. Tina Fey

Not only is she seen as one the “funniest women alive in America,” Tina Fey is also a proud mom of kids she’s not too private to make fun of. She’s making huge inroads for women in public life and women in comedy, and continues to be jaw-droppingly successful.

 

4. Shonda Rhimes

Producer, director, writer, and badass mom Shonda Rhimes was listed as one of TIME Magazine’s “100 People Who Shaped The World” in 2014. Not only does Shonda successfully manage multiple jobs, multiple programs (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice) and three daughters, she was the mastermind behind Scandal, rated the most “highly addictive show on television” by pretty much everyone who saw it.

 

5. Vanessa Howard

Vanessa Howard is a mom, and a formerly homeless woman. For her, taking control of her fashion and body was critical to moving out of homelessness. That’s why she decided to subsidize a free spa day for other mothers and their children, hoping that the free makeovers will give women confidence. “I was once not having a place to stay with children and having no hope and having no dignity and so that’s what’s inspired me,” Howard said.

 

6. Jenny Morretter

Jenny Morretter’s daughter, Mackenzie, struggles with Sotos syndrome, a disorder that makes it difficult for her to build relationships. When Morretter recently decided to throw her daughter a 10th birthday party, no one responded to her invite. Morretter was heartbroken, but instead of falling into despair, she decided to take action. She went on Facebook and shared Mackenzie’s story with a few select groups, hoping to get more responses. After posting her stories, hundreds of people not only replied, but showed up to Mackenzie’s party, rewarding a 10-year-girl with a brand-new community of friends.

 

7. Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America

31 Americans die every day at the hands of a gun, and 55 kill themselves with a firearm. Over one in three Americans know someone who has been shot. To help stop the epidemic of violence, a group of mothers got together to organize against gun violence by hitting the phones and slamming the streets. Some like to say that “these women are the NRA’s worst nightmare.”

 

8. Alice Dreger

By now, it’s clear that for many teenagers, abstinence-only education simply doesn’t work. That’s why Alice Dreger, mother of a son in an abstinence-only sex class, decided to take action. Dreger sat in on her son’s class and chose to live-tweet it, posting such juicy nuggets as, “You’ll find a good girl. If you find one that says “No,” that’s the one you want. HE ACTUALLY JUST SAID THAT.”

Dreger, a writer already, obviously, and deservedly, went viral.

 

8 Wildlife Rescues on Instagram You Want to Follow [Like Now]

Get a daily dose of adorable when you follow this list of wildlife rescues. And then share them on your social media to bring awareness to the amazing work these organizations do to help animals.

 


 

1. Black Jaguar White Tiger Rescue

Promoting animal rights to an audience of over 2.4 million followers, add these guys to your feed for a steady stream of spectacular big cat adventures.

Instagram: @blackjaguarwhitetiger | www.blackjaguarwhitetiger.org


 

2. Greenwood Wildlife Rescue

Few things are as adorable as tiny woodland creatures needing a helping hand. Greenwood Wildlife is an animal rescue site caring for roughly 2,300 critters a year, across 135 furry, fuzzy, cuddly species. Instagram: @GreenwoodWildlife | www.greenwoodwildlife.org  

 


 

3. David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is considered the most successful elephant and rehabilitation rescue in East Africa. Unfortunately, these majestic creatures are still widely poached, along with their not-too-distant-cousin the Black Rhino, endangering both species. This rescue’s “Orphan’s Project” works to reintegrate orphans back into the wild in Tsavo.

Instagram: @DSWT | www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org

 


 

4. BatsQLD Flying Foxes & Microbats Inc.

Bats fall under the category of “so ugly, they’re cute.” And a few minutes on this feed will have you convinced. A self-funded volunteer group, its members are dedicated to educating the public on bats and flying foxes. They work diligently on habitat conservation projects, and the rescue and rehabilitation of injured, ill and orphaned bats up until release back into the wild. Instagram: @BatsQLD | www.batsqld.org.au  

In the name of everyone at BatsQLD, Pantaloons says thank you and gives a big hug to everyone who has made a donation. With the help of all our followers who were donating, liking and sharing our pictures and spreading the word, we raised an incredible amount of $5407 during the month of May! We were really overwhelmed by this positive response. You guys are fantastic! Those vital funds will cover the cost of food for our furry friends for the entire year and takes a heavy weight off our carer’s shoulders who cover all expenses out of their own pocket. Over the last year, we did more than 400 rescues and had 300 animals in crèche at the end of baby season. Every furry patient needs approximately 300g of fruit per day and will usually be in care for a couple of weeks – which means a lot of fruit chopping and a big expense. Thanks to you, financially, we are now all set up for the next year and the upcoming baby bat season. We will keep you posted on our work, with more pictures and stories about our furry friends. A photo posted by BatsQLD (@batsqld) on

 


 

5. The Kangaroo Sanctuary

A lima bean – that is the size of a baby Joey when born. The Kangaroo Sanctuary is 90 acres of bushland home to 25 kangaroos. All lovingly cared for by Chris ‘Brolga’ Barns, the star of Kangaroo Dundee by AGB films. He hopes to build the first wildlife hospital in Central Australia on the grounds of this sanctuary.

Instagram: @TheKangarooSanctuary | www.kangaroosanctuary.com

 

Love my morning milk! #kangaroodundee #NTaustralia #RedCentreNT #SeeAustralia #

A photo posted by Home of Kangaroo Dundee (@thekangaroosanctuary) on

 


 

6. International Animal Rescue

Literally meaning “person of the forest,” orangutans are rapidly losing their rainforest habitat to make way for community growth, farming, and industrial modernization. The International Animal Rescue (IAR) aims to rescue and rehabilitate orangutans stolen from their mothers, locked in captivity, or otherwise displaced. Instagram: @IARorangutanRescue | http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/  

 


 

7. Zoological Wildlife Foundation

Looking through this gorgeous feed run by an accredited wildlife expert is definitely the next best thing to going there. Zoological Wildlife Foundation (ZWF) in Miami offers its followers an array of stunning imagery and video footage of the diverse animals living there.

Instagram: @zwfmiami | http://zoologicalwildlifefoundation.com/

 

 


 

8. Humane Society New York

We know, we know…we said “wildlife” rescue, but without fail these dogs and kittens are wild at heart! For over a century, the Humane Society in New York has been housing, caring, and re-homing dogs and cats to loving families. In fact, they are responsible for helping a staggering 38,000 dogs and cats every year. Instagram: @HumaneSocietyNY | http://www.humanesocietyny.org/  

Kitten adventures! #adopt #rescuecat #catsofnyc #catsofinstagram #blackcat #kitten #hsny #model #hearst A photo posted by Humane Society of New York (@humanesocietyny) on

Places to Find Volunteer Opportunities Near and Dear to Your Heart

What never goes out of style? Sporting kindness and generosity. One of the many ways to humbly don goodwill is through volunteering for causes that matter to you.

Here’s a list to get you inspired:

Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity has one mission: build homes for people who need homes. Teams of Habitat volunteers all over the world are building homes right now so you can easily donate some sweat equity abroad or close to home. Every person deserves a place to rest and feel protected. You can be a part of the effort that gets them there.

 

Connect with Your Dream Cause

Do you dream of making the world a better place? Idealist.org connects you with the resources, organizations that can make that dream a reality. Launched in 1985, this global network has some been doing volunteer matchmaking for decades.

 

Help the National Park Service

Do you love nature and working outdoors? The National Park Service is always looking for volunteers. Park Service opportunities include collecting and gathering scientific data, and helping track wildlife, birds and plants for research projects. If you’re passionate about art, you can apply to be an artist-in-residence.

Give Back to Our Disabled Veterans

The Stephen Siller Foundation raises funds to build smart homes for severely disabled veterans. Smart homes feature voice-activation, automated doors and lights, specially designed showers, custom cabinets and counters, and other modifications needed by many returning veterans. The foundation hosts many 5Ks to build awareness and they always need volunteers.

 

Did You Know Volunteer Vacations are a Real Thing? Here’s Where You Find Them

Not finding anything interesting in those glossy travel photos and site reviews? Why not think about acts of kindness as you plan your next getaway? Global volunteer opportunities allow you to spend your leisure time helping others, which we guarantee will deliver the most rewarding vacation. Maybe you’re tired of trying to avoid the touristy crowds or you’ve had your fill of relaxing on white sandy beaches on holiday. Or perhaps you just want to try something new and feel good about it at the same time!

If you’ve got some vacation days coming up, and would like to use them to help the world, here’s a handy list of organizations to explore:

Volunteer Abroad

Volunteer Abroad is among the largest programs for volunteer vacations. Choose from a huge selection of trips by interest, from archaeology to environmental conservation and building.

Teaching in Fiji:

Organized by Projects Abroad, this trip integrates volunteers into the local culture.

Environmental Conservation in Peru:

Located in the Amazon rainforest, volunteers take part in environmental conversation and agriculture projects.

 

Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF)

WWOOF links volunteers with organic farmers to learn about organic and sustainable farming.

 

Go Eco

Go Eco offers affordable trips to solve real-world problems.

 

Rustic Pathways

If you’re a student, Rustic Pathways offers programs of various lengths in weeklong increments for middle school to college students and even offers a gap year program for high school graduates. In locations like Costa Rica, Fiji, and Thailand, with leadership- and service initiative-focused courses, Rustic Pathways is “redefining how to integrate education, travel, and philanthropy in a world where all people are connected by a shared humanity.”

 

Find your own international volunteer opportunity

If you still aren’t sure about where you’ll best spend your time and energy, check out Volunteer HQ, where you can search for the perfect travel and volunteer abroad opportunity to fit your timeframe, skills, and preferred destinations. You can also research the site for tips on volunteer travel, such as the best options and locations for singles, and even take quizzes to help you decide what volunteer vacation might be best suited for you.

No matter where you choose or who you decide on to take you there, you can spend your free time gaining new experiences, making friends, bettering your understanding of other people across the globe from you, and finding things within yourself you may not have known existed. Sounds like a ‘win-win’ to us.

Have you taken a volunteer vacation? Tell us all about it in the comments!

Write to Give: 7 Charitable Authors

One of the only things better than sitting down with a good book is knowing that the author who penned it cares deeply about giving back to his or her fanbase and communities. There are many authors who have learned the value of generosity and selflessness, and they exercise it on a regular basis. Did your favorite novelist make the list of authors who are giving back? Here are seven charitable authors we love.

1. Sylvia Day’s Day It Forward

Sylvia Day

Aside from being a #1 New York Times and #1 international best-selling author, Day also connects with her fans to bring attention to a new charity every month. Readers have the option to submit a one-paragraph essay on their favorite charity. Day reviews each submission and picks one to personally contribute to. Each selection is featured in the monthly installment of Day It Forward. Thus far, charities have included Alexandra’s House, the National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, and Gentle Barn.

2. The Dean and Gerda Koontz Foundation

Suspense-thriller author Dean Koontz and his wife Gerda have generously donated in the past to Canine Companions for Independence — an organization that trains and provides assistance dogs — as well as Saint Michael’s Abbey in California. The Koontzes frequently focus their donations on people with disabilities and severely ill children.

3. J.K. Rowling

Aside from her ridiculously popular series, J.K. Rowling is also known for her generosity. In fact, she wrote Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them as part of a two-book pair of Harry Potter schoolbooks. Proceeds have gone to Comic Relief, a charity that uses entertainment to help eliminate poverty.

4. Romance Novelist Nora Roberts

This bestselling author’s foundation, created in 1991, supports not only literacy but also the arts, children’s programs, and humanitarian efforts. The foundation donated time, money, and energy to working with libraries, museums, and theaters.

5. The Jonathan and Faye Kellerman Foundation

Jonathan Kellerman is not just a gifted suspense novelist; together, he and his wife have also formed a foundation that’s given grants to the Children’s Hospital of LA, the Boston Institute of Music, and the University of Southern California.

6. Dave Eggers

Known for his best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Eggers wrote What Is The What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, with proceeds going to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation. This foundation works to build schools, libraries, and community centers to create educational opportunities in South Sudan.

7. Isabel Allende

Allende seeks to empower women and created her foundation in honor of her daughter, who passed on at a young age. In remembrance of her daughter, who volunteered in Venezuela and Spain, Allende donates to organizations like the Global Fund for Women, in addition to Oritel, which offers human services to low income families.

Does an author you’re a fan of give back to charity? We’d love to hear about it! And don’t forget to contact us if you have a charity you’d like to be considered for Day It Forward. You can reach us at editorial@beyondwords.life with “Day it Forward” as the subject line.

Helping Without Harming: How to Be a Good Voluntourist

Say what you want about my generation, but millennials are some of the most generous people around. We want to help—we were born into a globalized world, and when we see our fellow woman and man overseas living in poverty or indignity, we’re overcome with the need to do something about it.

It’s that same global curiosity that tickles our itchy feet and flings us off into every corner of the world to study, work, and play way more than our parents did. When you mix our wanderlust with a generational desire to fix the world, you get voluntourism, a global trend whose name sounds like our two favorite things wrapped up in one neat package. But in this case, the whole can be less than the sum of its parts. If not carried out thoughtfully, voluntourism can do much more harm than good. Here are some things you should know about voluntourism and ethical volunteering.

Work to Empower, Not to Save

Sustainability is more than a tree-hugging buzzword: It should be the goal of absolutely every volunteer effort, because its absence usually leaves a community worse off than it was. The number one goal of any good volunteer project is capacity building: empowering communities to address their own needs by sharing expertise and effecting systemic changes.

Image via Pixabay under license CC0
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

Flying into Burkina Faso to help distribute purified drinking water definitely keeps a few people healthy for a day; but if you’re not there tomorrow, they’re going right back to the polluted well they were using before. Volunteer projects like this don’t address real systemic problems like water insecurity.

When projects like these are carried out by two-week tourists instead of vetted international organizations working with local governments, they run the risk of disrupting the local purified water industry. This can lead to industries collapsing from lack of demand, putting more people out of work and leaving them totally dependent on foreign aid organizations for clean drinking water.

Image via Pixabay under license CC0
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

But a volunteer project working with local universities and government organizations to produce affordable water purifiers, improve the city water treatment system, or provide financing and support for water technology startups has the total opposite effect. These kinds of projects empower local people to take control of their own drinking water and determine for themselves what kinds of initiatives will serve their communities best.

Image via Pixabay under license CC0
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

Even if you don’t know the first thing about water sanitation, you can still help out with great projects like these. Volunteering to help with social media awareness-spreading or fundraising for an organization like PureMadi, which works with the University of Venda in South Africa to produce sustainable water purifying technology, may not seem as sexy as personally handing out drinking water to the thirsty, but it gives you a chance to help permanently quench a community’s thirst.

water purification puremadi
Image courtesy of PureMadi

Are You Really Qualified to be Doing That?

There are broadly two kinds of volunteer roles we can serve in: skilled jobs and unskilled ones. Both carry important ethical concerns that you should consider before ever booking your trip.

Providing tuberculosis vaccinations in Uganda or teaching computer skills in a rural Nicaraguan school are fantastic ways of facilitating social change, but only if you’re actually qualified to do them. Skilled labor like this requires a particular kind of education and experience. If the extent of your medical experience is your two semesters of college bio classes, the fact that your passport comes from a country with fantastic hospitals doesn’t qualify you to be a doctor or a nurse in a developing country.

doctor helps children in africa
© Francovolpato | Dreamstime.comA Volunteer Female Doctor Visit An African Child Photo

On the other hand, unskilled labor is something most people can do with little training or technical knowledge. Be skeptical of simple construction, clean-up, or other manual labor projects: If anyone can do it, why do they need you? Are you a more talented trash-picker-upper than your neighbors in Haiti? In participating in these kinds of projects, you’ll usually be squashing employment opportunities for locals who could support their families with jobs like these.

If you’re still building your professional skills, look to programs that offer training tailored to the communities in which they work. WorldTeach, for example, offers year-long teaching placements that include initial and ongoing pedagogical training and support tailored to the needs and requests of the communities they work with.

woman teaching students
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

If you’re not ready to invest in a professional skill just yet, try offering some sustainable unskilled help. Voluntourism organizations like All Hands Volunteers let local governments and NGOs take the lead, and carefully screen incoming volunteers for sustainable long-term reconstruction projects after natural disasters. 

Don’t Be a “Poverty Pornographer”

Not objectifying people is about more than just not hurting someone’s feelings: Images of poverty and people in suffering have the power to either humanize and spread awareness and empathy or to dehumanize and promote debilitating stereotypes.

canon camera
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

It’s incredibly important to remember and be actively cognizant of the fact that the people you are helping are human beings first, and poor or disadvantaged second. Most people around the world daydream, laugh at good jokes, love their mothers, get frustrated with their homework, feel lonely at times, and aspire to be able to care for themselves, just like their neighbors in developed countries.

family laugh bali
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

Poverty porn is the use of images of poor people and poverty to encourage us to make a donation or otherwise use our superior position to “save” them. The problems with this approach are many: Not only is it literally using people to generate income for a foreign aid organization, but it also perpetuates the dangerous myth of the helpless poor person whose only hope lies in the charity of an empowered white Westerner.

Look for organizations whose imagery depict humans in dignified, human situations and in poses and settings that you wouldn’t mind being photographed in if you were in their place. It’s no coincidence that high-impact organizations like Cordaid also have excellent track records of using imagery that presents the people they work with as dignified human equals.

In 2016, if you’ve got a desire and an internet connection, you can help. There’s absolutely zero wrong with combining some volunteer work with your summer backpacking trip, or with picking a volunteer project that will boost your own professional or personal growth, as long as you do your research and ask yourself the right questions about your plans regarding voluntourism.

Image via Pixabay under license CC0
Image via Pixabay under license CC0

Whatever you do, don’t let bad voluntourist projects turn you off from volunteering altogether. Voluntourism exists because there’s a lot of good to be done in the world and, refreshingly, a lot of people out there who want to do it. If you’re one of those people, go out and see the world; and while you’re out there, make a thoughtful choice about how you can change it for the better.

Jane Goodall: the Woman Advocating for Endangered Species

“Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.”  -Jane Goodall

 

Jane Goodall is best known for decades of studying chimpanzees in Tanzania, during which time she revolutionized the way scientists see primates and other animal behavior. Goodall went on to become a champion for animal rights and sustainability.

Today, in her 80s, she’s still active , and the Jane Goodall Institute is involved in some amazing conservation efforts for both people and animals. Read on to learn about this inspiring woman, her active legacy, and how you can get involved.

 

Jane Goodall: A Short Biography

Goodall, with roots in England, has a love of animals which started at an early age from reading books like “Dr. Dolittle” and “Tarzan.”

Goodall’s passion for Africa eventually sent her to a friend’s farm in Kenya where she eventually corresponded with the famous archaeologist and palaeontologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Leakey needed a primate researcher, and decided someone with a fresh perspective outside of academia was needed. In 1960, when Jane was 26-years-old, she went to work in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania with Dr. Leakey.

It was there that Goodall’s dedication and passion as a researcher really stood out.  Back in those days, Goodall had only a notebook and a pair of binoculars. It took years of patience to gain the trust of the shy chimpanzees, but she emerged from the experience as the world’s foremost expert on primate behavior.

Without a strict scientific background, Goodall came to her research with truly unconventional methods for the day. She named the chimps, rather than numbering them, and closely observed the unique personalities of the animals. At the time, seeing personalities in animals was beyond the scientific doctrine. Yet Goodall observed all of it and used it to gain an inside view into the chimps’ social and behavioral structures.

Goodall is famously noted as saying, “It isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought [and] emotions like joy and sorrow.” Goodall picked up on hugs, kisses, tickling, and patting backs among the chimps pointing to the stark similarities primates share with humans, not just genetically, but behaviorally as well.  Further, she debunked the old scientific beliefs that only humans could use tools and that chimps were vegetarians.

“During the first 10 years of the study I had believed… that the Gombe chimpanzees were, for the most part, rather nicer than human beings,” said Goodall in her book “Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey.” “Then suddenly we found that chimpanzees could be brutal—that they, like us, had a darker side to their nature.” Previously undiscovered behavior like that is what marked Goodall’s career as one that had a huge influence in changing scientific fact.

In 1961, Goodall started studying for a Ph.D. in ethology from Cambridge University, and stood as the eighth person to study for a Ph.D. at the school without a bachelor’s degree. She graduated from the program in 1966.

As Chairman of The National Geographic Society Gilbert Grosvenor puts it, “Jane Goodall’s trail-blazing path for other women primatologists is arguably her greatest legacy…Indeed, women now dominate long-term primate behavioral studies worldwide.”

Yet Goodall’s work goes far beyond the field of primatology.

 

The living legacy of the Jane Goodall Institute

Goodall first established the institute in 1977. Since then, the institute has gone on to have one of the most comprehensive environmental activism approaches.

One major threat to chimpanzee populations is poachers looking for bushmeat, or meat that is from non-domesticated animals, which is treated as a delicacy in some cities. This can cause the spread of tropical diseases, which easily migrate from primates to humans. On top of that is the desire for chimpanzees as exotic pets, meaning many chimpanzee young are abducted after poachers kill their mothers.

The institute runs the Gombe Stream Research Center to continue studying the primates and offering a sustainable, safe habitat. The institute also helps orphaned primates through the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center. To spread knowledge about the threats to animal habitats, there are local billboard campaigns, school programs and community outreach.

Perhaps some of the most empowering work the Jane Goodall Institute does is to promote sustainable livelihoods. Programs in Africa help people live in such a way that does not damage primate habitats or require reliance on illegal bushmeat. One of the promoted efforts even involves supporting sustainable coffee production. Programs foster livelihoods that are not as dependent on exploiting natural resources, such as animal husbandry, tree nursery projects and permaculture.

The institute also helps women get access to education so that they can stay in school past puberty.

Visit The Jane Goodall Institution’s “Get Involved” page to donate.

 

Secondhand Hounds Rescues and Recuperates Animals on Death Row

In August of 2009, Rachel Mairose, huge and pregnant with hormones gone wild, founded Secondhand Hounds (SHH): a non-profit that scoops up cats and dogs that are on the “chopping block” at kill shelters around the United States.  A grassroots organization, SHH provides rescue animals with foster families, veterinary care, behavioral therapy, and daily necessities—while tirelessly beating the pavement to find them forever homes. “We don’t put a time limit on it [adoption],” Mairose said.  The proof: Snow White, a Pit bull whose ears were half-hacked off, entered the program in October of 2012 and is still waiting, almost four years later, to be adopted.

white pitbull
Snow White | Photo courtesy of Secondhand Hounds

Rescuing thousands of animals

Last year, the Minnesota-based organization rescued 2,400 animals, roughly 2,000 from out-of-state shelters and 400 from Minnesota.  Scouring Craigslist for $10 crates, raking in donation from events—the most popular being their 5K9 drawing in 3,000 runners—and receiving broken bags of food from stores like Target and Lakewind Co-Op, SHH only has to “buy food a few times per year,” which has allowed them to completely foot half a million dollars worth of medical bills, from clip and chip programs to tumor removals.

“We work with about four behaviorists in training facilities [who]…perform temperament testing,” Mairose said. SSH works with the University of Minnesota to repair heart murmurs. “That’s one of the things that no one really wants to touch, [but] it takes puppies [and kittens] from dying to having normal life expectancies.”

Providing comfort for terminal animals

The nonprofit also has a  great partnership with Mission Animal Hospital. “They’re the first non-profit veterinary office in the Midwest. [Luckily,] we share a building with them. They euthanize really sick animals [that are in our Hospice Program] in fosters’ homes, so the cat’s or dog’s last experience isn’t in a vet office where they’re scared, but in a home they’ve come to love.”

puppy kiss
Bernadette | Photo courtesy of Secondhand Hounds

SHH launched its Foster Program in the Spring of 2015 after taking in a 17-year-old Min Pin that “looked like the crypt keeper”.  Weighing around three pounds, Elvyn had scoliosis.  His bottom jaw had completely disintegrated into a flap of skin.  He also had skin and eyes issues and his nails were curling into his feet. “There was no way this dog could have walked five blocks in a year,” Mairose said. The vet gave him only two weeks to live.  After being placed with a foster family, though, Elvyn found the will to live again, thriving for seven months.  “It showed us what love can do for these dogs,” she said. “[Our] fosters are angelic. They’re willing to deal with the pee and the poop and the [never-ending] vet visits.” Approximately 40% of dogs and cats in SHH’s Hospice Foster Program become senior adoptable.

dog playing
Roo Roo | Photo courtesy of Secondhand Hounds

Nursing animals back to health

SHH’s Fighter Fund picks up the “hopeless” animal rescue cases, the ones that no other rescue can or will take on.  Mairose started the program in honor of Bernadette the English Bulldog who had Cerebellar Hypoplasia: a condition that causes jerking movements and uncontrollable tremors making walking difficult. Because of over-breeding, Bernadette’s trachea wasn’t growing with her body, so she suffocated. “It was really angering to see that this was happening to this little girl who had so much fight in her,” she said. “The Vets said, ‘There’s nothing we can do.’  It really showed me that I was willing to fight as hard as the animals.”

puppy
Bernadette | Photo courtesy of Secondhand Hounds

The Fighter Fund went on to help animals like Isabelle, a seven-month-old kitten shoved into a dryer and discovered with third-degree burns, and Gaia, a Pit Bull that lost half of its face after being thrown from a moving car.

german shepherd
Quasi the Great | Photo courtesy of Secondhand Hounds

The Fighter Fund’s mini-celebs are Quasi The Great, one of only 13 dogs living with Short Spine Syndrome, Roo Roo, a two-legged Terrier Mix, and Bella, a kitten with a botfly in her head. “It’s been so wonderful to say ‘Yes’ to practically every case because of donations,” Mairose said. “When people donate to a rescue at large, I don’t think they want their money going towards exhaustive resources. Three grand could really save several dogs…at spay and neuter. [However,] with the Fighter Fund…they can say, ‘This is my passion.’”

Bella before and after rescue animal
Bella, before and after | Photo courtesy of Secondhand Hounds

Helping animals and people, too

With an application and $10 “donation”, SHH also takes surrenders. Case in point: “The other day, a homeless woman came crying to us because her Pit Bull’s back legs gave out,” Mairose said.  She owed the vet a large sum of money, so he refused to look at her dog.  Desperate and unable to handle “being with him while he left this Earth”, she signed over her dog to SHH.  The organization rushed him to an animal hospital where vets told them that he had inoperable cancer. Heartbroken, the staff took him back to SHH.  They took turns laying with him on the floor until he crossed the “Rainbow Bridge” with dignity.  “That’s why we were put here.  Not only to help the animals but to help the people,” Mairose said.  “Seeing a woman that’s that desperate, upset, and out of options…to give her options. It’s super hard, but it’s worth it every time.”

Day it Forward – August 2016

We believe that every individual has the ability to make a difference in our world, and we want to give our readers a chance to bring attention to a cause that is important to them.

Every month, we will ask you to submit the charity of your choice (please send submissions to contact@beyondwords.life with “September Day it Forward” in the subject line). Tell us what the charity is about, why it is important to you, and anything else you feel is important to share with us.

Your submissions will be reviewed by bestselling author Sylvia Day and she will select one to personally contribute to for the month. The selected charity will be featured in the next month’s Day it Forward to bring more awareness to its cause and allow for readers of Beyond Words to donate as well.

The submission chosen for the month of August is the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors:

“The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) offers compassionate care to all those grieving the death of a loved one serving in our Armed Forces. Since 1994, TAPS has provided comfort and hope 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a national peer support network and connection to grief resources, all at no cost to surviving families and loved ones. TAPS has assisted over 60,000 surviving family members, casualty officers, and caregivers.”

Sylvia will be donating $2,000 to TAPS. You can donate, too, here.


If you would like to submit a charity to Day it Forward for the month of September, please send submissions by August 25th, 2016 to contact@beyondwords.life.

5 Community Organizations Fighting to End Homelessness

The San Francisco Chronicle together with a coalition of other San Francisco media outlets recently led a media blitz addressing the ever-present problem of homelessness in the Bay Area. The campaign immediately went viral in print and online, lighting up headlines in national newspapers and inspiring other communities across the U.S. to redouble their efforts in the search for solutions.

Homelessness is a human issue that affects all segments of society, coast to coast, urban, rural, and everything in between. Homeless Americans are not the fictional too-lazy-to-work deadbeats and dangerous addicts of TV and movies: They’re our mothers, sons, spouses, widows, teachers, soldiers, employees, and community members; and indeed many houseless men and women are members of communities who are demonstrably more vulnerable to poverty and exclusion.

In the midst of our renewed national outrage over the more than half a million men and women who sleep on the streets each night, let’s applaud the big names like United Way and the National Coalition for the Homeless for their tireless efforts to bring housing security to every American.

But let’s also remember the little guys, those defying their much humbler budgets and capacities to serve the groups most at risk of becoming homeless in the local communities we all call home across the country.

Here are five of those organizations.

 

Project Homeless Connect

In the city where the homelessness epidemic regularly makes headlines, Project Homeless Connect is striving to provide basic services and the overlooked necessities of daily life to the women and men of San Francisco living life without a roof over their heads.

Of the many organizations working to combat homelessness in the Bay Area, Project Homeless Connect stands out for its attention to human detail. Striving to offer “holistic care in a dignified setting,” PHC goes beyond the standard housing and job training services to offer everything from haircuts, to wheelchair repairs, to providing people with the opportunity to call friends and loved ones on the phone. Neglected health and mistreatment of the body and the emotions are obstacles to finding employment and stability, and PHC’s success shows that paying attention to these details pays off.

project homeless connect
Photo courtesy of Project Homeless Connect.

If you live in the Bay Area, you can volunteer a few hours of your time to anything from assembling personal hygiene kits to participating in outreach walks; or you can make a monetary donation here.

 

Lost-n-Found Youth

Lost-n-Found Youth in Atlanta, Georgia is working to rescue the hearts and lives of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youths who together make up 40% of the nation’s homeless youth population.

Their 24-hour hotline is available to youths in all situations, and their six-bed, 90-day housing facility does its best to ease LGBT adolescents’ transition as they cope with fleeing or being forced out of their homes, placing teens and young adults in host homes until they’re able to support themselves. Alongside these services, Lost-n-Found works to provide clothing and food for young people stuck on the street, as well as mental health counseling and assistance recovering vital documents like birth certificates and ID cards that are too often withheld by families and present obstacles to gaining employment.

Lost-n-Found is currently seeking to triple their transitional housing capacity in order to serve more of the young people who find themselves feeling lost and discarded in the streets. You can make a donation to the cause; or if you live in the Atlanta area, volunteer a few hours of your time to empower young people and assure them that it does get better.

 

5 Star Veterans Center

Since 2012, the Five Star Veterans Center has been working to get homeless veterans in the Jacksonville, Florida area “mentally and physically healthy enough to return to work, reunite with families, and regain control of their own lives.”

Many veterans return from deployment to find insufficient healthcare structures in place for issues like PTSD and the physical disabilities that often prevented them from finding employment. Five Star Veterans Center seeks to combat this with its two residence programs: the Passport to Independence program and a mental health counseling initiative, both laid out in detail on their website. Their approach seeks to provide our veterans with safe housing, meals, and assistance obtaining VA benefits and medical care while also offering mental health and job training services to help them to return to work.

veterans
“A child of a New York area Coast Guard service member waves the American Flag while marching in New York City’s Veterans Day Parade, Nov. 11, 2013.” Photo by DVIDSHUB via Flickr under CC BY 2.0.

Five Star Veterans Center is a young organization funded primarily by individual donations, which you can make here. Jacksonville area residents can also volunteer their time in roles ranging from fundraising to computer assistance.

 

A Child’s Place

Too often, children in families experiencing homelessness watch their grades plummet and eventually drop out of school, lacking the stable support structure necessary for learning and a good education. A Child’s Place wants to change that reality for children in the Charlotte, North Carolina area.

A Child’s Place’s mission is “to erase the impact of homelessness on children and their education,” seeing this as one of the best intervention points for making real strides against homelessness. To make this investment in their community, the organization provides food, school supplies, and other necessities to minimize interruptions to the child’s life in the midst of an experience with homelessness, while also working with families to help them gain employment and housing.

If you want to invest in ending homelessness by ensuring all children get an education, you can donate here, or volunteer your time with A Child’s Place in their Charlotte office.

 

Michigan Ability Partners

Up to a quarter of men, women, and children living on the streets are mentally or physically disabled, left to struggle untreated or undiagnosed on sidewalks and back alleys. Michigan Ability Partners is working to support this population in southeast Michigan by creating opportunities for disabled persons and other at-risk groups like veterans in the area.

Aside from traditional housing support and services, MAP offers services like its Transitional Work Program and social enterprise work initiatives, which provide the men and women they work with with an income while building the crucial work experience that many have never had the opportunity to gain. MAP also maintains a vocational program to assist with job placement, and permanent supported housing to disabled persons struggling to escape chronic homelessness.

homelessness
Photo by Helen Taylor via Flickr under CC BY-NC 2.0.

To support Michigan Ability Partners in offering inclusive and empowering services, you can make a donation here, or learn about volunteering your time or supplies here.

 

Interested in learning more about homelessness in the United States and what you can do about it? Take a few minutes to read up on the 10 most essential stories from the San Francisco media blitz and what’s been learned from them. You can also take a hands-on approach by making homeless helper bags, or browse through the national directory of organizations working against homelessness to find out how you can start making an impact in your home community.