Firefighter Challenge 2022

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By M. MarksPosted In: Charity Activity, Family

This year’s annual Firefighter Challenge event took place over the weekend in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The fundraiser began with a relay on Friday night, and continued with individual competitions on Saturday, attracting over 250 people. Team competitions were scheduled for Sunday. Over $85,000 has already been raised for the Grand Rapids Fire Department Fire Prevention Foundation, which will go toward smoke detectors and other safety measures to keep locals safe.

The event brought in firefighters from over 1,300 miles away. Organizers reported that the Firefighter Challenge is also an opportunity for people to learn more about the work firefighters do, and even recruit interest. By the end of Saturday, over a dozen attendees were considering the line of work.

What do the competitions at the event actually look like? The purpose is to simulate real life scenarios. In one timed course, the participants carried a bunch of heavy hoses while climbing up five flights of stairs. They then returned downstairs to the street, broke through a door, and lugged a water hose through the doorway, spraying at the target. In the last stage, the firefighters simulated the rescue of a trapped person, pulling a 175-pound man to the finish line 100 feet away.

In addition to the competitions aimed at firefighters, the Firefighter Challenge is also designed to attract families. There are a variety of fun activities for children, such as the Kid’s Challenge Course and others which promote fire safety. An array of dining options are offered, including food trucks and a beer tent.

If you missed this year’s Firefighter Challenge, be sure to check back in a few months to see where next year’s event will be held!

Bill Gates Donates $20 Billion to Foundation

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By JohnPosted In: Charity Activity, Charity in BusinessTagged: ,

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the world’s largest and most impactful philanthropies. Even after the divorce of the couple in May 2021, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates agreed to continue to co-chair the foundation together for a two-year trial period. Both of them have also publicized their intentions to give over the majority of their wealth to the philanthropy.

On Wednesday, Bill Gates announced in a blog post that he is transferring $20 billion to the endowment of the foundation. He explained that the foundation will increase its spending from $6 billion per year prior to the pandemic to $9 billion by the end of 2026. The movement of funds and extra expenditure is due to increased needs in many areas, despite the worst of COVID being over. The foundation supports a wide range of causes, including global health, education, climate change, gender quality, and more.

According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, Bill Gates currently ranks as the world’s fourth-richest person, with a net worth of about $114 billion. In his blog post, he wrote: “I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for improving lives.” He asserted that, with time, he will move down on the list of the world’s richest people until he is eventually off the list altogether.

The dedication of Bill Gates, and of the foundation he and his ex-wife started over 20 years ago, is encouraging and important in current times. As Gates concluded in his blog post, “I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too.”

Walking for a Purpose

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By DouglasPosted In: Charity Activity, Childrens Charities

Tony Cunningham has a mission. He has pledged to walk 10 miles a day throughout the year 2022. He is also a 72-year-old great-grandfather who has recovered from a quadruple heart bypass. Being the determined man that he is, the Coventry, England native is walking to raise funds for Molly Ollys, a children’s charity based in Warwickshire.

With 2,500 miles already under his belt, Cunningham is currently 450 miles beyond his halfway target. He has been starting his laps in Memorial Park at 5:00 AM daily, without fail. To this date, he has raised over £4500 for Molly Ollys to be used to support kids suffering from life-threatening illnesses.

According to Cunningham, the toughest part of this endeavor has been getting through the winter months. With floods hitting the city hard in January, he was cold and wet. There were days he questioned his ability to achieve his goal but always gathered the strength to continue. He explained: “It suddenly dawned on me what a mammoth challenge I’d set myself, but a guy who was jogging the opposite way suddenly stopped in his tracks and just started applauding me. I felt quite emotional at that moment and it gave me a mental boost to carry on.”

Tony Cunningham is scheduled to complete his final walk on New Year’s Eve.

Neil Cole and The Candie’s Foundation

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By JohnPosted In: Charity Activity

It’s obviously important and impactful when anyone creates a charitable organization that aims to help others. It’s even more impactful when it’s a well known branding executive and founder of Iconix Brand Group, Neil Cole. Neil Cole, as the founder, and former Chairman and CEO of Iconix Brand Group understands working with licensing, branding and public relations. He understands how to get ideas from infancy to action, and he knows how to bring a message to people that will be impactful.

Neil Cole
Neil Cole

For these reasons, his creation of The Candie’s Foundation in 2001 managed to reach millions of teenagers and to have a lasting impact. This foundation, started by Neil Cole formerly of Iconix Brand Group, worked with well-known celebrities to get messages about teen pregnancy to the right audience. With participation from such heavy-hitters as Hilary Duff, Hayden Panettiere, Ciara, Bristol Palin and many others, The Candie’s Foundation has influenced teen culture and behavior through education. They have been able to explain the consequences of teenage pregnancy.

And the research has shown that Neil Cole’s vision is making a difference. Teen girls who were exposed to The Candie’s Foundation have been more likely to view teen pregnancy and parenthood as stressful and negative and believe that their peers should wait longer to have sex than those who haven’t been exposed to the foundation.

Such organizations, and the efforts put in by people like Neil Cole, can really make a difference in the lives and the futures of American teens.

Young Author Inspires and Fundraises with Anti-Bullying Book

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By DouglasPosted In: Childrens Charities, EducationTagged:

In Toronto, there is a young author with a mission to impact how kids grow up.

Twelve-year-old Shreya Gupta has published two books which focus on young students’ overcoming bullying in school. After the release of her most recent book earlier this year, she decided to donate all proceeds to charity.

The organization she chose is called Kids Help Phone. It is an e-resource available 24/7 for guidance through mental health issues, abuse, and bullying. Trained professionals are available to the youth at all times via phone or text.

Shreya Gupta’s first book, Flamingo Feet, tells the story of a young ballet dancer who is compelled to drop out of a competition after being verbally ridiculed by a peer. Her new book, The Flip Side, describes the experience of a young girl who is cyberbullied after moving to a new school.

A victim of school bullying herself, Gupta was inclined to write these books to raise awareness and is happy to make a difference by supporting Kids Help Phone.

Gupta is pleased that her own school in Toronto has been making strides in dealing with bullying and its impact. There are now mental health clubs offered and assemblies that focus on these matters. She explained, “In our diverse community, everyone can feel welcome there, and it’s a really important topic which we have to talk about.”

In an effort to inspire others, Shreya Gupta encourages young people everywhere to make a difference in any way they can: “You don’t have to write a book to make a difference. Organizing a fundraiser, spreading awareness, or raising money for charity are things that people of all ages can do.”

As Shreya Gupta has demonstrated, if you have an idea that can change our world for the better, go for it!

Lending A Helping Hand

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By JohnPosted In: Childrens Charities, HealthTagged:

It’s amazing what people can accomplish when they are truly dedicated – regardless of their age or training.

Two Miami senior high school students have successfully developed prosthetic hands for children in Haiti. The twin brothers, Jonathan and David Tamen, came up with the idea two years ago, and quickly turned their vision into a reality. The boys started a nonprofit called Helping Hands MB and recruited others in their school along the way.

The parts are designed by e-NABLE, an online engineering charity. The organization trained David on how to print and assemble the prosthetic hands, making him the Helping Hands engineer. His brother Jonathan explains, “The biggest challenge with actually assembling the devices is you have to be very precise. It is a medical instrument.” David explains that the prosthetic hand is split into many 3-D models, and each is downloaded and printed individually. After an average of about 18 hours, the parts are finished being printed. With the assistance of the Miami Beach Senior High’s 3D Printing Club, the raw plastic parts are joined together to create the prosthetics. This process usually takes about six hours for each prosthetic hand and forearm. The group of students, with participants from all grades, meet every other week to pursue this project. Although Jonathan and David are graduating at the end of the year, the 3D Printing Club plans to continue meeting.

After production and assembly are complete, the next step is transferring the devices to their users. One shipment of prosthetic hands is already on the way to Haiti, with more planned to be sent in the future.

Despite all the challenges involved, the Tamen twins are proud of what they’ve accomplish and learned along the way. The brothers hope their creations will make everyday tasks easier for disabled children.

Balloon Wonderland Facilitates Charity Funds

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By JohnPosted In: Charity ActivityTagged:

During the Covid-19 pandemic, people were forced to find creative ways to celebrate events and each other. One method that became quite popular was decorating yards with balloons and other festive adornments.

In Vincennes, Indiana, balloon décor was recently used to spread joy in a larger capacity. Sixty-five professional balloon artists from five countries and 22 different states worked for days to create a “Candy Wonderland” to support United Way of Knox County. This was the first Big Balloon Build to take place in the US, with all previous events of its kind hosted within the UK. Big Balloon Build offers a fun and unique platform for local charitable organizations to promote their causes and raise awareness.

Jennifer Nyikos, owner of Fun by the Yard, was one of the local professionals asked to participate in the Big Balloon Build in Vincennes. She and her colleagues used more than 125,000 balloons to create a utopia of ice cream cones, candy clouds, and sweet treats across two full-size gyms. She reminisced, explaining that it took the team 10 hours of work over three days to construct the magical Candyland of inflatables. “It was exhausting but great memories,” she confirmed.

Thanks to sponsors and events, the United Way of Knox County successfully raised over $130,000. Funds collected from various aspects of the event will be used to match donations from the Lilly Corporation, supporting some its impact projects, including Kindergarten Jump Start, Bedtime in a Box, Charity Tracker Network, Homeless Task Force, and more.

London FoodCycle to Open Six New Locations

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By DouglasPosted In: Family, PovertyTagged:

With the cost of living rising across England, more citizens are finding themselves in need of basic necessities. Unfortunately, an increasing number of residents are finding it impossible to provide their families with three meals a day.

FoodCycle is a London-based organization that offers meals on a weekly basis to whomever needs. Their 11 centers across the capital work to transform surplus groceries into three-course vegetarian meals. Thanks to a generous grant of £174,800 from City Trust Bridge charity funder, FoodCycle plans to expand its service by opening six new centers over the next year. The goal is to feed over 4,000 people in 30 districts within London by 2024. The organization estimates it will be using more than 126,000kg of surplus groceries – that is the equivalent of the weight of 25 African elephants!

In addition to providing the physical sustenance needed for survival, the support offered by FoodCycle goes much further. Tom Osborne, FoodCycle Trusts and Foundations Manager, explains: “Our meals help our guests eat more healthily, try new foods and save money. They also have a really important benefit of helping people feel less lonely and more connected with their community by coming together in a safe space and making new friends.”

Given the help of volunteers and the team at FoodCycle, thousands of people are able to continue their daily lives knowing their physical needs will be met encompassed by a support system.

Riding the Waves for Charity

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By DouglasPosted In: Charity ActivityTagged: , ,

Two experienced New Zealand surfers have decided to use their talent to raise funds for a local surf therapy charity. Felix Hirling and David Seidel have set out on their surfboards on March 25, with plans to paddle their way from Mayor Island to Mount Maunganui Main Beach over two weeks.  They hope to meet their fundraising target of $6,000 for Live for More, a surf therapy program that works to free adolescent men of detrimental past experiences and empower them to live fulfilling lives.

The idea came about after David had ventured out on a similar mission last year, only the goal then was to test his personal limits. He paddled across Cook Straight on his long board surfboard. Felix was very inspired by David’s ability to push his physical and mental limits, and suggested undertaking a similar challenge for charity.

Over some time, the idea grew on David and the pair searched for an appropriate organization to support. “Live for More fits in perfectly with our values,” David said. Felix added, “We’ve been surfing together for about 20 years, so it is really cool to be able to give back promoting something we are so passionate about.”

Shortly after their scheduled return sometime before April 8, Felix and David will also host a raffle to benefit Live for More. There will be over $1500 worth of prizes donated by Maunganui businesses, with the drawings planned to take place on April 15.

To follow Felix and David’s journey, follow their Facebook page, A Mayor Paddle.

Beyond the Coffee Beans

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By JohnPosted In: Charity in BusinessTagged: , , , ,

As part of its Origin Grants program, Starbucks Corporation has invested over $14 million in nonprofits that help women and girls around the world. The company has just announced its goal to support an additional one million by 2030, largely focusing on communities that grow coffee, tea, and cocoa. One of its pilot programs includes working with women entrepreneurs in rural areas of Guatemala, in conjunction with the Wakami Foundation. The goal is to guide them to recruit their peers and produce top-notch marketable items that could potentially be sold globally. They are also developing plans which will use their agricultural backgrounds to raise and export new products.

Michelle Burns, Starbucks Executive Vice President of Global Coffee, Tea, and Cocoa and nonprofit Board Member, explains the rationale behind the project: “We have a vision to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all…[that] goes beyond farmers and farm workers to also supporting the well-being of all those in coffee communities, helping everyone thrive.” She and the Starbucks team are proud of the opportunities women and girls are being given to engage in leadership within their communities which can significantly impact their futures.