Grassroots.org

Don’t miss the technology and nonprofit news that everyone’s buzzing about. From the super-useful to the sort of weird, we round up the week’s most retweeted stories every Friday.

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Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Often running more than one mission-driven program, nonprofits would agree that assistance for their own organizations is hard to come by, but very rewarding when they do receive it. Here's a karma-filled story from Heaven's Helpers, one of our latest nonprofit member organizations.

Since February 2007, Heaven’s Helpers has been committed to providing a hand to those facing a crisis or extreme poverty. We recycle clothes, linens, household items and furniture and donate them to clients referred to us by social services agencies, churches and schools.

One of our current projects is a program for kids and teens called “Got Your Back”. All children and adolescents who have been removed from their homes due to fire, natural disaster, domestic violence, or were placed into foster care receive a backpack filled with clothes, underwear, pajamas, a book, and a stuffed animal.

We are also launching a program for women returning to the workforce and unable to afford interview clothes. Each participant receives one interview-appropriate outfit, including purse, shoes and other accessories. After she successfully finds a job, she is given four additional work appropriate outfits.

We received our own donation and help through the Grassroots.org Toolbox, Heaven’s Helpers was able to create a manageable site using the web builder and through collaborating with Southeastern Louisiana University’s web design students. This partnership gave students hands-on experience with designing a professional website, and we look forward to using more resources and collaborating to further develop our online fan base!

Visit our site to find more information!

Jenice Heiman
Volunteer Director
heavens.helpers@hotmail.com

Don’t miss the technology and nonprofit news that everyone’s buzzing about. From the super-useful to the sort of weird, we round up the week’s most retweeted stories every Friday.

Want these updates in real time? Follow us on Twitter.

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Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As one of our African nonprofit members, HOPE Children's Foundation Africa is educating Ugandan youth as well as the online community with their site. Read their guest post below to find out how.

Hope Children's Foundation Africa is a charitable organization in the Kawempe Division of Kampala, Uganda. Our vision is to support the health, education and safety of the orphans, widows and other vulnerable groups in surrounding communities. We also have an international team working hard to ensure the charity extends support to African communities in Canada and the UK.

HCAF's most popular program is the Education Support Program that assists children in these African communities. Most families in Kawempe face extreme poverty, and there is a high level of HIV/AIDS. We believe every child has a right to an education, because through basic education families are empowered to improve their quality of life and develop their communities. HCFA assists children of Kawempe by sponsoring their entire educational experience. We currently have 100 children participating in our Education Support Program, and 79 of them are attending school and being supported with other free scholastic needs. We’re working on finding sponsorships for the remaining 21 children in our program. A donation of $60 sponsors one child through an entire semester of education (4 months), including school fees, materials, uniforms and school meals.

Grassroots.org's Toolbox provided us an opportunity to present our work online, which essentially educates and attracts potential supporters worldwide. Most recently, we connected with a Grassroots.org volunteer to help design a website for our new volunteer initiative that aims to match our own volunteers at work sites all over Uganda.

We extend our thanks to the Grassroots.org team for the wonderful services they are providing to our communities!

Ochieng Kennedy, Vice-chairman
Catherine Oliver, Project Manager
HOPE Children's Foundation Africa
www.hcfafrica.org

Launched by Grassroots.org, Faces of Change is a series of videos that highlight how individuals are contributing to change in their communities. Our latest video is from:

Rhonda G. Mincey is the Founder and President of Made 2B MoreSM, an organization that exists to help girls reach their full potential through workshops, conferences and books. She is a speaker, author, and mother to three teenagers. She has been a panelist for various topics, including the One Million Mentors Campaign, with nationally syndicated radio host, Michael Basiden. Rhonda is a 2006 L'Oreal Women of Worth Award, finalist, and a recipient of the prestigious 2006 TBS Pathfinders Award for community service. In her spare time, she loves to travel and write poetry.

For more information, please visit Made 2B More. Inc website

Launched by Grassroots.org, Faces of Change is a series of videos that highlight how individuals are contributing to change in their communities. Our latest video is from:

Tonya Kurtova, a volunteer for Advita Fund USA, grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was there where she studied biology/immunology at St. Petersburg State University. During her practice in leukemia diagnostics at Pavlov State Medical University, she witnessed first-hand the challenges that Russian cancer patients face: from lack of medications and supplies, to widespread infections and financial struggles. Upon her graduation, Tonya had a chance to come to the US in 2007 to continue her studies. She worked as a researcher for Leukemia Department at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and is currently pursuing graduate degree in biomedical sciences. Tonya’s long-term goal is to become a translational biology researcher to bridge the bench and bedside for novel cancer therapeutics.

Tonya became one of the first volunteers of Advita Fund USA once it was established in the US. Advita Fund USA works closely with AdVita fund in Russia, which supports the same patients Tonya had been helping as a young immunology student. For Tonya, it is a chance to use her education and knowledge to help Russian patients get access to the latest cancer treatments unavailable at home by arranging for consultations with medical experts and helping find matching clinical trials or other treatment options.

As Henry Ford once said: “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success”. Tonya believes that her professional and personal attitude in helping cancer patients as a volunteer for AdVita Fund USA will help in bringing a real change to many cancer patients in Russia.

For more information, please visit Advita Fund USA website

Our latest video is a thoughtful theory of how change comes from within the family structure. Watch as Alim Muhammed lists the steps it takes to make some real shifts as he uses sports to reach the youth in the Los Angeles area.

Alim Muhammed was born in Los Angeles, CA and currently a single father of his daughter Sumayyah and son Ayinde. In 1994, Alim founded Smiley’s Bookstore in Carson, CA. Immediately after launching the store, he self-published the “Science of 7” in 1995. Alim is a motivational speaker, health consultant and metaphysician with 30 years of experience working with inner-city youth in LA. Most recently, he formed the nonprofit, 3-D Sports Academy, which uses sports as a tool to reach the family structure by placing an athlete in a unique sports environment that provides skills beyond the athletic world. Along with his work at 3-D Sports Academy, Alim also published “The Spiritual and Mental Dimensions of Basketball” that same year.

Email Alim Muhammed for more information on 3-D Sports Academy!

Don’t miss the technology and nonprofit news that everyone’s buzzing about. From the super-useful to the sort of weird, we round up the week’s most retweeted stories every Friday.

Want these updates in real time? Follow us on Twitter.

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Photo via WeFunction.com.