Run As One for FCAHT

Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking is teaming up with the World Run Day event on November 8, 2009 to raise money for their organization. Donations will help pay for services for victims and for increasing awareness of human trafficking issues through training and education.

This annual event asks runners worldwide to run any distance (1 mile, 5K, 10K, Marathon, etc.) and make a charity donation directly to their favorite charity. This year make your charity donation to FCAHT and support the effort to end sex and labor trafficking. Human trafficking involves the coercion or force of people-mainly women and children-into sex and labor exploitation & slavery. This horrific crime exploits the most vulnerable individuals in our society. FCAHT works tirelessly to increase awareness of this crime and provide community training, outreach and most importantly, critical services to victims. Your donation helps with emergency assistance and basic needs like food, shelter, and medical services for victims and allows FCAHT to continue increasing awareness through public education on the subject of human trafficking.

I am organizing Run As One for FCAHT and actively participating too! If you want to join our group of runners supporting FCAHT for an informal 5K run on Sunday morning at 9:00 am, meet us at Fort Myers Beach, FL. Email at shellie@advancingnonprofits.com if you have any questions. Remember, you can run anywhere in the world and be a part of this event, simply make your donation on behalf of Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking and start training. You can also simply support the FCAHT runners by making a donation on their behalf! Make donations by using the widget on this page or check out the FCAHT Firstgiving page. Learn more about World Run Day at www.runday.com.

Support Born2Fly International

A fundraiser is going on right now to provide the final funding needed for educational materials that will be delivered around the world to schools, parents, children, and others that will assist the prevention of child sex trafficking. A one day fundraiser for Born2Fly International on 09-09-09 asks 9000 people to give $9 towards this effort. These donations will allow the final product to be completed and distributed around the world. The event's coordinator, Diana Scimone has been revealing fantastic prizes each day on her blog leading up to the event that all individuals who donate prior to 09-09-09 or on this day will be eligible to win. Simply click on the widget on this page to donate or check out the 09-09-09 fundraising site for more information.

Born2Fly International is a nonprofit organization that is determined to stop child trafficking. The organization has taken a unique approach to combating this horrific problem by creating educational materials for teachers, parents, and children around the world about the dangers of human trafficking and about how children and families can make wise choices to prevent being lured into dangerous situations by predators. One aspect of the project is a wordless book that doesn't have to be translated into several different languages but can be used with a companion curriculum to be distributed to NGOs, schools, and other community organizations worldwide.

Diana Scimone is the Founder and Director of Born2Fly. Diana is a journalist who has traveled to more than 4o countries around the world and created Born2Fly as a response to some of the most critical needs she saw affecting the world's children in places like Sudan, China, Zimbabwe and others. Support Born2Fly's efforts on 09-09-09 with $9 (or more) and be a part of something big. Be a part of a movement to build a safer world for children by giving them access to safety education in an effort to prevent one more child from victimization by a human trafficking predator.

Let it Shine India.

In an effort to promote diverse, peaceful, and creative global community through travel, art, and education, Outside the Box is offering an opportunity to enjoy Indian art, food, and culture-- all for a good cause-- during two events this week. Indian artist Subrata Gangopadhyay is widely known as one of India's leading painters in modern realistic tradition. The artist lives and works in Kolkata, India. Outside the Box will first be hosting an event devoted entirely to India and its arts, with special guest artist Subrata Gangopadhyay.

Outside the Box will be hosting the accomplished artist here in southwest Florida at the end of his US tour. He is a member of India’s Artist Circle which promotes and develops art and culture in India, including paintings, sculptures, and different forms of traditional and modern art.

The first event includes a three hour workshop based on acrylic painting. The workshop is geared for adults and mature youths of all levels of proficiency and will be held Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 from 5:30-8:30pm at Outside the Box Studio, 1610 Trade Center Way, Suite #4 in North Naples off Airport Road.

The week's second event will be the “Let it Shine India” dinner party. This is part of a series of festive happenings designed to help raise funds for our adopted projects around the world such as Deepalaya who supports education for children living in poverty in India. Deepalaya is a non-government development organization working on issues affecting the urban and rural poor, with special focus on children. Deepalaya works in the urban slums of Delhi and has made inroads into the rural areas of Haryana and Uttarakhand. Deepalaya is dedicated to increasing access to education for all children and promoting equality for children of all genders, backgrounds, and abilities.

The Let it Shine event will introduce guests to the fabulous tastes and flavors of Indian cuisine courtesy of two special guest chefs:

- Chef Krishna Bhattacharya will prepare and serve the vegetarian dishes of India

- Raw Food Chef and Wellness Expert Bethany Tait will serve samples of raw Indian food

All proceeds from the event will go to our adopted schools in India, Deepalaya in New Delhi.

The Let it Shine event will be held on Saturday, July 25th, 2009 at 6:30-9:30pm at Outside the Box Studio. The cost is $35 for one person, $60 for two, and $75 for three. Register online at www.outsidethebox-studio.com or call Lulu at 239-272-6152 for details.

As a bonus, register for the workshop on Wednesday and you attend the Let it Shine Dinner Event on July 25th for free!

Increasing Awareness in Florida

Florida Coalition Against Human Slavery (FCAHT) is a non-profit organization based in southwest Florida that provides services to human trafficking victims throughout the entire state. The organization also provides training and outreach to a variety of service providers, law enforcement, faith based organizations, healthcare providers, schools, universities and more. Training and outreach topics include defining human trafficking, how to identify victims, and information about victim services to name just a few.

FCAHT has built coalitions to combat human trafficking and utilized public awareness campaigns to improve community response to modern day slavery issues and traumatized victims. The accompanying video was developed through a partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University students who created the public service announcement.

Take some time to help Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking spread awareness by educating yourself. View their website at www.stophumantrafficking.com.

Drumming for Africa

I wanted to use this weeks post to promote another unique and creative event at Outside the Box Studio in Naples, Florida.

Outside the Box Studio is hosting a great event on Saturday June 20th from 4-6 pm. This is a great way to view the studio, have some fun, and all proceeds go to one of the studio's sponsored schools in Africa. An invitation from Outside the Box Director, Lulu Carter is posted below. Please take this opportunity to check this amazing place out!! You can RSVP at 272-6152 or info@outsidethebox-studio.com to guarantee your spot.

Invitation to All:

Next Monday my husband and partner Adam Carter is traveling to Ghana (Africa) to organize an educational program for 600 students from Semester at Sea (University of Virginia).

During his trip he will be visiting one of Outside The Box’s adopted villages – Togome, outside of Accra on the Volta River. There he will deliver art supplies to a very special and needy elementary school.

Share our energy from 4:00 to 6:00 PM at our studio to collect donations for this project.

The workshop is for all ages, we will be playing drums, so bring yours! We will be dancing African dance, painting and writing letter to our fellow friends from Togome Village. Adam promised to take lots of picture while he is Africa with the children and sharing stories about our studio to them so we can all feel part of this beautiful global community.

The workshop is $10 per person or $20 per family.

Tell your friends and families and let’s celebrate Mother Africa!

Thanks,

Lulu Carter

Director
Outside The Box- Studio

www.outsidethebox-studio.com

Online Campaigns to End Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is one of the largest illegal money makers in the world mostly affecting women & children. The sad reality is that you can make more money off exploiting one person or child than selling one illegal gun or drugs, because  you can sell the human being over and over and over again. According to the F.B.I., in the United States alone, 300,000 children are being trafficked for sex each year. The numbers reported by UNICEF are 1.2 million children worldwide. The numbers and the stories are horrifying.  

Thankfully, there are amazing organizations working to end modern day slavery through spreading awareness, education, case management, rehabilitation, & rescue. In addition, several have instituted clever campaigns to raise funding to support their work. Born 2 Fly used the $10 x 10k Campaign encouraging donors to contribute just $10 to provide educational materials to at-risk children worldwide. While the campaign was running, donations could be made through the website or mailed. You can still make a donation through their website. Recently Transitions Global launched a new campaign to support their goal of building housing for victims of human trafficking. The effort is called the Buck Up Campaign and asks people to make a minimum donation of $1 to change 1 life.

If you have a dollar to spare, you can't give it to a more worthy cause than ending human trafficking and exploitation.  Check out the sites for yourself and if you work for a non-profit, consider an online campaign for your own organization.

The Kiva Community

I received my first re-payment back from Azerbaijan today. For Christmas this year my husband, daughters and I decided to make a loan to a member of Kiva. We chose to support a woman from Azerbaijan who operates a small farm with her husband and three children. The entire loan was $1200 to purchase more cattle to increase her earnings and her family's quality of life. Forty-one individual donations were made from strangers all across the world to achieve the total loan amount for this entrepreneur. All the money will be repaid within 15 months.

Kiva is something different. It allows individuals to lend money to other individuals in developing countries for a wide range of projects leading to empowerment and alleviating poverty. It feels like you are really making a difference and I guess part of it is because you can, to use lending terms, track your "return on investment" as you read accounts of the person's activities and progress and watch the loan repayment. You can reinvest your money after repayment of the loan by supporting a new person with a new project, or of course, you can put the money back in your pocket. Microlending is just a new way of looking at giving.

Joining the Kiva community provides a close connection between lender and entrepreneur. Kiva posts profiles of each entrepreneur that describes them and their project. Being part of Kiva feels like a group effort-it is. Kiva does a really great job of creating a community of lenders. You can even join a lending group and journals are posted from entrepreneurs who give personal accounts of how they are using your money.

Non-profits can learn something when considering their next campaign to raise money; take a look at Kiva. Use the idea of creating an online community effort to bring people together to support a cause. I've seen the model work for fundraisers & special events much like the lending program-donors just don't get their money back-but seeing & hearing about results of their support may encourage future participation. Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc. has used this strategy with a Facebook campaign NoFood4You by inviting people to participate in their hunger awareness campaign. More people working together gets results faster. The more the merrier!