Los Angeles, CA. The Ian Somerhalder Foundation is giving a $1 million donation to the Jane Goodall Institute. Dr. Jane Goodall has been one of the world’s foremost advocates in ape conservation and species conservation at large for the last 6 decades, traveling the world to educate people on the importance of conservation and taking positive action. Ian Somerhalder is an actor known for playing is work in the TV dramas Lost and The Vampire Diaries. He’s also a United Nations Global Goodwill Ambassador who founded the ISF for helping the environment and its living things for the better. This donation, announced in May, is a symbol of both organizations’ shared goal of improving the wellbeing of Earth’s ecosystems.
Here’s a video about the big donation:
The donation will provide the Jane Goodall Institute with resources to expand their Roots and Shoots program, which teaches conservation skills to around 700,000 people across more than 50 countries, and their programs to rehabilitate orphaned chimpanzees and protect chimpanzee environments across the world. JGI will also be able to work on more grassroots projects with local communities interested in conservation. Such projects will focus on sustainable living, agro-forestry, environmental education, and will therefore be able to simultaneously improve their lives and the world around them.
More about the Ian Somerhalder Foundation:
The purpose of the Foundation is to advance science; promote the conservation of natural resources, such as forests, lands, and wildlife, for the benefit of the entire community; provide relief to the poor, distressed, and underprivileged; and support other organizations conducting activities under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is a global community conservation organization founded by Dr. Goodall in 1977. By protecting chimpanzees and inspiring action to conserve the natural world we all share, we improve the lives of people, animals, and the environment.
Los Angeles, CA. Big Sunday is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles. Founded in 1999, it is responsible for an annual community service event in Los Angeles, also called “Big Sunday”, which has grown from its beginnings as a “Mitzvah Day” at a local Jewish temple to become the largest such community service event in the United States. This summer, Big Sunday is hosting three outdoor shows with live music at its headquarters in Melrose. Guests can get an admission ticket by bringing non-perishable food items, new socks or underwear, new footwear, or hygiene products. Food and drinks will be available for purchase. All of these donations will be received by youth facing housing insecurities or families that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Backlot Summer Concert on June 25th. Picture provided by Big Sunday.
On June 25th, Big Sunday hosted a live music and drag show in honor of Pride Month. The organization partnered with LA Pride to create Pride Makes A Difference. For the entire month of June, Big Sunday and LA Pride focused on creating events that benefitted the Los Angeles community, through volunteering, donations, and so much more. There are two more Backlot Summer Nights coming up, on July 23rd and August 13th. These events are art shows with live music.
Backlot Summer Concert on June 25th. Picture provided by Big Sunday.
Big Sunday’s Summer List for 2021, titled the “Summer of Love.”
There are also other ways Big Sunday is encouraging people to get involved this summer. “Summer of Love,” their 4th Annual Summer List, includes 250 diverse ways people can help and get involved all summer long. If you cannot attend one of the Backlot Summer Nights — or even if you can — consider one of these projects. The organization includes opportunities for all ages, interests, and talents. The list is being updated weekly throughout the summer.
From Big Sunday:
Big Sunday (www.bigsunday.org) has been connecting people with opportunities to help, volunteer and to do good works together since 1999. Founded in Los Angeles 22 years ago by David Levinson with just 300 volunteers, Big Sunday has touched over a 1 million lives, engaging, empowering and uniting people of every imaginable background all over California, from San Diego to San Francisco, in 10 different states as well as Australia and the UK. Big Sunday has completed in excess of 1.75 million volunteer man-hours and the organization has collected and distributed hundreds of thousands of items of clothing, food, toiletries, and other essentials. Big Sunday has completed over 30,000 volunteer projects worth millions of dollars in donated goods and services. Recognized nationally, Big Sunday, which organizes over 2,000 ways to get involved every year, is one of the USA’s premiere resources for helping year-round. Big Sunday functions as an efficient and impactful clearing-house of volunteerism and community engagement, organizing, facilitating and hosting numerous programs and a range of unique ways for people of every age, background and means to help, volunteer and/or give, making it easy for tens of thousands of diverse people to participate in good works together to support the huge variety of causes that they care about. Big Sunday’s mission is to connect people and build community via helping. The organization is driven by the belief that absolutely everyone has some way that they can help someone else. Big Sunday events and programs have become more popular than ever, as people search for a way to focus on what we share in common and to celebrate Big Sunday’s belief that we are all in it together. Big Sunday was named by the Points of Light Foundation as one of “10 national nonprofits that are making a tremendous impact on our country’s most critical challenges by mobilizing volunteers…These organizations also demonstrate a collaborative spirit through partnerships with other organizations to help strengthen communities across the nation.”
To learn more about the upcoming Backlot Summer Nights, find more information here. To access Big Sunday’s Summer list, visit this website.
Big Sunday connects people through helping. We provide a wide variety of opportunities and projects that bring people together to improve lives, build community, and give people a sense of belonging.
We offer more than 2000 ways for people to help out, every year. And there are all kinds of ways to help. You can:
-Volunteer by working up a sweat doing manual labor.
-Pitch in by offering some special skill you have.
-Help out by spending time with someone who’d enjoy your company.
-Give away gently used stuff like clothes, books, sports equipment or furniture.
-Buy new stuff like food, school supplies, or socks and underwear.
-Donate money to help in all kinds of ways.
-These are all great and important ways to help, and all of them are always needed.
One more thing: We have participants of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. They come from all kinds of different neighborhoods, and we do work in all kinds of different neighborhoods, too. People take part in Big Sunday projects through schools, faith groups, businesses, clubs, families, and as individuals. Whoever you are, whatever you do, we can use your help.
You see, at Big Sunday, we feel there’s lots of work to be done – but we get so much more accomplished, and have so much more fun when we do it all together.
Los Angeles, CA. Legendary R&B and soul singers Joe Coleman, Joe Blunt, and Theo Peoples came together as the Voices of Classic Soul to perform the Sounds of Summer concert on June 17th. The concert was virtually presented by the Worthy Brewing Company, a solar-powered sustainable brewery located in Oregon, and mesothelioma and asbestos cancer lawyers and research funders Worthington & Caron. Sounds of Summer was held to raise funds for research conducted by and support provided by the Pacific Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (PHLBI).
Social media poster for the Sounds of Summer 2021 concert.
The setlist for Sounds of Summer included hits like “Under the Boardwalk,” “Stand by Me” and “My Girl” as well as other songs from popular vocal groups The Temptations, The Platters, The Drifters, and Four Tops, which the singers of Voices of Classic Soul were part of during their long, accomplished careers. Each ticket for the event was $20, of which a portion went directly into funding PHLBI’s research on treatment for mesothelioma and other chest cancers. The concert was held virtually on YouTube using a special link and anyone who had purchased a ticket had the opportunity to rewatch it for the next 7 days.
About Pacific Heart, Lung & Blood Institute:
Established in 2002, the Pacific Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (PHLBI) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, research institute that is committed to advancing medical research that may lead to new treatments, early detection and prevention programs for chronic disorders— including diseases of the heart, lung and blood. PHLBI conducts this important work at its in-house research lab in Los Angeles and its supporting laboratory The Punch Lab at UCLA. It is the only nonprofit in the United States to conduct in-house research on mesothelioma.
Los Angeles, CA. The Light the Way Celebration was held virtually on May 6, 2021 to honor people who have both contributed to and benefited from the work done by the Blind Children’s Center. The event was hosted by actor Blake Stadnik, who began his career after losing most of his vision to Stargardt’s Disease. Among the honorees were Dr. Karen Arcos, a BCC alumna who recently completed her PhD, Dr. Fredy Perez, BCC board member Carolyn Newberry, and Citizens Business Bank as a corporate honoree.
Host Blake Stadnik, best known for his role on NBC’s This Is Us.
The event was preceded by a virtual wine tasting party led by a professional sommelier, where wine and accompanying cheeses were delivered to patrons of the celebration across Greater Los Angeles, Orange County, and South Bay areas. Along with fun musical performances, parents of children being supported by the Blind Children’s Center had the chance to share their experience with and appreciation for the people at BCC during the celebration, allowing patrons to truly see the effects of the work done by the organization.
Martha Arredondo with son, Christopher, a student of BCC for the past 3 years.
The Light the Way Celebration was accompanied by a virtual silent auction that went on from April 29, 2021 to May 7, 2021. Auction items included a glamping package by Under Canvas, exclusive conversations with LA Dodgers’ Steve Garvey and the real-life inspiration behind Tom Cruise’s character Jerry Maguire, and many games and luxury items. The event was a success and ticket purchases, auction purchases, and donations up to $40,000 were generously matched by the Mawardi Foundation, helping immensely to change the lives of visually impaired children.
About the Blind Children’s Center:
The Blind Children’s Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1938 by Southern California Delta Gammas. Each year the Center serves approximately 80 children who are blind or visually impaired and provides an array of support services for more than 300 family members. Our goal is to optimize each child’s development and opportunities to lead a meaningful life through a comprehensive program beginning with early intervention, followed by an educational curriculum specifically adapted to the needs of each student.
Los Angeles, CA. Film Independent is shining a spotlight on the June celebration of pride month and the LGBTQ+ community. The nonprofit funds creative storytelling to promote diversity, innovation, and unique vision within film. In honor of pride month, Film Independent dedicates its monthly Fiscal Spotlight column to its LGBTQ-related film projects. From taking an in-depth look at asexuality to a commentary on the AIDS epidemic, the funded films that tackle issues faced by the LGBTQ community and include: Anti-Venom for a Snake, Dear Luke, Love, Me, and The Residents of 8265 Oakland Ave.
Dear Luke, Love, Me, written by Mallie McCown, is the first narrative feature of its kind to tell an asexual love story, exploring the nuance of asexuality and the importance of queer-platonic bonds.
In a collaboration between Pride Month and the Black Lives Matter movement, Film Independent spotlights black LGBTQ content creators through its weekly video playlist. Members and nonmembers alike can visit the playlists to learn more about the influential LGBTQ writers, producers, and actors that are helping expand and diversify the film industry.
Film Independent spotlights Orange is the New Black star, Laverne Cox, and her work to change how Hollywood represents transgender people.
For June of 2020 Film Independent partnered with Outfest, another film focussed nonprofit, to launch the United in Pride Fest, which provided members with a digital celebration of Pride Month through queer-themed shorts and online coffee chats with LGBTQ cinema icons. Continuing with their online presence this year, Film Independent has put together a Youtube playlist of “must watch queer films” for all to enjoy.
Here’s a video that highlights some of the recommended films. Film Independent writes, “Celebrate Pride Month 2021 with some (but definitely not all) of our favorite queer film moments of the modern indie era.”
From Film Independent:
Film Independent is the nonprofit arts organization that champions creative independence in visual storytelling and supports a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision. Film Independent helps filmmakers make their movies, builds an audience for their projects and works to diversify the film industry. Film Independent’s Board of Directors, filmmakers, staff and constituents is comprised of an inclusive community of individuals across ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race and sexual orientation. Anyone passionate about film can become a Member, whether you are a filmmaker, industry professional or a film lover.
Los Angeles, CA. On June 12th, 2021 WriteGirl – a creative writing and mentoring organization for teen girls – held its annual Bold Ink Awards. WriteGirl held this zoom award ceremony online as a benefit for its programs. These awards pay tribute to compelling storytellers and capable role models. Notable presenters included Academy Award-winning actor Reese Witherspoon, (seen above) and other women who have excelled in their respective fields like Holly J. Mitchell, Lynne Thompson, and Lovely Umayam.
The Bold Ink Awards recognize creative writers from various genres. This year’s honorees were (L-R) Amanda Cormon, Attica Locke, Tembi Locke, Gabriela Garcia. The event was hosted by Koco McAboy from Fox 11 News.
The event coincided with WriteGirl’s 20th anniversary and was done through Zoom. To celebrate the milestone, the event kicked off with DJs OHLA and Toneé Macara and later on, guests were entertained by evocative music, poetry, and an acting performance. Throughout the event, the audience was made a part of the show by answering questions like “What does community mean to you?” The awards gala falls in the middle of the ongoing WriteGirl Silent Auction.
Actor Kirby Howell-Baptiste performs a monologue by a WriteGirl mentee.
singer-songwriter Lucy Schwartz with saxophonist Grace Kelly and bassist David Schwartz.
More About WriteGirl:
WriteGirl is a creative writing and mentoring organization that promotes creativity, critical thinking and leadership skills to empower teen girls. WriteGirl is a project of Community Partners, a nonprofit charity exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. To know more about WriteGirls, click here: https://www.writegirl.org/
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