Aid Still RequiredThis past Thursday I accompanied our two “Win the Ultimate Concert Experience with Paul McCartney” winners to Candlestick Park. I doubt there could have been two people more moved by the experience: Zenda cried during the entire first half an hour of soundcheck(!) and Leslie, who had been to 12 Paul concerts before last week, broke down uncontrollably after we met with Macca – despite being in the company of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, California Governor Jerry Brown and other dignitaries. Paul took exquisite care with us, welcoming us very warmly and giving us ample time with…
Farewell Letter, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (revised)
[Correction: The letter that is referenced at the bottom of this blog was attributed to Marquez, but not actually written by him. It is still a nice reminder of what to value in life though so we are keeping it up!] I received this today from a dear friend who often helps to “keep me in check” and I wanted to share it with you. There are portions that I think many of us need to be careful of–“I would sleep little, I would dream more, because I know that for every minute that we close our eyes, we waste…
A Note from ASR Supporter Jill Higgins
While Hunter and Andrea were in Haiti for the last two weeks, Jill Higgins and her daughter Ivy took time to fly in for 6 days to visit and get a look at several of the Aid Still Required programs around the country. Below is Jill’s reflection on her time there.
Indiegogo Here We Go : Haiti and the Jatropha Tree Program
Fund a Jatropha Seed Oil Press for Haiti, Change the Lives of Thousands For the past three years, 1,000 farmers have been growing hundreds of thousands of Jatropha trees in southern Haiti. Why? Because the seeds from these trees produce oil so rich it serves as a straight replacement for diesel fuel. Yes, that means you can run your car, truck or farm machinery on it. Right now, Haiti has to import all of it’s petroleum. The jatropha program can reverse this trend.
Thank you for 2013 and looking ahead to 2014
What a year 2013 has been! Aid Still Required has seen incredible growth and achieved major accomplishments: In Haiti, we began our support and guidance of OADENN, a children’s mentoring and support program in the northern city of Cap Haitien. The program is working with over 100 kids weekly and provides everything from educational counseling, medical care, and team building, to safe places for play, yoga and meditation. Heading into 2014, we aim to establish a physical center for expanded programming, to increase enrollment, and to support more kids going to school and receiving medical care.
Pizza With An Icon – John Prendergast
More than 6 years ago, founder of The Community.com Mary Wald, put together a salon to host Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta. At the time, Ramos-Horta was the president of East Timor and he was in Los Angeles to speak with several of Hollywood’s finest. The host of the salon and board member of TheCommunity.com, Bonnie Abaunza, hosted the event and decided along with Hans Zimmer to have a “pre-salon” where the children of the attendees would also get a chance to sit down with Ramos-Horta around a few pizzas and have the opportunity to speak with him about…
A Special Guest at ASR—Mukesh Kapila on the state of Darfur
Aid Still Required had the distinct honor of welcoming Mukesh Kapila to speak with Aid Still Required about the history of Sudan generally and, more specifically, the current state of Darfur and the people affected by the mass atrocities that continue there. Given the demand for Mukesh’s time, it was amazing to have him join us for a few hours in such an intimate setting. Mukesh also spoke about his book, Against a Tide of Evil that details the accounts of his role as the “whistleblower to the first mass murder of the 21st Century.” Joining Mukesh was Naama Haviv…
Help for ASR Supporter’s Family in the Philippines
As everyone has heard by now, the Philippines has been struck by a typhoon Haiyan, one of the largest storms ever recorded and it has caused indescribable destruction. We pray for those who have lost their lives and their families. Now we must turn to all those people whose lives were spared, but are now in life threatening situations without water, food, access to shelter or medicine. At this time, Aid Still Required is only helping to facilitate donations to the Philippines and cannot do direct service. It is our mission to go to countries after the first responders have…
Spending my Birthday with Icon Gloria Steinem
“The most revolutionary of all qualities is kindness.” – Gloria Steinem Sometimes I just feel so dang lucky!!!! This year my birthday coincided with The Ms. Foundation for Women celebration of Gloria Steinem‘s upcoming 80th birthday and I was able to be there. For the under-30 crowd who may not have heard of Gloria, please, the second you finish reading this blog, google Gloria Steinem and send her a cosmic ‘Thank you’ for her tireless work to promote women’s equality, immigrant and labor rights, and affordable health care among dozens of other pursuits. Her efforts to promote peace throughout the…
Andrea at the Clinton Global Initiative!
Several months ago, ASR co-founder Andrea wrote a thank you note to Western Union for helping us through an issue trying to get money to our women’s trauma relief program in Haiti. Shortly thereafter, we received a message from Western Union thanking us for the note and letting us know that it is stories like ours that keep them motivated and positive about the work they are doing. Fast forward a few months and we are in Haiti working with our trainers and we took a picture of them in their ASR shirts in front of a Western Union to…
Celebrities Bringing Attention to Haiti
As you may know, we have partnered with dozens of celebrities to bring attention to areas around the world that have been forgotten after a major disaster. Recently, we have asked many of these celebs to move above and beyond supporting ASR awareness campaigns. By working with Omaze, an online charity raffle site, our celebrity supporters can offer their fans a chance at winning the experience of a lifetime all while raising crucial funds for Aid Still Required programs. In the last few months, Seth Green, Sting, Adam Levine, and Bonnie Raitt have done just that. To add to that,…
Dollies Making a Difference in Haiti
Before we left for Haiti, the ladies over at Dollies Making a Difference decided to continue their support of the children in Haiti by making dozens of dollies for the children with whom we work. Dollies Making a Difference (http://dolliesmakingadifference.com/) began their work after the earthquake in Haiti over three years ago sending more than 600 dollies to children who had likely lost everything. Since then, the women based in west Los Angeles, have continued to bring joy to kids all over the world where disaster has brought pain. From Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Burkina Faso, to Israel, North Korea,…
Haiti Update, 6/7: Port-au-Prince and Heading Home
The last several days have been a whirl-wind as we left Les Cayes for Port-au-Prince. While we initially had planned a return to Wharf Jeremie to deliver 300 solar lights, problems at customs have delayed their delivery. As a result, we had to return to Wharf Jeremie with the news that our trainers would deliver the lights as soon as they arrived. Generally speaking, people seemed to understand that importing items to Haiti is oftentimes a problem. I think we were more upset about the situation than the program participants. The children who were in session when we arrived were…
Haiti Update: 6/2 Leogane and CODEP
CODEP currently employs 600 people that support 3,000. These 600 are divided into roughly 30 sub-groups that work on different sections of the mountains. This year, CODEP is going to be doubling its membership. These groups also manage tilapia ponds. These are fish are used both for consumption and for selling at the market.
Haiti Update: 5/31, Cap Haitian and Pandiassou
A lot has happened since our last post, so I will give a quick summary here. From Port-au-Prince, we headed up highway 1 on the west side of the country. About 6 hours later we arrived in the northern city of Cap Haitian, the second largest city in Haiti behind Port-au-Prince. It is a beautiful place, right on the water with much cooler temperatures and a slower place. This is the home of our wonderful trainer, Lovely, and she rode with us back to Cap Haitian. We visited with two Art of Living trainers that are based in Cap and…
Haiti Update 5/24: Wharf Jeremie
I had hoped to be able to update sooner, but we had very spotty internet in Port-au-Prince after the first day. Over the next several days in the capital we spent most of our time in Wharf Jeremie with our incredible team of trainers, Samson, Estavela, Lovely, Faby, Daniel, and Jeff. Upon our arrival to Wharf Jeremie, the team took through the narrow pathways of the settlement with mega phones to announce the start of the program the next morning. Many women who had already completed the program over the previous year and a half came out of their homes…
Haiti Update 5/21: We Have Arrived!
A lot to catch up on and I will do a bigger summary tonight but we have had some incredible meetings so far and will be getting together with our trauma relief team today to go over strategy for the upcoming course. If possible we will visit Wharf Jeremie today to make plans for the sessions starting in the morning. So far we have had good luck in terms of getting together with knowledgeable players in the nonprofit world and getting an update on progress in the country. Yesterday we had the chance to go and visit both the Patience…
MTS Healthcare Supports Aid Still Required
Last year, MTS Healthcare was introduced to us when we were looking for a laptop to utilize at our trauma relief program in Wharf Jeremie outside of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. When MTS learned of the impact a new computer could make for our project coordinators, they were eager to help. After sending the computer to Haiti, Andrea wrote to MTS: “I think of you often as the new computer that MTS’ donation provided has made such a difference to the young people working there and to our ability to communicate a bit faster (when there is electricity and the Internet is…
ASR Board Member Dorothy “The Organizer” Breininger is at it again!
We are proud to announce the publication of Dorothy Breininger’s new book Stuff Your Face or Face Your Stuff. A percentage of each sale will benefit Aid Still Required programs around the world. Once again, Dorothy has been able to simply and clearly outline the steps we can take to help simplify and organize our lives. In so doing, she shows us how we can not only reduce stress, but live an overall more healthy lifestyle as well. As the organizing expert on A&E’s hit show Hoarders, Dorothy definitely knows her craft. We are lucky to have Dorothy on our…