Thank you for 2013 and looking ahead to 2014

ASR Events • Business Angel • Current Events • Darfur • Environmental Sustainability • Haiti • Katrina • Media • Tsunami • Women

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.

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Pizza With An Icon – John Prendergast

ASR Events • Current Events • Darfur

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…

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A Special Guest at ASR—Mukesh Kapila on the state of Darfur

ASR Events • Current Events • 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…

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Rosemarie McCaffery Antiques Hosts Benefit for Aid Still Required

ASR Events • Darfur • Haiti • Katrina • Tsunami

Thank you to all those who made it out to Rosemarie McCaffery Antiques last week to support ASR’s existing projects in Haiti, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, in Chad with the Darfuri refugees living there, and in New Orleans. It was a beautiful event thanks to Robert Ross who gave a moving talk on why ASR’s work is so important (maybe we will be able to post a copy of his talk on the ASR blog!), to Cathie Ross, Irene Mink and Rosemarie McCaffery for their tireless work in preparing the beautiful setting and to all the volunteers who made the evening so enjoyable. In…

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An Update from Hunter and Andrea from the Viva World Cup

Darfur

Greetings All, Just got back from Game 2.  I’m afraid our boys were given another whipping, this time at the hands of Provence.  Our backs seemed always out of position and their front line had a field day.  At game’s end our lads were noticeably exhausted and deflated, but what a learning experience.  One poignant moment came in the elevator on the way up to our rooms when one of the DU players put his hand around his underdeveloped bicep and said to me, “We’re too weak.”  It’s true.  They are too physically weak from years of undernourishment.  Couple that with…

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Heading to the VIVA World Cup!

Darfur

If you have not been following our updates on Darfur United, check out our latest blog posts here and here. Over the next two weeks, we will be posting a series of updates as Darfur United competes in the Viva World Cup in Erbil, Iraq. Last week, Gabriel Stauring over at iAct headed to Djabal, Chad to meet with the 16 players that make up Darfur United. After a great send off by the community in Djabal, the team left for N’Djamena, Chad this morning. Aren’t these pictures incredible? The community has been watching the team practice for weeks and…

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An Update on Darfur United

Current Events • Darfur

If you did not get a chance to see our first blog post on Darfur United, please check it out here.  Briefly, iAct is putting together an all star soccer team comprised of the best players in the Darfuri refugee camps in eastern Chad.  From roughly 280,000 refugees spread out over 12 camps across Chad, the top 5 players from each camp were invited to try out for Darfur United, the team that will represent Darfur in the Viva World Cup in Iraq in May of this year.  Darfur United is coming together!  Over the last several days, the Darfur…

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Aid Still Required Honorary Coach for iAct’s Darfur United Soccer Team

Darfur

As we begin 2012, Aid Still Required is proud to be a part of Darfur United, a project created by our NGO colleague Gabriel Stauring at iAct, and which Aid Still Required is supporting as Honorary Coach. People the world over are united in their love for soccer — or “football’ as it is called everywhere except in the US — and the Darfuri refugees are no exception. Life in the camps is difficult.  There is little food and limited water.  There may or may not be a school for the children.  Firewood is scarce and unless they have a…

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Jody Williams Event at UCLA

Current Events • Darfur

On November 16, Hunter, Andrea and their new assistant Dan Parziale attended a lecture by 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams at UCLA’s Burkle Center for International Relations, presented by the International Human Rights Program at UCLA Law School. Her lecture, entitled “Rape as a Crime Against Humanity & War Crime: Accountability & the International Criminal Court,” was a powerful expose on the prominence of rape in war zones and areas of low government oversight. Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work to ban landmines. Since then, she has taken on countless projects, most recently chairing the…

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VRAI’s Rebirth – An Evening about Darfur

Darfur

VRAI for Darfur – Peace Through Prosperity- The Village Reforestation and Advancement Initiative – Aid Still Required and Christie Communications – 11/7/09 Two months ago, we spent a weekend with a former UNHCR Chair on Darfur and two of her colleagues, experts in reforestation, agriculture, and humanitarian activities in Western Sudan. We spent Saturday brainstorming about how to create the most effective project to make a difference in this complex and beautiful region. On Sunday, we invited 20 friends of ASR to share our thoughts and learn from their questions. In the following blog, ASR volunteer Eileen Kim speaks eloquently…

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Clippers vs. Maccabi Event – Oct. 20th, 2009

Darfur • Media

“For the children” – Aid Still Required Joins the Clippers and Maccabi Tel-Aviv for Migdal Ohr Benefit In 2007, the New York Knicks and Maccabi Tel Aviv sold out Madison Square Garden in the first basketball benefit game for Migdal Ohr, the world’s largest orphanage located in Northern Israel. As the benefit was such a success, Migdal Ohr created two pre-season exhibition games for 2009, one rematch in NYC and the other at the Los Angeles Staples Center with the LA Clippers facing the Maccabis. Migdal Ohr Executive Director Robert Katz had heard about ASR’s work with the NBA players…

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ASR’s FIRST MAJOR FUNDRAISING EVENT – “A Night of Culture for a Cause”

ASR Events • Darfur • Katrina • Media • Tsunami

“June 20th” quickly became an ASR household buzzword with weeks of tireless preparation, culminating into A Night of Culture for a Cause.  Actress and ASR friend Barbara Bosson hosted the fete at her stunning Pacific Palisades home.  Thanks to Marble Arch Fine Afts and the Cracking Art Group, guests were greeted by eco-friendly, larger-than-life animal sculptures made out of recycled plastic, highlighting ASR’s commitment to environmental issues.  Animals included giant bulldogs and terriers, oversized sneaker-wearing chihuahuas, goats, giraffes, and alligators. ASR’s various projects in the tsunami region in Southeast Asia, Sudan, and New Orleans were featured on displays in the…

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Cocktails and Karaoke for a Cause – June 3rd, 2009

ASR Events • Darfur • Media

On June 3rd, in conjunction with hiving.net, philanthropist Sarah Nicole Dolgen hosted a Cocktails for a Cause Karaoke Night in honor of Aid Still Required at her lovely apartment off of Sunset Strip.  It was a night of great Thai food from Sarah’s favorite neighborhood Thai joint, great drinks, and vivid discussion, with many young socialites in attendance, engaging Andrea and Hunter with incisive questions.  We hear the singing went on until the wee hours.  Thank you to Sarah and all the attendees!

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Poker Night with Hope Artist – May 7th, 2009

Current Events • Darfur • Media

ASR was invited to participate in HOPE Artist’s Vice for Nice Poker Invitational at Fred Segal Conveyor in Santa Monica, CA.  The store was transformed after hours into a mini-Las Vegas with players crowded around gambling tables, gambling for good!  Hope Artist Founder, Andi Scull Steidle is shown below with Hunter. Andi’s husband, Marine Capt. Brian Steidle, was one of the key influences who inspired Andrea and Hunter’s work on behalf of the people of Darfur.  They met Brian at a 2006 traveling art exhibit, “Darfur, Darfur,” where Brian shared some of his experiences working as a photojournalist in Southern…

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Thank You, Jay Leno!

Darfur • Media

Andrea and Hunter attended the ceremony for the Feminist Majority Foundation Global Women’s Rights Award at the Beverly Hills Hotel on April 29th. They had the pleasure of seeing Jay and his wife Mavis there. They first met Jay and Mavis in a parking lot a couple of years ago to talk about what happening in Darfur. Two days later, Jay had George Clooney on the Tonight Show and and they discussed the history of the conflict, giving Darfur its due air time. Also at the April 29th event, Andrea and Hunter had a run-in with Christiane Amanpour, who  was…

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CNN

Darfur

Christiane Amanpour’s documentary on genocide featuring Kobe’s Aid Still Required PSA aired tonight.

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Village Life

Darfur • Environmental Sustainability

Just visited our project village for The Village Reforestation & Advancement Initiative and saw why 40% of the villagers have had to leave.  The center of the village is now one large sand drift.  Some of the houses have been crushed by the sheer weight of the sand.  Other houses have added a second story which now serves as the ground floor. There is one area of the village which looks normal.  It’s the area on the north end where a break of trees has been planted. The solution is so simple! http://www.aidstillrequired.org/media.html

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How Do They Do It?

Darfur

We drove through the desert today in Sudan – and I mean “drove through the desert!”  Seven hours ago we left Khartoum and have been traveling over flat, hot, relentless desert ever since.  Just sand, sand, sand – forever.  How the people  survive here is beyond me.  There’s barely a bush in sight, and no shade from the blasting sun. Just a few minutes ago, one of our hosts told us that much of this desert was forest just a decade or so ago.  The 40-year drought has really taken a toll.

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LeBron James Speaks for Darfur

Darfur

This morning ESPN’s Outside The Lines aired an news segment on athletes and activism. LeBron James, who last spring (2007) had declined to sign former Cavalier teammate Ira Newble’s letter from NBA players to the government of China about their policies in Sudan, has come out voicing strong support for human rights and an intention to mobilize the NBA Olympic team to speak out regarding Darfur and other issues.

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ESPN

Darfur

Kobe Bryant’s and Steve Nash’s ASR public service announcements for Darfur are featured along with an ESPN interview with Grant Hill. The Darfur story is becoming a household issue.

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ESPN + NBA Players + Darfur

Darfur

We’ve finally launched our Darfur outreach campaign!  And what a launch it was! Today ESPN featured public service announcements we shot with Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash about Darfur, and also interviewed Grant Hill on the subject. These past few months NBA stars have been speaking out about the Darfur conflict.  Along with Kobe and Steve, ASR shot PSAs with Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum, Trevor Ariza, Luke Walton, Baron Davis, Emeka Okafor, Ira Newble, Eric Snow and Matt Barnes. These guys are surprisingly focused on Darfur.  Steve Nash said after his shoot, “I’ll do anything I can to help that…

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