Social Good

Watch He Named Me Malala #withMalala

February 25, 2016 by Lisa Leave a Comment

I have followed the story of Malala Yousafazi, the Pakistani girl targeted by the Taliban, ever since news broke that she was shot on a bus on her way from school when she was 15. Malala captured the world’s attention by standing up for what she believes. The story of her survival and triumph of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was covered in depth by news organizations the world over, and being covered in a documentary about her life called He Named Me Malala.

In patriarchal societies, women are expected to be obedient. A good girl should be quiet, humble, and submissive. Malala’s activism, and what made her such a high profile target as a 15-year-old, was because she used her voice in the role of advocate for others. Her father encouraged her to ask questions, demand answers, and seek the truth. As an educator, he taught all of his students that it was imperative that they all learn to think critically and stand up for what is right.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the whys of what happened to Malala. Then I look at my 15-year-old son and I sit back and try to remember 15-year-old me. I wasn’t afraid. I wanted to change the world, just like my son dreams of doing now, and that Malala works so tirelessly for every day of her life. Deep respect, admiration, and overwhelming emotion I can only describe as “motherly” is how I feel about the work she is doing.

Memoirs, such as I Am Malala, are a powerful witness to history. I had the great pleasure of sitting a few feet away from holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel in 2010, author of Night (1955), and looking back at what I wrote about him, and the quotes I hurriedly scribbled down, I find one that I feel connects him and Malala: “I must think of those who suffer today and not about me.”

Malala suffered greatly, yet works tirelessly for others. Instead of being a now 19-year-old girl worried about typical 19-year-old girl issues, the assassination attempt on her life changed the trajectory of her life. Those changes are what cause her to work to change the lives of other girls who deserve an education.

This Monday, February 29, the National Geographic Channel will premiere He Named Me Malala commercial free at 8 p.m. EST. While I have watched He Named Me Malala at the theater, I’ll be setting my DVR to record this special showing Monday evening and encourage you to do the same thing. If you’re not sure if it’s appropriate for your kids, read this post from TechSavvy Mama: 4 Reasons for Tweens to See He Named Me Malala.

Malala hasn’t taken her survival for granted, nor the lessons her father taught her lightly. She is now a leading campaigner for girls’ education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund. In this film, documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim shows how Malala, her father Zia and her family are committed to fighting for education for all girls worldwide. It’s a glimpse into her life, sharing Malala’s relationship with her father, speeches at the UN, as well as her daily life with her parents and brothers.

“It’s a combination of Ziauddin and Toor Pekai that has created this incredible girl,” the director says. “Ziauddin obviously has a close relationship with Malala. He has that wonderful quote: ‘Don’t ask me what I did. Ask me what I didn’t do. I didn’t clip her wings.’ And there’s that special moment when she’s born and he says to her, you’re equal to all the men that are on the family tree. But I also believe Toor Pekai is where Malala gets her moral strength and her faith.”

Malala’s work has is also creating change for women of different generations. Her mother, Toor Pekai, had one year of formal education and is now in school. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be entering school as an adult, but I applaud her. Education is something that can never be taken away from us. It is one of the most important things we can do, not only for ourselves, but for others.

Thoughts of Toor Pekai make me think of my mother-in-law. Raised in Korea during Japanese occupation, she is one of the most intelligent women I know. Due to the death of her parents when she was a child, exorbitant school fees which an orphan couldn’t afford, she received what is equivalent to a 6th grade education. This has caused her to push for the best education, for her and her children, with a burning passion.

I want to do more to show I’m #withMalala, but don’t know where to start.

Social media is one of the easiest ways to start using your voice to advocate for change. Visit supportmalala.com to create a custom Facebook profile video (it’s super easy!) to show your support. For every person who participates through March 10, 2016, 21st Century Fox will donate $1 to the Malala Fund. A $1 donation will also be made for every tweet using the hashtag #withMalala during this time period, for a total donation up to $50,000.

Not sure what to Tweet?

Start by encouraging your followers to join you on Monday to watch the documentary or share that for every #withMalala tweet, 21st Century Fox wil donate $1. Here are tweets that you can copy, paste, schedule, and encourage your followers to retweet!

#HeNamedMeMalala premieres commercial free on @natgeochannel 2/29 @ 8/7c! Stand #withMalala + watch with your family on.natgeo.com/1VbVWaJ

#HeNamedMeMalala premiers on @natgeochannel 2/29 at 8/7c. See it and stand #withMalala! on.natgeo.com/1VbVWaJ

Mark your calendar to stand #withMalala for girls’ ed. #HeNamedMeMalala premiering on @natgeochannel on.natgeo.com/1VbVWaJ

Like to tweet? Support girls’ ed? For every #withMalala tweet til 3/10 @21CF will donate $1 to @MalalaFund. Pls RT

I’m standing #withMalala + @21CF will donate $1 to @MalalaFund. Show girls everywhere you stand for their right to edu. Pls RT

Resources:

Are you looking for information that will help you understand Malala’s background, the documentary, and the history of the Swat Valley in Pakistan? These resources are great tools and will not only further your understanding, but will also help answer any difficult questions that might come up with your children.

He Named Me Malala Curriculum Guide— Designed for teachers, the official curriculum guide for the documentary is a free downloadable PDF that features ways to develop understanding, essential questions, notes to educators, additional resources and the standards that are being addressed through each lesson. It’s perfect for classroom teacher and homeschooling families who are studying Malala.

Education World’s Malal Yousafzai’s Courage: Student Discussion Guide — rich discussion questions that appear halfway down the page. Questions like “If you were a 16-year-old girl in Pakistan, could you have imagined doing what Malala did? What do you admire about Malala?” ask kids to put themsevels in Malala’s shoes but also dive deeper into bigger issues such as womens’ rights.

I am Malala: A Resource Guide for Educators— This guide published by The Global Women’s Institute at The George Washington University is best for high schoolers who have read the I am Malala book.

I was not compensated for this post but am receiving a house party kit for our own He Named Me Malala viewing party. All opinions are my own.

SHARE Charlotte Announces 2015 #GivingTuesdayCLT Campaign Goal

November 4, 2015 by Lisa Leave a Comment

On Tuesday, December 1, 2015, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give via #GivingTuesday. Through #GivingTuesdayCLT, SHARE Charlotte and local nonprofits will partner together to make a positive impact in OUR city by connecting community members with local nonprofits to raise awareness and encourage giving during the holiday season.

#GivingTuesdayCLT is important to me and my own personal philanthropy of service and giving back to my community. During times when I didn’t have money to donate, I could always donate my time, which is just as important. It’s something I have instilled in my own son, who seeks a life in public service.

This year, the #GivingTuesdayCLT campaign goal is to raise a record $2M by December 1st for area nonprofits.

Since its inception last year, the #GivingTuesdayCLT campaign more than tripled its fundraising goal from $600,000 raised in 2014. With that, the community at #GivingTuesdayCLT aims to make 2015 a HUGE giving year and they need your help! This is your opportunity to give back, however you can – make a donation, volunteer time, or help a neighbor.

“This is our opportunity as a community to not just give back, but to come together for the greater good of Charlotte,” said Kelly Brooks, SHARE Charlotte Founder.

New this year to the #GivingTuesdayCLT campaign will be two additional giving options. The Give Shop is an online store through SHARE Charlotte’s website. SHARE Charlotte has made it easy to purchase specific goods for the nonprofits they support. Can’t choose? Use the General Fund and donations will be split evenly between all participating nonprofits.

“This campaign doesn’t just end after one day; it creates an outpouring of awareness, inspiration and hope that continues year after year. We know that $2M will go a long way for our nonprofits, and we’re thrilled with the community backing we’ve received thus far in support of this goal.”

As part of #GivingTuesday, the Charlotte community will be charged with an opportunity to donate time, funds and goods to area nonprofits of their choice from November 10 – December 1. This year, the nonprofit partners almost doubled from 64 to 108, further diversifying the growing need of goods and services among the greater Charlotte community.

New to SHARE Charlotte this year you’ll find the Arts & Science Council, Humane Society of Charlotte and Ronald McDonald House. Returning as a nonprofit partner is Changed Choices, a small nonprofit focused on serving women holistically from incarceration through their transition to life outside of jail, who saw a tremendous impact from participating as a nonprofit partner last year.

“We were able to connect the #GivingTuesdayCLT campaign with longer-term fundraising efforts to pay off our transitional home,” said Karen Kovach, Executive Director at Changed Choices.

SHARE Charlotte will kick off its campaign with an event the second week of November. For more information on how to become a sponsor of #GivingTuesdayCLT, or for the complete list of participating nonprofits, please visit SHARECharlotte.com.

SHARE Charlotte Event Calender: http://sharecharlotte.com/events

About SHARE Charlotte

For SHARE Charlotte, everything is in a name. As a one-stop shop, spreading the good news of more than 330 non-profits in the Charlotte area, SHARE Charlotte also encourages the greater community to share its heart by making an impact in mere minutes. Through its signature campaigns #GivingTuesdayCLT and #summershareCLT, SHARE Charlotte raises awareness of local non-profits, and more importantly, the level of giving. To share your heart, visit SHARECharlotte.com, and identify a cause today. You can also follow the good news on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Vimeo.

100 Good Deeds with #DeedADay

December 28, 2014 by Lisa Leave a Comment

I don’t make New Years Resolutions. Oh sure, I’ve tried to make this list of things I’d do perfectly starting on the first day January, but as soon as I didn’t do something perfectly, I’d tear the entire list up. After all, if you can’t do things perfectly, you’ve obviously broken your resolve. This year, I’m changing a few things up by participating in the 100 Good Deeds Challenge.

What if, instead of making these self-serving resolutions, there was a movement launched where we all pledged to do good deeds? Would that trickle down via our blog into our social media networks and out to the world at large? Let’s face it, we all have good intentions. We all want to do good things. But we get caught up in our lives, worrying about the little things which don’t amount to a hill of beans and forget there’s a whole big world out there, aching for attention.

How far can we take this idea of doing good deeds? Well, we’re going to find out. This could be a bust, but if just one person commits to doing just one good deed because they read this post, or saw something I have shared online, it’s all worthwhile.

I reminding myself to do my good deeds during this time of forgotten resolutions by wearing the 1GD Bracelet. This bracelet gives me 100 chances to be grateful I can do something for others. Just like the Boy Scout walking little old ladies across this street, wearing this bracelet is my pledge and reminder that I am something more than my inner neurosis.

And that’s it. Doing a good deed isn’t something to brag about. It’s about the joy it brings to you personally. What I can do is move the ring on my 1GD Bracelet closer to the button as a reminder and one day, I don’t need to wear the bracelet to remind me to do a good deed. It will be ingrained.

Want to know more about the 1GD bracelets and the 100 Good Deeds project?

Designed by Mary Fisher, author, artists and AIDS advocate, the 100 Good Deeds bracelet is both a fashion statement and a cause. This non-profit provides economic and educational opportunities to women and girls across Africa and elsewhere. Proceeds from 1GD bracelets are reinvested in the program to provide more women and girls with more training in more countries.

The 1GDracelets are made by vulnerable women who’ve been trained in Uganda, India, Indonesia, Zambia, South Africa,Rwanda, IniInand Haiti. This project gives a women a way to support their families through earnings, while empowering them to also contribute to good deeds around the world.

To join the #DeedADay movement, share one of these images on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest using the hashtag #DeedADay and tagging the 100 Good Deeds Bracelet.

Where can you tag the 100 Good Deeds Project?

Facebook: www.facebook.com/the1gdbracelet

Twitter: @The1GDBracelet

Instagram: @The1GDBracelet

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/the1gdbracelet/

Disclosure: In lieu of compensation, I was gifted a 100 Good Deeds bracelet to wear as a daily reminder of my commitment to doing good deeds for others.

Local Love: Hoops Madness Benefits Families in Need

January 13, 2014 by Lisa Leave a Comment

March Madness is when we normally think about little else but the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Championship. This year, it will be providing the backdrop to help families facing the financial hardship of a child’s illness. Hoops Madness is an effort inspired by one little boy’s own battle against cancer.

Meg McElwain and Frank Turner III of Charlotte established the fund in 2012 in honor of their son, Mitchell Bays Turner, who was diagnosed at three months old with a rare form of infant leukemia.

“We’ve been inspired by Mitchell’s courage, and by so many other families we’ve met at Presbyterian who are facing their child’s illness with strength and hope. This fund expresses our admiration for them, and seeks to provide tangible help. As Mitchell and other children battle as hard as they can, Hoops Madness gives us a chance to support them, enjoy college basketball and provide comfort through our time together.

“Those of us with sick children, we’re family now.”

Hoops Madness for Mitchell’s Fund will take place from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 23, at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery. Featuring family-friendly party centered around the NCAA basketball tournament, Hoops Madness will offer a silent auction, live raffle and basketball free throw shooting contests. (Don’t forget about the Big Dance, the games will be on the TV’s as well!)

All money raised will go to support the financial needs of pediatric patients and their families during treatment at Presbyterian Hemby Children’s Hospital.

Hoops Madness Ticket Information:

Individual tickets are $75 and include all food and drink. Other opportunities to support Mitchell’s Fund include sponsorships and donations of silent auction and raffle items. Details, and a chance to support the cause, are at www.mitchellsfund.org.

Olde Mecklenburg Brewery is located at 215 Southside Drive off Old Pineville Road.

About The Mitchell Bays Turner Pediatric Fund

The Mitchell Bays Turner Pediatric Fund supports the needs of pediatric patients and their families during treatment at Presbyterian Healthcare. Meg McElwain and Frank Turner, III, established the fund in 2012 in honor of their son, Mitchell Bays Turner, who was diagnosed at 3 months with Infant Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. The fund serves as a way to support families in need that are facing challenging pediatric diagnoses and helps address the need for education and advocacy to the community at large on what the families of pediatric patients face, and how to give back.

About Presbyterian Healthcare

Presbyterian Healthcare is affiliated with Novant Health, a not-for-profit healthcare system caring for patients in North and South Carolina and Virginia. Presbyterian is made up of physician clinics and five hospitals: Presbyterian Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital Matthews, Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville, Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital and Presbyterian Hemby Children’s Hospital. The hospital system is recognized as a leader in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular, cancer, orthopaedic, stroke and women’s health conditions. Presbyterian Hospitals achieved national nursing magnet status, a designation that only five percent of all hospitals nationwide have earned based on nursing care quality. Novant Health and Presbyterian have been named winners of the national Codman Award, presented by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, for excellence in improving the quality and safety of health care.

#SharingCheer with Studiobanks

December 10, 2013 by Lisa Leave a Comment

As people take time to celebrate the holidays and reflect on 2013, Studiobanks, a digital agency located in Charlotte, NC, is giving back and having fun while doing so and they need your help. The only thing you have to do is grab your camera and post a picture to Instagram or Twitter with the tag #SharingCheer. (Obviously, we’d all like to see you sharing your holiday revelry!)

For each cheery picture posted Studiobanks will donate a dollar to A Child’s Place, an organization in Charlotte that supports children in our area dealing with homelessness.

A Child’s Place (ACP) works to erase the impact of homelessness on children and their education. ACP began in 1989 when a group of women were walking through the cemetery in downtown Charlotte and noticed a group of kids playing. When asked why the kids were not in school the children explained that they were not allowed to enroll in school without a permanent address. The group of women began offering school for this group of 27 children in a one room schoolhouse provided by First Presbyterian Church with a teacher from CMS. In 1989, the McKinney-Vento Act was passed protecting the educational rights of homeless children ensuring they are provided the necessities they need to regularly attend school. Since that first class of 27 ACP client children we have grown to help 2,656 homeless children during the 2012-13 school year.

Homeless children are living in unstable living conditions that include shelters, motels, doubled-up with others and cars. Because of the instability they experience, these children are:

Hungry twice as often as other children;

Sick four times more often;

Two to three grade levels behind and twice as likely to repeat a grade; and

Experience emotional and behavioral problems three times more than their housed peers

The national graduation rate for homeless children is below 25%.

Sources: National Center on Family Homelessness

ACP works to remove these barriers for client children to attain their education and make school the most stable part of their lives. We provide educational and emotional support services as well as medical referrals to keep our client children healthy and in the classroom.

Most of our client families are the working poor. For them, homelessness is not a way of life; it’s a time in their lives. By minimizing the impact of this difficult time on the children and their academic growth, ACP contributes to their likelihood of breaking the cycle of poverty.

Stability and education are key solutions to solve the homeless problem here in Charlotte. The relationship between education and income is one of the best-documented in economics: those with more education make more money. For every year a child progresses through school, the likelihood of being poor and homeless as an adult decreases.

After posting your pictures, visit their site, SharingCheer.com to see your pictures, as well as the images contributed by others.

If you’re #SharingCheer, please share a link here. We’d love to see them and share your cheer!

Now, let’s get started #SharingCheer!

A Child’s Place is 100% privately funded. They receive no federal, state or local tax dollars. They do not charge their clients fees. There is no endowment or business on the side to generate revenue. During the 2012-13 fiscal year, A Child’s Place received donations from the following sources: Foundations, 29%; Individuals, 28%; United Way designations, 11%; Businesses, 14%; Faith and civic organizations, 18%.

Come and get it!

Social Good

Not sure what to Tweet?

Resources:

Like this:

This year, the #GivingTuesdayCLT campaign goal is to raise a record $2M by December 1st for area nonprofits.

Like this:

Want to know more about the 1GD bracelets and the 100 Good Deeds project?

Where can you tag the 100 Good Deeds Project?

Like this:

Hoops Madness Ticket Information:

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