Nigel Barker
Fashion Photographer and
judge, “
I’m
passionate about Girl Up, a campaign by the United Nations Foundation, whose
mission is to improve the lives of adolescent girls in the developing world. In
the
in many developing countries, girls don’t get to go to school, become leaders
or just be girls. Girl Up empowers American teens to realize that together they can help
ensure that every girl, no matter where she is born, is educated, healthy,
safe, counted and positioned to be among the next generation of leaders. (girlup.org)
Sarah Beatty
Founder,
I’m
supporting the Green Schools Alliance, a global network of “schools
guiding schools” working together to solve environmental threats and
climate change. Started by a school community in NYC, the
alliance has rapidly grown to include a network of private and public
schools in 37 states and 10 countries—reaching nearly two million
students. The GSA is a powerful example of our kids (and
schools) serving as the leaders for our sustainable future—that’s
inspiring and humbling. (greenschoolsalliance.org)
Author, “Instinctive Parenting”
Founded
in 2008 by a handful of NYC-based writers, ReadThis is devoted to
promoting access to books and a love of reading. The group has enlisted
more than 600 volunteers and sent many thousands of books to public schools
without libraries, pediatric hospitals and homeless shelters. I love that the
group has no overhead and chooses grassroots projects that make an immediate
impact on kids’ lives. (readthisbook.us)
Rose Caiola
Founder and Artistic
Director,
of Save The Children as a result of my mother’s devotion to the organization
and its work for children around the world, and especially in third world
countries. My mother and I have “sponsored” many children through
over the years, and we’re able to see the results of our support through
personal letters from each child detailing how our efforts affected their lives
and provided them opportunities they otherwise would never have had. (savethechildren.org)
Elisha Cooper
Author, “Farm”
I’m a New Yorker, but my favorite charity is an environmental group in
favorite place of mine beautiful and wild. I’ve been going up to these lakes
since I was a child, and now I take my daughters. But mostly I go to
in my mind. Especially now, when it’s cold and gray with wind whipping our
concrete streets. It’s a particularly
trait: living here but dreaming of other places. Giving to
makes my
Sophie Demenge
Co-founder and designer, Oeuf
I like the charity C.H.I.P.S. (Park
Slope Christian Help) because it’s real, tangible, literally around the corner
and it helps people every day. The Park Slope Food Coop provides a lot of the
fresh food for its soup kitchen; my children’s school, Berkeley Carroll,
organizes a coat drive every winter; all the preschoolers get to visit and
bring homemade pies for Thanksgiving—everyone has an opportunity to get
involved. It’s important to me that helping and being part of a community is
built-in from an early age. (chipsonline.org)
Bruce Feiler
New York Times columnist and author, “The Council of Dads”
In this era of austerity, we’ve become
used to small steps and incremental progress. But this year, a major
event transpired with the debut of
expensive waterfront property in the world. It might be nice to think our tax
dollars paid for it, but that’s not quite true. All of the programming—the
barge pool, the movies with a view, the outdoor children’s art afternoons—is
funded by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. Forget the stroller wars
of Park Slope; here’s an organization giving peace a chance with a year-round
outdoor block party. (brooklynbridgepark.org)
Renee Flax
Director, Camper
Placement Services, American Camp Association,
SCOPE (Summer Camp Opportunities Provide An Edge) is a nonprofit
organization whose mission is to provide the summer camp experience to children
in need. The children who attend SCOPE camps are from
York City
the organization, are able to attend wonderful camps for several weeks, where
they can enjoy all the benefits of the outdoors. Thousands of children have
been able to share in this wonderful experience since 1992. (scope-ny.org)
Author, “The Second
Nine Months”
I watched my friend Becky Fawcett struggle and fail, again and again, to get
pregnant. I watched how the adoption process tore through her bank accounts.
And I watched her face turn into pure light when she brought home her adopted
son. As a result, Becky and her husband Kipp founded HelpUsAdopt.org, a
nonprofit that helps defray the costs of adoption for people all over the
country. Helping people who want to become parents—it’s the best gift I give all
year. (helpusadopt.org)
Alison Lowenstein
Author, “City Baby Brooklyn”
The charity I love to support is
the Rosa Vera Fund. While working in
an eleven-year-old who needed surgery but was unable to afford it. To raise
money for her surgery, he called upon friends and family for help. The charity which
was created to raise funds for her surgery now helps provide preventative
medicine, medical and/or social interventions to impoverished children in
workers and awards educational scholarships to select health workers.
(rosaverafund.org)
Cortney and Robert Novogratz
Owners, Sixx Design, and stars of Bravo’s “9 By Design“
Our favorite charity right now is Glassybaby, which was created in 1998 by Lee
Rhodes, a cancer survivor. Glassybaby describes the actual product they sell as
a small, colored, glass cup, candleholder or vase.
But the light of a candle coming through each Glassybaby generates
more; it gives warmth to a cold day; it’s a calm token of peace in the busy
world. What’s more, 10% from the sale of
each designated color will be donated to different national organizations to
support cancer care and research, as well as Conservation International and The
Martha Stewart Center for Living. (Glassybaby.com)
Kevin Sheekey
Head of Government
Relations and Communications for Bloomberg L.P. and former Deputy Mayor of New
York City
Since government can’t do it all, my favorite charity is the
Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. It’s an essential vehicle for
foundations, corporations and individuals to contribute to public programs and
enhance the city’s ability to serve its residents. From planting trees as part
of MillionTreesNYC to addressing domestic violence at the
Justice
touches every part of the city. Finally, with fundraising and administrative
expenses of only 0.7 percent, it gives over 90 percent of what it collects
directly to great work. (nyc.gov/fund)
Morgan Taylor
Children’s musician and creator of Gustafer Yellowgold
Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation is a charity inspired by the movie of the
same name. Through donations and grants, it offers different programs that help
schools and/or young children who wouldn’t normally have access to musical
instruments. I was motivated at a young age to pursue music, and now see how
easy it is to take for granted the access to the tools I needed to reach my
potential. Now there’s a way for other less fortunate kids to find a way.
(mhopus.org)
Gabriella Rowe
Head of School, The Mandell School
I believe that charity is giving
not only time or money, but a piece of yourself. Airline Ambassadors
International (which provides humanitarian aid to
families in under-privileged communities worldwide) has changed my life
by giving my family and The Mandell School the
opportunity to personally deliver and administer aid to an orphanage in the
people I met in the
our first visit. (airlineamb.org)
Amy Wilson
Author, “When Did I
Get Like This?” and star, “The Mother Load”
One of my favorite charities is The Fresh Air Fund, which gives inner city kids the
chance to experience summer and the outdoors at sleepaway camps or by visiting
with host families. I was not an inner city kid, but my first summer away from
home, at 16, changed my life. Kids who have never played in a yard or swum in a
lake can truly have their lives transformed by this experience. We are looking
forward to next summer, when we plan to become a host family for the first
time—and maybe have our lives transformed, as well. (freshair.org)
Pamela Weinberg
Author, “City Baby New York”
Dorot is a wonderful organization dedicated to helping the elderly in the city
and beyond. They have a location on the
where many of the programs are held, but what is truly special about Dorot is
that for seniors who can’t reach them, they reach the seniors. My son was
looking for a meaningful project for his bar mitzvah, and through Dorot’s
visitor program, we developed a beautiful relationship with a senior, Maria. Dorot
not only addresses the basic needs of the elderly like food, housing and
wellness, but they bring generations together to visit and learn from one
another. (dorotusa.org)
Alexandra Zissu
Green Living Expert and author, “The Conscious Kitchen”
My current favorite New York-based advocacy group is Slow Food NYC. Education
is the key to conscious eating, and Slow Food has education at its core; the
goal (for 20 years now) is to educate the community about the importance
of rebuilding and sustaining a connection with good food and the culture that
surrounds it. Slow Food NYC also connects eaters with farmers, working to
ensure that everyone has access to good, real food, not just people who can
afford it. (slowfoodnyc.org)
Editors’ Pick
The Joyful Heart Foundation
While
playing Detective Olivia Benson on “Law And Order: Special Victims Unit,” a
character that is impacted by sexual abuse in both her personal and
professional lives, actress Mariska Hargitay learned some startling statistics
about sexual crime; most significantly, that one in three women will be
physically or sexually abused in her lifetime.
Deeply
moved by the stories she portrayed, Hargitay immersed herself in the cause,
becoming involved in the crisis community and joining boards of advocacy
organizations. And as the show became increasingly popular, Hargitay began to
receive an outpouring of fan mail that moved her to take an even more active
role.
“She
was getting emails and mail by the thousands, mostly from survivors who were
disclosing their stories of abuse,” says Maile Zambuto, executive director of
The Joyful Heart Foundation. “She thought the show led her to this path to help
people find their voice and courage, and to be a bridge for [victims] to heal
and reclaim their lives.”
In
2004, Hargitay founded The Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization dedicated
to providing care and support for women and children who are victims of
domestic violence or sexual abuse. “There is a dedication to mind, body and
spirit healing,” Zambuto says. [It’s about] moving beyond survivorship to a
life of reclaiming a joyful heart and finding joy in your life.”
Based
in
the organization treats sexual abuse from all perspectives, offering programs and
retreats for survivors and the innovative Healing for Healers program, which
provides an emotional outlet for caregivers of abuse survivors. Perhaps most
significantly, the organization also does extensive work to publicize and
ameliorate the backlog of “rape kits”—collections of physical evidence that can
be used to prosecute perpetrators of sexual abuse. It’s estimated that 180,000
rape kits completed in the
each year sit untested in warehouses and police departments, leaving victims of
rape feeling forgotten and keeping the perpetrators of these crimes un-prosecuted.
“We’re
going to end the backlog,” says Sarah Tofte, the foundation’s director of
advocacy and strategic partnerships. “We’re going to work until it’s ended. It’s
a long haul; we need to change the way we talk about these issues. We want to
get advocacy groups to come together as a community.”
“Our
real vision is to create a different sort of community that has a new level of
awareness, and one that responds to sexual and family violence,” Zambuto says.
“That community includes changes to our law enforcement, prevention work and
education [about sexual abuse] done in schools, and for the general public to
embrace survivors and create a safe community.”
—Tiffanie Green
Editors’ Pick
GEMS
Founded in 1999,
GEMS (Girls Educational & Mentoring Services) remains New York State’s only
organization designed to empower young women (ages 12-21) who have become
victims of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking.
Today, the
former grassroots organization runs an outreach program, peer groups, workshops
and more, with a staff of 22 full-time and 13 part-time employees.
“The majority of
our staff are survivors, and it’s important for these girls to have people who
understand–it’s critical that they see positive role models,” says executive director
Rachel Lloyd, herself a survivor of sexual exploitation. “There’s a
transformational relationship between girls and staff; this sort of
relationship-building is key. We teach them to take this awful thing and use it
as a way to give girls who have previously been silenced a voice. There’s
nothing stronger than that sense of voice.”
Lloyd says that
it’s important to understand that despite each young woman’s circumstances, in
many ways she remains a typical teenager with hopes and dreams like everyone
else.
“We have to
change the negative perceptions of women in the sex industry and see them as
victims,” she says. “We also need to talk to boys, to change the mentality of
those who are growing up in this culture and do more preventative work. [We
need to] recognize the issues that make girls vulnerable, which tie into poverty,
race, gender and class, and give them just as many opportunities as their more
affluent sisters.”
Recently, recognition
and support from celebrities like Beyonce have helped
organization was able to serve 340 girls, and that number is on track to increase
this year. Lloyd’s goals for the future of
more young women, and to raise awareness about domestic sex trafficking.
Those interested
in becoming involved can do so by donating to
college, or hosting a screening of the documentary film “Very Young Girls,” which
follows the stories of adolescent girls trapped in the commercial sex industry
in
York City
For more information, visit gems-girls.org.
Editors’ Pick
Coalition For
The Homeless Youth Services
Most New Yorkers
know the Coalition for the Homeless as the long-standing non-profit that provides
housing, emergency food, job training and more to thousands of homeless men,
women and children throughout the city. What many don’t realize is that the coalition
serves hundreds of homeless children through its two Youth Services programs, the
afterschool program Bound For Success and the summer sleepaway Camp Homeward
Bound.
Bound For
Success, the coalition’s afterschool program, is based in a downtown family
shelter operated by the city’s Department of Homeless Services and serves up to
30 children at a time. The five-day-a-week programs are available to children
ages 5 to 13. While there, students receive homework help and a snack, then
take part in fun activities like a visual arts and music program, computer time
and poetry writing. They hold celebrations for holidays and birthdays and, when
funding allows, take trips to Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular, the Big Apple
Circus and even Sesame Place. When the school year ends, the afterschool
program turns into a seven-week summer day camp.
Angie Caraballo,
who heads the Bound For Success program, says that giving the children
somewhere to go after school draws them out of their shell at a vulnerable time
when their future is unpredictable. “We give them a safe place to come to,”
explains Caraballo. “If we weren’t there, they’d have no place to go and they
wouldn’t have people to go to.”
Camp Homeward
Bound, the coalition’s summer sleepaway camp, hosts 300 homeless and formerly homeless children ages 7
to 15 at its campus set on Lake Kanawauke in Harriman State Park. Camp director
Beverly McEntarfer describes Camp Homeward Bound as a respite for the children
from the stresses of poverty. “This is a place where they can be kids again…they
can relax,” McEntarfer says, adding that going to camp also gives kids a chance
to experience things they otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to try.
The camp also
has a strong educational base. Among other activities, Camp Homeward Bound offers
classes in computer literacy, cooking and nutrition, music, swimming, kayaking
and photography. “It’s really a place where they can get excited about
learning,” McEntarfer says.
Parents report
that their kids come back more excited about life, better able to handle
conflict and more engaged in family life. What’s more, many older kids want to
return as camp counselors, and McEntarfer hopes that the coalition can overcome
financial hurdles to provide a team leadership program that will allow more
kids to do just that.
—Megan Maxson
Only Make
Believe
Through her
volunteer work in hospitals, Dena Hammerstein saw the powerful effect the
theater had on children suffering from chronic illnesses. But bringing children
from the hospital to Broadway shows wasn’t always possible. “I thought, why not
try to bring these shows to the kids?” says Hammerstein—and that’s how Only
Make Believe was born.
Founded in 1999
in honor of Hammerstein’s late husband James Hammerstein (son of theater legend
Oscar Hammerstein), Only Make Believe continues to bring the magic of Broadway
to children in hospitals across the city. The organization began its work at a
single site at the Rusk Institute’s Pediatric Unit at NYU Langone Medical
Center, and has since grown to 40 hospitals throughout the five boroughs. “We
work with as many populations as we can,” Hammerstein says.
During the six-week
program, professional actors (who come bearing a trunk full of colorful props
and costumes) perform original, interactive interpretations of classic stories
like “Sleeping Beauty” or “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” During the final
session, the children take on the roles of the characters they’ve come to know.
“Our teams of actors really get to know the children they’re working with, and
the children get to know the actors,” Hammerstein says. “You’ll find even
really shy kids, by the end of six weeks, they’re the first on stage putting on
the costumes, joining in songs, playing parts.” At the end of the program, the
trunk is left in the pediatric unit to encourage imaginative play.
Only Make
Believe aims to be in 50 hospitals by the end of 2012, and is planning its
expansion into other states and, eventually, other countries. Hammerstein said
the organization’s goal is “to bring as much joy to underprivileged and sick
children as possible.”
“Every child,
for the hour we’re with them, can forget that they’re in a hospital having any
kind of procedure,” Hammerstein says. “They’re just allowed to be children and
not patients.”
Horowitz
