John has much experience working in the philanthropic world, and takes great interest in charitable goings on today.

Which States Give Most?

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By JohnPosted In: Charity Activity

badge-686325_960_720The US is ranked second overall in the 2015 World Giving Index. 95.4% of American households donated to charities with an average contribution of $2, 974. Of course not all states give evenly, and WalletHub recently examined the different practices within the 50 states.

Which was the most giving state? Utah. Maryland and Idaho came in second and third. Rhode Island was the least giving state, with Louisiana and California following close behind. To come up with these numbers, WalletHub looked at eight factors and gave a value from 1-100 for each factor.

WalletHub found that the red states were more generous than the blue states. They also found that many of the state with the richest areas in the country held back on giving. These included New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California.

American Sniper Charity Event Raises $500,000

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By JohnPosted In: Charity Activity

Chris Kyle would have been proud. His wife, Taya Kyle, defeated the reigning NRA champion Bruce Piatt at the “American Sniper Shootout” charity event that was named for him. Together, they raised $500,000 for her deceased husband’s charity and she ended the competition with a perfect score.

For the competition, the shooters used rifles which were developed with input from Kyle’s husband. This includes the “RapidLok Target Acqusition’ technology that tracks targets while the trigger is being pulled. Kyle used the computer-equipped M600 and M800 rifles to achieve her perfect 100% of her shots.

The company that makes the rifles was so sure that Kyle would defeat Piatt (who competed with the M4A1, M110 and M2010) that they offered to pay him $1 million if he won the contest!

As Taya said about the equipment, “Our first responders and military members regularly face situations most of us cannot imagine. They need every advantage for precision and efficiency to protect and serve while minimizing collateral damage and risk to themselves. [The technology] would have saved lives of friends we have lost and will save life and/or limb of those who put it all on the line for the 99% of us they choose to give their life for.”

Children’s Ball for the Children’s Research Fund

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By JohnPosted In: Charity ActivityTagged: , , , ,

Each year the Children’s Ball fundraiser takes place to benefit the Children’s Research Fund. Established in 1951, the Fund’s purpose is to raise money to advance medical research. In 1991, they began their affiliation with the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and they are now the principal benefactor of the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute.

Each year, the Children’s Research Fund hosts the Children’s Ball. This year’s ball, on December 5th, 2015, was the 57th Annual Children’s Ball. It was called “Imagine! – Brining Possibilities to Life” and was made possible by the generous contributions of people and organizations who purchased tables. These include: Beazley Group, Conifer Health Solutions, Baker Tilly, Jamie and Marc Pasquale, Tracey and Chaka Patterson and many others.

The celebratory event is the culmination of their campaign which raised more than $2.5 million in support of pediatric medical research. Co-chairs were Brent and Katie Gledhill and Eric and Kim Smith. The evening included cocktails and hors d’oeuvres and a science fair to begin. There was entertainment provided by Ken Arlen Orchestra. Then there was the evening program, dinner, a special presentation and entertainment. Certainly, with the help of so many like Marc Pasquale, the evening was a great success.

Taylor Swift Helps Kids Sing

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By JohnPosted In: Charity Activity

Taylor Swift is known to be incredibly generous with her money, and her most recent actions prove this, once again, to be true. Swift committed to giving the proceeds from her hit single “Welcome to New York” to NY public schools when she first released it in October of 2014.

She is putting the money into the already existing program called SING, which enables high school kids to put on annual musical productions in a competition between schools. Her $50,000 donation will allow ten more schools to join in the program in 2016, bringing the number of schools to 20.

As city Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said, “This is a wonderful program for developing passions in the arts and for building school and community spirit. The SING students are going to gain skills … that they can use in college and throughout their lives.”

12th Annual American Girl Fashion Show

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By JohnPosted In: Charity Activity

It’s always a great thing when you can teach children from a young age about charity and giving back. And that’s just what happened at the 12th annual American Girl Fashion Show that took place at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Oneida County, New York recently. The event featured a doll salon where you could get your American Girl doll polished and looking pretty. It had a photo booth, a raffle and other activities.

All money raised at the event helped to fund programs and services offered by Upstate Cerebral Palsy.

As Kathy Hartnett, Upstate Cerebral Palsy Community Development Vice President said, “It really is about accepting children with special needs and that no matter how young you are, a lot of young girls are here with us today, you can still do something to help someone else.”

 

Home Front Cares Annual Fundraiser

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By JohnPosted In: Charity Activity

Taya Kyle, widow of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, has certainly gotten a lot of press in the last few years. She co-authored “American Sniper” with her late husband and then wrote “American Wife: A Memoir of Love, Service, Faith, and Renewal” after he was murdered in 2013. This past week, more than 1100 people gathered to raise money for Home Front Cares, a Colorado Springs military charity that has given cash assistance to nearly 400 military families in 2015 alone.

As she said at the event, “I’m preaching to the choir tonight.” When discussing her marriage she said, “God sent me the nicest person I ever met, in the form of a sniper.”

Describing Home Front, she said, “It’s those little acts of kindness that are a beacon of light. There are a lot of patriotic people out there who care.”

This was their 11th annual fundraiser for Home Front Cares, founded in Colorado Springs in 2003 by two Vietnam Veterans. Charity executive director April Speake said, “We’ve already brought in so much,” Speake said. “I think it is going to be a record-breaking night.”

17th Annual debra of America Benefit

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By JohnPosted In: ChildFund International

You may never have heard of Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), but it’s time that you have. It’s a painful and often fatal rare genetic disease that affects 1 out of every 20,000 births in the US. People born with EB are often called “Butterfly Children” because of their extremely fragile skin.

Next month, the 17th annual debra of America Benefit will take place from 6:30pm to 9:30pm on Monday, November 16th at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The evening will include a performance by former American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Julie Kent. It will also include a cocktail and hors d’oeuvre reception, a silent auction and a DJ set by platinum-selling singer Kate Nash.

All proceeds from the event will support people living with EB. Learn more and get involved.

 

Hot Wheels Keep One Son’s Memory Alive

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By JohnPosted In: Charity Activity

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Losing your four year old in a freak accident isn’t something that any family expects. Finding a way to deal with that grief through creativity is certainly inspiring. Hilary and Zac Cheney lost their son in 2012, when a 100 year old gravestone fell on him. At the time of his death, he loved playing with toy cars and he even had one in his hand when he died.

On the first anniversary of their son’s death, Hilary Cheney thought of a way to keep Carson’s memory alive. She and her husbands started hiding toy cars in their packaging around their hometown of Lehi, Utah with a card that honors Carson’s memory. The card said, “Finders keepers. Please enjoy this gift in honor of Carson Cheney, July 31, 2007-July 5, 2012.”

It also directs the finder to the Carson Courage Cars Facebook page where they can share their feelings about their discovery. The idea has really taken off and Carson Courage Cars have been showing up all over the world. Facebook posts point to Japan, Germany, Sweden, Italy and more. Every Sunday, as reported by a store owner in Wisconsin, he hides 100 more cars in memory of Carson

They feel like they are able to continue taking care of their son in this way.

Humble Bundle Offering Great Charity Options

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By JohnPosted In: Charity in Business

If you love games, then you’ll want to check out the Humble Store where 10% of all profits go to support charities. This means that buying games helps out charities. So far, the company has donated more than $3 million since it launched in November of 2013. Until today, however, you were only able to select a few charities. Humble Bundle just announced a new “choose your own charity” choice that will now let you direct your money to thousands of different organizations in the US and the UK.

To select your own charity, you simply go to the Humble Store and click “select a new one” in the charity window. You can then browse the list of available charities. They have many options like Doctors Without Borders, Greenpeace, and the American Red Cross.

As co-founder of Humble Bundle, John Graham, explained “There are a wealth of amazing charities out there. We don’t ever like saying no to great causes but in curating things ourselves, we find ourselves mainly picking larger nonprofits that have awesome established global brands that we think will resonate with our community as a whole. With this new feature, if parts of our community want to give aid to homeless shelters in San Francisco and others wish to provide fresh drinking water to Ethiopia, they can choose as they please.”

 

Astros Outfielder George Springer Hosts Charity Event

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Astros outfielder George Springer has managed to take his own struggles and do something amazing with his fame. He is the spokesperson for Camp SAY which works with children who have speech impediments. He raises money for them and encourages those who are challenged to have confidence. Most recently, he hosted a bowling event at Lucky Strike on Monday July 20, 2015.

As he said, “It is completely all right to be who you are and who you want to be. You can’t let anything stop you from being that person.”
And he’s certainly a great example of being who you want to be. He was drafted in the first round by the Astros in 2011, joined the major leagues last season and is also focused on being a community leader.

As he said, “I’m glad to help. I understand exactly what they are experiencing. I have been there before and experienced everything. The ups and downs. The highs and the lows. It is kind of surreal to be able to go out and help some kids while basing everything off my firsthand experience.”

His speech has gotten better over the years and he attributes some of this to the help of family and friends. The Astros have also been incredibly supportive. At a recent bowling party for Camp SAY, the Astros owner Jim Crane and manager AJ Hinch were in attendance.

As president of business operations, Reid Ryan, who was also there said,

“I applaud George for basically tackling this early in his career and saying I want to help kids and show people that there are kids just like me. The kids at camp are very lucky but more importantly, I think the city of Houston is lucky to have guy like George Springer on our team.”