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

Fishing for Gifts

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In Sioux City, one local fisherman is doing amazing things for those around him. Just this year he has managed to donate $300,000 to charities from his profits. James Haworth, the owner of the Tackle Industries, has given money to children’s causes and veterans outreach programs.

He originally started the company to add to their material possessions and to make money. But, when his daughter, Julia, who is now 8, was born with craniosynostosis, a birth defect in which a baby’s skull fuses before the brain is fully formed, he started to see things differently.

Seeing how many children were suffering, he decided that they needed to start to help others. So, in 2005 he started producing handmade fishing lures in his garage. And Tackle Industries was born.

He has given money to Gillette, the Ronald McDonald House, Take a Vet Fishing and Operation Muskie. Now, his mail-order company has 1200 products, where it started with 50.

“The more we give away now, it seems the more we get,” he said.

Chideo Makes Inroads with a Clever Platform

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chideo

Chideo (charity+video) is about to upload its mobile footprint with its Android app launch. Founded in 2013 by billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist Todd Wagner, the company takes a 20% cut of proceeds. Overall, however, he says that “this company is about helping charities.”

The platform has about 100 celebrities with over 70 charities. These charities include American Heart Association, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Feeding America, Heifer International, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Starlight Children’s Foundation, the Trevor Project, and more. They are also a disaster relief partner with the Red Cross.

The way the platform works is that users can watch exclusive videos of their favorite celebrities in exchange for donations to their causes. Users can suggest future content and can also vote on other users’ suggestions for content.

As Wagner said, “We want to entertain you into giving, not guilt you into it. The key is to intertwine entertainment with the fact that its solely to help charities raise money. Folks can do good, just by watching the content.”

As Flo Rida said in a statement to VatorNews, “Chideo is exactly what my fans and I have been looking for. It gives us a place to connect, to share ideas and to get a window into what it means to live my dream. And the best part is that together, we have a chance to make the world a better place for lots of deserving kids.”

Magic Johnson Honored with First Staubach Award

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Emmitt Smith, Pat Smith, Roger and Marianne Staubach, Cookie and Magic Johnson

Emmitt Smith, Pat Smith, Roger and Marianne Staubach, Cookie and Magic Johnson

On May 9th, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and his wife, Cookie, received the first-ever Roger Staubach Award in the packed room at the Omni Dallas Hotel. They were part of the Emmitt Smith Celebrity Invitational presented by SoftLayer, which managed, by the end of the weekend, to raise $1 million for the Pat & Emmitt Smith Charities.

These charities funds unique educational opportunities and enrichment programs for underserved children. The Staubach Award, named for the Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, was established “to recognize individuals who have brought together the world of sports/entertainment and business to make an extraordinary impact on the lives of children and youth.” It will be given out to recipients who exemplify personal, professional and philanthropic excellence.

While accepting the sterling trophy created to Tiffany & Co., Magic Johnson said that, as he neared the end of his NBA career, he looked for a sports figure to emulate. As he said, “I decided that’s who I want to be like – Roger Staubach. I’ve been chasing this man for years like a big defensive lineman.”

As Pat Smith said, “I can’t think of a better way to kick off our fifth year than with a new award named after our good friend and hero, Roger Staubach. And it’s such a thrill to give the first award to Cookie and Magic, an incredible power couple who have set the bar very high and been a true inspiration to Emmitt and me.”

Heidi Klum Honored for Work with the Red Cross

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klum

Supermodel Heidi Klum was just honored by the American Red Cross for her volunteer work. She received the organization’s Crystal Cross Award which honors celebrities who have shown exceptional support of the Red Cross and its goals.

Klum, who is constantly doing charity work, was honored for her particularly hard-working endeavors during Hurricane Sandy in the fall of 2012. Klum offered many items from her Truly Scrumptious line of baby and toddler clothes and nursery décor for those in need.

Held at the French Embassy in Washington D.C., the event was star-studded. Klum told People magazine,

“I try to give back. After Sandy, we got a gigantic truck and we loaded it with blankets, diapers, kids’ clothes and toys because it was right around the holiday season and we went to Long Island (New York). So many people had lost everything, and everything was wet and it was a big mess. The Red Cross has such an infrastructure to help you, you need all these hands.”

She adds, “I try to get a lot of goodies from the people I work with. I realize how fortunate I am. When you go out into these desperate situations, when you sit at a hospital with sick children, of course it changes you. We are used to seeing horrifying catastrophes on television, but when you are about to go and be there and see the sadness on people’s faces and the things they just lost, it makes a huge difference.”

Past recipients of the award include Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Josh Duhamel, Jamie Lee Curtis and Sean Penn.

5 Mother’s Day Gifts that Give Back

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This Mother’s Day, why not treat your mom to something lovely while at the same time helping a charity that you appreciate? This is the idea behind these five thoughtful gifts that serve a dual purpose. Go ahead and splurge – mom deserves it and so does the charity.

1.  Alex and Ani bracelets: Twenty percent of the proceeds from some of their specific bracelets will go to the Hasbro Children’s Hospital, March of Dimes and Women & Infants Hospital.

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2. Go to Honoryourmom.io and you can upload a picture of you and your mom. Then make a donation to Samahope, which is a nonprofit that funds doctors who care for women living in poverty, and you’ll get a personalized web page for your mom.
3. Davidstea.com has a beautiful tea collection that helps with the development in farming communities. The collection includes divine tea choices such as Buttered Rum, Cinnamon Rooibos Chai, Green & Fruity, Green Rooibos, Guayusa, Rooibos, and Blood Orange Pu’erh teas.
4. For the mom who loves wine, purchase a 2011 California Pinot Noir from One Hope and ensure that half of the profits from the bottle will go to the ASPCA to help fund pet adoption around the country. Check it out at www.onehopewine.com
5. By a bracelet for mom that says “woman” in braille and enjoy the 25% proceeds that will be donated to Living Beyond Breast Cancer. Find this offer at www.everythingbutwater.com

First African-American Mayor in Small Town Holds Ball

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Mayor Sedric Smith

Mayor Sedric Smith

Sedrick Smith, 41, is the youngest mayor ever to serve the small community of Charleston, Mississippi. He’s also the first African-American mayor there. With his goal of making citizens of all races more involved in the community, he recently had a charity ball that brought together 300 local residents. The catered dinner was $15 a person and included a dance at the Charleston Middle School bym.

As Mayor Smith said, “I always wanted to do something of this nature. I’m just trying to get the community involved more than they have been — to share knowledge, to meet and greet. I want the community to feel a part of the city instead of just being the city, this is not about me, it is about the people of this community.”

The funds from the ball went to the American Cancer Society, as Mayor Smith explained, “Our mother and father both died of cancer and everybody has been affected in one way or another by cancer so we decided to hold the ball with funds going to the American Cancer Society.”

Those participating in the program included Glendora Miss. Mayor Johnny B. Thomas, Rev. Derrick Williams Sr., LaJoyce Stewart and Glenna Callender, executive director of the Charleston Arts and Revitalization Effort (CARE). As Mayor Smith said, “What I want to instill in Charleston is that there are many things we can do together, to bring people together. Our people are so eager to do more, I get great ideas every week. And everybody wants to do it right now. It is really a beautiful thing to see people so involved,” he added.

The event was unique in history for a number of reasons. It was attended by Mississippi mayors from Grenada, Beulah, Rosedale, Shelby and Glendora.

As Glenna Callender said, “We are here for three major reasons. We are here to honor Sedrick Smith, the first black major and youngest mayor in the history of Charleston. We are here tonight to ‘Rally for a Cure’ for the dreaded disease, cancer; to raise money for research and to help community cancer patients. Some of you in this room are survivors, we honor you.

“But we are also here to honor and celebrate community, the coming together to help each other, to improve community relationships for the benefit of Charleston.”

Vitaminwater Sponsors Vitaminschools

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Darius Bikoff

Today, many celebrities and politicians focus on childhood obesity and healthy living. Many don’t realized, however, that people like Darius Bikoff have been focusing on children’s health for years. The entrepreneur and founder of the Vitaminwater empire began to sponsor Vitaminschool in 2006. This is a national cooking contest for teenagers.

Married to Jill Bikoff and an avid sports enthusiast, Bikoff attended a food-services trade convention aimed at the school-lunch market. He was “appalled that not a single thing was fresh,” as he told Houston Chronicle writer Kimberly Stauffer. He said that all of the foods were “all processed and fried and fatty. I walked away thinking, ‘I’ll never eat this stuff. I wouldn’t let my daughter eat it.'”

Thus, the Vitaminschool program was born and it allowed students to compete for cash prizes to their schools to improve lunchtime menus. In 2006, Vitaminschool awarded a $100k college scholarship courtesy of glaceau to Stephanie Wheeler, a junior at the Woodlands Christian Academy in Houston, Texas. The award was given in Union Square in New York City by Kelly Clarkson.

Shave for the Brave Event for Rabbis

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“Shave for the Brave” started in the year 2000 and now has more than 1300 events around the world. Now, a collection of more than 60 reform rabbis got together to shave their heads to raise money for pediatric cancer research. They met at the 125th annual Conference of American Rabbis at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park to support St. Baldrick.

The story began with Rabbi Phyllis and Michael Somner, whose eight year old son Sam died of leukemia in December. Phyllis is an associate rabbi at Am Shalom in Glencoe, Illinois and when his mother first considered doing a “shave” in 2012, her sick son rejected it.

Then, in October of 2013, Sam was hospitalized and Phyllis asked a friend, Rebecca Einstein Schorr, if maybe she should shave her head. And her friend replied, “What if a whole group of us do it?”

Together, Sommer and Schorr thought of the idea of a “36 Rabbis Shave for the Brave” event at the CCAR conference. When Sam relapsed in November, even more rabbis took up the cause, and they have so far raised $455,000 toward a goal of $540,000.

“We all felt the hopelessness of this horrible reality,” said Schorr. “These two loving, amazing parents had to tell their 8-year-old son that there was nothing more the doctors could do. There seemed to be something out of what we humans perceive as the natural order and part of what galvanized so many of our colleagues was the notion that as one collective religious voice we could make a stand (and say), ‘We don’t want to bury any more children who are dying from something that if there was enough funding available to help find appropriate treatment, they wouldn’t have to die.”

As Rabbi Isaac Serotta of Lakeside Congregation for Reform Judaism in Highland Park said, “We are doing it in Sam’s memory and in memory of so many others who have lost their lives to childhood cancer, including my own brother, Paul.”

As Sommer said,

“Sammy died approximately 100 days ago,” she said. “I am forever changed, yet I look exactly the same. I’m anticipating a new wave of grief accompanied by, possibly, a feeling of relief that finally my outside appearance in some way matches my changed inside. People have told me that what I’m doing is ‘brave’ and ‘powerful.’ I feel neither of those things, but I fully ascribe to the ‘fake it ’til you make it’ school of behavior, so perhaps when I shave my head, the brave and powerful feelings will follow.”

Team MR8, Others Getting Ready for Boston Marathon

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Boston Marathon Charity Runners

picture from the AP

On this past Saturday, 300 runners dressed as superheroes raced down the last 18 miles of the Boston Marathon course. Hosted by the North Andover-based nonprofit Charity Teams, the superhero run included over 20 fundraising groups.

Included in this group were 26 members of Team MR8 who were raising money in memory of Martin Richard, the 8 year old Dorchester boy who was killed last year near the finish line.

There were 75 spots on Team MR8 and each runner raised $7500 for the foundation. One runner was former Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Sean Murphy, who had never run more than 5 miles when he submitted his application. As he said,

“The Richard family was doing what any American family could have been doing at that time: They were out enjoying the day, watching the marathon, and they had their world rocked.”

Other famous MR8 runners include Arizona U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, and Amby Burfoot, the winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon and editor-at-large of Runner’s World magazine.

As runner Tina Cassidy said, “To carry on the legacy of a little boy who loved to be a peacemaker in his community and he loved to run, this is just one way to give back to his family. There’s great motivation to do well for this team, not just on race day, but promoting peace and hope and all the things Martin cared about.”

The money that Team MR8 raises will go to projects that the foundation’s board members are now starting to play.  As Larry Marchese, a spokesman for the Richard family, said

“Just like everyone else, we are showing that you can’t use terror to change the way we live. It’s solidarity with all of Boston and the rest of the country, and the other part of it is these runners are raising the seed money for this foundation.”

 

Checking Out Chideo

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chideoIf you haven’t heard of Chideo yet, you might want to come close. This is a new website and app that offers users the way to get close to their favorite stars while raising money for various charities.

Chideo is a combination of charity and video. Fans can create a free account on Chideo and then follow their favorite movie stars, athletes and other celebrities. Users can suggest content that they want to see from their favorite celebrities. The suggestions that garner the most votes will get answered by the celebrities.

Fans can then watch the exclusive content by donating a small fee that will go to the celebrity’s favorite charity. Donations start for as little as $1.99.

As the Chideo site says, “Think of it as one-of-a-kind content with a conscience.” It’s really a very creative idea whose time has come.