Welcome back to school everyone! You've heard about what we did in Brazil, and we're gearing up to do it again, but more about that later!
For this term our main focus is a "HappyPack of Books" event for children in long term hospital care units. For all of you Yankee fans, Mr. Ray Negron, a New York Times Bestselling Author of childrens books, and personal consultant to George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees, will be joining us. www.batboyhelps.com/author-ray-negron-2.html. He will be signing his latest book "One Last Time: Goodbye to Yankee Stadium" and has offered to add copies of his books The Boy of Steel: A Baseball Dream Come True (#2 on the NY Times Bestseller List) and The Greatest Story Never Told: The Babe and Jackie, to the HappyPack of Books. So save your books, join us, and pass them on. Make sure to check the blog for the date of the HappyPack book drive. It will be around Thanksgiving, which is an excellent time to reflect on what we have, and what we can do to improve the lives of others. I will keep you posted!
We will be going back to the Vo Flor orphanage in order to give more gifts to the children there. If you did not donate the first time around, now is your chance! When we went the first time, the children all lined up and we gave out HappyPacks www.youtube.com/watch?v=dccnJ2oFsps
However, by the time we reached the end of the line, there were not enough HappyPacks for the small group of girls who had patiently waited at the end of the line. There were more children at the Orphanage than we expected, but Asha and Jasmine from Saint Ann's, as well as Jonathan from Stuyvesant, started giving out their personal belongings to the children. Although they were very happy with what we were able to give them, we know that they were still disappointed at the fact that they still did not get a HappyPack. The kids lined up in a certain order, and whoever was in the back would not be getting anything. The little boys were first, then the big boys, then little girls, and then the big girls. It was very unfortunate that we did not have any more packs for the last few children. So, because of this, the next trip will be centered around Happy Packs for these Teen Girls. The next trip will be in December. You can also find out about upcoming tours for 2010 by contacting the Founder of Art Helping Life, Sherri Donovan donovassoc@aol.com or Velly Bahia at vellybahia@gmail.com.
Check here www.vellybahia.com, for more information on the trip.
Brazil is truly an amazing place.
On our trip to the Vo Flor orphanage, we saw the rooms that the children used to sleep in. Where there used to be beds are now empty spaces. The government may shut the orphanage down, because Lady Vo Flor cannot afford to keep doctors on the premises, and there is not enough space for each child to have their own room. I saw only 2 bedrooms in the building. One for the girls and one for the boys. The government now requires that each child has his or her own room. How do they expect her to go from 2 rooms to 50 rooms with no resources? The only people who help her are neighbors and friends, and people like us. She needs money in order to buy the building, and possibly make more rooms inside. She has to chase away the kids at 5:00, because they cannot stay there if she does not follow the new rules and regulations. The choices for the kids are to either stay on the streets, or go to the facilities that the government is providing. They choose to come back every day, because Lady Vo Flor, who they affectionately call Grandma, is the only person that ever showed them love, or made them feel appreciated. In fact, the name Vo Flor means Lovely Grandmother. Those kids need her. She is their only mother. Could you imagine leaving the only place you know as home for the night, and being alone on the streets? It's not a very happy thought. That's why we need to help these children. They go through our nightmares every day. They don't have a mother or father to guide them and reassure them, all they have are each other and a kind old lady who opened up her heart for these children on the street.
These private run facilities don't care about the kids, they just care about the cash. For every child that they have inside, they get paid. The kids are just another resource for money. They aren't loved, they aren't cared for, they're just kept.
This is what OnEartHeart is about. KIDS Helping KIDS!!
Read more about OnEartHeart www.oneartheart.com/
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Our Next Project in Fall '09
Our next project involves everyone. We want kids everywhere to donate books to the children in long-term hospital care at their nearest hospital, and if possible, read to them. The children there live in the hospital, and they just need a friend. You can be that friend by visiting them, reading to them, and helping them heal. A specific time zone for the project will be posted once finalized. Look for it!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Trip to Brazil!
OnEartHeart recently Traveled to Salvador, Bahia. We took the Teen Family Tour sponsored by Art Helping Life inc. Art Helping Life is “a non-profit corporation dedicated to promoting cultural awareness and helping the disadvantaged, especially children in poverty.” Founded by Sherri Donovan donovassoc@aol.com.
We gave Happy Packs to the children at the Vo Flor orphanage there, and the entire experience was wonderful. Happy Packs are Backpacks filled with things that make children happy. In this case, they were art supplies. The children were very polite, and they had big smiles on their faces when they opened the bags. They were so surprised because they thought that they were just getting backpacks. But when they opened them, and saw that they were literally filled to the top with art supplies, they just lit up. However, there were more children at the orphanage then we expected, and the little ones lined up first. By the time we got to the 12-14 year old girls, we did not have anything left, but we were still able to find something to give them. Velly Bahia (vellybahia@gmail.com, vellybahia.com), our tour guide, is going back to Bahia in August, and we would like to send with him Happy Packs for teen girls. This time it will be a joint collaboration between kids in Brazil, and kids in America. We carried 300+ pounds of Happy Packs on the plane with us, and the entire operation was successful. Thank you children of Saint Ann’s School. Thank you children of the Harlem School of the Arts, Thank you children of the Bronx. Thank you to my little cousin Trinity in Michigan. Trinity is our youngest member at the age of 6. I would also like to give a special thanks to Yonbue of the Bronx who gave us about 100 stuffed toys. We really did it. Just kids helping kids. You can see what we did on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dccnJ2oFsps.
Salvador was absolutely amazing. I have never seen anything like it. The streets rise and fall in layers, and all the streets are paved with cobblestones. The houses there are all connected, and the narrow streets make you feel like you are in an entirely different place. Cars can barely drive around the city, but yet seem to slip through somehow. We went to a square there, and the amount of activity is incredible! People dance, and sell things, and there are amazing buildings there as well. We also took a drive through the countryside, and it feels like a different world. We did not even need to speak the language of the people there to have a great time. I met wonderful people there, and although I could not speak their language, I could communicate with them, and I knew that they were great people. We danced with them, swam with them, played with them, and it did not require language. The children there are just like us. We meet with a group of kids, and we played with them, traveled with them, and all kinds of things. We tried to teach them English, and they tried to teach us Portuguese, this is how Flag Friends are created. Some of our first Flag Friends will be from Bahia. Check out what Flag Friends are about at www.oneartheart.com. I really did not want to go home. I hope to go back there again soon!
A few weeks later, Velly was still in Bahia. Two kids passed him on the street and said, “Velly! Where’s Kiki?” They were still wearing their backpacks.
We gave Happy Packs to the children at the Vo Flor orphanage there, and the entire experience was wonderful. Happy Packs are Backpacks filled with things that make children happy. In this case, they were art supplies. The children were very polite, and they had big smiles on their faces when they opened the bags. They were so surprised because they thought that they were just getting backpacks. But when they opened them, and saw that they were literally filled to the top with art supplies, they just lit up. However, there were more children at the orphanage then we expected, and the little ones lined up first. By the time we got to the 12-14 year old girls, we did not have anything left, but we were still able to find something to give them. Velly Bahia (vellybahia@gmail.com, vellybahia.com), our tour guide, is going back to Bahia in August, and we would like to send with him Happy Packs for teen girls. This time it will be a joint collaboration between kids in Brazil, and kids in America. We carried 300+ pounds of Happy Packs on the plane with us, and the entire operation was successful. Thank you children of Saint Ann’s School. Thank you children of the Harlem School of the Arts, Thank you children of the Bronx. Thank you to my little cousin Trinity in Michigan. Trinity is our youngest member at the age of 6. I would also like to give a special thanks to Yonbue of the Bronx who gave us about 100 stuffed toys. We really did it. Just kids helping kids. You can see what we did on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dccnJ2oFsps.
Salvador was absolutely amazing. I have never seen anything like it. The streets rise and fall in layers, and all the streets are paved with cobblestones. The houses there are all connected, and the narrow streets make you feel like you are in an entirely different place. Cars can barely drive around the city, but yet seem to slip through somehow. We went to a square there, and the amount of activity is incredible! People dance, and sell things, and there are amazing buildings there as well. We also took a drive through the countryside, and it feels like a different world. We did not even need to speak the language of the people there to have a great time. I met wonderful people there, and although I could not speak their language, I could communicate with them, and I knew that they were great people. We danced with them, swam with them, played with them, and it did not require language. The children there are just like us. We meet with a group of kids, and we played with them, traveled with them, and all kinds of things. We tried to teach them English, and they tried to teach us Portuguese, this is how Flag Friends are created. Some of our first Flag Friends will be from Bahia. Check out what Flag Friends are about at www.oneartheart.com. I really did not want to go home. I hope to go back there again soon!
A few weeks later, Velly was still in Bahia. Two kids passed him on the street and said, “Velly! Where’s Kiki?” They were still wearing their backpacks.
YouTube link!
We have a YouTube video of my latest project, giving backpacks full of art supplies to the children of Vo Flor! Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dccnJ2oFsps&feature=related
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
I have recently made a presentation to the Riverside Church of New York City on Eco-Justice day. It was a wonderful experience, and I was glad to be a part of it.
I mainly talked about plastic and how it is severely hurting our environment. Plastic takes 10,000 years to bio-degrade (that means to rot). Plastic Polymers NEVER bio-degrade. We should be using plastic for things that we want to keep forever, but instead we are using it for things that we throw away in a few minutes. Plastic shopping bags just waste plastic and oil. They float in our oceans, drift across our streets, and kill our animals. How can we fix this? The answer is simple. Buy re-usable bags. This goes beyond just reducing plastic consumption, it also gets rid of greenhouse gases by slowing production at the factories, and saves oil that can be put towards powering cars and homes.
The worst are plastic garbage bags. We create them to throw them away. We MUST find alternatives. The bags just sit under the ground and stay there. They trap heat inside of them, causing the garbage to rot, releasing Methane, a greenhouse gas. Maybe we can try a bio-degradable alternative, or develop a system to eliminate plastic bags altogether. Think about it!
I mainly talked about plastic and how it is severely hurting our environment. Plastic takes 10,000 years to bio-degrade (that means to rot). Plastic Polymers NEVER bio-degrade. We should be using plastic for things that we want to keep forever, but instead we are using it for things that we throw away in a few minutes. Plastic shopping bags just waste plastic and oil. They float in our oceans, drift across our streets, and kill our animals. How can we fix this? The answer is simple. Buy re-usable bags. This goes beyond just reducing plastic consumption, it also gets rid of greenhouse gases by slowing production at the factories, and saves oil that can be put towards powering cars and homes.
The worst are plastic garbage bags. We create them to throw them away. We MUST find alternatives. The bags just sit under the ground and stay there. They trap heat inside of them, causing the garbage to rot, releasing Methane, a greenhouse gas. Maybe we can try a bio-degradable alternative, or develop a system to eliminate plastic bags altogether. Think about it!
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