Project Re-Generation: Ending Teen Idleness

Teens in Brooklyn turn away from guns, drugs and gang life thanks to the volunteer-based nonprofit founded by Barnabas Shakur. Since 2001, Project Re-Generation has attracted 5,000 volunteers who assist with legal services, career guidance, interview skills, and after school tutoring.  Shakur says the goodness of the community is what has made Project Re-Generation work.  While giving teenagers guidance is a priority, adults are encouraged to participate.
Programs for Teens:

• Foot Soldiers Program
• Knicks Poetry Program

Homeowners & Professionals Can Get Involved:

• Foot Soldiers Property Maintenance Services
• 1000 People whoBANG Professional Group Community Pride Day

Citywide, New York City faces a staggering 50% dropout rate. However, those involved in Project Re-Generation have 96% graduation rate, and many go on to pursue a university education.

The Pay It Forward Coffee Shop

Some customers in Bluffton, South Carolina get random acts of kindness with their morning coffee.  A wave of "pay it forward" began two years ago at The Corner Perk when a woman left an extra 100 dollar bill to cover the coffee lovers who followed her that day, and she insisted she remain anonymous. Word spread, and others wanted to make the same gesture--also leaving money to pay for customers that came in.  The owner reports some people come in and leave money without even getting coffee.

"People will come in and say, 'What do you mean? I don't understand. Are you trying to buy me a coffee today?'" the shop's owner, Josh Cooke, told the local news. "And I say, 'No, somebody came in 30 minutes ago and left money to pay for drinks until it runs out.'"

Bluffton is a small town of only 12,000 people.  The generosity is deeply appreciated in economically tough times.

Technology for the Poor

A 20 dollar investment in a container garden can yield 25 pounds of food.  This is one idea Dr. Job Ebenezer implements as he works to find ways to address food security among the poor. Feed bags, wooden pallets, and discarded tires are also handy containers for gardening in tight urban spaces. Inspired by the ingenuity of George Washington Carver, Ebenezer founded his nonprofit, Technology for the Poor.

"With inexpensive containers and suitable soil mix, you can create an urban garden virtually anywhere - on roof tops, vacant city lots, brown fields, and unused portion of parking lots." --Dr. Job Ebenezer

The Ohio-based organization isn't limited to the U.S. or food scarcity issues.  Technology for the Poor is spreading sustainable technologies all over the world.  Bicycles and simple windmills can be used for energy production.  Low-cost home construction includes ideas from the early American pioneering efforts when straw served as a critical material in building efforts.

Learn how to construct your own container garden by visiting the website.

Cell Phones for Soldiers

Back in 2004, two kids from Massachusetts came up with the idea to help troops and their families by way of cell phone service.  Since then Robbie and Brittany Bergquist and their family has raised more than "$7 million in donations and collected more than 8.3 million cellular devices" as Cell Phones for Soldiers.

Cell Phones for Soldiers operates as a nonprofit and is dedicated to providing deployed and returning troops cost-free methods to communicate with family while serving in the United States armed forces.

Since 2004, Cell Phones for Soldiers:

• Raised more than $7 million and provided more than 114 million minutes of free talk time
• Mails approximately 12,000 calling cards each week
• Recycled more than 8.3 million cell phones, reducing the impact on landfills
• Anticipates the launch of a new program, Helping Heroes Home, to provide returning troops with 30-days of free phone service following deployment.
• Has remained a family-run, non-profit organization operated almost exclusively by Bob, Gail, Brittany, Robbie and Courtney Bergquist.

You can support the effort by visiting the Cell Phones for Soldiers donation page.

Homeboy Industries Gives Hope to a Community and Futures to former Gang Members

Weary of performing funerals, Father Greg Boyle wondered, "What if?"  What if the community invested in itself, its people, instead of problem solving by incarceration?  Boyle's concern evolved into Homeboy Industries which is now operating a $14 million budget.  The organization began with a strong focus on jobs and job training as an alternative to gang violence. However, over the last twenty plus years, the organization has grown and now includes a charter high school, training facilities, tattoo removal and mental health services. Former gang members work for Homeboy Industries' Bakery, Homegirl Cafe and Homeboy Diner.

Gang-related homicides in Los Angeles county are way down over the last two decades and Homeboy has won both praise and funding from government officials -- last June, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa helped launch the opening of a Homeboy Diner at City Hall. And the organization has inspired similar initiatives in San Francisco, Boston and Missouri.

After going through Homeboy Industries job training, participants can specialize in "baking bread, learning to silkscreen, developing retail skills, or running a restaurant and catering business."

Enham's History of Helping

Enham in the UK began as a rehab community for veterans of WWI and military families.  In the ninety years since, the foundation has expanded its scope to focus on empowering people with disabilities.

"We have been responding to an ever-changing world by developing unique and innovative ways to continue to help disabled people exercise choice, control and independence."

Because of Enham, seven people with disabilities were just afforded the opportunity to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Enham empowers by opening up opportunities and supporting choices for people with disabilities or in need.

Central to the organizations mission is making sure people with special challenges can:

• Live the lives they want
• enter into sustainable, paid work
• fulfill their dreams and aspirations

True to the nonprofit's history, Enham has reached out in support to the service men and women who fulfilled tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The World Peace Game: Teaching Kids to Save the World

Devoted teacher, John Hunter found a way to allow students to resolve military conflicts and economic crisis in a classroom setting.  Hunter's The World Peace Game has "the goal to extricate each country from dangerous circumstances and achieve global prosperity with the least amount of military intervention." Students play on teams that represent different nations.

Children must wade through highly charged philosophical issues, identify ambiguity and bias in the information they receive.  They have to learn to understand what provokes antagonism and how to successfully deal with powerful enemies. Effective collaboration and refined communication becomes a skill for students navigating their way through the game.

The World Peace Game Foundation aims to help develop self-awareness in children and elevate their concept of world citizen:

The Foundation seeks to foster the concept of peace not as a utopian dream but as an attainable goal to strive for, and to stimulate the creative development of tools for this effort. It supports development of collaboration and communication skills for resolving and transforming conflicts, and the development of the skills of compromise, all while accommodating different perspectives and interests.

You can find out more about the Foundation's projects by visiting their website.