JUNE ACTION PROJECT
We are so blessed and thankful to be completing our 3rd year as a non-profit organization. With gratitude for all we have as a non-profit and as a community of generous people we would like to "Remember The Homeless" this month. As we reflect on all we have, we are grateful for the ability to give to those who are without. While the need is obvious during the cold months, we do not want to forget them as the summer month’s come as there is still so much we can do to meet needs in our community. This month we encourage everyone to find your own personal way to remember the homeless in your community and the world. We could "Remember the Homeless" by donating essentials that we so easily forget such as hygiene products, sun screen, new socks and undergarments, paper products (paper towels, plates, cups) that local soup kitchens and shelters might need. Go to a popular city park with your friends and distribute peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or hand out water (This was The Love Alliance’s very first Action Project in August ’07). All in all, we encourage you to get creative. What do you love to do? How can you use that to make a difference towards homelessness in your community and the world this month?
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MAY ACTION PROJECT
If you have not yet figured out, Summer Tour is just around the corner. Our Summer Festival Tour is one of the most important things that we do because it is where we reach the most people. The majority of our educational flyers are distributed on tour and so many of our groups have been formed out of the people that we have met at thesefestivals. Unfortunately much of touring expenses are required to be paid before tour ever starts (i.e. the cost of booths, gas, merchandise etc.). While we have always seen all of this money back by the end of tour, it is still a major up-front financial undertaking. We need your help to fundraise for this summer.
We have broken down our cost and before we even hit the road on June 15th, we still need over $2,000. More bills are due throughout the summer, but in order to even start tour we need this amount paid for. This might seem like a big task, but know that every penny helps and every penny counts. We are asking you to help us fundraise so that we can reach thousands of people this summer.
Here are some ways you can easily help raise money before we leave for tour on June 15th:
- Put on a benefit concert. If you need help with this please email us at info@thelovealliance.net.
- Search for change and/or hold a loose change drive.
- Hold a bake sale or car wash at school, church or in your community.
- Of course you can also donate yourself. If you donate $25 or more you can snag a Limited Edition T-Shirt.
- Donate via your small business or ask local small businesses that you know to donate (be sure to remind them that their donations are 100% tax deductible).
Once you have raised and collected the money you can either make an online donation here or send a check or money order to: The Love Alliance P.O. Box 111431 Palm Bay, FL 32911.
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APRIL ACTION PROJECT
We once again will be remembering the environment for April’s Action Project. This will be our 3rd Annual Community Cleanup. This month we encourage everyone to plan community clean ups. Grab some used grocery bags and get together with friends, family and coworkers to pick up trash in your area. No matter where you look, we guarantee you will be able to find some trash. Past community cleanups have been done at the beach, parks, neighborhood streets, highways, etc. Of course we urge you to be extremely careful if you decide to do a road clean up. Many cities are putting together their own community cleanups for Earth Day, so there might already be something bigger going on that you can get involved with. Check out www.earthday.org and www.kab.org to see if anything is going on in your community.
Don't forget to recycle all of the garbage that you can. We would also recommend you bring garden or latex gloves (people toss out some pretty gross stuff). Let's be a part of making our communities and the world we live in a safer, cleaner and more beautiful place for ourselves and the generations after us that will be inheriting our mess. Be a part of not only changing the environment in a positive way, but of also changing the perceptions of the people around you.
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MARCH '10 ACTION PROJECT
March is both Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day (3/8). This month is the perfect time for us to honor the women of our community. Our T.L.A. Wilkes Barre, PA group had a fantastic idea to go to their local women’s shelter and do manicures/pedicures for the women. We encourage everyone to run with this idea. Shower your love on the women of your community who have been worn out by life. Go to your local florist and see if they would like to donate flowers to the women or gather beauty products and create beauty baskets for the women.
If you do not have a local women’s shelter then we encourage you to find a lonely elderly woman in your community and help meet some of her needs while listening to her stories. See if she needs something fixed in her house, if not, spend a meal with her. Sometimes our presence is the most loving gift we could ever give.
There are so many things that you can do. Be creative and make a difference.
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FEBRUARY '10 ACTION PROJECT
The earthquake that struck Haiti has caused unfathomable damage and
left so much to be done. The worldwide response has been phenomenal
and so many organizations were on the ground immediately. Initial
needs were able to be taken care of and so much has been done, but
there is still so much left to do. As worldwide interest fades, we
must not forget about Haiti.
We originally posted a blog titled “Help Haiti: List of Organizations Helping Haiti”
and we had a great response. For this month we are asking people to
pick one thing to do in order to Help Haiti. We will be posting ways
you can help daily on our Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace. For now here are some resources and things that you can do:
-
We always encourage people to use their talents to make a difference.
So many artists have taken initiative and used their talents to help
raise money for Haiti. Here are some friends who are selling t-shirts
and art to raise money:
www.threadnwater.com
www.frettoprints.com
www.haiti.storenvy.com
-
Convoy of Hope is collecting Hygiene Kits to send to Haiti. You can
collect the items needed for the kit and send your kits to COH or you
can make a $5 donation to pay for all the items in the kit. For more
information visit: http://convoyofhope.org/go/kits
- A great non-profit organization, Children Hunger Fund, was on the
ground almost immediately providing much needed meals and aid. You can
follow what they are doing in Haiti by bookmarking their website at www.chfus.org and donating to their Haiti fund.
-
If you have followed The Love Alliance for any amount of time you will
know that we partner with a great organization called Compassion
International. The majority of Compassion’s work is in Haiti. The
Love Alliance sponsors two children in Haiti through Compassion’s
sponsorship program that are thankfully ok.
On February 27th
Compassion is having a series of concerts and web simulcasts called
Help Haiti Live. This event will be Compassion’s most ambitious effort
ever in terms of single day awareness and fundraising. The event will
also have a giving / blogging component and they want as many people as
possible involved. You can get involved, help promote and donate by
visiting: www.helphaitilive.com
- Donate money. Visit our original blog “Help Haiti: List of Organizations Helping Haiti” for a list of organizations that you can donate to.
These are just a few ways to help and we will be adding more ways during the month.
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JANUARY '10 ACTION PROJECT
In this New Year we as a community of people working to make a difference in the world choose to learn new things. This month as an organization we will be focusing on educating and/or reeducating ourselves. What social justice issues are most important to you? How much do you really know about these issues? This month we encourage you to get to know these issues and all of the ways individuals can make a difference towards them. Visit the Education section of our website to learn more about social justice issues.
What are the ways in your specific community that individuals can get involved in making a difference? The best resource to educating and activating your community is you. This month focus on under girding your foundation of knowledge to become a better resource to those around you that are seeking to make a difference.
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DECEMBER '09 ACTION PROJECT
This holiday season we are remembering the environment by having a "Recycled Holiday." The holidays can often be a time for excessive consumerism. Buying things just to buy them. Instead this year our Action Project is to give vintage or homemade. Instead of placing a demand on new products we can reuse or repurpose previously used products. Purchase items from estate sales, and antique, vintage or thrift stores. You can give them as is or you can revamp/repurpose the items. Not only will this likely help your wallet, but it will also be a much more meaningful gift to the person receiving it. You will also be reducing waste and energy as old products will be saved from landfills and new products will not need to be produced. Here are some fun gift ideas, do them yourself or hold a recycling gift party to make them with friends:
- Get a wide array of items locally from furniture, electronics, sporting goods to clothing on freecycle.com
- Decorate a box or tin and give baked goods
- Give an old bag decorative stitching to make it one of a kind
- Find beautiful vintage jewelry online or at local estate sales and antique/vintage stores
- Make bowls or mail holders from old records (click here)
- Repaint used furniture to make it one of a kind
- Make new things out of old magazines (click here)
- Give a unique jewelry organizer (click here)
- Make something out of old blue jeans (click here)
- Give a gift in someone's name to help people in third world countries live self sustainably (click here)
- Wrap old wire hangers in yarn with bows to give beautiful custom padded hangers (click here)
- Make plastic bag yarn and knit or crochet recycled goodies (click here)
These are just a few ideas to get the wheels turning in your heads. We are asking you to get more involved by posting on our site any other recycled holiday gift ideas you may have along with links to how people can achieve these ideas if available. You can do so here.
If you are still wanting to purchase new items for the holidays we encourage you to only purchase socially conscious items. Buy fair trade, sweat shop free, items made from recycled products etc.
We also encourage everyone to take part in this year's Advent Conspiracy. Click here to learn more and to view this year's video.
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NOVEMBER '09 ACTION PROJECT
This month’s Action Project is centered around the holiday of Thanksgiving. Once again we are made aware of the recession and our economy and the effect that it is having on families. Many families will not be able to afford the traditional Thanksgiving meal this year. But we can change that by providing meals for many of these families. As we go shopping for our Thanksgiving meals this month, we are asking that you pick up an extra can of corn, cranberry sauce, etc. Many local grocery stores have a place to donate these items in their store. If your grocery store does not do this, then you can donate these items to a local food bank, soup kitchen, church, etc. that will be providing Thanksgiving meals.
If you are unable to find somewhere in your community providing a meal or you would like to make a difference for families in New York, we are partnering with the New York Dream Center to provide 200 families with an entire Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving day. Each full meal will only cost $20 each but you can donate any amount you would like. Checks can be made payable to: The New York Dream Center 108 West 131st. Street Apt. 2 New York, New York 10027. Please include "Holiday Giveaway" in the memo section and let them know that you are a part of The Love Alliance. If you would like to make an online donation for the Thanksgiving meals, you can do so on our website at www.thelovealliance.net/donate.html and please note that it is for “Thanksgiving Meals.”
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OCTOBER '09 ACTION PROJECT
If you have been with The Love Alliance for more than a year than you would know that October is Fair Trade Month. Therefore we are once again focusing on Fair Trade. This month we are asking you to educate as many people about Fair Trade as possible. You can do this a lot of different ways. First off, we have posted a blog entry on our website that talks about all things fair trade, you can increase your knowledge about fair trade and share the blog with others. Click here to read it.
Being online gives us the ability to educate mass amounts of people quickly and with little effort. Post updates on your Facebook/Twitter/Myspace. Here are some examples:
October is Fair Trade Month. Learn more here: http://bit.ly/3wnWN
I don’t take slavery in my coffee. http://bit.ly/3wnWN
I take my chocolate slave-free. http://bit.ly/3wnWN
If you are posting on Twitter, use the hashtag #fairtrade to help Fair Trade become a trending topic and encourage your friends to Repost.
Tell your friends, family and co-workers about Fair Trade. Encourage them to look for Fair Trade alternatives this month.
Educate the general public. Buy “Remember the Poor” and “Remember the Enslaved” products in our webstore and tell people about Fair Trade when asked. You can also buy “Remember
the Poor” and “Remember the Enslaved” flyer cards in our webstore to hand out.
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SEPTEMBER ACTION PROJECT
This month we will be holding our 3rd Annual Love Alliance Fall Cleaning. This Action Project has probably been one of our most participated in projects. We encourage you to go through your piled up stuff this month and give away anything you no longer wear, use or want. Be sure to not confine your giving to just clothes. We have seen people give away old CD players, computers, and even a car. I think many times we look at the needs in the world and feel like they are so big that there is nothing we can do to help. But this simply is not true. This month you have the ability to give away things that are cluttering your life to someone who is in dire need of it. Whether that is a pair of shoes you never wear, or an old computer that is collecting dust. Lets be sure to have just as much fun with this year's Fall Cleaning as we did the last two years. As you compile your stuff to give away, weigh everything that you are donating and let us know your totals. Then we can really visualize the impact we are having and try and beat that total number next year. In the last two years combined, we have seen thousands of pounds donated. It is your decision as to where you would like your donations to go. The Love Alliance Melbourne Group has donated to a local non-profit thrift store the past two years. Every town should have a place like this, if not you can donate to nationwide non-profits like Salvation Army and Goodwill.
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AUGUST ACTION PROJECT
This month we would like to do two simple things to Remember the
Poor. First we are reviving an Action Project one of you came up with
last August as due to the world wide recession it is more needed this
year than any time in the recent past. August is a big month for kids
as they are all starting to go back to school. With going
back-to-school comes back-to-school shopping. For most kids this is
one of the few fun things about finishing up their summer break.
Unfortunately, due to finances, there are a large number of children in
school today that are not able to purchase all of the supplies their
school is requesting. This brings a lot of shame to the kids as they
have to tell their teacher and ultimately makes doing their work much
more difficult. This month we will be giving school supplies to
schools so that they can distribute them to children in need.
Education plays a huge part in breaking the cycle of poverty. Many
young people in poverty see these obstacles such as buying supplies and
become discouraged. Let’s as a community encourage these young people
in their education to help ensure they have a bright future. So here
is what you can do: Collect school supplies this month such as pens,
pencils, markers, crayons, notebooks, notebook paper and donate them to
your local school to be distributed to the children who are most in
need. You may want to call the school and request a school supply list
and work from there. Also don’t be the only one in your group to
donate supplies this month. Be sure to encourage your friends and
family to take part in this project as well. We are excited to see
everyone impact children’s lives and self esteem in such a great way
through seemingly simple means. If you have any questions about this
month’s Action Project email Action@thelovealliance.net.
Next
we would like to send some love to the children that The Love Alliance
community sponsors in Haiti. We would love it if you would write a
letter or draw a picture for either or both of our sponsored children.
Click here to learn more about the children we sponsor. Send all letters or pictures via email to Action@thelovealliance.net or snail mail: The Love Alliance, P.O. Box 111431, Palm Bay, FL 32911.
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JULY '09 ACTION PROJECT
This month we will be focusing on remembering the sick, specifically those in our communities in need of life saving blood. We are asking all people involved with The Love Alliance to give blood to their local blood bank this month. This is such a simple, cost free way to be a part of saving someone's life. We would recommend calling ahead to see if you need to make an appointment. We do understand that not everyone can give blood because of one reason or another. If this is the case we encourage you to first get a few of your friends to donate. Another alternative is to volunteer at your local blood bank. We are planning on donating at Cornerstone and we encourage the rest of you to join us.
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JUNE '09 ACTION PROJECT
Our project will be in recognition of TLA’s 2nd birthday this month. We encourage everyone to hold community parties through out the month. The parties will be to celebrate two successful years of The Love Alliance and to educate the community on what we do. This is a great opportunity to get your friends and family involved with making a difference towards social injustice. We're taking this month to broaden our base. As we inform more and more people on the issues we represent and their ability to impact them in their every day life we are exponentially growing our ability to make a difference towards community and international needs. So have a good time, it's for the good of your community. Be sure to upload pictures and video of your party to the You in Action section of the website.
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MAY '09 ACTION PROJECT
This month we will be Remembering the Poor. We are all acutely aware of rising poverty levels all around us. Hundreds of thousands of people have been and are currently being laid off all around the world. This month we will be assisting those places that provide for people in their hardest hours, food pantries. Food pantries exist to help meet basic needs of struggling people. Because the need for food pantries has drastically risen we need to help them meet that need. There are a few ways that we can help our local food pantries this month:
Firstly, you can hold a canned food drive. You can do this by collecting non-perishable’s from family, friends, classmates, church, co-workers, group members etc. You can also go door to door in your area with baskets for you local food pantry asking if individuals have anything that they would like to donate to help those who are struggling in your community.
Another thing we have found is that while food pantries give out so much, they are many times very limited in the help that people give to them. Who knows, possibly the biggest help could come from you cleaning up, organizing, painting or volunteering a shift at your local food pantry. Give them a call; see what they are in need of.
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APRIL '09 ACTION PROJECT
Since April houses both Earth Day and Arbor Day we will be remembering the environment for April's Action Project. This month we encourage everyone to plan community clean ups. We know many of you live in rural areas, but we guarantee, if people live there, there is trash for your group to pick up. Did you know that boats can go out into the most deserted parts of the ocean where no one is around for thousands of miles and even there they will find garbage? Let's be a part of making our communities and the world we live in a safer, cleaner and more beautiful place for ourselves and the generations after us that will be inheriting our mess. Don't forget to bring along recycled grocery bags to hold all the garbage goodies you will be picking up and to recycle all of the garbage that you can. We would also recommend you bring garden or latex gloves (people toss some pretty yucky stuff into our parks, beaches, roadways etc). This is a great project for people of all ages so we encourage you to invite all of your friends and family to join you.
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MARCH '09 ACTION PROJECT
For this months Action Project we will be focusing on how we as a
community can affect the issue of Clean Water. We are taking the lead
from Blood:Water Mission and giving up what we would normally drink in exchange for tap water.
We will be saving up the money we don't spend on morning coffee or
O.J., lunch time soda and evening beverages and compiling it for one
collective check that will go towards building clean water systems in
Africa for those who are dying of thirst. We recognize that a month is
a long time to do this. Personally I will be committing 30 days, but if
30 days is too much we encourage each person and group to make a
commitment of their own that they can stick to. A day, a week, 2 weeks
or the whole month, you decide.One of our TLA Melbourne Group members
says she can't go without her morning coffee, but she wants to committ
financially matching whatever coffee she does drink this month. The
fact of the matter is that $1 (I'm sure at least the cost of just one
of the drinks we will forgo this month) can provide clean water to an
African for an entire year. So by us choosing to go without even just
one day, we can provide a necessity of life for someone who is so
desperate for it. We already partner with Blood:Water Mission’s 1000
Wells Project, as currently 25% of our "Remember The Thirsty" merchandise profits go towards building wells in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are
excited to partner with them on this month’s Action Project to continue
to be able to help save lives.
Even if each individual only
raises $1 next month, they have each potentially saved one persons
life. We encourage you to get others involved with this months project.
See if you can get individuals from school or work to commit a day or
days. If you don’t work, ask your parents if they will get their office
to commit a week or a day. Or better yet, see if you can get your
school staff to commit to a day or more to raise money for clean
water. At the end of the month you can send your final check made out
to "The Love Alliance" with "Clean Water" written in the memo to: The
Love Alliance, P.O Box 111431, Palm Bay, FL 32911 or make a donation online with “Clean Water” written as the purpose of the donation.
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FEBRUARY '09 ACTION PROJECT
It’s that time of year again folks, Valentines Day. Did you know
that each year the U.S. alone spends $1 Billion dollars on chocolate
for Valentines Day? That’s a lot of chocolate. It is estimated that
40% of the worlds cocoa is provided through child slave labor.
Fortunately though, there are certain chocolate brands that are “fair
trade” and have guaranteed to utilize no slave labor during the process
of cultivating and producing their chocolate. This Valentines Day we
ask that you purchase only “fair trade” chocolate. This way you will
be able to use your love of chocolate to be a part of the solution
rather than contributing to the problem. While chocolate is delicious,
it is not good enough to justify enslaving children. Please don’t hear
us wrong, there is nothing wrong with loving chocolate, it’s fantastic
and has been proven to be pretty good for us. Rather, we are
encouraging each of us to take this knowledge we have gained about this
tasty treat and become responsible chocolate eaters. To read more about
slave labor used in the production of chocolate click here.
Also if you are an elementary school teacher and would like a
curriculum to teach your class about fair-trade this Valentines Day click here.
Here’s a list of fair trade chocolate:
You can purchase fair trade chocolate at most Target, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Food stores.
There are also many places online you can purchase fair trade chocolate:
- Amazon.com
- Global Exchange
- Divine Chocolate
- Yachana Gourmet
- Dagoba Chocolate
- Equal Exchange
- Sweet Earth Chocolates
… Plus many many more.
If you are not a chocolate consumer, don’t worry we haven’t forgotten about you this month. Our T.L.A. Wilkes Barre PA group leader came up with a great project
for this month that we are excited to join in as well. While this can
be a time to celebrate love, this can also be a heart breaking time for
many who feel alone. This month, we encourage everyone to make
Valentines Day cards and distribute them to individuals in either local
nursing homes or hospitals. This is a great opportunity for us to show
love to those who may be feeling especially forgotten on February 14th.
As always we would love any pictures, video or short blogs
about how this months Action Project went. From pictures of your fair
trade chocolate covered faces to video of you distributing your
Valentines cards. You can submit your content here.
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JANUARY '09 ACTION PROJECT
If you have followed The Love Alliance for any amount of time than you know that our primary focus is on educating individuals on the many issues of social justice. The only way for us to become active in making a difference towards injustice long term is to truly know about the issues. So this month we are going back to school for our Action Project.
We encourage everyone this month to refresh themselves on the issues of social injustice we represent. Visit the new Education section of our website, familiarize yourself with the issues. If you would like to take things a step further do some research on your own. We encourage you to not just stop at the facts of what is going on, but rather go beyond that and learn what all of us can do to make a difference towards that issue.
Let's not stop at simply educating ourselves. This month, be sure to share your renewed or gained knowledge with those around you at home, at work, school etc.
As we are making our resolutions for 2009 let's make them with the perspective of the big world around us and our inherent ability to impact it in a big way. Let's start this next year with a strong foundation of knowledge for why we do the things we do.
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DECEMBER '08 ACTION PROJECT
This month’s action project has been inspired by the Advent Conspiracy. While the Advent Conspiracy is Christian based, we are confident that people of all faiths can find inspiration in this concept. Every year, American’s alone spend $450 Billion on Christmas and in the end feel overwhelmed and stressed by the hustle and bustle of the season. This holiday season we encourage all of you to take the time to fully enjoy the people to whom you are giving. Instead of buying gift cards why don’t you reserve time to make gifts this season or give gifts that give back? We encourage you to put more time and thought into the people you love. What if we gave some of the money we saved this year towards remembering the poor, the sick, the thirsty, the enslaved, the homeless etc? Did you know that the estimated cost to make clean water available to everyone in the world is $10 Billion dollars? Imagine what your money can do this season if we were all to give a chunk of the $450 Billion spent each holiday season towards something more substantial. What issue is important to you? This holiday season you can be a big part of making a difference towards that issue. Clean water is just one issue you can greatly impact this year. We encourage you to go on our website this month and find a cause close to your heart that you and your family and friends can support. For questions on where to give, email: Action@thelovealliance.net.
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NOVEMBER '08 ACTION PROJECT
November is Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a holiday where we take the time to give thanks for all of the blessings that we have. This month we are asking you all to join us in being thankful for the things we have that we can easily take for granted. More specifically we ask that you join us in gratitude for something as simple as our winter coats. This month we ask that you donate winter coats that you do not use any more to either a local homeless shelter, local coat distribution center or distribute the coats directly to the homeless of your area. If you would like to take it a step further you can organize your own coat drive and inspire your coworkers, neighbors, or group members to give the gift of warmth this winter. We have the unique ability to be able to meet individuals immediate needs this month while also letting them know that they are valued and cared for. As always we would love to hear from you about how this Action Project goes through pictures, blogs and video. Email any of these to Action@thelovealliance.net.
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OCTOBER '08 ACTION PROJECT
October is Fair Trade Month. For those of you who do not know what Fair Trade is these are products that have been bought from non-exploited workers (i.e. not made by slaves or in sweatshops). Unfortunately many individuals have no idea that many of the products we buy are made from exploited workers. If we can create a demand for fair trade products, we can send a message to the producers that we will not stand for exploitation of human beings to simply save a few cents.
With that said, this month your goal as a group is to 1. Choose one item you regularly buy this month, find a fair trade alternative, and purchase that alternative this month (i.e. chocolate, clothing, coffee etc.). 2. Let us know what fair trade alternative you found by emailing us at Action@thelovealliance.net. We will be posting this list on our new website. 3. If a store you normally shop at does not sell fair trade alternatives it is super important that you request fair trade either directly through a manager or in their comment box. As we start asking where things are made we will start changing the social climate of the society we live in. Not sure how your favorite stores producers treat their workers? Research it and if you find out they have negative practices then approach a manager with your concern or write a letter to their corporate offices. 4. Educate, educate, educate. Educate yourselves and your community more on these issues. Many people have no idea that many of the items they buy are made unfairly. Beyond that they many times have no clue that there are fairly made alternatives. Lets work to change that this month.
To find Fair Trade items and to get more information on this issue visit:
- www.transfairusa.org
- www.tenthousandvillages.com
- www.globalexchange.org
- www.sweatfree.org
- www.coopamerica.org
- www.sweatshopwatch.org
- www.maketradefair.com
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SEPTEMBER '08 ACTION PROJECT
Last September's Action Project was probably one of our most participated in projects of the year. Due to its popularity we thought we would make this project an annual tradition. With that said, this month we will be having our second annual Love Alliance fall cleaning. We encourage you to go through your piled up stuff this month and give away anything you no longer wear, use or want. Be sure to not confine your giving to just clothes. Last year we saw people give away old CD players and even a car. I think many times we look at the needs in the world and feel like they are so big that there is nothing we can do to help. But this simply is not true. This month you have the ability to give away things that are cluttering your life to someone who is in dire need of it. Whether that is a pair of shoes you never wear, or an old computer that is collecting dust. Lets be sure to have just as much fun with this year's Fall Cleaning as we did last year. As you compile your stuff to give away weigh everything that you are donating and message us back your totals. Then we can really visualize the impact we are having. Last year groups had some healthy competition to see who could collect the most amount of donations. We saw individual groups donate over 1,000 lbs. We are positive we can exceed last year's group totals. You can decide on where you would like your donations go. We will be donating ours to a local thrift store in our area dedicated to homeless outreach. For a list of places to donate your items visit www.justgive.org.
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AUGUST '08 ACTION PROJECT
Since the publicity we have received from winning the Myspace Impact Awards we have had so many passionate people join The Love Alliance community. One of these passionate people gave us a great idea for this month's Action Project. August is a big month for kids as they are all starting to go back to school. With going back-to-school comes back-to-school shopping. For most kids this is one of the few fun things about finishing up their summer break. Unfortunately, due to finances, there are a large number of children in school today that are not able to purchase all of the supplies their school is requesting. This brings a lot of shame to the kids as they have to tell their teacher and ultimately makes doing their work much more difficult. This month we will be giving school supplies to schools so that they can distribute them to children in need. Education plays a huge part in breaking the cycle of poverty. Many young people in poverty see these obstacles such as buying supplies and become discouraged. Let's as a community encourage these young people in their education to help ensure they have a bright future. So here is what you can do: Collect school supplies this month such as pens, pencils, markers, crayons, notebooks, notebook paper and donate them to your local school to be distributed to the children who are most in need. You may want to call the school and request a school supply list and work from there. Also don't be the only one in your group to donate supplies this month. Be sure to encourage your friends and family to take part in this project as well. We are excited to see everyone impact children's lives and self esteem in such a great way through seemingly simple means. If you have any questions about this month's Action Project email Action@thelovealliance.net.
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JULY '08 ACTION PROJECT
So summer is in full effect and the mosquitos have definitely returned. Being at the festivals getting bit up by mosquito’s got our wheels turning. To those of us living in the west, a mosquito bite is generally nothing more than a nuisance. But if we by chance were born in many other parts in the world these little pesky bugs change from a nuisance to a threat. Did you know that every 30 seconds a person dies from the preventable/treatable disease malaria? Most of these deaths are children. This awful disease is spread by mosquito bites. These bites primarily happen while individuals are sleeping. While this problem is so large the solution is so simple; bed nets. These insecticide treated bed nets can sleep up to four individuals and will work for up to four years. For only $10 we can buy and ship a net to a family in need. Not only will these nets affect the individual family receiving it but it will also greatly effect the community. Families without nets will also be greater protected from this disease as mosquitos are killed off within the area due to the nets being treated by insecticide. While we would love to see each of you raise enough money to buy thousands of nets we are not asking that this month. Rather we ask that you focus on collecting or putting away $10 by the end of this month. This means that by the end of the month you will have put together enough money to provide a family a life saving bed net that will provide them protection for the next four years. Of course, if you would like to go beyond raising $10 then by all means go crazy. But our goal is to see each of us provide one net this month. This is what we do, seemingly small things that make a huge impact on individuals and communities. As always be creative and go with this action project as you see fit. At the end of the month you can either purchase your net/s via Compassion International’s website or send your checks to us made payable to “The Love Alliance” with “Mosquito Nets” in the memo for our large, end of the month purchase. You can send all checks to:
The Love Alliance
P.O. Box 111431
Palm Bay, FL 32907
If you plan to purchase the nets yourself, please let us know how many you purchased so that we can measure the impact we are having on your community and the world.
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JUNE '08 ACTION PROJECT
So as you all know, this month is The Love Alliance’s birthday. So we were thinking, what else screams 1-year-old birthday than toys? Obviously, we have very little personal use for toys. But we do know of some children who are in desperate need of a childhood. Did you know that families with children make up 40% of the U.S. homeless population? And this is just within the U.S., street children riddle the streets of countries all over the world. This thought can be staggering. While of course homeless individuals have a lot of practical needs such as clothes, this month we are looking a little deeper into the emotional needs of these children. They have had no say as to what family or circumstances they have been born into. But still, because of their home life they struggle to hold onto being worry free fun loving children. This month we are doing what we can to bring a little fun to the lives of homeless children in our community. We encourage everyone to donate at least one toy to your local homeless shelter. (To find a homeless shelter in your area, click here or here) These toys of course should be new or like new if they are used, as we want to these children to know that they are both loved and valued. This month let’s send these children the simple message that life has not, that they are worthy of good things. So get your gift together, and encourage your friends, family and co-workers to also donate at least one gift this month. As small as this project may seem at first glance, we 100% believe the potential impact it may have on a life. When we believe we are valuable when we are young we take this self worth with us into adulthood. This month, through the simple gift of toys, we are investing into the futures of children by sending them the message that they are valuable, loved and worthy of good things.
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MAY '08 ACTION PROJECT
Now to announce this month’s Action Project. If you’ve been around The Love Alliance community long enough you know that we are extremely outward focused. This month The Love Alliance needs a little T.L.C. We know we need to be at these festivals because of the thousands upon thousands of people we will be able to directly reach to educate and infiltrate their communities. But We Need Your Help! Right now the biggest need our organization has is for money. So for this month’s action project we are asking you all to help raise or donate money to make this summer tour possible. We're leaving at the beginning of June for our first festival, so we'll all have the whole month to make this tour happen. There are so many ways you can help us make it on the road this summer. Here are some ideas: you can hold a loose change drive, bake sale, benefit concert, take up a donation at school, work, church or home. We are confident that there will be a huge response from our Love Alliance community to meet our huge need. All donations can be made via credit or debit through our secure donations link in this newsletter or on our website. Or if you would like to send a check, all checks can be made out to “The Love Alliance” and sent to P.O. Box 111431- Palm Bay, FL 32911. Thank you all in advance for participating in this month’s action project. We are confident that there will be a huge response from our Love Alliance community to meet our huge need.
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APRIL '08 ACTION PROJECT
Being that this month is Earth Day and Arbor Day, naturally we will be remembering the environment this month for our Action Project. The way we treat the environment today will effect generations to come. Let’s all make a commitment that we will be a positive impact on the environment as a posed to a drain on our planets limited resources. This month we will be cleaning up our neighborhoods. We encourage you all to grab some used grocery bags and get together with friends, family and coworkers to pick up trash in your area. Of course we urge you to be extremely careful if you decide to do a road clean up. The Love Alliance group in our area of Florida will be doing a beach clean up. You may not have a beach in your community, but unfortunately no matter where you go there is trash to be cleaned up. Another activity you may want to do with friends, family or coworkers is to chip in to buy a tree and plant it somewhere in your area. What ever you choose to do this month, be it a community clean up, planting a tree, or both, these are things that we as a community can come around. Make an event of it with your friends, family and/or coworkers. Be a part of not only changing the environment in a positive way, but of also changing the perceptions of the people around you. We really want to see you in action this month. So take lots of pictures and video and send them to Action@thelovealliance.net so we can post them on our website and show others what you are doing.
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MARCH '08 ACTION PROJECT
March 8th is International Woman’s Day. When thinking about how we can honor the women of the world in March we asked ourselves, what is a social injustice that largely affects women? With that in mind we have decided to make human trafficking the focus of this months Action Project. Did you know that there are more slaves in the world today than when it was legal during the transatlantic slave trade? Did you also know that woman and children are most likely to be trafficked? Did you also know that modern day slaves have produced many of the items in our local stores? This month in honor of the women of the world who are plagued by this injustice we will be writing our senators and government representatives asking that they do everything possible to eliminate our countries role in encouraging human trafficking. We will ask our senator’s and government representatives to push for legislation that criminalizes the sale of products that have been made by slaves. The supply of slaves in the world will decrease as the world lowers its demand for them. This is a practical way we can lower our demand. Below is a link to a form letter for those of you in the U.S. along with a link to find your senator’s information. We have also formed another letter for those of you outside the U.S. to send to your government representatives. We encourage everyone reading this newsletter to take the time to send this letter to your senator or representative. Then once you have sent your letter, get all of your friends and family to send the letter as well. The best way we can honor the women of the world this month is by giving them a voice so that they can no longer be ignored. You have the opportunity to do that through this letter, we hope you will take it.
Click here for U.S. letter to Senators
Locate your Senator:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Click here for non-U.S. resident letter
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FEBRUARY '08 ACTION PROJECT - SPREAD THE LOVE
As we all know, February is the month of love. So naturally The LOVE Alliance's focus will be on love this month. Showing love as a lifestyle is a great habit to form, so we will be doing just that this month. For the whole month of February, not just Valentine's Day, we will be showing love to those who might not regularly receive it. It's really easy to show love to our friends and family, but what about those who it might be a little more stretching to show love to? There are a ton of places we can go to do this, visiting elderly at nursing homes, playing with kids at homeless shelters, volunteering at an AIDS clinic, hanging out with and talking to homeless people. There are a lot of tangible ways we can show love, but sometimes the first step to helping a victim of injustice is by giving them back the dignity of being an individual who is worthy of time, love and attention. So this month we will be cultivating our ability to give love to those who are on the fringe of society. We also encourage everyone to aim at showing love to everyone you come in contact with this month. Now to clarify, we are not saying to be falsely show love, rather we are saying to make the choice that regardless of your own insecurities and preconceived notions about people you will love them because we are all worthy of love regardless of where we are in life.
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JANUARY '08 ACTION PROJECT - ELECTRICITY DIET
Every New Year countless individuals make resolutions to go on a diet. Well in the spirit of this popular resolution, this month and long term The Love Alliance is going on a bit of a diet of its own. This month we will be dieting electricity. 'How do you diet electricity?' you may ask. Well in order to understand how you can diet electricity you will need to have a base knowledge of it. Firstly we must understand that the production of electricity causes a lot of environmentally damaging emissions. This is why we need to be careful to only use what we need. Did you know that 75% of the electricity used by our appliances (i.e. anything you plug in) is used while they are PLUGGED IN but TURNED OFF. So right now take a look at your dormant plugged in toaster, or your television that has not been on for hours; they are using and ultimately wasting most of their energy when they are off. But don't worry you don't have to continue to waste energy; there is a solution for this. This month we will be and we encourage all of you to unplug everything when it is not in use. For plug in items such as entertainment centers and computers, plug everything in to a surge protector strip and turn the strip off when it is not in use. Another thing we encourage you to do this month to diet electricity is to change at least one, if not all, of the light bulbs in your home or office from regular to a compact fluorescent light bulbs. While a regular light bulb may use 60 watts of electricity to operate, a compact fluorescent light bulb only needs 13 watts of electricity. By simply switching out our light bulbs we will be conserving 3/4 of the amount of electricity that we would have been unwittingly using. You will not only be saving energy but you will be saving money on your electric bill as well. So join us this month and long term for our New Years resolution energy diet. If you would like to learn more about the environment and other practical ways you can make a difference towards cleaning it up for ourselves and future generations visit the Environment section of our website.
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DECEMBER '07 ACTION PROJECT
As we all know, we are in the holiday season. For so many of us this is a time of excitement and joy. But for many people right in our communities it is a time of anxiety and an even bigger reminder of their struggle. This month instead of choosing just one thing we will do, we are leaving it a little open ended because during this season there is just so much that we can do. Here are some action projects you can do this month. The first thing you may choose to do is to give gifts to children in need. You can give them to the major gift drives such as Angel Tree and Toys for Tots, or you can more directly meet the needs of your community by going to a local school in a low income area, a church or hospital. The neat thing about giving through a venue such as a school is that the social workers in the school know the needs of the children. Often they have lists of families that without our donations will have nothing for Christmas. If you are planning on giving gifts, I would strongly recommend starting on this project ASAP as gifts are often distributed by the middle of December. If you don't have the ability to give gifts, you can find somewhere to volunteer your time. There is an abundance of places to volunteer all the time, but it is especially meaningful during this season as it is a season that so many individuals feel invisible. We have the ability to give of our time and attention to let them know that they are worthy of life and love. Here are some suggestions for where you and your friends can volunteer your time: a homeless shelter, nursing home, soup kitchen, a children's hospital, or volunteer to wrap gifts for a gift drive, and the list goes on and on. I would like to quickly note that if you are planning on volunteering it would be wise to call ahead to make sure that you can.
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NOVEMBER '07 ACTION PROJECT
The November action project is focusing on the clean water epidemic. You may want to go read up more about clean water on the Education page of The Love Alliance website and from the clean water sites listed in the links section of the website. The reason we are focusing on clean water for the month of November is because while in our part of the world we are just coming on our cold months, in the parts of the world that clean water is the biggest problem (such as sub-Saharan Africa) they are just about to come on some of the hottest months of their year because they are below the equator. The November action project is a loose change drive for clean water. Cut a slot in the top of a water bottle (small/gallon sized & recycled) and collect loose change to help aid those who are dying of thirst. When it comes to clean water every penny counts, just $1 will give clean water to an African dying of thirst for an entire year. We understand that sometimes individuals can get overwhelmed when it comes to raising money. We want to emphasize that this is not about raising more money than anyone else. Rather it is about informing people and saving lives. Even if you only raise $1 next month, you have potentially saved one persons life. We encourage you to get creative with this months project. At the end of the month you can send your final checks made out to "The Love Alliance" with "1000 Wells Project" written in the memo to:The Love Alliance, 1542 South Wickham Rd., West Melbourne FL 32904. Then we will be making one grand total donation to Blood:Water Missions 1000 Wells Project. While we are planning on putting our own wells in Africa one day, we strongly believe in the work that Blood:Water Mission is doing and want to support their efforts as The Love Alliance the best we can. To read more about Blood: Water Mission you can go to www.bloodwatermission.com.
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OCTOBER '07 ACTION PROJECT
October is Fair Trade month. Fair trade products are products that have been produced by non-exploited workers. Unfortunately exploited workers, many of which are enslaved and/or children, have produced many of the products in our stores. This month we are taking a stand as a community to say that buying products from factories that exploit human beings is not acceptable. We encourage you to look at the products you buy this month and if it has been made in South America or other known exploitation areas? Does it have a Fair Trade Certified seal on it? This month while shopping we encourage you to find the fair trade alternative. Choose to buy sweatshop free clothes. Decide that you will not drink coffee or chocolate that was made a few cents cheaper by the blood sweat and tears of exploited human beings. If a coffee shop or a store in your area does not offer fair trade alternatives then suggest in writing that they do. Make them aware of the atrocity they are supporting by not offering fair trade alternatives. We encourage groups to focus on this project together. Turn your communities into fair trade communities. Make the people of your community aware of the exploitation of workers around the world. For more information on slavery in the world and a list of fair trade alternatives visit the Enslaved section in the Education section of our website. You can also visit transfairusa.org for a list of stores that sell fair trade products.
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SEPTEMBER '07 ACTION PROJECT - FALL CLEANING
This month we are having a fall cleaning, The Love Alliance style. We all have things, lots of things, so many things that we don't even know what we have. This month lets go through our stuff and give away anything that we no longer wear, use or want. 36.5 million people in the U.S. alone are living in poverty. We have the ability to ease these struggling individuals burden. What we give they will not have to buy, allowing them to hopefully get ahead. Let's have fun with this months project. Weigh everything that you are donating and message us back or email us at Action@thelovealliance.net with your totals. Then, so long as everyone remembers to send us their weights we can have a grand total of the impact we are having as a community of people who are committing to making a difference towards social injustice. For a list of places to donate your items visit www.justgive.org.
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AUGUST '07 ACTION PROJECT - FEED THE HOMELESS
As all monthly projects, we wanted this project to be simple enough that anyone from any walk of life can participate. There is so much injustice in the world that it is extremely easy for our hearts to get lost in Africa forgetting that there are not only hurting people in Africa but they also live in our very own communities. If we are only saddened by suffering over seas and not by the suffering on our own streets then our desire to help will never last because likely it is a desire to get involved with a cause rather than the human being the cause is representing. Human suffering is human suffering no matter where it is, we must not stand for it in any part of the world, especially in our own communities.
So with that said, this month our project will be addressing an injustice that is in every community of the world, homelessness. At least one day this month we encourage e