The Love Alliance Newsletter #38
www.thelovealliance.net
August 10, 2010

Sorry for the delay in our newsletter this month, we have had a very busy summer and our staff has been out on the road. To all of our new supporters from the festivals, Welcome! Our newsletter normally comes out the first week of the month.We are excited to tell you how this past month has gone.

Also excited to give you some easy ways to make a difference for local kids and schools.

LAST MONTH - HAPPENINGS

This past month has been a busy one. We started July off at both Creation Festival and Cornerstone Festival. From Cornerstone, Hade and Matt traveled to Lifest in Oshkosh, WI. This was our second year at the festival and last year we had multiple groups form from our presence at the festival. We were once again challenged with a greater amount apathy and ignorance in the Midwest that these issues currently elicit. We especially received a lot of this apathy towards our “What is Social Justice?” campaign. Luckily many of these individuals came up to the booth to start conversations and many people’s eyes were opened to the issues that we work with and the true meaning of social justice. That is a big part of why we are there and why we started this campaign. This campaign is meant to be a positive and uplifting voice to the conversation about social justice. It is about personal charity and supporting individuals and groups in what they are currently doing and to encourage them to get more involved with making a difference towards injustice. We are excited for our new and old supporters from Lifest to bring social change and awareness to their part of the country.

After Lifest, our tour team traveled back to Florida for a break, which didn’t last long. David and Hade left Florida for upstate New York at the end of July. Our first event was iMatter Festival in Elmira, NY. This was our first year at the event, and we have to say it was amazing. The event was free, the bands were great and the response to what we are doing was wonderful. Thank you so much to the Lowmasters and the iMatter staff for asking us to be a part of the event. Also thank you to The Glorious Unseen for putting us up when we couldn’t find a hotel in the area.

From iMatter we traveled to Kingdom Bound which started the next day. We got to the festival in time to set up the booth, ride a roller coaster at the Theme Park and open up the booth. Once again the festival was one of our best events. It was so good to see some old faces, including Joni McLeod who leads our Buffalo, NY Group and the Relevant Worship guys who once again housed us during the festival. The conversations we had were amazing and the heart of the Northeast is so big. Our new Remember the Homeless shirt was a big seller at this event. David also had the opportunity to speak at a new tent this year called “The Justice Experience.” The tent was run and sponsored by a group called “Let Them Laugh Out Loud” and they did an amazing job at bringing awareness to social justice issues. They had a guided walk through experience and even did a water walk for clean water. If you are in the Buffalo area and want to know how to get involved with social justice, please check them out. We are excited to do more with them next year.

From Kingdom Bound we drove through the night in order to get to Soulfest. Candice had set up a mini-booth the day before and by day 2 we were in full swing. As always it is great to see how socially minded this festival and the people who attend it are. Not for Sale is such a huge voice there and they are doing some amazing things. Also thanks to Sons of God, The Human Flight Committee and Ilia for supporting The Love Alliance from stage.

Not only did we have a busy month on the road, we also had a busy month online. As most of you saw our friend and supporter, DJ X was a finalist in the MTV TJ Competition. He decided to use his voice in that competition to bring some awareness to The Love Alliance and the issues we support. For one of his twitter challenges he choose to create the hashtag #socialjusticeis and then redirect people to our “What is Social Justice?” website. The response was amazing. Check out all the responses in the gallery on www.whatissocialjustice.com DJ X ended up making it to the Top 5 and competed on the live finale which aired on MTV this past Sunday. David and Lauren were in attendance but unfortunately X was knocked out in the third round, finishing in 3rd place. Thanks to everyone who voted for him and showed your support online during this competition. We’re confident X has big things in store for his future and honored he has chosen to support The Love Alliance.

We also competed in another online competition this past month. The Chase Community Giving Program. Our goal was to get into the top 200 to win $20K. We jumped in 3 weeks late on a 4 week competition so we knew it was a long shot. Unfortunately it didn’t happen, but thank you so much to everyone who voted for The Love Alliance and posted and asked your friends and family to vote.

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

Last month we took the heat into consideration and focused on Remembering the Thirsty. It was great to see individuals and our groups get out there and really educate people on this issue. We also had several groups raise money for Clean Water. It is always amazing to receive a check in the mail for “Remember the Thirsty.” Every dollar towards clean water goes so far. Thank you to everyone who participated.

THIS MONTH - HAPPENINGS

Our Summer Festival Tour is almost over but not before a couple of short weekend festival. Purple Door is this coming weekend (August 13th and 14th) in Lewisberry, PA. This was one of our first events in 2007 and we have been there every year since. If you are going to be there, please stop by the booth and don’t forget to check out Bradley Hathaway’s set on Friday, 8:00pm, Gallery Stage.

We will also be at Rev Gen Festival, Labor Day weekend (September 4th and 5th) in Frenchtown, NJ. We would love to see you there as well. There are also a few other weekend festivals that we are looking at attending in September and October. Those dates will be in our next newsletter as well as on our Events Calendar.

We will be taking the next month to catch up on emails, groups, and everything else that had to take a backseat to the tour this summer. We will also be connecting with all the people we met this summer as well as looking at all the possibilities that have come out of connections we made over this tour. We are excited about the future!

THIS MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

August Action Project

For the past two years we have focused on providing school supplies in August. We are once again doing that this year, and we will be providing you with more information and more ways that you can make a difference.

Often times in low-income areas, school supplies are a luxury that many students go without. Teachers are given limited supplies for their students and it is very common for the teachers to take this burden on themselves and purchase materials on their already small salary. In fact, teachers spend an average of $659 out-of-pocket on school supplies every single year. If the teachers don’t have the means, the students often go without.

Children deserve better than this. They deserve to have access to the school supplies they need to learn. They should be surrounded by good books, convenient supplies, and the materials necessary to conduct projects and experiments.

You can help kids have a better education by donating school supplies to a classroom in need. In just a couple hours, you can make a difference and will probably even find donate-able school supplies sitting unused in your own home.

It's easy to donate school supplies. Here are some different ways to do so:

Do a School Supply "Drop and Run"

Search your house for any usable office supplies that you no longer need. Don't worry if your supplies are slightly used – teachers will be so happy to have the school supplies that they won't be too picky about their condition. Here are a few basic items you may want to look for:

* lined paper
* pens and pencils
* erasers
* highlighters
* dry-erase markers
* overhead projector transparency sheets
* overhead projector markers
* paperclips
* binders
* report covers
* staples and a stapler
* construction paper
* glue sticks
* markers
* tape
* art supplies (for elementary and art classes)

You may also want to pick up some school supplies from your local dollar store. Then, put your donation in a bag and drop it off at a local school. You can leave the bag at the main office or you can give the school supplies to the teacher of your choice.

Give Kids the School Supplies They Really Need

Call a local classroom ahead of time and talk to a teacher to find out what school supplies her students really need. Aside from the basic supplies, keep these common needs in mind:

* various books for classroom libraries (check your garage or stop by yard sales)
* class sets of a particular book * curriculum resources that the district cannot or is not willing to pay for
* materials for special projects
* skills and talent donations (a printer might be able to make copies of a student-created book; a scientist might provide the opportunity for a fieldtrip to a lab)

Let the teacher know what your resources and abilities are. You're sure to come up with an easy way to help kids get the school supplies they need.

Send School Supplies by Mail

I Love Schools is an online program aimed at matching classrooms with the people who can help them get the school supplies they need. Read through teachers' wish lists to see if there are any school supplies you are willing to donate. You may also post a "donor offer" and let teachers contact you if they are interested in the items you would like to give.

After communicating with a teacher about your donation through email, just drop the requested school supplies in the mail. Or, if you live nearby, you can make arrangements to bring your school supply donation to the classroom.

*Information taken from: http://charityguide.org