The Love Alliance Newsletter #32 - February 10, 2009

It has almost been a month since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck and ravaged Haiti.  In the face of devastation so much good has been done, but there is still so much more left to do.  Let’s not forget about Haiti as the headlines begin to focus on other things.  Check out this month’s Action Project below to find out easy ways that you can help.

LAST MONTH - HAPPENINGS

January was a great start to a new year and a new chapter for The Love Alliance.  We were able to be a part of the Red Eye:NYC launch as well as their first humanitarian event.  Red Eye was started in L.A. a few years back and now has a branch in NYC.  Their focus is on creativity, community and humanity with a long term vision of creating a global community of influencers and creatives shaping our youth and young adult culture to embrace generous living.  The Love Alliance is helping out with the monthly humanitarian events that Red Eye:NYC will be doing.  Check out this video from last month’s project.  We partnered up with the NY Dream Center’s Adopt a Block and painted a few apartments in the Chelsea Housing Projects, as well as cleaned up the playground area.  If you are in the NYC area and would like to be involved with Red Eye:NYC please email NYC@redeyeinc.org 

Marjie Wolfe recently took over the TLA Melbourne Group for David and Lauren and the group didn’t miss a beat.  Part of the group is affiliated with No Limits Academy, a local school for physically disabled children ages 6 to 21.  The students found out about the St. Jude's Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program and were anxious to help. In total they collected 776 cards which doubled the "in stock" number of cards in the "general Christmas" category that the St. Jude website had!  Click here to read more about this.  Also the St. Jude's Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program is still accepting cards until Feb. 28th visit http://www.stjudesranch.org/help_card.php for more information.

Last month we asked you to take a minute to answer our ten-question survey.  Your answers have been great and very helpful.  If you haven’t filled out the survey we would still love to hear from you.  Click here to take the survey.  We still would also love to hear your thoughts on The Love Alliance and what you would like us to be doing this year.  Feel free to email us at info@thelovealliance.net

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

We started the year asking you to re-educate yourselves about the social justice issues we represent.  We hope that you were able to visit our website and learn more about the issues and also come up with ways that you can get involved in making a difference.  If you didn’t get a chance, you can do so now: www.thelovealliance.net

THIS MONTH - HAPPENINGS

We are already starting to book events for 2010 and we have two coming up this month.  We will have an information and merchandise booth at the Isaiah 61 Conference in Boca Raton, FL, on February 12-13.  The theme this year is Clean Water.  David Ranzino will be leading a workshop on “What is Social Justice? And how you can make a difference.” Friday night.  For more information visit: http://www.youthhope.com/i61_boc.htm  We will also have an information and merchandise booth at the Pennsylvania Christian Teen Convention in Harrisburg, PA, on February 26-28. For more information visit: www.mypctc.com

As mentioned before, this Friday marks one month since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck and ravaged Haiti. Haiti's government raised the death toll to 230,000 and that toll is expected to rise as more bodies are counted, not to mention that the 230,000 does not include bodies buried privately by funeral homes or families.  The amount of those injured is estimated at some 300,000.

Our friend Adam Sjoberg flew down to Haiti days after the earthquake to help with relief work.   Please watch the slideshow of his photographs here. This is what he had to say about his trip.  “Haiti was once referred to as ‘The Pearl of the West Indies.’ It's people are strong and beautiful-- and though they have seen so much suffering, I hope that it will refine them and teach them to build, and rebuild. The country of Haiti is still a great Pearl, seemingly delicate as the child I watched emerge from the womb in a tent in Port au Prince, but like that child they are filled with a vibrant future that is yet unwritten.”

Simon Biswas also went down three days after the earthquake and took this beautiful video.

Please read our Action Project this month to find out ways that you can still help with Haiti.

THIS MONTH - 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.