Wow! 2012 is here. Its hard to believe. We are excited for this year and plan to focus on some key partnerships to make our impact as an organization even greater. As we have mentioned before, Love-Water is our newest partner and project and we can’t wait to see how many people Love-Water will be able to provide clean water for this year.

We are also partnering with Soles4Souls this year in a new micro-giving campaign to provide as many pairs of shoes as possible for children in need. The finishing touches are being put on that partnership and it should be rolling out at the beginning of next month. Expect this partnership to be in full force this summer.

Speaking of summer, we are already planning for our Summer Festival Tour and cannot wait to get on the road again. Once the schedule is pinned down we will be posting about festival volunteer opportunities.

A new year means a new chance to analyze how we view the world. We all are uniquely gifted to use our talents to change the world. What is it that you love to do? How can you use the things you love to do this year to make a difference towards injustice. Comment on our Facebook page and reply to our Twitter various ways that you are or plan to use the things you love to do to make a difference towards injustice this year.

Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Educate yourself on the issues via our website here: http://bit.ly/AC3caU

We will continue with our Focus Calendar this year as well as our monthly Action Project Sales. This month’s focus is on the Sick. ‘Remember the Sick’ merchandise is more than 15% off with ‘Remember the Sick’ shirts at $15, ‘Remember the Sick’ bags for $10 and ‘Remember the Sick’ flyer cards (50 Pack) for $1. Click here to order your discounted merchandise.

ACTION PROJECT

Our January/February Focus is once again Sickness. We wanted to start the new year by giving you an easy way to make a huge impact for the sick in your community.

January is National Volunteer Blood Donor Month. January has proved to be the month that presents the most challenges in recruiting people to give blood. Changing weather, busy holiday schedules, increased cold and flu symptoms and even the winter blues can keep the most dedicated blood donors from making or keeping an appointment to give.Yet winter weather can lead to more traumatic injuries on icy roads and may increase the need for blood.

The American Red Cross needs to collect 22,000 units of blood each weekday and around 15,000 units each weekend to meet patient needs. Every two seconds, someone needs blood.

This month’s Action Project is to donate blood at your local blood bank. This is such a simple, cost free way to be a part of saving someone's life. One pint of blood can save up to three lives. Visit www.redcrossblood.org or search “Donate blood” along with your cities name to find a local place to donate. 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 (primarily age) or another. If this is the case, we encourage you to get at least one eligible friend or family member to donate in your place. Another alternative is to volunteer at your local blood bank.

This year has flown by. We can’t believe it is already December. Excited for the holiday season and to once again celebrate with a “Recycled Holiday.” Read below for more information.

LAST MONTH - HAPPENINGS

David traveled to Nashville last month to meet with Soles4Souls, an amazing non-profit who has to date given over 16 million pairs of shoes away around the world. We are excited to announce that we are partnering with Soles4Souls on their first ever micro-giving campaign. The Love Alliance has designed an exclusive shirt which will be included in the campaign and will also be helping promote the campaign to provide as many shoes as possible to children in need. The campaign is set to launch at the first of year and we will have much more information for you then.

 We added our Summer Tour exclusive merchandise to our webstore last month. This included a new shirt, pullover logo hoody, tank, and wristbands. In case you missed it, you can check out all the products and more at our store: www.thelovealliancestore.com

Last month we announced our new partner and project, Love-Water, a non-profit clothing and merchandise organization providing clean water to those in need. Things are moving forward and they have launched their official website and webstore. You can check it out at: www.love-water.org

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

Last month we focused on the issue of homelessness in the United States. We asked you to put together Hygiene Kits to donate to your local shelters or to give out to people you may encounter on the street. Many of you put together kits by yourself while others got together in groups to assemble the kits.

Our Action Group at Capital University, Pi Phi Epsilon, had a demonstration on campus where they held up cardboard signs with facts about homelessness. They also collected hygiene products and money for products. They raised $315 in the first day alone!

We are so proud of our Capital University group and would love to hear your Action Project stories. Email info@thelovealliance.net

THIS MONTH - HAPPENINGS

We launched our Holiday Sale yesterday. You get $5 off your order for every $25 spent in the webstore. This sale is for all products in the webstore. Our Action Project Sale will continue as well. ‘Remember the Homeless’ merchandise is more than 15% off with ‘Remember the Homeless’ shirts at $15 and ‘Remember the Homeless Flyer Cards’ (50 Pack) for $1. Click here to order your discounted merchandise. Also read this month’s Action Project below for our thoughts on spending and giving this season.

The rest of this month will primarily consist of tying up loose ends for the year and planning for 2012. As mentioned, our partnership with Soles4Souls will be launching in January so a lot of work still needs to be done for that. We will also have an all new newsletter layout next year along with some other exciting changes.

THIS MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

So this season we’re making an effort to Remember the Environment, Remember the Homeless, Remember the Poor, and Remember the Enslaved by having a “Recycled Holiday.”

This means make it your project this month to give vintage or homemade gifts rather than buying just to buy. Instead of placing a demand on new products that were made under questionable conditions, 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 onfreecycle.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. Check out The Love Alliance webstore: www.thelovealliancestore.com as well as our friends at Shop To Stop Slavery’s Ethical Holiday Shopping Guide here: http://www.shoptostopslavery.com/shop-now/gift-guide

Click here to read our extended blog on this project and issue.

The holidays are a time filled with laughter, LOVE, and, yes, gifts. But the holidays can often be a time for excessive consumerism. This year we’re making an effort to Remember the Homeless, Remember the Poor, Remember the Enslaved, and Remember the Environment by changing the way you think about buying gifts this season

1) Remember the Poor, Remember the Homeless

Unfortunately there are many who can’t afford to give a big pile of presents to their loved ones. Poor families depend on projects like Operation Christmas Child and the USPS “Be an Elf” program for donated gifts. Donating gifts to your local shelter is also a way to give to those in need.

2) Remember the Enslaved

One thing we focus a lot on here at The Love Alliance is knowing where the products we buy come from. In our global world it’s too easy to unknowingly buy products made by slaves. Paying attention to the items we buy and making the choice to buy Fair or Direct Trade, slave-free products can make a huge impact on ending slavery in our world. It’s simple supply and demand. If we don’t buy products made by slaves, companies will stop using slaves to make their products. So think about making the switch to slave-free this holiday season.

3) Remember the Environment

Buying things just to buy them and then throwing them out in a year fills up landfills and leaves a huge impact on our environment (learn more about where waste goes here. And a short video about a project that tracked where our garbage goes).

ACTION PROJECT

So this season we’re making an effort to Remember the Environment, Remember the Homeless, Remember the Poor, and Remember the Enslaved by having a “Recycled Holiday.”

This means make it your project this month to give vintage or homemade gifts rather than buying just to buy. Instead of placing a demand on new products that were made under questionable conditions, 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. Check out The Love Alliance webstore: www.thelovealliancestore.com as well as our friends at Shop To Stop Slavery’s Ethical Holiday Shopping Guide here: http://www.shoptostopslavery.com/shop-now/gift-guide

As we mentioned in the newsletter, Chase has once again launched their Community Giving Program on Facebook.  This time, the top 100 non-profits will receive $25,000!   If you are on Facebook it will only take you 30 seconds and of course it is free and easy for anyone to vote.  Just click on this link http://bit.ly/sL46rW and vote! The voting ends Tuesday, November 22nd so please vote today.

Then, spread the word.  Doing this can take as little or as much time as you want to give.  Spreading the word can be as simple as clicking the “share” button after you vote, but here are some ideas for spreading the love and letting all of your friends know about The Love Alliance:

• Bring a laptop to your school/workplace/church/etc. and set it up with the voting page during a break to make it easy for people to vote 
• Share about it on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc… 
• Copy and paste the sample email at the bottom of this page and send it to everyone you know

Also just to clarify, if you have already voted for another organization you can still vote for us (You have up to 10 votes to give for up to 10 different non-profits).

Once more, just follow this link: http://bit.ly/sL46rW to vote for The Love Alliance and please share with your friends and family.  Let’s do this!

Thanks for being our hands and feet,

The Love Alliance Team

--
Sample Email:

Hey friends!  I just want to send you a quick email about this organization I support called The Love Alliance (thelovealliance.net).  It’s a non-profit that seeks to educate individuals about social justice issues and then help them take action to fight world injustices.  They’re in the running to win a prize of $25,000 and they need just a few more votes to put them in the top 100. If you are on Facebook it will only take you 30 seconds and of course it is free and easy for anyone to vote.  Just click on this link http://bit.ly/sL46rW and vote!  The voting ends Tuesday, November 22nd so please vote today.

Thanks for your help!

Some big things and major shifts happening with the Love Alliance.  Check out "This Month - Happenings" for more details.  We are also focusing on Homelessness this month.  Check out our blog and read “This Month - Action Project” to learn more.

LAST MONTH - HAPPENINGS

Thanks to your help this month spreading the word about the organization on social networks. We were able to hit our goal of 4,000+ Likes on Facebook and we also saw an increase in Twitter followers. Please continue to share our page and ask your friends, family and coworkers to “Like” us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter. As our social networking reach grows so will our voice to be able to educate and activate large amounts of people to make a difference towards social injustice.

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

Last month was Fair Trade Month and as always we focused on human trafficking and fair trade. This year we focused specifically on chocolate. We asked you for the month of October to only purchase and eat fair trade chocolate. We created a resource for you to learn more about the chocolate we eat as well as fair trade chocolate brands and where you can buy them.

Click here to learn more and view our list of Fair Trade Chocolate.

THIS MONTH - HAPPENINGS

We are excited to announce a new partner and project of The Love Alliance, Love-Water, a non-profit clothing and merchandise company providing clean water to those in need. Love-Water was started and is run by our good friend Jake Sherley. After years of running Thorn Clothing, Jake started focusing his philanthropic efforts on raising funds and providing clean water for those in need. Jake has been raising money for clean water through various Thorn products for several years now and after two trips to Zambia he decided he wanted to start a non-proFacebook, Website and Etsy store which has some great necklaces, one which is handmade by the people in Zambia that Thorn/Love-Water has provided clean water for.
 
Speaking of partnerships, David will be traveling to Nashville this week for meetings with Soles4Souls. He will be discussing our partnership and going over a specific campaign that The Love Alliance is partnering with Soles4Souls for. Expect more details and the campaign to launch in early 2012.
 
We have added our Summer Tour exclusive merchandise to our webstore. New merchandise includes: an amazing Mother Teresa shirt designed by our good friend Joel Gasper and printed on a soft blend shirt; a much requested Pullover Hoody, grey with our logo printed on the front; our classic Black Logo Fade design on a tank; “Make a Difference” fat wristbands in both black and blue; and a small Love Alliance bracelet (just $2). Check out all the products and more at our store: www.thelovealliancestore.com 
 
This month’s Action Project Sale will coincide with our Action Project Focus as always. This month’s focus is Homelessness. ‘Remember the Homeless’ merchandise is more than 15% off with ‘Remember the Homeless’ shirts at $15 and ‘Remember the Homeless Flyer Cards’ (50 Pack) for $1. Click here to order your discounted merchandise.
 
Last but not least, this month Chase is launching their Fall 2011 Chase Community Giving Campaign. The great thing about this year’s contest is that it is only for organizations with operating expenses under $1 million, which is definitely us. Being that it is specific to smaller budgets hopefully the competition won’t be as stiff. Our goal is to simply make it in the top 100, who will receive $25,000 each! The contest starts November 8th and goes through November 22nd. We will be sending more details out on our social networks once the contest starts. In the meantime add the Chase Community Giving FB Page to stay up to date. This is a free and easy way to make a huge impact for our organization. Be thinking of ideas on how to garner more votes for The Love Alliance. Thanks in advance for your support.

In November and December we’ll be turning our focus to the issue of homelessness in the United States. This month we’re asking you to Remember the Homeless first by educating yourself and others about the real facts, so that we can work together to dispel the myths that have led us to act without compassion on those who are less fortunate.

Second, this month our action project will be to provide those in need with some of the basic necessities for living. Most homeless shelters are able to utilize personal size hygiene items and cold weather clothing necessities for the homeless and in-need community they serve. During the Thanksgiving season, many shelters make a special appeal for these items and package them into bags as a practical gift for those who seek their services.

We encourage you to get together in groups to put together “Compassion Bags” to donate to your local shelters or to give out to people you may encounter on the street. Get together in groups to assemble the bags. Assign individuals to bring a certain item and throw a compassion bag assembly party. Some ideas of what to include in your bags:

· Soap

· Shampoo

· Deodorant

· Toothpaste

· Toothbrush

· Shaving cream

· Razors

· Underwear (all sizes)

· Socks (white and black)

· Hats

· Gloves

· Individually wrapped, healthy snack

Get creative! What sorts of things do you think should be added to this list? Dream it up and show some love to those who may need it most this season. Make sure you let us know how it goes and send us [info@thelovealliance.net] pictures of the assembly parties you throw!

To locate local homeless shelters near you try typing in your zip-code on this website: http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/

Other ways you might consider to Remember the Homeless this month:

Get Educated

Remember the Homeless Fact Sheet: www.thelovealliance.net/education/homeless/index.html

National Coalition for the Homeless: www.nationalhomeless.org
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty: www.nlchp.org
Habitat For Humanity: www.habitat.org
Homelessness Resource Center: www.nrchmi.samhsa.gov/Default.aspx
Home Sweet Homeless: www.hshomeless.com
National Alliance To End Homelessness: www.endhomelessness.org
Salvation Army: www.salvationarmyusa.org
Shelter Listings: www.shelterlistings.org
Shores Of Grace: www.shoresofgrace.com
St. Bernard Project: www.stbernardproject.org
The Doe Fund: www.doe.org

Want to do more?

Get Involved – 7 Easy ways you can make a BIG impact:

Remembering the Homeless is largely about remembering that they’re people too and therefore they should be treated as such. So here are 7 easy ways that you can help out a life by remembering just who they are:

1. Understand Who the Homeless Are - Help dispel the stereotypes about the homeless. Learn about the different reasons for homelessness, and remember, every situation is unique.

2. Respect the Homeless as Individuals and act with kindness towards them - Give homeless people the same courtesy and respect you would accord your friends, your family, your employer. Treat them as you would wish to be treated if you needed assistance. We can make quite a difference in the lives of the homeless when we respond to them, rather than ignore or dismiss them. Try a kind word and a smile.

3. Bring Food - It's as simple as taking a few extra sandwiches when you go out. When you pass someone who asks for change, offer him or her something to eat. If you take a lunch, pack a little extra. When you eat at a restaurant, order something to take with you when you leave. You can also give a bag of nonperishable groceries and donate it to a food drive or food bank in your area. If your community doesn't have a food drive, organize one.

4. Give Recyclables - In localities where there is a "bottle law," collecting recyclable cans and bottles is often the only "job" available to the homeless. But it is an honest job that requires initiative. You can help by saving your recyclable bottles, cans, and newspapers and giving them to the homeless instead of taking them to a recycling center or leaving them out for collection. If you live in a larger city, you may wish to leave your recyclables outside for the homeless to pick up -- or give a bagful of cans to a homeless person in your neighborhood.

5. Give Clothing - Next time you do your spring or fall cleaning, keep an eye out for those clothes that you no longer wear. If these items are in good shape, gather them together and donate them to organizations that provide housing for the homeless. You can also check our list of organizations that accept donated goods.

6. Donate Toys - Children living in shelters have few possessions --if any-- including toys. Homeless parents have more urgent demands on what little money they have, such as food and clothing. So often these children have nothing to play with and little to occupy their time. You can donate toys, books, and games to family shelters to distribute to homeless children.

7. Volunteer - Shelters thrive on the work of volunteers, from those who sign people in, to those who serve meals, to others who counsel the homeless on where to get social services. For the homeless, a shelter can be as little as a place to sleep out of the rain or as much as a step forward to self-sufficiency. There are literally dozens of ways to volunteer. Here are a few:

- Play With Children In A Shelter - Many children in shelters are cut off from others their own age. Shuffled from place to place, sometimes these kids don't attend school on a regular basis, and have no contact with other kids. Bring a little joy to their lives by taking your children to a local shelter to play. Plan activities such as coloring, playing with dolls, or building model cars (take along whatever toys you'll need). Your own children will benefit too.

- Serve at a Soup Kitchen - Soup Kitchens provide one of the basics of life, nourishing meals for the homeless and other disadvantaged members of the community. Volunteers generally do much of the work, including picking up donations of food, preparing meals, serving it, and cleaning up afterward. To volunteer your services, contact your local soup kitchen, mobile food program, shelter, or religious center.

- Donate your talents and skills - No matter what you do for a living, you can help the homeless with your on-the-job talents and skills. Those with clerical skills can train those with little skills. Doctors, psychiatrists, counselors, and dentists can treat the homeless in clinics. Lawyers can help with legal concerns. Students can help in much needed ways by tutoring the children living in shelters in basic skills like math and reading. The homeless' needs are bountiful -- your time and talent won't be wasted.

- Volunteer Your Hobbies - Every one of us has something we can give the homeless. Wherever our interests may lie -- cooking, repairing, gardening, photography -- we can use them for the homeless. Through our hobbies, we can teach them useful skills, introduce them to new avocations and perhaps point them in a new direction

(Adapted from “35 Ways You Can Help the Homeless” www.justgive.org/ways/50wayshomeless.jsp)

Blog Written by Alison Patch - The Love Alliance Fall Intern

The Love Alliance Newsletter #52
www.thelovealliance.net
October 3, 2011

Fall has fallen. We continue to be in a season of growth. We are excited to share with you some of what is going on. 

LAST MONTH – HAPPENINGS

We welcomed our first official office intern to the team this past month. Alison Patch is a senior at Columbia University and is studying in the departments of Religion and of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. She has traveled extensively and lived in Russia for two years. She has a huge heart for people and is well versed in foreign affairs. She has already been a huge help and we are excited for her to settle in and take a bigger role this fall.

We were honored with the opportunity to attend the New York premiere of Gerard Butler’s new film “Machine Gun Preacher” this past month. The premiere was at the Museum of Modern Art and was attended by the main cast, crew, etc. The movie is based on a true story of a former drug addict/criminal turned Christian and eventually preacher whose eyes are opened to the war in Sudan and Uganda, more specifically the children and families who are being affected. He refuses to turn a blind eye to the issue and builds an orphanage in the middle of the war-affected area and also fights the LRA to free child soldiers.

We had the opportunity to meet the real life “Machine Gun Preacher,” Sam Childers, at the premiere after party and he told us about all he is doing in Africa and here in America, a truly inspirational man.

We are excited about this movie as it is opening eyes to the oppression currently happening in Africa by the LRA and Joseph Kony. Whether you agree with Childers’ tactics or not, your heart will be touched by the stories that are shown in the movie. You can watch the preview here: http://youtu.be/25sM_72wEBI The movie is now playing at select theatres nationwide. Go to http://www.machinegunpreacher.org/movie/ for more information.

LAST MONTH – ACTION PROJECT

Last month many of you continued with our House Cleaning Project. It is amazing to think of what the impact so many of you are having on communities nationwide.

We also focused on Human Trafficking last month by looking at “The Products We Buy.” Unfortunately exploited workers, many of which are enslaved, in sweat shop conditions, and/or children, have produced many of the products in our stores. We provided several resources to research “The Products We Buy.” Visit the blog post to find out more.

THIS MONTH – HAPPENINGS

This month we continue to focus on the growth of our organization. A tangible way that all of you can help is by helping us increase our social network numbers. If you have Facebook, please “Like” The Love Alliance page. Please share the page and ask your friends and family to “Like.” If you are on Twitter please follow The Love Alliance. Please #FF us and encourage your friends and families to follow us. Think of creative ways to increase our social networking numbers. Maybe set up a computer at your school, church, etc. for others to quickly follow us. We are not looking to simply gain numbers but rather to be able to educate and activate a larger group. “Our hope is that few voices will turn into many. That these voices can band together to change the atrocities of the world.”

We are also working on several big projects. Unfortunately, things aren’t quite ready to be revealed. It is killing us to keep this from all of you. Be on the lookout for more news via our website and social networks.

We also wanted to give you all the heads up that our merchandise prices will be going up in November. The cost of cotton has drastically gone up over the last year or two and therefore our cost has gone up. We have held this price increase off but unfortunately this change needs to be made. We do not want to decrease the quality of our shirts and want to continue to print on high quality, fashion fit tees. The cost of our shirts will go from $15 to $18 each. We are proud to say that even with our price increase our shirts will still be lower than most non-profit/cause based shirts. In our research the average cost is $20 a shirt and we have seen as high as $30 a shirt.

With this increase in mind, we will be offering more incentives for discount codes in the webstore. We will continue our monthly Action Project Sale with 15% off that month’s focus shirts (This month ‘Remember the Enslaved’ merchandise is 15% off and ‘Remember the Enslaved Flyer Cards’ (50 pack) are just $1). All that to say, you have this month to stock up on Love Alliance shirts before the prices go up. Click here to visit the store today.

THIS MONTH – ACTION PROJECT

October is Fair Trade Month and as always we want to focus on human trafficking and fair trade this month. Last year we focused on coffee and this year we are focusing on chocolate.

Did you know that Americans spend 17 billion dollars a year on chocolate? And did you know that 40% of the world's Cocoa comes from the country of Cote d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast) where in 2002 the industry of that country employed more than 15,000 child slave laborers?

In the last 10 years restrictions on the production of cocoa - the main ingredient in chocolate - have grown by leaps and bounds.  Countless organizations are partnering with governments, candy corporations, and small farmers to ensure that from cocoa bean to chocolate bar it is a sustainable, fairly produced product.  Still, cocoa is sourced from hundreds of thousands of farms across the world. With such a variety of growers in often hard-to-reach locations it is nearly impossible to regulate how and who is growing, picking, and producing the raw product of our favorite treats.  The only way to ensure 100% that the chocolate you're buying is free from slavery and that real funds are going to the farmers is to buy Fair Trade.

With all that in mind, we are asking you for the month of October to only purchase and eat fair trade chocolate. Ask your local grocery store or candy shop if they have a fair trade option (they often do). We have created a resource for you to learn more about the chocolate we eat as well as fair trade chocolate brands and where you can buy them.

Click here to learn more and view our list of Fair Trade Chocolate.  A few examples include: Equal Exchange, Green and Black’s, Newman’s Own, Cloud Nine, etc.

Did you know that Americans spend 17 billion dollars a year on chocolate? And did you know that 40% of the world's Cocoa comes from the country of Cote d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast) where in 2002 the industry of that country employed more than 15,000 child slave laborers?

In the last 10 years restrictions on the production of cocoa - the main ingredient in chocolate - have grown by leaps and bounds.  Countless organizations are partnering with governments, candy corporations, and small farmers to ensure that from cocoa bean to chocolate bar it is a sustainable, fairly produced product.  Still, cocoa is sourced from hundreds of thousands of farms across the world. With such a variety of growers in often hard-to-reach locations it is nearly impossible to regulate how and who is growing, picking, and producing the raw product of our favorite treats.  The only way to ensure 100% that the chocolate you're buying is free from slavery and that real funds are going to the farmers is to buy Fair Trade.

We continue our series on The Products We Buy by looking at chocolate. Here are some resources to help you learn more about the chocolate we're eating.

Learn about...

The History of Chocolate

Fair Trade Standards for Cocoa

Chocolate and Human Trafficking

Child Slavery in Your Chocolate: Steven Millman wrote letters to over 200 chocolate companies. These letters asked whether the companies were sure their chocolate did not contain slave-produced cocoa. At this site, he posts their responses (or lack there of).

How to Tell if Your Chocolate is Slave-Free

World Cocoa Foundation Addressing Child Labor

Buy Fair Trade chocolate

Online @ Equal Exchange Coop

Theo Chocolate

Trader Joe's  

Whole Foods Market

Transfair USA Cocoa Products: This site contains a list of brands that have some products that are fair trade certified.

Fair Trade Candy Blog: Reviews of many brands of slave-free chocolate.

Guaranteed Slave-free chocolate brands:

 These brands and many more are often available at local organic food stores, grocery stores, etc.

Summer is over for the most part and fall is on its way in. We are excited to be back in the office so that we can start focusing more on our groups, projects and partnerships.

Last month marked the end of our Summer Festival Tour. Our very own Chris Plunkett manned the booth by himself at Purple Door Festival. Purple Door was the second event we ever did and this marked our fifth year at the festival. We were happy to continue our presence at such a great festival and hope for many more years to come.

Our last festival of the summer was this past weekend at iMatter Festival in Elmira, NY. This was our second year at iMatter and we were honored at the invitation to be there as only a handful of non-profits are asked to attend the event. We had a great time, met some amazing people and had some thought provoking conversations. We love the heart behind the festival and the people who run it. Thanks to the Lowmaster family, Jillian, and the rest of the staff for making it such a fantastic experience.

The Love Alliance was featured on 700 Club Interactive last month. David was interviewed and the episode aired on ABC Family. It was a great opportunity to reach a new and large audience. If you missed the interview, you can watch it online here: http://bit.ly/reQUSK

Last month’s Action Project was our 5^th Annual House Cleaning. This Action Project is one of our favorites and has probably been one of our most participated in projects. We asked you to go through your households and give away anything you no longer wear, use or want. We provided ideas and places to donate these items.

Because of the busyness of summer, school starting up and the delay in our newsletter and project last month we decided to continue our House Cleaning into the month of September. To review the Action Project click here.

Now that summer is over, we are getting back into the swing of things. As we mentioned last month, David is currently the sole person volunteering full time for The Love Alliance. The organization is experiencing a lot of growth, therefore we are finally seeking out office interns for the fall. We would love for our interns to already have a base knowledge of the organization so that is why we are reaching out to you first. All information about the internship can be found here: Seeking Fall Interns. If you are not in the NYC area but would still like to help out and get more involved, please reply to this email.

A big part of our growth has to do with new Action Groups around the country. Many of these groups have sprung out of conversations that we had this summer on our Summer Festival Tour. New groups have formed or are forming in Erie, PA; Waterbury, CT; Walnut Cove, NC; Appleton, WI; and Indianapolis, IN. We are excited to see what kind of impact these groups will make on their communities. And are honored to continue along with the groups that have been operating thus far across North America.

A lot of our focus this fall will be on partnerships and fundraising. We can’t reveal too much information right now but as we have hinted at, we are working on something really exciting with Soles4Souls. They are an amazing organization that collects new shoes to give relief to the victims of abject suffering and collects used shoes to support micro-business efforts to eradicate poverty. In total they have given away over 15.5 million shoes. We are honored to be able to partner with them and will share as things move along.

We are also in the process of partnering with some friends who are doing some big things to fight the clean water epidemic. We are really excited to be a part of what they are doing. More info. to come in the fall as that partnership develops.

As always, our Action Project Sale will continue with the focus being on Human Trafficking. ‘Remember the Enslaved’ merchandise will be 15% off and ‘Remember the Enslaved Flyer Cards’ (50 pack) are just $1. Click here to order your discounted “Remember The Enslaved” merchandise or check out our other social justice focused products in the webstore.

As we mentioned above, because of the busyness of summer, school starting up and the delay in our newsletters and projects; August's Action Project: House Cleaning will continue into the month of September. If you have not already participated in this project, we encourage you to do so. It is an easy way to make a big difference and an easy way to get others involved. To read last month's Action Project click here.

Although August's Action Project is continuing into September, we still want to provide an Action Project focusing on Human Trafficking. This project is low key and does not require much of your time.

When discussing Human Trafficking, we often say that a simple way that we can all combat trafficking is by looking at the products we buy. Unfortunately exploited workers, many of which are enslaved, in sweat shop conditions, and/or children, have produced many of the products in our stores. So this month, we are asking you to look at the products you buy.

In the past we have written about Fair Trade (click here to read) and Fair Trade Coffee (click here to read). There are also many sites out there that rate companies and products. Not For Sale, a great non-profit that we refer to often, has recently launched a site and app called Free2Work. The site and apps allow consumers to easily search specific products, learn more about various labor standards and corporate practices, and further their engagement through their consumption decisions. Another great rating site is Better World Shopper, a site dedicated to providing people with a comprehensive, up-to-date, reliable account of the social and environmental responsibility of every company on the planet AND making it available in practical forms that individuals can use in their everyday lives. There are also great blogs available such as our friends at Shop to Stop Slavery and recently found Fashion Loves People. These are just a few of the resources available. We will be updating our blog post "The Products We Buy" with more resources and would love to hear of any other resources that you all might find.

The Love Alliance was started by David and Lauren Ranzino and operates out of Brooklyn.

About the Internship:
The Love Alliance is in the midst of a growth spurt and the workload has become too much. We are looking for two enthusiastic individuals who can join us to not only help with administrative duties but also to help brainstorm, create and possibly take the lead on new initiatives. We want to work with you to see where your talents and interests are and then plug you into the organization where those skills can be used best. Work will be split between your own time and in-office time. This is an unpaid position, however this is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to get involved with a non-profit organization, make a difference, and/or observe how a small non-profit operates.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities (To Be Divided Between Two Interns):
Communicate with Love Alliance Action and Focus Groups across the country and Canada.
Recruit new Groups and supporters.
Compiling and drafting individual and Group stories to be used in newsletters, video's, grant proposals, etc.
Maintain working relationship with partner organizations and companies.
Assist in writing and coordinating of the monthly newsletter.
Assist in the planning and organization of events and Action Projects.
Develop and assist with fundraising strategies.
Maintain email, website and social media outlets.
Maintain webstore and online merchandise orders.
Possible travel to Groups to document the work that they are doing in their communities.
Possible travel to music events to set up and run info. and merchandise booth.
Using your interests and talents to impact and further improve the organization.

Knowledge and Skills:
Willingness to adapt to new situations and tasks and take initiative where needed.
Demonstrates organizational skills with great attention to detail.
Demonstrates interest in non-profit work.
Knowledge of Social Justice Issues.
Proficient with MS Office.
Proficient with Social Media.

Requirements:
Must be at least 18 years old.
Must be available 10-20 hours a week.
Must be authorized to work in the United States.
Must be able to commute to our offices in Brooklyn, New York.
Best if you had your own laptop or computer.

To Apply:
Please send an email to david@thelovealliance.net no later than 5:00 on September 19 with the following: 1. "Internship" in the subject line of the email 2. Short cover letter indicating your interest and qualification 3. Resume

The internship will run from on or approximately Wednesday, September 21 to early/mid December with the possible option to extend the internship into the spring. Applications are due September 19.

When discussing Human Trafficking, we often say that an easy way to combat trafficking is by looking at the products that we buy. Unfortunately exploited workers, many of which are enslaved and/or children, have produced many of the products in our stores. So this month, we are asking you to look at the products that you buy.

In the past we have written about Fair Trade (click here to read) and Fair Trade Coffee (click here to read). There are also many sites out there that rate companies and products.

Free2Work: A site that allow consumers to easily search specific products, learn more about various labor standards and corporate practices, and further their engagement through their consumption decisions. (Free iPhone and Android Apps available)

Better World Shopper: A site dedicated to providing people with a comprehensive, up-to-date, reliable account of the social and environmental responsibility of every company on the planet AND making it available in practical forms that individuals can use in their everyday lives.

Blogs

Shop to Stop Slavery

Fashion Loves People

These are just a few of the resources available. We will be updating this blog with more resources and would love to hear of any other resources that you all might find. Please list in the comments below.

The episode will then be broadcasted the next day on Wednesday, August 17th - 9:30am EST on ABC Family (check local listings).

We are humbled by the opportunity to be able to speak to a new and large audience about injustice in the world and our ability to impact it.

It has been a whirlwind of a summer to say the lease. The response on our Summer Festival Tour has been fantastic! We are meeting so many wonderful people and having some amazing conversations. So much is happening and we can’t wait to share it all with you.

LAST MONTH – HAPPENINGS

The beginning of last month started with the end of the first leg of the Summer Festival Tour, which we recapped in our last newsletter. After unloading and debriefing we spent the majority of last month trying to catch up on email, webstore orders, projects, etc. while also preparing for the second leg of tour.

July 29th we left for Kingdom Bound in upstate New York. This is one of our biggest events of the year in term of response to our organization and is one of our favorites. The location is great (at a theme park) and the people are even better. We had an amazing spot and were beyond busy the entire week. We were finally able to connect with Soles for Souls, an amazing non-profit providing shoes for those in need. Check them out and be on the lookout for more ways to support them though The Love Alliance in the future. We saw some old friends and made some new ones. Thanks to the Nowadly family and the rest of the Kingdom Bound staff; and thank you so much to the Estochen family for volunteering at the booth and being an inspiration to us.

We left Kingdom Bound the night of August 3rd and made our annual drive through the night to arrive to Soulfest in New Hampshire to immediately set up our booth and be ready for their second day. As always it is inspiring to go to a festival that’s major purpose is to spotlight injustice, it was a breath of fresh air. We had a great time and can’t wait until next year.

Thank you to all the bands who wore our shirts and merchandise on stage and supported The Love Alliance this summer. Thank you in particular to Tenth Avenue North for being a huge support. Check out some great shots of Mike wearing the shirt here. Thank you also to Fireflight, Skillet, Ivoryline, To Tell, Phone Calls from Home, and any other band that has and is supporting us. Check them out and show them some support in return. If you are an performer that would like to know how you can use your influence to support The Love Alliance email info@thelovealliance.net

On top of being an already busy and successful month, we were very honored to have found out that we had been our friends at Walk In Love’s featured non-profit for the month of July. Little did we know that this meant we would receive 5% of all sales for the month and with the opening of their new store in the Lancaster, PA, it was a big impact for the non-profit. Please check their site out and let them know how thankful you are that they are a company that gives back.

Some other great news that came in this week was that we were chosen as one of the winners for Southwest Airlines "Showing LUV to our Communities 1,600 Ticket Giveaway.” The contest was celebrating their 40th anniversary and with it we will receive 40 roundtrip tickets. We are honored to have been chosen as a winner. We will be using our tickets to fly out to our groups; hold community service projects including canned food drives, community cleanups, and many other action-based initiatives; and to document the great work that our groups are doing.

LAST MONTH – ACTION PROJECT

For last months action project we spotlighted a fantastic non-profit organization working with world poverty and a great initiative they are working on, The Global Poverty Project and “The End Event.”

We asked you to join along side us in supporting The Global Poverty Project in their great fight against world poverty. If you did not sign and share the petition (to ask our government to keep the promise they made in 2009 to support the United Nation's Every Woman Every Child campaign), please do so now. Visit http://seetheend.org/ to sign and share.

THIS MONTH – HAPPENINGS

Purple Door Festival is this weekend and starts tomorrow. This will be Chris’ first event alone and WE NEED VOLUNTEERS. If you are in the area, we have one extra ticket if you can come and help set up and volunteer full time at the booth. If you will be attending the festival already and can help out that would be great as well. Please reply to this email (info@thelovealliance.net) or call 321-989-0349 if you are available.

This will be our fifth year at Purple Door and we are excited to be there. We will also be attending iMatter Festival on September 3rd in Elmira, NY. Check out their site for more information: cheap tickets, awesome lineup and great people.

The Love Alliance will be spotlighted and David will be a guest on 700 Club Interactive this month. The episode will air live online Tuesday, August 16th – 11:00am EST at www.700Clubinteractive.com and will then be broadcasted the next day on Wednesday, August 17th – 9:30AM EST on ABC Family (check your local listings). We are humbled by the opportunity to be able to speak to a new and large audience about injustice in the world and our ability to impact it.

Our Action Project Sale will continue focusing on World Poverty. ‘Remember the Poor’ merchandise will be 15% off and ‘Remember the Poor Flyer Cards’ (50 pack) are just $1. Click here to order your discounted “Remember The Poor” merchandise or check out our other social justice focused products in the webstore.

As you can see we have been very busy this summer. To be completely transparent, David is the only person currently volunteering full time for the organization and his time has been taken up primarily with traveling to and from festivals this summer. Because of this there has been a delay in the day to day operations of the organization. We apologize for any emails that have gone unanswered, lack of communication to groups and supporters, etc. We will be seeking out interns and more volunteers this fall to accommodate the growth of the organization. Thank you all for your patience and support.

THIS MONTH – ACTION PROJECT

We have made some changes to our calendar and Action Projects because of the new Focus Calendar that was implemented this year. Therefore this month we will be holding our 5th Annual Love Alliance Fall Cleaning. This Action Project is one of our favorites and 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. 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 four years.

If you would like to make an even bigger difference, you can organize a clothing drive. Our groups have done this in the past and even made it a competition where total individual amounts are weighed. Friendship Used Clothing Collection offers suggestions for organizing a used clothing donation drive, as does this guide to campus clothing drives and this guide on organizing a clothing drive in your office. Charity Guide also has an easy 5 Step Guide.

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 four years. Every town should have a place like this, if not you can donate to nationwide non-profits like Salvation Army and Goodwill.

Because of the busyness of summer, school starting up and the delay in our newsletters and projects this month’s project will continue into the month of September so do not feel rushed. If you have any questions or need help finding a place to donate feel free to ask via email.

Thank you so much to Southwest Airlines and their staff for being so generous and for choosing us as a winner. The tickets will go to good use. Click here to read the announcement on SWA Blog.

www.thelovealliance.net

July 9, 2011

We are back from the first leg of our Summer Festival Tour. We caught up with and met some great people, new non-profits, and have lots of stories to share. Read below to find out more.

Our good friend and one of our most active group leaders, Owen Jones, came to help out at Creation Festival and we were able to shoot some video of him telling his story with The Love Alliance and social justice. The video is being worked on and we are excited to share it with you in the coming weeks. We are also excited to share some other moments from Creation that we caught on video as well. Be on the lookout for those videos, but in the meantime you can check out pictures from our first leg here.

A huge thanks to Chris Plunkett for joining us on the road; Owen Jones and Emily Patton for volunteering with us at Creation; Rob Merkle and Jon Little for shooting video; and Stu Smith, Brian and Carolynn, and Bili and Jessica Kribbs for housing us on the first leg of our tour.

A stand out story from last month comes from our Melbourne, FL Focus Group at Melbourne Community Church. After screening the Charity:Water video "Why Water?" that was played in service and reading a “Remember the Thirsty” card, a young member took notice and decided to take action.  Ella made a plan to sell key lime pies for the clean water effort.  She brought in samples, took orders and sold pies. She then made the pies, and delivered them at the next service. In total she raised $120. An amazingly simple idea with such a huge impact.

You can still donate your loose change to clean water by visitingwww.mycharitywater.org/thelovealliance or you can make out a check to "The Love Alliance" with "Clean Water" written in the memo to: The Love Alliance, 790 Washington Ave. #158 Brooklyn, NY 11238.  100% of water donations will go to directly funding clean water projects.

After such an amazing first leg of tour, we are excited for the second leg of our Summer Festival Tour. We are excited to be attending Kingdom Bound and Soulfest for the 4^th summer in a row, Purple Door for the 5^th and iMatter for the 2^nd. Below is our schedule.

July 31-August 3: Kingdom Bound – Darien Lake, NY
August 4-6: Soulfest – Gilford, NH
August 12-13: Purple Door – Lebanon, PA
Sept. 2-4: iMatter Festival – Elmira, NY

Without our festival volunteers on the first leg we would not have been able to reach nearly as many people. As always, we are in need of volunteers at the festivals on the 2^nd leg of tour. If you are attending any of these festivals, we would love your help. If you are interested in volunteering please emailinfo@thelovealliance.net with the festival(s) you will be attending.

We have updated the webstore to include our new and updated “Remember” flyer cards including our new “Remember the Environment” card. All cards have updated facts and ways to get involved. You can view and order the new cards here.

This months Action Project Sale will coincide with July’s Action Project and Focus – World Poverty. During this month, ‘Remember the Poor’ merchandise will be 15% off and ‘Remember the Poor Flyer Cards’ (50 pack) are just $1.Click here to order your discounted “Remember The Poor” merchandise or check out our other social justice focused products in the webstore.

This month, we ask you to join along side us in supporting The Global Poverty Project in their great fight against world poverty. Every minute and a half, a woman dies from pregnancy-related causes. Most of these women live in the most impoverished areas of the world. Causes of maternal mortality are directly linked to poor living conditions and extreme poverty. On top of that, 8 million children die from diseases that we know how to treat. These deaths can be stopped with affordable, and timely medical care. Please sign and share the petition to ask our government to keep the promise they made in 2009 to support the United Nation's Every Woman Every Child campaign. Visit http://seetheend.org/ to sign and share the petition. Have your family, friends, co-workers, and/or classmates sign the petition this month. 

Next month’s Action Project is our Annual Fall Cleaning so get ready.

We leave for our Summer Festival Tour in just a little over a week. We are excited to see many of you on the road. Check out This Month – Happenings for more information on how to support and connect with us this summer.

LAST MONTH - HAPPENINGS

We added several more videos last month featuring Mark Ruffalo talking about The Love Alliance, his movie “Sympathy for Delicious,” and compassion. They can all be viewed at www.youtube.com/thelovealliance Enjoy and spread the word.

We updated our Remember the Thirsty, Enslaved and Environment Education sections of the website last month. Check them out and let us know your thoughts.

We had the privilege of attending The Global Poverty Project’s “The End Event” to celebrate the completion of their “Live Below the Line” campaign. It was a great event with some impressive speakers including Hugh Evans (TGPP, Australian Make Poverty History and Oaktree Foundation), Bobby Bailey (Invisible Children and TGPP), Jeffrey Sachs (Director Of The Earth Institute), Dr. Ruth (world-renowned therapist) and a video from Olivia Wilde (Actress & Activist). They all spoke on the roadmap to ending world poverty and more specifically how to help maternal and child health. Please visit http://seetheend.org/ to find out more and sign the petition to promote maternal health and urge the US Congress to take action.

We spent a great deal of last month preparing for our Summer Festival Tour. Check out This Month – Happenings for more information.

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

Our May/June Focus is on the Clean Water Epidemic. Last month we encouraged you to freshen your knowledge on the clean water epidemic and to more importantly educate others on this issue that effects nearly 1 Billion people in the world. If you have not already, please visit the Remember the Thirsty section of our website and check out Charity:Water’s amazing video “Water Changes Everything.”

THIS MONTH HAPPENINGS

This Tuesday, June 7th, marks The Love Alliance’s four year anniversary as an organization. It has been an amazing four years. We have met so many great people and are more confident today in the ability of each individual to impact social injustice in their community and around the world. Over this past year we have re-vamped our groups to make them much more effective and have added many voices to our organization’s table to help us become more and more effective. We look forward to this coming year and all it has to offer. Please celebrate with us this month by diving in more to what we are doing and by spreading the word.

This month we leave for our Summer Festival Tour. We have had two tour managers gracefully back out due to unforeseen circumstances, so now David will be going out on the road with our good friend Chris Plunkett. Chris is passionate about using his voice and talent to impact injustice in the world and to empower others to do the same. We are so grateful for his participation on the tour.

Because of our loss of tour managers we unfortunately do not have the manpower to attend all the festivals we have in the past. We will not be attending Cornerstone Festival or Lifest this year. We are deeply saddened by this news, especially since Cornerstone was our first event ever in 2007 and we have seen such an amazing impact at Lifest. If you are attending or performing at either of these festivals and would like to promote the organization through distributing educational flyers email info@thelovealliance.net. We are not planning on making our absence at these festivals a habit and plan on being at both next summer.Our current schedule is as follows:

June 15-18: Ichthus Festival – Wilmore, KY
June 22-25: Alive Festival – Mineral City, OH
June 29-July 2: Creation Festival – Mount Union, PA
July 31-August 3: Kingdom Bound – Darien Lake, NY
August 4-6: Soulfest – Gilford, NH
August 12-13: Purple Door – Lebanon, PA
Sept. 2-4: iMatter Festival – Elmira, NY

As always and especially due to scaling back our tour team, we are in need of volunteers at all of the festivals we are attending. If you are attending any of these festivals, we would love your help. Previous tour volunteers have later come to play pivotal roles in the organization from staff on other tours, to active group leaders. Volunteers have been a huge asset and are a great way for you to get involved with the organization. If you are interested in volunteering please email info@thelovealliance.net with the festival(s) you are attending.

We are excited about our theme for this summer and the new tour exclusive items we have. This summer’s theme is “Make a Difference Today.” We will be giving ways that you can make a difference right at our booth. We have one new t-shirt and one new tank top along with new bracelets, sunglasses, stickers and buttons. All merchandise items (as always) are stylish tools for you to impact injustice. We have also updated all of our educational flyers with new facts as well as printed the much requested “Remember the Environment” flyer. Be sure to stop by to say hello, pick up some new merch, new flyers and “Make a Difference” while you’re there.

Our Action Project Sale continues as we continue to focus on Clean Water. ‘Remember the Thirsty’ merchandise will be 15% off and ‘Remember the Thirsty Flyer Cards’ (50 pack) are just $1. Click here to purchase your discounted “Remember the Thirsty” merchandise or check out our other great products in the webstore.

THIS MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

We continue to focus on Clean Water for the month of June. We are going back to the basics and resurrecting one of our first Action Projects: Loose Change Drive for Clean Water. This is such an easy way to make a huge difference in someone’s life and towards such a huge injustice. When it comes to clean water every penny counts, it only takes as little as $1 to give clean water for an entire year to someone who is dying of thirst. 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 person’s life.

We encourage you to get creative with this month’s project. One idea is to 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. Or empty the change from your pockets everyday. You will be amazed at how much adds up.

At the end of the month you can total how much you have raised and either donate it online through our Charity:Water page here. Or you can make out a check to "The Love Alliance" with "Clean Water" written in the memo to: The Love Alliance, 790 Washington Ave. #158 Brooklyn, NY 11238. 100% of donations will go to directly funding water projects.

If you still have not checked out our updated “Remember the Thirsty” section, you can do so here.

“Sympathy For Delicious” released on April 29^th in NYC and LA. A small group of us attended in NYC and were also able attend a Q&A with Christopher Thornton (screenwriter and main actor) and Orlando Bloom. The movie was great and touches on so many points that The Love Alliance does. If you are in NYC or LA we highly encourage you to go see the film. The trailer, screening information and more can be found at www.sympathyfordelicious.com

We started submitting applications for our Summer Festival Tour this past month. This will be our fifth summer on the road.  We have big plans for this summer and are excited to reconnect with T.L.A. supporters across the country. Check This Month – Happenings for more information.

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

Last month’s Action Project was our 4th Annual Community Cleanup.  Our groups and supporters participated in community cleanups around the world to celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day. It was great to hear and see what an impact can be made on the earth in just one month.  Our Brooklyn clean-up was rained out but has been rescheduled for Saturday, May 28. If you live in or are visiting the NYC area during that time we would love if you joined us. See our calendar for more information on the event.

THIS MONTH - HAPPENING

We will also continue with our Action Project Sale this month to coincide with this month’s Action Project and Focus – Clean Water. So during this month, ‘Remember the Thirsty’ merchandise will be 15% off and ‘Remember the Thirsty Flyer Cards’ (50 pack) are just $1. Click here to purchase your discounted “Remember The Thirsty” merchandise or check out our other great products in the webstore.

THIS MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

We released a short clip of part of that interview yesterday. If you have not seen it, watch here:

As a way to get the word out about the video, The Love Alliance and the movie we are having a raffle to win a "Sympathy for Delicious" movie poster signed by the entire cast which includes Christopher Thornton, Mark Ruffalo, Juliette Lewis, Laura Linney and Orlando Bloom.

There are two ways to enter:

- "Like" The Love Alliance video post on The Love Alliance Facebook Page
- Retweet a Love Alliance tweet about the video on Twitter

Therefore you can receive up to two entries in the contest. One for your Facebook action and one for your Twitter action. You will not receive multiple entries for multiple Retweets or Likes. However we would love for you to spread the video around as much as possible by Sharing with your friends.

We will select a winner at random on Friday, April 29th at 5:00pm EST.

Good luck and spread the word.

- David and The Love Alliance Team

PS

If you haven't seen the trailer for "Sympathy for Delicious" click here. The movie premieres in select theatres April 29th.

April is filled with some great events. Earth Day and Arbor Day allow us to focus on the earth, environment and our communities. TOMS Shoes’ “One Day Without Shoes” and Invisible Children’s “25” help us bring awareness about worldwide issues. Read below for more information on all the ways you can respond to social injustice in April

LAST MONTH - HAPPENINGS

We sent out our first batch of Group Handbooks and Group Startup Kits last month. It became a very DIY project with Lauren sewing burlap sacks for our handbook, catalogs and paperwork and with David & Tyler putting together the handbooks and compiling 4,000 educational flyers. The packets came out great. We are confident that they will be a great resource for our new and existing groups.

We also added several new Action Groups in March. To check them out and find out more about our groups click here. If you are interested in starting an Action Group in your area click here.

We attended Restore NYC’s Second Annual Freedom Gala this past month. Restore NYC is a non-profit providing holistic aftercare services to survivors of sex trafficking in New York City. The event included dance, photography, video, music and silent auctions on donated items as well as some beautiful art pieces inspired by the work of Restore. The night was also emceed by Patricia McCormick, renowned author of the novel “Sold.” In the end the night was a huge success with over 550 guest and over $133,000 raised. We are so proud to support such a hard working and compassionate organization. To view their video that premiered that night click here.

This past month we were also able to meet with Paul Morin, VP of Development for Love 146. We have long supported Love 146 with 25% of the profits from our “Remember The Enslaved” merchandise going to support their safe home for children rescued out of sex trafficking in the Philippines. We discussed our partnership together and specific ways that we can work together in the future. Be sure to look for new and exciting ways to support Love 146’s mission and work in the coming future through The Love Alliance via our social media feeds, website and newsletter.

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

Last month’s focus was on the Environment and we gave you an easy way to make a difference in your everyday life by simply using reusable bags instead of plastic and paper bags throughout the month.

Now that you are aware of the effects that plastic and paper bags have on the environment we hope that you will continue to use reusable bags in the future and educate others on their effects. Keep your reusable bags in your car or if they are small enough in your purse or satchel so that you will have them next time you go to the store. Please continue to join with us in doing this as this is such a simple way to make a huge impact.

THIS MONTH - HAPPENINGS

This month is full of events and special dates.

This month holds Earth Day and Arbor Day. We are excited to be hosting our annual Community Cleanup project this month. There are community cleanups, tree plantings and more hosted around country and world. Find out more information in This Month’s Action Project below.

Our Action Project Sale continues as we continue to focus on the Environment this month. All of our tote bags (which can easily be used as reusable shopping bags) are on sale for $10. Click here to purchase your discounted tote bags.

April 5th is TOMS Shoes "One Day Without Shoes." This is an event where TOMS Shoes is asking people to give up wearing shoes for the day, part of the day or even a few minutes so that you can experience first hand what it is like to live without shoes. Millions of people do this daily. In this act you will also be helping spread awareness about what an impact a simple pair of shoes can have on a child's life. You can find out more information at: www.onedaywithoutshoes.com

Last but not least, April 25th is Invisible Children’s bi-annual worldwide event called “25.” They are asking individuals to “Speak Out Without Speaking” for 25 hours, one hour for every year that the longest running war in Africa has taken place. Money raised from the event will fund The Invisible Children Protection Plan and bring life saving communication and rehabilitation projects to the victims of the LRA. For more information on the event; how to get involved and more visit: www.invisiblechildren.com/25

THIS MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

We continue to focus on the Environment in April with our 4th Annual Community Cleanup. This month we encourage all of our groups and supporters to join a community cleanup or plan their own. Many cities put together their own community cleanups for Earth Day and Arbor Day. Check out www.earthday.org and www.kab.org to see if anything is going on in your community.

It is also easy to plan your own community clean up. Choose a day and time and then invite your friends, family and co-workers. You can provide or ask people to bring garden or latex gloves and trash bags or use, used grocery bags to collect your trash. No matter where you look, we guarantee you will be able to find trash that needs picking up. 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.

Don't forget to recycle all of the garbage that you can. 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.

• Plastic bags end up as litter that fouls the landscape. 
• Hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine mammals die every year after eating discarded plastic bags they mistake for food. 
• Plastic bags that get buried in landfills may take up to 1,000 years to break down, and in the process they separate into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate soil and water.
• The production of plastic bags consume millions of gallons of oil that could be used for fuel and heating. 
• According to the American Forest and Paper Association, in 1999 the U.S. alone used 10 billion paper grocery bags, which adds up to a lot of trees.
• Experts estimate that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed and discarded annually worldwide—more than a million per minute.
• According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. Of those, approximately 100 billion are plastic shopping bags, which cost retailers about $4 billion annually. 
• According to various estimates, Taiwan consumes 20 billion plastic bags annually (900 per person), Japan consumes 300 billion bags each year (300 per person), and Australia consumes 6.9 billion plastic bags annually (326 per person). 
• Discarded plastic bags have become so common in Africa they have spawned a cottage industry. People there collect the bags and use them to weave hats, bags and other goods. According to the BBC, one such group routinely collects 30,000 bags every month. 
• Plastic bags as litter have even become commonplace in Antarctica and other remote areas. According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone from being rare in the late 1980s and early 1990s to being almost everywhere in Antarctica.
  
  

A simple solution is to use Reusable Bags while shopping.

• The average reusable bag has the lifespan of over seven hundred disposable plastic bags. 
• Over a lifetime, use of reusable bags by just one person would save over 22,000 plastic bags. 
• Some stores (like Target and Ikea) offer a discount for using reusable bags. 

If you don’t already have reusable bags, grocery stores often have them available for a dollar or two or you can purchase T.L.A. printed tote bags from our webstore (currently on sale for $10).

If you currently have used plastic bags in your house we encourage you to recycle them at your closest grocery store or recycling center to ensure that they don’t end up in a landfill. Make this simple change and lets see how many plastic bags we us a group can avoid using.

(Facts taken from http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/reusablebags.htm)

Things are moving along great this year. Our new groups are ramping up, and we are starting our second bi-monthly focus this year on the environment. Keep reading for more information on both.

LAST MONTH - HAPPENINGS

Last month we continued to move forward with our new groups model. We updated the Action and Focus Groups pages on our website and have listed all of our current groups that have incorporated our new model.  We also added a map to the "Action Groups” page.

We had the privilege of attending the 4^th Annual Love 146 Long Island Taskforce Gala this past month. As we’re sure many of you know, Love146 works to combat child sex trafficking.  A percentage of all of our “Remember the Enslaved" Merchandise goes to support a Love146 safe home in the Philippines for children who have be rescued out of slavery.  The event was held at Lombardi’s on the Sound and we were so glad to be able to further support this phenomenal organization.  So much hard work was put into the event. In the end they were able to raise over $25,000 for Love 146. Amazing!

Last month was one for connecting with some new and old friends. We were finally able to connect with our new friends Effect the Cause. We are excited about the work they are doing to help abused women and neglected children in Africa. We were also able to catch up with our friends at The Global Poverty Project, NY Dream Center, The Blind Project, RYFO, XXX Church, and Red Eye Inc. Please check out the great work all these organizations are doing.

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

Last month’s Action Project was titled: LOVE THE SICK.  We encouraged individuals to volunteer their time and/or visit someone sick last month and show them love, a simple and free action that can make such a difference in someone’s life.

Plastic bags end up as litter that fouls the landscape, and kill thousands of marine mammals every year that mistake the floating bags for food. Plastic bags that get buried in landfills may take up to 1,000 years to break down, and in the process they separate into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate soil and water. Furthermore, the production of plastic bags consume millions of gallons of oil that could be used for fuel and heating. For more information click here.

A simple solution is to use Reusable Bags while shopping. The average reusable bag has the lifespan of over seven hundred disposable plastic bags. Over a lifetime, use of reusable bags by just one person would save over 22,000 plastic bags. If that doesn’t convince you, some stores (like Target and Ikea) offer a discount for using reusable bags.

If you don’t already have reusable bags, grocery stores often have them available for a dollar or two or you can purchase T.L.A. printed tote bags from our webstore (currently on sale for $10). If you currently have used plastic bags in your house we encourage you to recycle them at your closest grocery store or recycling center to ensure that they don’t end up in a landfill.

Make this simple change this month and lets see how many plastic bags we us a group can avoid using.

The Love Alliance Newsletter #44
www.thelovealliance.net
February 7, 2011

2011 is flying by. We have been super busy and we are excited how this year is shaping up. Read below to find out what has been going on.

LAST MONTH – HAPPENINGS

Last month we updated several sections of the website and started implementing our new Group structure. As we mentioned before, we have scraped our old group model and are moving forward with a new model that will allow for our groups to be more effective. If you are previous Love Alliance Group Leader or were a part of a Love Alliance Group and did not hear from us, please reply to this email.

We have updated the Community section of the website. There is now an area for Action Groups, Focus Groups and Street Team. We will soon be listing our new Action Groups and Focus Groups.

We have also updated the Action section of the website. We have separated our Past Projects by year. We are amazed at how many Action Projects we have done in the past and how much change has come from them.

We also added a Focus Calendar to the Action section. This calendar allows you to look ahead to see what our bi-monthly focus' will be so you can plan events in advance.

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

Last month’s focus was on the sick and we donated blood for National Volunteer Blood Donor Month. For everyone who donated blood, Thank You! 1-3 lives were potentially saved for every donation.

If you were unable to donate last month, please do so sometime soon. It is free, easy, fast and safe. Visit http://www.redcrossblood.org or Google “Donate blood” along with your cities name to find a local place to donate. If you did donate you can donate again in another 56 days.

THIS MONTH – HAPPENINGS

We are full steam ahead with our new group model.  Again if you are previous Love Alliance Group Leader or were a part of a Love Alliance Group and did not hear from us, please reply to this email. If you are not currently a group leader and interested in starting a new Action Group or Focus Group in your area you can read the requirements and apply here.

Our new Street Team is a place for individuals who want to be more involved but do not have the time to be a part of a group or do not want to be a part of a group. There are no requirements, we just ask that you fill out a quick form so that we have a little more information on you and we can put you on our Street Team mailing list. Street Team members will occasionally receive emails about different projects and tasks that need to be done or if there are events going on in their area.

Our Action Project Sale is continuing through February. In conjunction with our bi-monthly focus on "Remembering The Sick we are extending a 15% discount to all ‘Remember the Sick’ merchandise  and ‘Remember the Sick Flyer Cards’ (50 pack) are just $1. Click here to purchase your discounted “Remember The Sick” merchandise.

THIS MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

As we mentioned last month we are now focusing on a specific issue every 2 months. January/February Focus is Sickness. February is also the month of love, so we are combining the two: LOVE THE SICK.

We are encouraging people to volunteer their time and/or visit someone sick this month and show them love. One of the easiest ways to do this and one the places that need love the most is to visit a nursing home. So many people in nursing homes never have visitors or if they do it is few and far between. Having human interaction and receiving love can help give these individual’s a better quality of life.

Other places that are easily accessible are your local hospital, children’s hospital, Ronald McDonald house, etc. Or you might have a friend or family member who is under the weather this month. Maybe make them some homemade soup, bring over some magazines or just spend some quality time with them. The possibilities are limitless. Lets make a difference and show some love this month to individuals who are sick.

Happy New Year everyone! We are really excited about 2011 and think it will be our best year yet. There are lots of changes going on. Read “This Month – Happenings” to find out about some of them.

LAST MONTH – HAPPENINGS

Last month was a very busy month for our webstore. We released several holiday season e-cards for our supporters to share with their friends, family and social networks. We had a great response to all of them. Thank you to everyone who posted or sent out an e-card and thank you to everyone who decided to “Give Gifts For Good” and make a purchase from our webstore last month. Merchandise is one of the biggest ways we are able to fund the organization and the projects we work with. Visit our webstore at www.thelovealliancestore.com

We also sent out our 2010 Year End Letter last month. 2010 was a year of transition but we were still able to accomplish a lot and found a great deal of success. To read the 2010 Year End Letter click here.

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

Last month we did not have an official Action Project due to the holiday season and end of the year but we still gave a lot of ways that you might be able to make a difference in December. We know a lot of you took some small and big steps to make an impact. Many of you made a point to shop consciously and buy ethical and fair trade gifts for the holidays. Many gave to those less fortunate through Angel Tree, Toys for Tots, Operation Christmas Child, etc. And our TLA Melbourne, FL Group at No Limits Academy collected blankets for the local homeless.

THIS MONTH – HAPPENINGS

This month is the beginning of 2011, we are confident this will be our best year yet and one with some great changes. Our goal is for every aspect of what we do to be done with excellence.

One goal for this year was to acquire office space. We have since locked down a temporary office space for David at the Trinity Grace Church Brooklyn offices. Thank you so much to Kristen and the TGC staff for offering this space to us. It is much needed and we truly believe it is a step in the right direction. This space will allow us to have office volunteers to help as needed. If you are in the NYC area and would like to donate your time & talent to help The Love Alliance in the office email info@thelovealliance.net

Probably the biggest changes this year are to our TLA Groups. We will be doing a complete overhaul of our current Love Alliance Groups model and we will be starting a bit from scratch. If you are a current TLA group leader you will be receiving an email in the next few days explaining the changes and letting you know how you can transition into the new groups format.

With this new group model, we will have three ways for individuals to get involved with The Love Alliance: Action Groups, Focus Groups, and a Street Team. Our current groups will become our Action Groups and will be reformatted to be more structured. These groups will primarily be in schools and will meet at least once a month; maintain communication with The Love Alliance at least once a month; do an Action Project at least every two months; and will hold a fundraiser at least once a year. With all of these changes we as an organization are committed to provide these groups with much more support as well.

Our Focus Groups will primarily be larger groups and will typically be businesses, schools, churches, sororities, fraternities etc. These groups will maintain communication with The Love Alliance at least once per quarter and will focus on a specific issue and/or project every year and will hold at least one fundraiser a year.

Our Street Team will be a place for individuals who want to be more involved but do not have the time to be a part of a group or do not want to be a part of a group.

This month we will be helping our old groups transition into our new format as well as revamping our Community section of the website with all of the new information, applications and signups for our new group model. We will be accepting new group applications as well as street team members starting next month.

Along with the changes to our TLA Groups this year, we will also be changing our Action Projects structure. We will still have monthly Action Projects but from now on we will be having a bi-monthly focus for these projects. This means we will be focusing on a different social justice issue every two months. By doing this, we will be giving groups and individuals more time to focus on that issue and therefore be able to make a bigger difference. This will also allow our groups to have more freedom to think outside the box and come up with their own ideas for change.

This year’s Action Project Focus Calendar is:

January/February – Sickness
March/April – Environment
May/June – Poverty
July/August – Clean Water
September/October – Human Trafficking
November/December – Homelessness

We have also decided that during each focus, that specific focus’ merchandise will be 15% off in the webstore along with $1.00 flyer packs. So during this month, ‘Remember the Sick’ merchandise will be 15% off and ‘Remember the Sick Flyer Cards’ (50 pack) are just $1. Click here to purchase your discounted “Remember The Sick” merchandise.

THIS MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

January/February Focus is Sickness. This month we have an easy ways to make a difference for the sick in our community.

Since 1970 January has been declared National Volunteer Blood Donor Month, and with good reason. Above all other times of the year, it’s the month that presents the most challenges in recruiting people to give blood. This January is no exception and local blood banks are in urgent need for more donors. Changing weather, busy holiday schedules, increased cold and flu symptoms and even the winter blues can keep the most dedicated blood donors from making or keeping an appointment to give. Yet winter weather can lead to more traumatic injuries on icy roads and may increase the need for blood. This months Action Project is to donate blood at your local blood bank. If you are too young to donate, then your Action Project this month can be to get at least one person who is of age to donate in your place. Visit www.redcrossblood.org or search “Donate blood” along with your cities name to find a local place to donate.

In 2010, we saw a tremendous response to the educational material and information that we put out. There was a large response from the TLA community to the Haiti earthquake and to our “Help Haiti” blogs that listed organizations that were helping in Haiti along with ways that you could help during the crisis. We also ended 2010 with a wonderful response to October’s Action Project and our “Fair Trade Coffee” blog. We want to continue to be a hub of information on world crises, social justice issues and ways that the every day person can make a difference towards them.

Not only did we receive a great response to our resources but we also saw so many active TLA Groups and members this year. In January, our TLA Melbourne, FL Group from No Limits Academy 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! In honor of Women’s Appreciation Month, our TLA Wilkes Barre, PA Group visited their local women's shelter and did manicures and pedicures for the women there. It is amazing to see how much healing can come by celebrating beauty in these women. These are just two examples of why we are so proud of the hard work and compassion our groups have put forth this year.

We launched our first campaign this year to coincide with our third Summer Music Festival Tour. The “What is Social Justice?” campaign was launched to be a positive and uplifting voice to the conversation about social justice. Our goal was also to support individuals and groups in what they are currently doing and to encourage them to get more involved with these issues. We launched a separate website for the campaign where individuals could upload a text or video response and/or text their response to a phone number. We promoted the campaign on the road with stickers, flyers and response cards that were posted on banners at our booth. We had some great responses and also some very interesting conversations. In the end we saw minds change and hearts turn to compassion for the issues we represent.

Our friend DJ X also drew a lot of attention to the WISJ? campaign when he was a finalist in the MTV TJ Competition this year. He decided to use his voice in that competition to bring 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 and we are so thankful for artists who are willing and able to use their talents and voice to make a difference.

We also had the opportunity to partner with some great non-profits in 2010. We were able to work directly with Red Eye: NYC, The New York Dream Center, Trinity Grace Church, Youth HOPE and Reveal. We also financially contributed to sponsor children in Haiti through Compassion International; support a safe home for children rescued out of sex trafficking through Love 146; provide HIV/AIDS medication (antiretroviral) to children living in Africa through Keep a Child Alive; digging wells in Sub-Saharan Africa through Blood:Water Mission; as well as supporting the hard work of Restore and The New York Dream Center.

By the end of 2010, The Love Alliance attended 12 different multi-day conferences and music festivals. We could not have done this without the help of our great volunteer staff and friends: Candice Gordon, Hade Smith, Matt Rumbley, Courtney Coleman, Owen Jones, Tim Torres and Jeff Sellers. Not to mention all of you for your support and encouragement.

[GOALS FOR 2011]

We are very excited to move forward and make some big changes this year. Our goal is for every aspect of what we do, to be done with excellence.

In the past, the majority of the day to day workload has laid on our (TLA co-founders David and Lauren Ranzino) shoulders. We have come to realize that this is an impossible task and we have since reached out to individuals in our community to take on a bigger role in the organization. We are actively forming new idea’s and vision for the organization. These individuals will have a huge impact on this year and will help us strategize, organize and accomplish our vision.

With the increase in volunteer staff and workload, we are looking to obtain office space this year. There is no room in our budget for this type of expense, but we are looking at several different options and hoping for some doors to open. An office space will allow us to utilize volunteers as well as bring on office interns.

We are working this year to have our website become a more comprehensive hub of information and ways to get involved with social justice issues. All of our sections will be updated and expanded over the course of this next year. We want our website to become more of a place where people come to look up community service ideas and creative ways to make a difference towards the issues we represent.

In order to ensure every thing we do is done with excellence we are reexamining everything. Fresh creative eyes on the infrastructure of the organization have proven to be invaluable. We have taken the end of 2010 to do this and are excited with what we are coming up with. Nothing has been set in stone as of yet but here is how things seem to be shaping up:

We will be doing a complete overhaul of our current Love Alliance Groups model and starting a bit from scratch. If you are a part of a current TLA group do not worry. We will be working with you at the top of the year to adapt your current group to our new model. This new model allows for more accountability, structure, direction and ways to get involved. With our new model we hope to get individuals involved through one of three ways: Action Groups, Focus Groups and a Street Team. Our current groups will become our Action Groups and will be reformatted to be more structured. We truly believe that through our new model our groups and supporters will become more effective and able to make a greater impact on their communities and the world. We will be detailing Action Groups and our new Focus Groups and Street Team in the first quarter of next year.

Our Action Projects will be changing as well. We have heard your desire for more time to do our Action Projects so we will now have a bi-monthly or quarterly focus for our calendar with various ideas under that focus each month. If you currently do our Action Projects we would love to hear any thoughts or suggestions as to a time frame you feel would be more effective and why. We will be revealing all details about our new Action Projects in the first quarter of next year.

It is our goal this year to be able to provide a steady salary for David Ranzino. In order to keep the organization running and moving forward we need a full time employee. He has worked full time for The Love Alliance for the past three and half years. Over that time he has only taken a total of $11,000 salary and he took $0 salary in 2010. We will be fundraising for David’s salary in 2011 to ensure the organization maintains the staff it needs to run effectively.

We are aiming to increase profitability of the organization this year. This will ensure that we can continue to fund the projects that we currently have running such as printing and distributing our educational flyers; attending music festivals, conferences and events; and providing funds for our new groups to execute justice projects in their communities. We also hope to work on some projects that we have wanted to execute since day one. Our goal is to at least begin planning a conference to be held in New York City on social injustice this year. We also plan on holding other smaller events in the New York City area as we have done in the past in Florida.

[HOW YOU CAN HELP]

There are so many ways that you can help us in 2011. One of the biggest things you can do is help spread the word about The Love Alliance. Tell your friends and family about the organization; send an email out about The Love Alliance or send out a link on your social networks; and/or buy and distribute informational cards from our website.

Another great way to get involved is to participate in our new Love Alliance Groups and Action Projects. Be on the lookout in the new year to find out how to get involved.

Stay tuned during the first quarter of next year as we will be revealing ways that you can help and get directly involved with The Love Alliance in 2011. As we always say, everyone is uniquely gifted and they can use those gifts for good. So whether it be in business, art, music, fundraising, grant writing, etc. be on the lookout to see how you can use your gifts to make a difference. We would also love to hear your ideas on how you would like to make a difference with The Love Alliance. If you have a specific way you believe you can contribute to our organization contact us at info@thelovealliance.net

The biggest way that you can help The Love Alliance right now is to help fund these big ideas. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation you can do so securely online via www.thelovealliance.net or through check or money order sent to The Love Alliance, PO Box 111431, Palm Bay, FL 32911. If you would like to discuss these projects further before giving we would love to talk via phone or email. If you have a van, SUV, or similar touring vehicle you would like to donate to The Love Alliance email info@thelovealliance.net or call (321) 989-0349. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation in someone’s name this holiday season please be sure to make a note at the time of your donation.

We look forward to growth in the year ahead.

Sincerely,

David and Lauren Ranzino
The Love Alliance Co-Founders
www.thelovealliance.net

We can’t believe December and the holiday season are already here. Happy Holidays everyone!

LAST MONTH - HAPPENINGS

With new product shots came new products to the webstore. We now have our new Hands – Remember the Enslaved shirt, Remember the Homeless shirt, Purple Logo V-Neck, Remember to Act Tank and Remember to Act silicone bracelets in the store. We also have all new pictures (of course) and a new layout for our webstore. Check it out here.

LAST MONTH - ACTION PROJECT

Last month we focused on Thanksgiving and providing meals for those in need.   We asked you to pick up an extra item or two while shopping and donate it to an organization proving meals.  We also were able to play a small part in helping the New York Dream Center provide meals to needy families in New York City.  In total the Dream Center was able to provide full turkey meals with all the fixings to 300 families.

THIS MONTH - HAPPENINGS