Donate School Supplies to Kids in Needs

Back to school season is upon us. Many kids do not have the supplies they need. The Washington Post ran an article discussing the shortage of school supplies.

The back-to-school season is placing some area social service agencies closer than ever to the clients they serve: Both have an increased need for supplies.

With more people struggling to hold on to their jobs and their homes in the economic downturn, families are asking for help in record numbers, agencies and government officials said. And a number of agencies said they, too, need help filling requests. Some groups that traditionally have had robust back-to-school drives said they are struggling to secure enough donations.

Check out the article to read more.

To donate supplies, check out the Department of Education's resource page and NYC.gov's donation guide page. They have great suggestions on where to donate.

Many large stores, like Target, Office Depot and Staples, have school supply sales as do stores like Family Dollar and Lots for Less.

Check out this article that gives some great suggestions from Charity Guide.

If you are outside NYC, google places in your city, call your local school and ask or check out online donation sites like I Love Schools.

Earth Days: A Screening

EARTH DAYS

Visually stunning, vastly entertaining and awe-inspiring, Earth Days looks back to the dawn and development of the modern environmental movement-from its post-war rustlings in the 1950s and the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson's incendiary bestseller Silent Spring, to the first wildly successful 1970 Earth Day celebration and the subsequent firestorm of political action.

Earth Days' secret weapon is a one-two punch of personal testimony and rare archival media. The extraordinary stories of the era's pioneers-among them Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall; biologist/Population Bomb author Paul Ehrlich; Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand; Apollo Nine astronaut Rusty Schweickart; and renewable energy pioneer Hunter Lovins-are beautifully illustrated with an incredible array of footage from candy-colored Eisenhower-era tableau to classic tear-jerking 1970s anti-litterbug PSAs. Directed by acclaimed documentarian Robert Stone (Oswald's Ghost, Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst) Earth Days is both a poetic meditation on humanity's complex relationship with nature and an engaging history of the revolutionary achievements-and missed opportunities-of groundbreaking eco-activism.

• Find an EARTH DAYS theater near you! Group Discounts available.
• Contact nevette@previdconsulting.com for details
• Watch the trailer and visit the EARTH DAYS website
• Read an article by filmmaker Robert Stone (and watch clips) at The Huffington Post
• Become a fan of EARTH DAYS on Facebook

From EARTH DAY NETWORK and founding Earth Day organizer Denis Hayes. To read more, check out this site.

"Senate Has Changed in Kennedy’s Time"

An excerpt from a great article in the NY Times, "Senate Has Changed in Kennedy’s Time":

To Mr. Caro, Mr. Kennedy’s own knowledge of Senate history and reverence for its ideals were yet another reminder of why [Kennedy] deserved a place in the pantheon of Senate greats, alongside men like Webster and Calhoun and Clay. But it was also a reminder of how much the Senate had changed during Mr. Kennedy’s 46 years there.

“Ted Kennedy was a senator out of another, very different, Senate era: an era in which senators who believed in great causes stood at their desks, year after year and decade after decade, fighting for those causes, and educating the country about them,” Mr. Caro said.

To read the entire article, check out the Times.

Senator Kennedy

Senator Ted Kennedy has passed away.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew acclaim and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died late Tuesday night. He was 77.

To read the full obit, check out the NY Times.

Out of Town

It's the end of summer vacation. Will return shortly.

Donating School Supplies

Back to school season is upon us. Many kids do not have the supplies they need. The Washington Post ran an article discussing the shortage of school supplies.

The back-to-school season is placing some area social service agencies closer than ever to the clients they serve: Both have an increased need for supplies.

With more people struggling to hold on to their jobs and their homes in the economic downturn, families are asking for help in record numbers, agencies and government officials said. And a number of agencies said they, too, need help filling requests. Some groups that traditionally have had robust back-to-school drives said they are struggling to secure enough donations.

Check out the article to read more.

To donate supplies, check out the Department of Education's resource page and NYC.gov's donation guide page. They have great suggestions on where to donate.

Many large stores, like Target, Office Depot and Staples, have school supply sales as do stores like Family Dollar and Lots for Less.

Check out this article that gives some great suggestions from Charity Guide.

If you are outside NYC, google places in your city, call your local school and ask or check out online donation sites like I Love Schools.

Mark Your Calendars: Democratic Primary

The Democratic Primary in NYC is September 25, 2009. Polls are open 6 am until 9 pm. Check out the Board of Elections to find out your polling location. Check out this site for instructions on how to vote.

LIFE's Pivotal Photographs from the Civil Rights Movement

This is a great photo series highlighting key events from the Civil Rights movement. Check out LIFE to see the series.

BK Farmyards: Backyard Farms in Brooklyn

BK Farms transforms private backyards into food producing gardens in urban centers. The organization is based on the idea of supporting local food production and puts the focus on food preparation and eating rituals.

The BK Farms mission:

bk farmyards is a Brooklyn based decentralized farming network providing local food to reduce the city’s reliance on fossil fuels and offering local jobs to boost the economy. We are seeking partnerships with developers willing to temporarily transform their idle land to farmyard; homeowners who want to eat from their own yard; and city agencies holding under-utilized land. Our strategy is to stay nimble, growing food between the cracks of urban development.

bk farmyards mission is to bring communities together around the dinner table: our organization’s educational agenda includes eating seasonally, how to grow food locally, how to store and prepare food, species biodiversity, and food democracy.

To read more about the BK Farmyards philosophy, check out their website.

Environmental Empathy and Children

Check out this great blog post by Suneet Bhatt on Eco Child Play called Kids Can...Develop Environmental Empathy.

A Video Biography: Sonia Sotomayor

Check out a video biography of newly-appointed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

About the Video:

"Judge Sonia Sotomayor describes her long journey from a housing project in an urban Puerto Rican neighborhood to the memorable day she was given a private tour of the White House, when she was a newly appointed federal judge. A video from the Law School Admission Council in 2004."

What to find out about more about a non-profit?

Want to know more about your favorite non profit organization? Guidestar is a site where you access information and data about non-profits.

From the Guidestar website:

If you care about nonprofits and the work they do, then you're affected by what GuideStar does—even if this is your first visit to www.guidestar.org. You see, we gather and publicize information about nonprofit organizations. Our reach is far and wide. Our database is broad and deep.

Visit Guidestar to learn more.

Sotomayor Confirmed by Senate

Sotomayor Confirmed by Senate, vote is 68-31

Voting largely along party lines, the Senate on Thursday confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the 111th justice of the Supreme Court. She will be the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the court.

From the New York Times website. Check it out to read more.

Congressman Towns votes against new funding for the Iraq and Afghan wars

From Ed from Fort Greene Peace:

Congressman Towns just voted against new funding for the Iraq & Afghan wars. Can you send an email to him, thanking him and encouraging him to continue in his vain?

Call his Brooklyn office: (718) 855-8018
Email him

This past Friday, just prior to the recess, the House voted for a new "defense" authorization. This Defense bill included approximately $130 billion in the new war funding through October 2010.

The House vote was approx 400 yes--to 30. The 30 no votes were generally from progressives. With the exception of Ed Towns (a "no'") all of the Brooklyn Congressional reps voted in favor of the Defense bill - which included the new war funding--essentially funding the wars through October 2010. It is fair to say that Towns' vote is, at least in part, the result of our relentless work. We have collected and sent hundreds of postcards on top of the thousands of petition signatures, urging him to vote against just such funding.

When the House reconvenes in September, there will have to be at least one more vote on this budget---after the bill is reconciled with Senate. (So far the only Senator to oppose this war spending is Russ Feingold).

Click here for the link for Friday's roll-call so you can see how votes were distributed.