The fashion industry is not usually associated with social or political conscience… Benetton is an exception.
Benetton is known for its innovative advertising, where “issues not clothes” play the lead role. Their slogan, United Colors of Benetton, appears alongside multi-colored faces reflecting the rainbow of customers in 122 countries.
Ralston Purina created a program of funding in 1989 called Purina C.A.R.E.S. In eight years it donated more than $3.9 million to local zoos and the American Zoo and Aquarium Association to help fund species survival efforts. This effort has been responsible for funding research that has led to the births of over 200 endangered animals in American zoos.
AT&T, IBM, Texaco, Aetna, Xerox, Citibank and other leaders of business are finally recognizing the problems families face while trying to juggle child care, and often elder care, with their duties at work. Reduced productivity due to the hours and days off needed for dealing with dependent care issues cost American businesses billions annually.
In a partnership with Habitat For Humanity, Maxwell House has built 100 homes for 100 “hard-working Americans” in 100 weeks.
The program, called “Build a Home America”, is operating with a donation of $2 million from Maxwell House, a part of the Kraft Foods Setting out to make the dream of home-ownership a reality for 100 hard-working families, 70,000 volunteers used 40,000 pounds of nails in 27 states.
PepsiCo Inc. Chairman and CEO, Roger Enrico, has given up his $900,000 salary and donated it to his company’s college scholarship fund for children of front line workers.
Kids of full-time employees earning less than $60,000 are eligible for the company’s fund, which made grants of $1.5 million last year to college-bound students.
He announced he was “honored” to support a program that helps families of “our often unsung heroes.” Enrico still will receive his annual bonus.
An American Success: The Man Who Did NOT Move the Factories Overseas
Harman International’s founder, and CEO Sidney Harman has proven that you CAN operate a highly successful American-based audio company without moving production facilities to low-wage countries overseas. Net sales were more than $1.4 billion last year for Harman, whose brand names include, Harman Kardon, JBL, and Infinity.
In November 16, 1997, China freed its most prominant dissident, Wei Jingsheng, who had been imprisoned for most of the last 18 years for his involvement in the Chinese democracy movement.
He is most prominent for having authored the essay, Fifth Modernization, which was posted on the “Democracy Wall” in Beijing in 1978. Due to the manifesto, Wei was arrested and convicted of “counterrevolutionary” activities.
A nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, Wei was put on a plane to the U.S. just 11 days after Chinese President Jiang Zemin was honored by the White House in state ceremonies.
Continental Airlines is a company that discovered it could not get out of bankruptcy until it had happy employees who enjoyed coming to work- as well as taking care of customers.
In the 1980’s, after mergers with People Express, NY Air, and others, Continental became a huge airline. Its CEO, Frank Lorenzo, in his zest for cutting cost, had beaten down union morale to such an extent that the airline also became notorious in the industry for lost baggage, late departures, and customer complaints.
Hassan Karatiya is a former Islamic militant in the Egyptian underground who traded in his bullets and bombs for a shot at success.
He was offered a small business loan to lure him back to mainstream society in exchange for a promise to abstain from violence.
The Ibn Khaldun Center leant him $300 and he now nets $2,000 a month selling fried liver sandwiches, a popular fast food, in crowded Cairo.
The center’s director says ex-militants are excellent risks. “They are imaginative and very forceful. They are not your lazy bums. These are people who are ambitious, articulate, and very high achievers.”
Mr. Karatiya’s success has led to the fulfillment of dozens more loans. This non-government program was established to get at the root cause of the rise in militant participation in Egypt: Many people are poor with no opportunities. The young people need hope to see that they, too, are part of society.
No one is more a catalyst for encouraging Good Samaritans these days than Oprah Winfrey. Her Oprah show has transformed the TV talk show format to something akin to the revival hour: Inspiring, motivating, and crusading to bring positive change into people’s lives.
For instance, to provide scholarships to low-income kids she decided to fill the World’s Largest Piggy Bank by asking her 15 million viewers to save their change.
Months after Drop-Off Day, they finally finished counting it all… over one million dollars was given. And Oprah matched it dollar for dollar. Additional donations, including $1 million from Garth Brooks in exchange for promoting the CD Sevens, brought the total to $3,557,083.94.
In 1997, Oprah created the Angel Network, which showcases and encourages Good Samaritans.
Chuck wrote to the show about his wife Ruth, who he calls “the angel in my life.” After her wedding rings were stolen she began scrimping and saving to buy new ones.
But after hearing Oprah’s call, she decided instead to donate the money to the World’s Largest Piggy Bank. “I’ve had the benefit of a little college,” Ruth told Oprah during the show in January, “and though I’m not a professional, this is a way I could give something back.”
On the show, Zales jewelers came on and after donating $5,000 to the piggy bank, surprised Ruth with a new pair of rings! Afterwards Ruth said she’d discovered that “to get your heart’s desire, sometimes you have to give it up.”
The Rainforest Action Network and other environmental groups have won pledges from the 536-store Home Depot chain and almost 1,000 other lumberyards to no longer purchase or sell wood harvested from redwood and other old-growth forests.
Weyerhaeuser, International Paper and Crane are experimenting with non-wood papers, which reduces deforestation, involves fewer pesticides, bleaches, and chemicals, and may create jobs in the bargain.
It appeared suddenly. Blackness blotted out my vision. A moment before, I’d focused on the cards that I held. Now I was blind. Then–like a puppet with its strings cut–I slumped over the table paralyzed. Time stopped. “Call 911!” a poker player shouted. Stunned, a resigned bitterness took over. “So this is how it happens. I’m havin’ a stroke, and I’m dying.” A siren approached.
Examining my brain scan, the emergency room neurosurgeon announced gravely, “Well, you didn’t have a stroke, but you do have a brain tumor–about the size of a golfball.”
Spring break may mean beaches, bikinis and beer for some, but students participating in Break Away, a national nonprofit group that steers people to community service projects, are delivering meals to AIDS patients, teaching Native American kids and repairing the environment in Utah.
Based at Vanderbilt University, Break Away’s services are available to students at more than 300 colleges and universities. It keeps a database of destinations and programs to help students tailor their breaks to personal and career goals. It will also help students identify ways of raising funds.
Executive director, Kevin Roberts calculates as many as 20,000 students will participate in such breaks this spring and social networking on their Facebook page is increasing that number. “Education is a central aspect of an alternative school break,” he said. “If we are helping to send students to Appalachia to build homes, then we need to educate them why there is a need to build those homes there. Working directly with the issues and problems society has is a great way for students to understand the world better.”
Students pay their own way and are encouraged to be as involved as possible in arranging the details of their breaks. “We ask students to become as invested in their trip as is possible,” said Roberts. “That includes deciding on destinations, recruiting fellow travelers and performing the work once they get there.”
“We have a focus index for those looking to serve in all kinds of fields, such as agriculture, working with children and youth, domestic violence education, immigration and migrant workers and homelessness.”
Roberts thinks it’s a safe bet that many students receive longer-lasting satisfaction from their community service breaks than from lying on the beach or frequenting bars. “One of our slogans is that spring break lasts seven days, “alternative breaks” last a lifetime,” he said.
(Written by The American News Service)
The Trumpeter Swan, native to the Atlantic seaboard for thousands of years, was killed by settlers in such numbers that by 1932 only 69 swans were left in the lower 48 states.
(Good Friday, April 10, 1998) The two-year-old peace talks in Northern Ireland finally produced a settlement this afternoon after an imposed deadline forced a 32-hour marathon debate among the parties.
Weary, but determined delegates from 2 countries and 8 different political factions signed off on the agreement which would, if ratified, establish self-rule for Northern Ireland, which had been under direct British control for 26 years. It would also create historic cooperation with the independent Republic of Ireland to the south.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Mr. Ahern had arrived to give a needed push to the talks, in near-collapse three days ago, and President Clinton telephoned at several key points, even at 3:30 in the morning, urging several of the participants toward a resolution.
The Protestant (unionist) majority won assurances that Northern Ireland would remain under British authority until a majority of voters consented otherwise. And they will enjoy a clear majority in the new 108-member council created for their self-governance.
The Catholic nationalists, who want to rejoin the Irish Republic, have been a minority burdened by prejudice. They would receive a declaration of equality and mutual respect and participation in both a new north/south “ministerial council” and newly-established cross-border discussions with the Republic that would involve a range of issues like transportation and tourism.
“There’s a symbolism about Easter, and every Irishman knows that,” said Seamus Mallon, deputy leader of the Social Democratic and Labor Party and a delegate at the talks. “The old Northern Ireland has died, and now, on Easter weekend, it is ready to rise again.”
Implementation of the agreement depends on a majority of Irish voters ratifying it on May 22,1998. The chances for passage are very good. (See below for May update)
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(May 23, 1998) Citizens in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland voted yesterday in landslides to accept the Good Friday Peace Accord signed last month at the all-party talks. (see April story below)
71% of Northern Ireland’s voters agreed to the plan alongside an even bigger 94% majority in the south.
The plan calls for altering the Irish constitution’s territorial claim to the North, and establishes new government institutions within which the two sides can work toward the uniting goal of a lasting peace.
Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) won early parole for its imprisoned members. Its president, Gerry Adams, said that in many ways Northern Ireland citizens have been “ahead of the politicians and have taken a leap of faith to move the whole situation forward.. I think we have to deliver on that.”
It was widely seen as a vote against the violence of 30 years, which has killed and injured thousands, but it also feels like the joining of two opposing camps, hearts opened in an effort to explore their Christian credo of loving their enemies. (Photo by Ardfern, CC)
Wildflowers in the desert southwest have burst forth in a profusion of bloom so rare that some species have regenerated after decades of dormancy. Normally, lack of rain and high temperatures inhibit the season’s length and display. But the weather pattern of El Niño began in November to deliver gentle, soaking rains and has kept temperatures mild, creating what one long-time resident and naturalist, Paul Johnson calls, “the mother of all Springs.”
The Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) convinced 80 buildings in downtown Toronto, Ontario to turn off their lights at night during bird migration seasons. Night traveling birds on migration routes are attracted to illuminated buildings especially on overcast nights. The World Wildlife Fund joined the effort creating the Bird Friendly Building Program to help spread the message to U.S. cities. Between 100 million and 1 billion birds are killed in North America each year from window collisions.
Study Brings Exciting Message of Hope:
The chances of getting cancer are declining… and the chances of dying of cancer are declining even faster, reported researchers at a news conference on March 12.
Based on Nat’l Cancer Institute’s tracking of trends within the U.S. population, in 1995, there were 70,000 fewer new cases of cancer diagnosed than if a 50-year trend would have continued. This drop in incidence, which began in the early 90’s, is significant because it indicates the receding of the disease itself.
We have to look beyond our past experiences and how are parents raised us. (If they were traumatic or regrettable experiences.) Psychologist, James Hillman, in his book, “the Soul’s Code” asserts that the theories viewing our early years as traumatic and life-shaping have caused more damage than the actual incidents! We are more than what our present mindset holds. And the next time you hear yourself blaming your actions on the way your parents raised you, stop, and say “I have a choice and I can transcend my presently perceived limitations.” I am more than what theories say I must have been reduced to.
“His mind was not disavantaged; his mind was not at risk; his mind was not underprivileged”
Former congressman Cleo Fields (D-LA), grew up in a family that was financially poor but intellectually rich. His mother told him, don’t let your income determine your outcome! As a congressman he fought for abolishing the use of economic labels because he thought the stigmatism of being set apart as “at risk”, or “disadvantaged”, or “underprivledged”, would do worse damage (to their self-esteem and therefore their determination) than the actual circumstances.
His mother, who took him often to the library, taught him he could be all he could dream of, because “his mind was not disadvantaged, his mind was not at risk, and his mind was not underprivledged.”
Cleo Fields’s story was told on Oprah, as part of a segment about Julian Okwu, photographer and author of the inspirational book, Face Forward: Young African American Men in a Critical Age
