The following groups and organizations have specific causes that I hold dear. Each are dedicated to love by helping others and improving humanity.
Take your time and check out what they are about. Click on their logo to visit their website and learn more. If there are any causes you think I should get involved in, let me know.
FREEDOM AND FASHION: Despite being in the 21st century, slavery has not disappeared. Instead, they’ve taken on new forms of exploitation. Women and children are being sold in the sex trade and trafficked all around the world.
Freedom and Fashion’s goal is:
- Advocacy: Bringing public awareness of the various injustices in the world today.
- Promotion: Providing a market platform for Non-Profit Organizations/Companies selling merchandise created through ethical and fair trade means.
- Love: To show what we believe to be God’s love by reconciling the existing perversion of injustice and oppression in the supply chain through several channels: educating our community, providing alternative purchasing means, and calling individuals to participate in the solution.
INVISIBLE CHILDREN: In 2003, three American filmmakers traveled to Africa to document a story. What they discovered there, disturbed them. The civil war in Uganda was not only atrocious, but the Lord’s Resistance Army, a guerrilla army which the U.S. Department of State calls a terrorist organization, have abducted children from their homes to be used as child soldiers.
The tragedy lies in the children, who are not only victims, but used as weapons. The organization informs the public of the misfortune of these children and has included US political advocacy campaigns to help end the civil war which is tearing apart the children’s lives as much as it is tearing apart the country of Uganda..
TOMS SHOES: Millions of children in Third World countries do not own a pair of shoes. They thread through mud, rocks, and even glass. Inspired by a vacation trip to Argentina in January 2006, founder Blake Mycoskie (once a contestant on “The Amazing Race”) developed the concept for the shoe company after witnessing that children without shoes were more likely to get diseases such as Podoconiosis. They were also turned away from school, and thus could not pursue an education.
Mycoskie named the shoes, “TOMS” for being the shoes of tomorrow. For every pair of Toms you purchase, another pair will be given to a child in need, thus creating a better tomorrow. You can also volunteer to participate in their Shoe Drops Tours, where you and others travel the world to hand deliver shoes. The design of the shoe is patterned after the Argentinian alpargata shoe. I own three pairs and they are the most comfortable shoes you can ever own. If you’re an artist, many people buy ones in white and paint all over their shoes.
TWLOHA: All across America, people are struggling with depression, drug addiction, self-injury, and suicide. This organization was established to help those who struggle, letting them that they are not alone and that people really do care. Most of the work tries to connect traditional treatment with the actual lives of the people who need the help by encouraging them to be honest about their issues and to seek help.
(All photos retrieved from the organization’s homepage)
