July 11, 2011

Pharrell Williams is to open a youth centre to help young people in Virginia Beach.

(CBS News)

According to a new government report today, more than 900,000 schoolchildren in this country have no real home. That’s up 18 percent since the start of the recession.

CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts reports there’s one school in Las Vegas, where nearly every child is homeless.

LAS VEGAS – Charlee Morrow, 10, is described by her principal as an old soul with modest dreams.

What is it like to be homeless at just ten years old? “It felt really sad, because I thought we were going to be homeless for the rest of my life. All I want is to have a big house with my family.”

Inside Whitney Elementary School in East Las Vegas, nearly 85 percent of the children are homeless. That’s 518 kids out of 610.

Learn more about the Whitney Elementary School

Principal Sherrie Gahn says, “I thought that I saw the ultimate poverty when I got here eight years ago and every year it has gotten worse and the recession made it ten times worse.”

Gahn knew she had a problem that a traditional public school could not fix. “When I saw the children eating ketchup for lunch, and wanting to take it home,” she says, “it just crushed me.”

So Gahn came up with a plan involving the kids, their parents and the community.

“I told the parents that I would give them whatever they need,” Gahn says. “All I need them to do is give me their children and let me teach them. In turn I will give you food and clothes and we will take them to the eye doctor. I will pay your rent, pay your utilities, but keep your child here.”

The children get free clothes, free bread to bring home and even free haircuts. Almost all of it given by 500 donors and local businesses who drop off donations daily. Gahn creates a wish list, and her army of volunteers makes it happen.

The contributions are large and small. One woman in Philadelphia sends $20 per month. A gambler gives $2,000 monthly – a portion of his earnings. This is Vegas.

Las Vegas has long been the city of bright lights and broken dreams. But especially now – with 12.1 percent unemployment, and the highest foreclosure rate in the country. One in every nine households receives a foreclosure notice.

Like most of her classmates, Charlee lives in one of the many rundown crime-ridden motels in the shadow of the Vegas strip.

Her family lost its home to foreclosure three years ago. Her father Chad is a construction worker. He hasn’t had a fulltime job in two years.

“There is not a lot of people moving dirt right now in the Vegas valley,” Chad says. “That’s what I do. That’s what I love to do.

As for Charlee, she dreams of being an actress. Principal Gahn has a bold dream of her own.

“I tell every 5th grade class if you make it through junior high you make it through high school and you can’t afford to go to college come see me and I will make sure that you go to college,” Gahn says. “We have a small trust fund that we started.”

Gahn says the children are worth the big promise. She defines success as “The look in their face that I made their life better. That’s my success rate when they hug me and thank me for the food, the clothes. Then I know it’s a good day.”

Today is especially emotional for Gahn – it’s the last day of class. Many of these kids and their families will be on their own until September. So next fall, she hopes to open an after-school program. So Charlee and her classmates can have a safe haven when the school day’s done.

June 6, 2011

June 3, 2011

NBA star Amaré Stoudemire, captain of the New York Knicks, is among the honorees for 2011 Father of the Year.

The National Father’s Day Council will honor six outstanding fathers for their success in balancing accomplished careers and the demands of fatherhood at its 70th annual Father of the Year Awards benefit luncheon. Proceeds of the event will benefit Save the Children.

The National Father’s Day Committee is part of the Father’s Day/Mother’s Day Council, Inc., a non-profit membership association that has as its mission the recognition and awarding of honors to role model contemporary Fathers and Mothers, while at the same time contributing to issues affecting the life and well-being of men, women and families. Past honorees have included Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, Generals Douglas MacArthur, Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf, sports notables Dwyane Wade, George Forman and Steve Young, and communications leaders Tim Russert and Brian Williams.

The other five fathers being honored at this year’s event are:

• Coach Jim Boeheim, Head Coach, Syracuse University Men’s Basketball Team
• Geoffrey Canada, President & CEO, Harlem Children’s Zone
• Brendan Hoffman, President & CEO, Lord & Taylor
• Randall Stephenson, Chairman & CEO, AT&T

Robert Evans will be honored as the 2011 Ashok C Sani All-Star Dad on behalf of the Sani Family Foundation.

Master of ceremonies at the event will be Save the Children’s US Program senior vice president Mark Shriver.

Amaré Stoudemire established the Amaré Stoudemire Foundation in 2005 to provide philanthropic support to nonprofit organizations that provide community-based supported services that address the immediate need of at-risk women and children, at-risk urban, and minority youth.

May 24, 2011

As “The Oprah Winfrey Show” nears the end of its 25th and final season, the Friday, May 20 episode of the program featured an hour titled “Oprah’s All-Time Favorite Guest Revealed!” updating viewers on the lives of some of the program’s most memorable guests. During the show, Oprah also revealed that her favorite guest of all-time is Tererai Trent, a woman from the village of Zvipani in Zimbabwe.

Tererai touched the lives of millions when she first appeared on the program in 2009, sharing her passion for an education, and a lifelong dream to go to school. Never giving up, Tererai made her way to the United States in 1998 with the help and support from many of the people in her village. Three years after arriving in the US, she received her Bachelors Degree in Agricultural Education, and today holds both a Masters and Doctorate degree. After achieving her dream of an education, Tererai never forgot about the people who helped her along the way, and felt that she had to give back to the community by somehow bringing better education options to the children in her village. Her new dream was to re-build the Matau Primary School in her home village in Zimbabwe.

Girls share a book and smiles outside of their classroom at Matau Primary School in Zimbabwe. May 4, 2011. Photo Credit: Eileen Burke/Save the Children

Tererai Gets the Surprise of a Lifetime

Knowing that this was Tererai’s life mission, Oprah wanted to give Tererai the surprise of a lifetime, and during her appearance on the program, it was announced that The Oprah Winfrey Foundation would donate a $1.5 million grant to Save the Children to re-build the Matau Primary School, fulfilling Tereri’s dream of quality education for thousands of children in her village.

“What Oprah did is beyond my wildest expectations,” said Tererai Trent. “She has given dignity to the girls, and women of this world, by saying education is important. She has given dignity to the teachers because they are now able to teach in an infrastructure where they are able to motivate the kids to perform better. She has given men a different way of thinking about girls going to school. When they see this, it will encourage everyone to see the importance of education. There was a fire in me that wanted to achieve it. I never dreamed that it would be at this level” she added.

Construction to Begin in Next Few Months

With the $1.5 million grant, Save the Children will begin construction on new classrooms, latrines, a preschool playground, a school administration building and teachers’ houses in the next few months at Matau Primary School in Tererai’s home village. Save the Children also will supply locally-made desks, chairs, books, toys and other learning materials for students and preschoolers.

Beyond infrastructure updates, the education project will improve learning and help youngsters get on track for school, reaching nearly 4,000 children at Matau Primary School and in neighboring communities. School figures from the Matau Primary School alone show a pressing need to enhance the quality of education. Last year, only 14% of 7th grade students at Matau Primary School passed the national completion exam, and five percent of first and second graders dropped out of school.

Save the Children will also spend three years training teachers, carrying out a community-wide literacy program, and helping instructors plan and prepare activities for preschoolers to help them succeed in school.

“Tererai is an inspiration to all of us. She is proof that you can come from a small village and still dream big because education has the power to transform lives,” said Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children. “Save the Children is grateful to Oprah for this contribution which will allow thousands of Zimbabwean children who aspire to be the next Tererai to learn, grow and succeed in school and life.”

Justin Bieber

-May 19, 2011 by Tim Saunders

Justin Bieber has met with Japanese children affected by the devastating tsunami that hit the country in March.

How do you look at this and not hope to one day see it? #ThatsHope

Words cannot express how smooth my runs are with these on my feet.

Comfort+Style = Super Sneakers