“No, don’t like mommy,” my 2-year-old son whined. “Why not?” I asked, confused. “Because it’s bedtime?” Ten minutes ago we were peek-a-booing and laughing. Now he didn’t like me. I felt dejected.
An Alabama mom is making headlines this week after her Facebook apology went viral. Kyesha Smith Wood wrote this post to apologize to a stranger after her teenage daughter and step-daughter were “rude,” “obnoxious” and “disrespectful” at the movies.
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This is a long shot, but I’m looking for a woman that was at Tannehill Premier tonight seeing Cinderella at 7pm. I…
Posted by Kyesha Smith Wood on Friday, March 27, 2015
After Wood posted her apology on the McAdory-McCalla Community News Facebook group, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office page shared a screenshot, along with the caption, “What do you think of the way this local mom is handling this situation? Looks like these children have great parents.” That post has over 250,000 likes and 50,000 shares to date.
Within 24 hours, Wood’s Facebook apology reached the mystery woman in question — Rebecca Boyd of Adger, Alabama. According to ABC News, Boyd wrote in a comment:
“I am the mom from the movie theatre. I had taken my daughter to see Cinderella. I was very upset and disappointed in the girls behavior…the note from their mom brought me to tears and shows there is [sic] still good people in the world. I have no hard feelings towards them and I am proud of their parents. The girls are not not bad…they are children. Glad they are learning a lesson. I hope if my teenagers are out and they act up…I hope someone says something to them.”
In an interview with Yahoo Parenting, Boyd said the girls’ behavior at the movies consisted of giggling, talking loudly and even kicking her seat. When she turned around to ask them to stop, “they just giggled at me and continued with the same behavior.” Speaking to the girls after the movie, Boyd explained her situation and “told them they needed to realize that their behavior affects others and they never know what other people around them are going through.”
After seeing Wood’s apology, Boyd sent her a Facebook message, and the two got to talking. Wood told AL.com, “I thanked her for correcting my girls in my absence and letting them know that they were wrong.” She added, “A lot of times people get nervous about saying something to a stranger’s kids. But it takes a village to raise our kids. We as a community need to hear this, that there are parents out there who still believe in old-fashioned methods.”
In an interview with ABC News, the mom praised Boyd as a “gracious, kind, and forgiving woman.” “I’ve been getting a lot of attention for this story but the real hero is her,” Wood said, adding, “She took it upon herself to correct my girls and nobody else around them did.”
ABC News reports since the post went viral, Boyd’s husband has received several job offers. And as for Wood’s daughters, the mom said they are “mortified,” but will never behave this way again.
Indeed not.
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Starting a business is a risk at any age, to be sure. But the statistics support the notion that older entrepreneurs are more confident about launching and sustaining businesses than younger entrepreneurs. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s annual Entrepreneurial Activity Index report for 2013 reported that 55-64 year olds make up 23.4% of new entrepreneurs in 2012, up from 14.3% in 1996.
Crowdfunding adds an entirely new dimension to the prospect of starting your own business. In the words of Eze Vidra, head of Google Campus(Google’s startup space in London) it is the “democratization of innovation.” For those in our generation who are only slightly aware of this phenomenon, crowdfunding has been popularized through the success of sites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, that were set up for creative entrepreneurs to fund independent arts and media projects. This has led to fundraising for feature films (e.g. 2013’s Veronica Mars movie), video games and gadgets. On most of these sites, individuals pledge at certain set levels — from, say $5 to $1,000, and receive gifts or “premiums” appropriate to each level if (and only if) the project’s funding goal is met. If the goal is not met within the allotted time window, the project does not get funded, and all the pledges are returned to the sponsors.
Boomer entrepreneurs who may be looking at raising capital from a 20th century mindset might not be seriously considering crowdfunding as an option to get their businesses launched. Boomers should not make this mistake. Have you fallen for any of the following three myths?
1. Crowdfunding is for kids making movies.
Crowdfunding: it’s not just for kids, anymore. Those of us scratching our heads at the phenomenal $20 million raised by the upcoming Pebble Time smartwatch on Kickstarter this past weekend, should recognize that not only is crowdfunding here to stay, it is also an important methodology to consider for Boomers looking to launch their own businesses. While for the moment, businesses that are selling a tangible physical product seem to be garnering most of the attention and most of the traffic, as the process evolves, some experts believe that service businesses will also be able to raise money in this manner.
2. Crowdfunding is not for Equity Investors.
Donation-based crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter or IndieGoGo fall outside of the SEC’s jurisdiction requiring that investors be “qualified” in order to invest — meeting criteria for annual income and overall net worth. In 2012, however, Congress passed the JOBS Act (Jumpstart our Business Startups), which asks the SEC to broaden its guidelines to make startup investing more accessible on a number of levels. Title II of the JOBS Act is in effect, allowing entrepreneurs to advertise their business plans to qualified investors, thus significantly opening up the marketplace to take advantage of the Internet. Equity crowdfunding firms like AngelList, CircleUp, EquityNet and Funders Club are geared to match startups to qualified investors across many business sectors.
3. Crowdfunding is not for Ordinary Investors.
You would be half right in making this statement. Title III of the JOBS Act, which the SEC says it will clarify by October 2015, is meant to allow everyday citizens to make actual equity investments in startups. The rationale has a lot to do with the digital age, and the “social capital” of entrepreneurs. Today’s business climate is a lot more transparent than it was in the 1930s when the SEC’s investment guidelines were originally drawn up. Coming on the heels of the stock market crash of 1929, when millions of people who couldn’t afford to invest in stocks were lured into buying on margin (i.e. borrowing), the government wanted to prevent fraud, and protect ordinary people from losing their shirts. Today, however, it is easier for potential investors to cross-check the background and reputation of a given entrepreneur, the venture, the team and the market. Managing and communicating with hundreds, or thousands of investors is also a lot more achievable and affordable today thanks to digital tools. Some experts are concerned that while Title III could make investing easier for individuals, it will create insurmountable headaches for entrepreneurs. Stay tuned.
While crowdfunding is proving to be a viable avenue for raising capital, it is tricky to pull off, particularly during this period of growth and change. Sites like Crowdfunding Academy and RocketHub have been set up to help walk business owners through the potential pitfalls of launching a crowdfunding campaign. Entrepreneurs should be very careful and get all the advice they need before jumping in.
Though crowdfunding is a paradigm that is arguably still in its infancy, its potential is clear. Boomer business owners should make investigating this resource a priority to find out whether it makes sense for their particular venture. Jeff Lynn, CEO of European crowdfunding service Seedrs, believes that the future of crowdfunding is to be part of the existing ecosystem of global equity financing, providing an additional method for investors and entrepreneurs to drive growth and innovation.
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
ABUJA, March 31 (Reuters) – Opposition challenger Muhammadu Buhari has won Nigeria’s presidential election with 15.4 million votes against incumbent Goodluck Jonathan’s 13.3 million, a Reuters tally of votes in all of its 36 states showed on Tuesday. (Reporting by Tim Cocks and Ed Cropley; Editing by Ed Cropley)
The National Park Service Is Almost 100, And Bill Nye Wants You To Find Your Park
Posted in: Today's ChiliBill Nye has a simple explanation when asked why Americans should be grateful for our national parks: “They’re precious, they’re priceless and they need to be preserved.”
He was recently appointed as a centennial ambassador for the National Park Service ahead of the agency’s 100th birthday next year in hopes of inspiring the next generation of park-goers to fall in love with the natural world.
The NPS recently launched the Find Your Park campaign to celebrate not only the stunning wonders of Yosemite and Acadia, but also the hundreds of other monuments and protected areas overseen by the authority.
“You think of a national park and you think of vast landscapes, enormous vistas,” Nye told The Huffington Post. “But people forget that the Statue of Liberty is a national park. We want people to visit them, to know your park.”
Nye, often attached to his “Science Guy” moniker, said an appreciation of nature and preservation goes hand in hand with scientific awareness, including politically charged issues like climate change. Even a cursory visit to a national park can inform visitors that “climate change is manifesting itself everywhere.”
“Glacier National Park is becoming ‘Mudslide National Park’ because of climate change,” Nye said.
In an age where the words “climate change” can be banned and presidential candidates call environmentalists “flat-earthers,” Nye said he’s confident that a visit to a national park will raise the public’s urgency to address our changing world.
“We have this technologically advanced society that depends on science for everything,” Nye told HuffPost. “And yet we have an ironic and really struggling situation where there’s this group of people that doesn’t accept science. It’s probably the biggest problem that humankind has ever faced.”
Despite the struggle, Nye’s encouraged by recent gains in environmental awareness. The U.S. recently committed to slash emissions up to 28 percent over the next decade in advance of the upcoming U.N. climate summit.
“You have to be optimistic. If you’re not optimistic, you will not achieve anything,” he said.
There are more than 400 sites overseen by the NPS, including 59 designated national parks. You can find one near you here.
Online supporters backed Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the summer of 2013, saying on social media that they thought the government trampled on his rights during a hospital interrogation or claiming he was the innocent victim of a conspiracy. Supportive crowds sometimes amassed for the accused Boston Marathon bomber’s court dates.
Rolling Stone magazine perhaps inadvertently added to the frenzy by plastering Tsarnaev’s teenage face across its cover with a glamor shot as if he were a rock star. The magazine called him a “charming kid” who became a “monster.”
These days, Tsarnaev is all alone.
Since his trial began on March 4, a few backers with signs have popped up on the perimeter of the Boston courthouse. But except for the team of public defenders arguing that he was in his older brother’s thrall when he detonated one of the two bombs that turned the 2013 Boston Marathon into a bloodbath, Tsarnaev seems to have no one in the courtroom — no family, no justice groups.
That’s a reversal from pretrial hearings like one in December, where supporters bickered with bombing survivors and a woman interrupted proceedings and yelled “We prayed for you. Be strong, my son. We know you are innocent” to Tsarnaev in Russian.
One of the lone faces to regularly appear outside the Moakley U.S. Courthouse is death penalty opponent Joe Kebartas, 66, of South Boston. Most mornings before court, he holds up a sign saying “Death Penalty Is Murder.” But Kebartas said he’s strictly there to denounce capital punishment, not to defend Tsarnaev.
“Boston hasn’t had a death penalty trial in years. I’m totally against the death penalty. I want to make people aware of the evil of it. My belief is the state should not get in the business of taking someone’s life,” said Kebartas.
As far as punishing Tsarnaev, he said, “Life imprisonment is a sentence that looks like the obvious alternative. He’s a troubled boy. He’s mentally ill, I think. Anybody who does that you have to believe is crazy.”
Before the trial, it seemed like random members of the public might congregate en masse to support Tsarnaev, as occasionally happened during other hearings. District Court Judge George O’Toole ruled in February against the wishes of Tsarnaev’s defense by saying the accused bomber’s supporters could demonstrate near the court. But through four weeks of testimony, supporters have been few and far between.
Mary Churbuck, of Freetown, Massachusetts, right, a supporter of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, speaks with members of the media outside the federal courthouse following the arraignment for Tsarnaev Wednesday, July 10, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Perhaps the evaporating goodwill should come as no surprise. During opening statements, Tsarnaev’s lead attorney, Judy Clarke, blamed her client for the April 15, 2013, attack that killed three people and wounded 264. Clarke contended that Tamerlan Tsaranev, 26, was the radicalized mind behind the attack who coerced his younger brother to carry out the plot with him.
Tamerlan Tsaranev was killed in Watertown, Massachusetts, by police and run over by his brother during a wild gunfight in the Boston suburb on April 19, 2013.
With his older brother and accomplice gone, it seems no one else from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s family has decided to show up to supply emotional support during the trial.
“It would be hard to sit in that courtroom right now as a supporter of Dzhokhar,” said Boston University law professor Karen Pita Loor. “I would wonder whether or not it would be helpful.”
The defense began its case on March 30. Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 counts, including 17 that carry the death penalty. If he’s convicted of any of the capital crimes, the same jury will hear more testimony before deciding between life in prison and death row for Tsarnaev.
Tsarnaev’s divorced parents have both moved back to Russia. If his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, returns to the United States, she may be arrested for a 2012 shoplifting accusation, according to CNN. His sisters, who CNN reports have gotten into some trouble themselves, live in New Jersey. They have been no-shows.
An uncle, Alvi Tsarnaev, wouldn’t talk about his nephew or the trial when reached by phone in early March.
“I don’t want to say anything,” he said. “I’ve said it all before. If you go on the Internet, you know what I have to say.”
Alvi said two years ago that Tamerlan called him just hours before the Watertown shootout, asking for forgiveness. The uncle and nephew had not spoken for two years before that call, according to USA Today, although Alvi declined then to say why they had not been in communication.
“Killing innocent people, I cannot forgive that,” Aliv said in 2013, according to USA Today. “It’s crazy. I don’t believe it now even. How can I forgive this?”
Shortly after the bombing in 2013, another uncle in Maryland, Ruslan Tsarni, briefly entered the limelight by calling Dzhokhar and Tamerlan “losers.”
The absence of Tsarnaev’s relatives at the trial could be a deliberate part of the defense’s strategy, according to a former assistant U.S. attorney in Boston who’s now in private practice.
“It would be important to show family support if they could,” said George Vien, “Or there’s the theory that they don’t want anybody else there because it would undermine their argument that the brother was the only person in his life.”
The Boston Marathon attack has been compared to the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. No member of Timothy McVeigh’s family was on hand for his 1997 conviction either, according to The Washington Post, and his sister had actually testified against him.
It’s also possible that family members aren’t in court because they may be called to testify later. Witnesses typically do not watch each other testify.
This is the Cambridge building where the Tsarnaev brothers lived for years. Their apartment was on the top. pic.twitter.com/uMHvoushuD
— Michael McLaughlin (@McLaughlinnews) March 8, 2015
Tsarnaev’s family are Muslims who trace their ancestry to Chechnya, a republic in Russia riven by two wars since 1994. But Tsarnaev and his immediate family lived in other parts of Russia and Kyrgyzstan before emigrating to the United States. The small, close-knit Chechen community in and around Boston almost immediately disavowed any connection to the family, according to a University of Massachusetts Dartmouth professor who’s a Chechen specialist.
“The Chechen community here in Boston didn’t consider them real Chechens. To be real Chechens, you have to experience those wars with half the nation driven into exile,” said professor Brian Glyn Williams, who emailed with Tsarnaev when he was a high school student in Cambridge, Massachusetts, exploring his ethnic history. “That’s not the experience these two kids [Dzhokhar and Tamerlan] had.”
A Lutheran pastor in Germany recently proclaimed that Andreas Lubitz’s hometown stands with the Germanwings co-pilot who prosecutors say intentionally crashed his plane into the French Alps, killing 150 on board the flight. No such warmth sprouts at the mosque that Tsarnaev and his family occasionally attended in Cambridge.
“As far as the trial is concerned, we’re here for the community at large. This has been very traumatic not just for our members at the mosque,” said Nichole Moussalam, director of the Islamic Society of Boston.
Even online, pro-Tsarnaev commenters have withered.
The evidence piled up in court by the prosecution drove away some of Tsarnaev’s former well-wishers, said a 23-year-old Philadelphia woman who until recently administered a Facebook page called “Free Dzhokhar Tsarnaev” that has hundreds of members. (Some pro-Tsarnaev pages have as many as 14,000 fans on Facebook.)
The woman, who requested anonymity because of her unpopular opinions, said she quit the group because her views on Tsarnaev evolved. Doubts that Tsarnaev detonated a bomb gave way because of video footage showing him scurrying away before a Boylston Street explosion. But she’s certain the government violated his rights while interrogating him in a hospital.
“I’m not championing him. I’m championing his rights,” she said. “He came in with a backpack, he leaves without a backpack and as soon as he leaves, right where he was standing, it blew up. My views were a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. I’m satisfied at this point.”
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By now, we all know that Jim Carrey is a gifted impressionist — need we remind you of his spot-on remake of Matthew McConaughey’s Lincoln ad? Turns out, Carrey has always had a knack for imitation, as proven by these unearthed 1992 photos of the comedian. See him morph into Hollywood icons, James Dean and Elvis Presley, with just simple changes in posture and facial expression:
For more photos of Carrey’s impressions, head over to Mashable.
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Between decorating eggs, prepping baskets, and sneaking a few peeps and chocolates, you’re getting super excited for Easter. But as excited as you are, there’s no one more pumped for the upcoming holiday than your children. Since they’ve already got Easter on the mind, why not treat them to a fun Easter themed craft that you can enjoy making together, and then add to your Easter decorations.
1. Painted Bunny Bottles
Project via Mary Beth @Cupcakes and Crinoline
Decorate some colorful water bottles with happy Easter bunnies, using white craft paint, to keep your child healthy and hydrated throughout the egg hunt. If they need a little crafting help, you can add the details and features for them.
2. Easter Egg Carrot Patch
Project via Paula @Sweet Pea
The best part about this fun Easter egg display is that it’s impossible to mess up. Try this project with hardboiled eggs, craft paint, and a simple kitchen sponge. After your child turns all the eggs into carrots, you can add the stems and nestle them safely into the garden.
3. Coffee Filter Flowers
Project via Jessie Jane @Lilyshop
Let your young ones be your basket assistants, twisting dyed coffee filters into flowers, so that you can hot glue them to your Easter baskets. If you’re not too particular about the decorations, let them decide on colors and placement.
4. Candy Flower Centerpiece
Project via Nicole @365(ish) Days of Pinterest
This idea is for those experienced parents who bought an extra bag of candy, just in case the materials “mysteriously” go missing during crafting. Have your child fold the tissue paper petals around each stem and then pack the flowers in with the shredded paper grass.
5. Giant Twine Carrots
Project via Courtenay @The Creek Line House
Your child might think you’re joking when you tell them to rip up newspaper and crumple it into a carrot-shaped cone, but once the crafting starts, there’s no stopping the fun. Have them hand you the carrot shapes and then start them off with the twine.
6. Painted Glass Vase
Project via Jessica @Mad in Crafts
Turn empty jars and bottles into pretty spring vases, with some paint and a couple brushes. No matter what pattern or color combination your young artist chooses, it will look beautiful holding a fresh bunch of flowers or some small t-lights.
7. Kool-Aid Dyed Eggs
Project via Bev @The Make Your Own Zone
You can get eggs in all the colors of the rainbow, without using any harmful dyes or complicated designs. Help your child mix up the Kool-Aid dying cups, and then let them enjoy watching their eggs turn into bright beauties.
Find more fun Easter decorations and crafts at Hometalk!
When I visited the Sivile Primary School in South Africa’s Western Cape, I was struck by a feeling. It was a feeling of the vulnerability of the children all around me, who are put at huge risk every single day. It is a threat and a risk they face for what should be a simple journey. Yet, they are placed in harm’s way just for trying to get to their school to gain an education.
Right in front of their houses in the very poor neighbourhood of Khayelitsha, sits a high speed road — the Jeff Masemola Highway. It’s a road that brings trucks and cars at 90 km/h right through the settlement, the traffic rattling the corrugated iron roofs of the shacks where the children live. And it is a road that brings fear and misery every day to the schoolchildren of Sivile Primary.
I visited the Sivile Primary last year for the launch of the Safe Schools project, which I am privileged to be involved in as part of my work campaigning for the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. The project is the first of its kind in South Africa, but is in line with similar initiatives supported by the Road Safety Fund globally, including in Tanzania, Mexico and Costa Rica.
When you stand at the Jeff Masemola Highway outside the school, you appreciate the difficulty the children of Khayelitsha face as they try to get to school early each day. Hundreds of children stand by the road every morning — running and then stopping to avoid trucks and cars that clatter by, inches from their faces. In fact, more than one in five children reported that they had been involved in a road crash in some way — a shockingly high number.
The Safe Schools project, which is being supported by Janssen and the FIA Foundation, is coordinated by ChildSafe South Africa, which is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide. It has researched the problem and has found solutions, including safe infrastructure, education, collaboration and sustainability. Now that these solutions are being implemented, the students at Sivile have a better chance of getting to school safely.
I helped launch the project in May 2014 with the FIA Foundation’s Road Safety Fund and our partners. For Janssen, the principal donor, the project continues its support for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. I was honored to speak about the initiative during my presentation at the Safe Roads | Safe Kids Global Road Safety Summit, when leaders from 30 countries met in Washington, D.C. at the end of last year to collaborate on helping our most vulnerable road users. What struck me then was the momentum that is building around the world to support our children. The Summit was an opportunity to learn from others. And at the same time, it was encouraging to hear that much can be learned from our communities in South Africa.
When I attended the launch at Sivile, I could sense the vulnerability of the students, but I could also feel a tremendous sense of hope for children in South Africa and around the world. Road traffic injury is a man-made epidemic and a serious burden on children and young people globally, but it is preventable. The vaccines for this epidemic are readily available: safe crossings, protected footpaths and speed restrictions, together with well-designed education programs. No child should be denied protection on our roads. With a clear voice we must call for global support to ensure that road safety becomes a development priority.
This is the message of “Save Kids Lives,” the global campaign for children’s road safety, which I’ve been privileged to help launch. It calls on policymakers to take strong action to improve road safety for children everywhere. The campaign has been gathering thousands of supporters since it was launched, and our goal is to capture 100,000 signatures for the Child Declaration by Global Road Safety Week, from May 4 to May 10, 2015. To help, visit www.savekidslives2015.org.
With projects like the Safe Schools initiative and the Save Kids Lives campaign, we are walking the walk, demonstrating how much can be achieved if we work together. We know that lives can be saved. Let’s collaborate and combat this leading killer of our children — the most vulnerable in our society, but who we value more than anything else. Together we can — and we must — Save Kids Lives.
Editor’s Note: Johnson & Johnson is a sponsor of The Huffington Post’s Global Motherhood section.
In Praise of Clicktivism
Posted in: Today's ChiliThere has been a lot of chatter lately about cyber-activism, or “click-tivism”–the use of digital communication technologies in support of worthy causes. Critics argue that getting involved in a charity through, say, Facebook or Twitter merely creates an impression of support. They say that social media makes it all too easy to appear engaged in important issues without taking any real action, that all the likes, shares and retweets about this issue or that crisis simply do not yield results that count. In some cases, maybe so. But it doesn’t have to be that way. A number of groups have found ways to operate effectively in the digital sphere.
These days there’s no question that if you’ve got something to say, you log on. The Internet and social media are where many of us go to express our thoughts and plans, hopes and dreams, to friends, acquaintances, even strangers. More than half of us–52%–go online to discuss what’s on our minds, according to a 2014 survey by Cone Communications. Among Millennials, it’s 71%. And there’s ample opportunity to do it. Americans aged 18 and older, on average, spend about an hour a day on the Internet on their computers, and at least another hour or so accessing apps and the web, according to Nielsen.
The U.S. Fund for UNICEF has something to say. We believe that in order to gain support and greater visibility, we should be where the action is. We need to be part of the online discussion and exchange of ideas. But we also need to find ways to leverage that online presence to make digital engagement productive and meaningful.
The UNICEF Tap Project is an example of how a campaign might play off a popular technology trend–apps and games–to make a real impact. For the month of March, the Tap Project invites people to take a break from their smart phones while our mobile app tracks their downtime. The longer they stay unplugged, the more Giorgio Armani Fragrances, S’well and other sponsors pump funds into UNICEF’s clean water programs. Fifteen minutes of ‘digital detox’ translates into a day’s supply of safe, clean water for one child.
In 2014, 2.6 million UNICEF Tap Project participants from the U.S., Australia, South Korea, China, Germany and 20 other countries across the globe generated more than a million dollars in clean water funding. More than 350,000 referrals to the Tap mobile site came through Facebook.
Our new UNICEF Kid Power program also capitalizes on a digital trend: the popularity of fitness bands to monitor physical activity. Elementary school-age participants use our wearable devices to track how many steps they take during the day, and earn points accordingly. Those points act as currency with our sponsors, who then make real donations, specifically funding for Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, an emergency treatment for life-threatening malnutrition in children.
Last October, 900 students and teachers in Sacramento earned enough points–354,750 to be exact–to cover a full course of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food treatment for 473 severely malnourished children. (That’s 70,950 packets of protein-rich peanut paste.) We have signed up 10,500 new participants in Boston, Dallas and New York to take the challenge beginning this month. And we stay connected with participants, parents and supporters and help generate excitement for this initiative through online engagement.
We recognize that the Internet is a big noisy place, and that messages can get lost in the shuffle. But we can’t ignore the role that technology and digital activism can play in service to our overall mission. So we appreciate all those clicks and finger taps to view our web pages and follow our Twitter feeds. Because they’re more than just gestures. They keep our concerns and our objectives part of the conversation. And they help us make sure that the world’s most vulnerable children and their families are not forgotten.