G is for GEMS: Girls Education & Mentoring Services

*In New York City alone there are an estimated 2,200 children victimized by commercial sexual exploitation annually (OCFS 2007 Prevalence Study).
*The Department of Justice estimates the most frequent age of entry into the commercial sex industry in the United States is 12-14 years old (www.usdoj.gov).
*100,000 – 300,000 children are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation each year in the United States (Estes & Weiner, 2001).

In 1997, Rachel Lloyd came to the U.S. as a missionary to work with women who were exiting prostitution but while she was doing her missionary work she realized that something needed to be done about the young women who were at risk for sexual exploitation. Sitting at her kitchen table, she came up with a plan. By 1998, Ms. Lloyd had founded GEMS: Girls Education & Mentoring Services, an organization designed to help end commercial exploitation and trafficking of children while providing education, outreach, intervention, and court advocacy services for survivors.

GEMS is dedicated to empowering survivors of sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to help them reach their full potential by focusing on the beauty and self-worth of each individual survivor.

The Mission of GEMS is clear, “committed to ending commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking of children by changing individual lives, transforming public perception, and revolutionizing the systems and policies that impact sexually exploited youth.”

If you are a family member, victim of sexual exploitation or domestic trafficking, or a survivor please consider contacting Girls Education and Mentoring Services. It could be your story that makes a difference.

F is for Feeding America

Here are a few shocking statistics:
-1 in 6 people struggle to get enough to eat in this country.
-17 million children are at risk of hunger – 1 in 4.

Feeding America, the organization formerly known as Second Harvest, seeks to provide food to the hungry through a network of food banks. The organization also provides emergency assistance for disaster victims, gives children a safe and nurturing place to have a meal and campaigns on a local, statewide and national level to end the hunger that exists in America.

Some of the Network Programs and Public Assistance Programs that Feeding America has in place include:

The BackPack Program- Designed to discreetly feed hungry children during the times that would not have access to a school lunch such as on the weekends or school vacations.

Kids Cafe- Provides snacks and free meals to low-income children at safe places like church, school and community centers.

Disaster Relief- A program designed to provide immediate relief through emergency feeding centers with the help of organizatons like the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross.

If you want to donate, volunteer or advocate to help end hunger happening in America, check out Feeding America’s website.

E is for End Water Poverty

Fact: “4100 children die every day due to preventable water related diseases,
women waste hours each day in the search for water.”

Fact: “Girls are denied an education because they are tasked with fetching water, or drop out of school in adolescence because of inadequate sanitation facilities.”

These facts and many more can be found at End Water Poverty, a coalition of 185 members in 55 countries dedicated to ending the water and sanitation crisis that exists in our world.

Some of End Water Poverty’s campaigns include the establishment of the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) partnership in 2007, World’s Longest Toilet Queue, World Walks for Water and numerous other campaigns.

Will you join in the fight to End Water Poverty?

D is for Declare Yourself!

Have you Declared Yourself yet? If not, then you are missing out on one heck of a movement that started in 2004. Declare Yourself is a non-profit, non-partisan campaign that aims to get young adults between the ages of 18- 29 out to vote.

Declare Yourself uses multi-media techniques to reach a broad audience and gain a following. Since the organization’s inception it is has used viral videos, traditional media, outreach programs, mobile content and much more to get the word out to young people across the country. In 2004, four million voters registered through the non-profit organization. The word was spread even further by 2008 with the new registration numbers skyrocketing to an incredible 24 million voters.

You can learn everything you want to know about voting on the organizations main website and you can also learn about how to get involved in your community. The website offers links and information in regards to Volunteers in America and the Peace Corps.

Check it out, register and make your voice heard. Declare Yourself!

C is for Celebrity Support of Clothes Off Our Back

Clothes Off Our Back is an organization which hosts celebrity clothing auctions in order to raise money for various children’s charities. Hundreds of celebrities donate clothing, accessories, jewelry and much more every year.

A few of the celebrities to donate to Clothes Off Our Back include:

Rapper, 50 Cent- He donated an autographed bowl and an autographed sketch of his hand. Proceeds from both auctions went to Feeding America and Lending a Hand to LIFEbeat.

Singer, Ashlee Simpson- She donated a custom designed corset made by Fredricks of Hollywood and an autographed pair of used jeans to raised money for America’s Second Harvest, The Art of Elysium, World Education and autism research.

Singer and Philanthropist, Annie Lennox- She donated an autographed bowl to raise money for Feeding America.

Actor, Blair Underwood- He donated his Golden Globe tie and shirt, an autographed book, autographed posters, and an autographed dinner plate to benefit Feeding America (formerly named America’s Second Harvest), The Art of Elysium, Hope North and H.E.L.P. Malawi.

Actress, Christina Ricci- She donated a silk Dolce & Gabbana gown that she wore to the 2007 40th Annual Grammy Awards. The proceeds went to America’s Second Harvest, The Art of Elysium, World Education and autism research.

You can go to Clothes Off Our Back and view the celebrity participants list to see a full list of the wonderful celebrities who have donated to raise money for such wonderful causes.

Remember to follow all the awesome blogs at #atozchallenge on twitter!

B is for Blessings in a Backpack

Feeding the Future of America

“Hunger Doesn’t Take Weekends Off”- That phrase says it all. Hunger is real. It is happening in our backyard, at our neighbor’s house, and in places far away. For many, hunger is a real threat. Children are often the ones who suffer. Blessings in a Backpack is a non-profit organization that helps feed children in 32 U.S. states, Canada, Columbia and Haiti.

The Blessings in a Backpack program helps families who “qualify for the federal Free and Reduced Price Meal program, and have little to no food on the weekends.” Each student who qualifies is given a backpack on Friday when leaving school. This backpack is filled with food, often staple foods that require little to no preparation, for the child and his/her family on the weekend. The child then returns the backpack to school the following Monday and is ready to learn.

Blessings in a Backpack is a discreet program for children whose families cannot afford to buy food. According to the organizations website, an $80 can support one child throughout one full school year and provide food for them on the weekends. Some of the foods that can be found in the backpack include peanut butter, cereal, pop-tarts, juice boxes and instant noodles.

Visit Blessings in a Backpack- Feeding the Future of America to find out about local backpack programs in your area.

Follow twitter hashtag #atozchallenge to follow the A to Z Blogging Challenge!

A is for Autism- April is National Autism Awareness Month

A is for Autism- April is National Autism Awareness Month

To kick off the A to Z blogging challenge, Gaia Fights Hunger has decided to tackle some tough subjects using the alphabet. The first subject on our list is Autism. According to the Autism Society, “Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors and is a “spectrum disorder” that affects individuals differently and to varying degrees.”

There are no known causes for Autism yet it is on the rise. In the U.S. alone, 1 baby out of every 110 is affected by a “spectrum disorder” and according to the CDC, 1 out of every 70 boys are considered autistic.

All kinds of Autism Awareness events will be taking place this month. The Autism Society has partnered with Academy Award®-winning director Gerardine Wurzburg for the feature length film “Wretches & Jabberers”, a film about two autistic men who set out on a global quest to change the attitudes and stigmas attached to the word “autism”. The film will be premiering in AMC movie theatres. Check here for where the film will be screened throughout the U.S. and Internationally.

If the “Movievent” isn’t on your agenda, you could check out the Autism Society Chapter Events Calendar to find out how you can support, raise awareness, and get involved.

April is National Autism Awareness Month

Matt Damon Helps Fight Hunger

Matt Damon, actor and academy award winner, is trying to make an impact in the war against hunger. He has recently been a part of a public service announcement where he portrays a man named Steve. Steve happens to be a real man with a real family (a wife and two kids) who is facing the realities of being jobless for the past two years.

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Random Acts of Kindness by Loki Morgan

Make the World a Nice Place to Live
Random Act of Kindness #1: When you walk past someone look at them and smile, especially if they are a stranger. You may not know how much a simple smile will mean to that person.

Random Act of Kindness #2: Pick up trash and litter that you see, even if it is not in your yard. When you are picking up the mysterious wrappers and bottles from your yard, walk down the street and clean up your neighbors’ yards too. Make sure you clean the yard of the neighbor you suspect is littering as this will earn you some karma points.

Read More Random Acts of Kindness

What to Do when Your Loved One is a Victim of Domestic Violence by Jo Brielyn

How to Help a Friend Who is Being Abused
Domestic violence is a series of actions which are used to exert power and control over a cohabitant, spouse, ex-spouse, fiancé, boyfriend, or girlfriend. This relationship abuse takes on a variety of forms, but the most typical ones are emotional, sexual, and physical. Although domestic violence is generally thought of as a “female issue,” statistics are now showing that men are often victims of relationship abuse as well. Abuse does not target one specific gender, race, age, education level, or economic status. It can happen to anyone. In fact, according to a recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 1.5 million women and 835,000 men are reported battered each year.

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