Senator Bill Frist is on a trip to Kenya with Dr. Jill Biden and USAID Administrator Raj Shah to learn more about famine and the crisis in the Horn of Africa.
More than 29,000 young children have died of malnutrition and disease in Somalia in the past 90 days. We are now on our way to the Horn of Africa to see what more we as a nation can do.
Early this morning, our plane left Washington, D.C., bound for East Africa. I’m flying with Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden and USAID Administrator Raj Shah to study the famine’s effects on the lives of more than 12 million people, many of them children.
In fact, it is now being called “the children’s famine.”
Hope Through Healing Hands is excited to announce a partnership with the Brad Paisley H2O World Tour—the Water=Hope campaign!
Around the globe, one out of every seven people lacks access to clean, safe drinking water. Clean water means better health. Better health means a better education—and a better education means communities that can better fight poverty. We won’t solve the global water crisis overnight—or even on one summer concert tour—but the combined efforts of many individuals can make a huge impact in improving the quality of life for millions of people around the world.
It really is that simple. A small drop can make a huge ripple.
So how can you get involved? First, we need volunteers. Look to see if we’re coming to a city near you—and then sign up! It’s a perfect summer volunteer opportunity: talk to people in your community about clean water, check out a great music show, and help spread the word about the Water = Hope campaign!
And we also need your advocacy. Call or write your representative or senator and let them know you support the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2009. This bill sets a goal of reaching 100 million people with first-time, sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015.
To learn more about the clean water crisis, don’t miss this video by our Board Chair Senator Bill Frist.
-Jenny Dyer, Executive Director, Hope Through Healing Hands
Last week during the Next Big Nashville conference, Jenny Dyer of Hope Through Healing Hands participated in a panel– moderated by Charlie Peacock– on how artists can help charities and causes. Particularly given the economic climate, many artists are looking for creative ways to support the issues that matter to them.
Jenny talked about different ways artists can help, including everything from sign-up sheets and shout-outs, to text messaging and PSA’s. You can read her account of the panel on Hope Through Healing Hands’ blog here.
Jenny Dyer of Hope Through Healing Hands just passed along this great blog post from Senator Bill Frist. Check it out!
We had a fantastic event on Saturday morning with the women of Grace Chapel Church here in Leipers Fork, TN. What an amazing bunch of women!
A few months ago, my good friend Reese Smith introduced the Knit One, Save One Campaign, a national grassroots effort launched by the global humanitarian organization Save the Children and the Warm Up America Foundation, to his wife, Emily, an avid knitter and member of the “Knitting with Grace” club at the church. The initiative aims to draw attention to the 4 million newborns that die each year in the first month of life in the developing world. Participants are asked to make a baby cap, and are also encouraged to write a personal note to President-elect Barack Obama urging him to lead the way to save millions of babies globally.
Emily Smith, Beth Ann Bright, Mary Bit Mahaffey and a number of other women in the group committed to 100 caps. And, like the story of the loaves and the fishes, they just multiplied exponentially! Saturday, the “Knitting with Grace” club presented me with over 500 knitted caps and over 500 caps made by machine. Over 1000 caps!
These little caps will each be shipped, along with thousands from all 50 states to pregnant women and new moms and their babies in Save the Children’s programs in Africa and Asia. Hypothermia is a contributing cause of death for newborns, especially small babies unable to maintain their body temperature. To keep infants safe and warm, these little caps will be given for them to wear along with helpful advice to moms about hygiene and breastfeeding. These little caps will be a key component of a life saving package.
It was so exciting to see the amazing work these women had done. Thank you Grace Chapel Church for your initiative, advocacy, awareness-raising, and hard work for the least of these.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
