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Performing Hearts These links are to organizations dedicated to good causes that we support, information about other people who inspire us, as well as links to some of the sites featuring Performing Hearts performers. The Valerie FundThe Valerie Fund is an organization that provides comprehensive health care, counseling and child development activities, for children with cancer and blood disorders close to their homes in the state of New Jersey. We are very interested in supporting The Valerie Fund through contributing performances and workshops in conjunction with The Valerie Fund's Camp Happy Times, and the six Children Centers located at prominent NJ hospitals. Our first event is scheduled for August 29, 2000 at Camp Happy Times. We are very excited about this opportunity to spend time with the kids at the camp, making new friends and sharing our dancing experiences! Tzedakah Fund The Ziv Tzedakah Fund is about Mitzvahs - Doing Good Things and about Tikkun Olam - Fixing Up the World with whatever talents and resources we have as individuals. The Children's Aid Society The Children's Aid Society is one of the oldest and largest organizations of its kind. They are dedicated to providing many health, education, recreation, and emergency services to the neediest children and families in New York City. This organization has over 1,300 staff and volunteers who reach 120,000 children and families through centers and schools in the city's poorest neighborhoods. We are particularly excited about and interested in working with three of their programs: Youth Leadership, Arts Program, and their special Camps. The Prudential Spirit of Community Initiative The Prudential Spirit of Community Initiative is a series of programs designed to help rekindle America's community spirit by encouraging young people to become actively involved in making their communities better places to live. The initiative's objectives are to: create visible role models for young people by recognizing exemplary community service by middle-school and high-school students across the United States; help young Americans learn how they can make worthwhile contributions to their communities, through training materials and education programs; and to promote greater public attention to the issue of community service by young people, and ways to encourage it. The Jimmy Fund The Jimmy Fund supports the fight against cancer in children and adults at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, helping to raise the chances of survival for cancer patients around the world. A wide variety of events, coupled with the generosity of hundreds of thousands of people, has helped the organization raise more than $160 million for cancer research and care at Dana-Farber since its inception in 1948. Arts of Social Responsibility The creation of this web site was inspired by the need to react to the tragedy in April 1999 at Littleton, Colorado's Columbine High School. The citizens of the Littleton and surrounding Denver metro area were in great pain. Many sectors of the community from the religious to the education community had worked tirelessly to become ever more, a force for healing and positive change. The arts community too was determined to redouble its role of leadership in the community. The idea was born to provide an online tool-kit of examples of programs around the world dedicated to heal individuals and communities through the arts. Realizing that the nation and the world at large, could benefit from such a collection of resources, The National Endowment for the Arts and The Colorado Council on the Arts worked with other members of the arts community to develop this web resource. This website is designed to serve: community leaders, parents, artists, those with disabilities, and those in disadvantaged or at-risk communities. K.I.D.S. Kids in Distressed Situations, Inc. is a national charity of leading retailers and manufacturers of children's products committed to helping children in need. K.I.D.S. encourages and facilitates donations of new apparel, shoes, toys, juvenile products and other items that benefit children who are ill, living in poverty or the victims of natural disasters. K.I.D.S. was founded in 1985 by several leaders in the childrenswear industry in response to the child victims of a crisis in Africa. The Courage to Give The Courage to Give online community includes stories of people, both famous and unknown, who have suffered great physical or emotional hardship and went beyond their own suffering to help others. As they reached out to others, they discovered that their healing was predicated on making a contribution to a better world. In addition to these uplifting stories, a national organization or group dealing with the issue raised in each story is listed so you may learn more, lend support, or receive help. Their message is that you will understand that you don't have to remain in a place of pain and suffering -- that by reaching out, you can be transformed. In this online community you can share with others, or simply be a silent observer. Perhaps you will read the stories of the amazing people in the book, stories from our community members, or even post your own. The Courage to Give invites you to explore all of the areas of their community, and to make it your own. Tomorrows Children's Fund Tomorrows Children's Fund is a non-profit organization whose goal is to ease the pain and suffering of children with cancer and serious blood disorders. Their mission is to provide all of the resources needed to achieve the total cure that every child deserves. They are marking their 15th anniversary. With the help of contributors, they have enabled children to receive treatment in a state-the-art medical facility, the DON IMUS-WFAN Pediatric Center for Tomorrows Children. It houses an out-patient facility, offering world-class care in a warm and fully supportive environment, helping families deal with every aspect of their child's disease. They are currently supporting new research initiatives in the area of pain management, late effects of therapy and disease, the causes of disease molecular biology, new treatments and other critical areas that will make total cure possible. Tomorrows Children's Fund also provides: 'Child Life Art Therapy,' 'Teen Group,' 'Winter Mountain Experience,' 'TCF Picnic,' 'Special Presents for Special Kids,' 'Bereavement Group,' 'Food Pantry,' and other services described in their web site. National Dance Institute National Dance Institute was founded in the belief that the arts have a unique power to engage children and motivate them toward excellence. Each year, the programs of NDI inspire thousands of children, reaching across social, ethnic, and economic boundaries and including children facing physical and emotional challenges. Using professional artists and a distinctive combination of dance classes, performances, and educational materials, NDI fosters a love of the arts, a pride of achievement, and a curiosity about the world in all the children that it touches. Children develop discipline, a standard of excellence, and a belief in themselves that will carry over into all aspects of their lives. NDI is also committed to training teachers in the NDI educational pedagogy. |
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