Youth For Tomorrow: Helping Troubled Youth Overcome Life’s Obstacles

There are many reasons why promising youngsters take a turn for the worst and find themselves in difficult predicaments when they reach adulthood. The children are not to blame for problems such as growing up in dysfunctional families, having a learning disability, living in neighborhoods where drugs and crime are prevalent, or having a chemical imbalance in their bodies. These problems, however, should be addressed as early as possible in order be able to help these kids live normal, productive lives as adults.

Youth For Tomorrow (YFT) is a non-profit organization that aims to help high risk adolescents cope with the issues that they face from day to day. They provide educational, behavioral health, and residential services to children, as well as their families to ensure their health and safety. The organization also aims to teach these children the necessary life skills in order to have a better future.

YFT welcomed its first set of young male residents in 1986 after they had acquired a piece of property and constructed a home for these boys to live in. As the program grew, so did the YFT campus. They eventually constructed a home for female residents and soon the number of girls living in the YFT campus grew to almost half of its population. Aside from additional homes for both the boys and the girls, YFT also constructed the Joe Gibbs Center for Academic and Physical Education which was completed in 2003.

YFT strives to provide a well-rounded service which not only takes care of the residents’ physical needs. They also strive to meet their spiritual, emotional, and educational needs. YFT also takes in children and adolescents from different cultural and societal backgrounds, and so the organization makes sure that their staff members are made aware of these differences and are respectful of them.

Morris Animal Foundation: Keeping Animals Healthy

Like people, animals also suffer from diseases that are debilitating and sometimes even life threatening. The Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) was established in 1948 to help improve the health and lives of animals.

MAF’s founder, a veterinarian named Dr. Mark L. Morris Sr. was a pioneer of creating diets that helped manage or treat diseases in animals. His interest in this field began when Buddy, one of the first guide dogs was brought to him because of kidney disease. Dr. Morris formulated a special diet for Buddy and soon, his health began to improve. The doctor and his wife began to can the formulation for distribution. They eventually partnered up with the Hill Packing Company and together they created the Hill’s Pet Nutrition Prescription Diet. The royalties Dr. Morris got from selling the product was used to set up the Morris Animal Foundation. Today, the organization funds and supports some of the most important scientific studies in veterinary medicine.

Do Something, Inc.: Empowering the Youth to Make the World “Suck Less”

The youth are the future, and what better way to ensure a better tomorrow for them than to have them work on making the world a better place for themselves? Gone are the days when children are just seen and not heard. Today’s young people want to make a difference and it’s about time that they get that much needed encouragement to help them stand up for what they believe in. This is because everyone – both young and old – will benefit from a world that “sucks less”.

Do Something is a non-profit organization that facilitates youth action in a fun and enjoyable manner. Members can join a number of different campaigns that tackle a variety of issues that affect today’s youth. The campaigns can be as simple as spreading awareness through social media or they can involve a little more coordination and planning like organizing a book drive or a sports club. The issues tackled by members of Do Something also vary from problems that the youth face in their schools and communities like bullying and harassment to much broader issues like illiteracy, discrimination, and life threatening diseases such as HIV/AIDS and cancer.

The Do Something movement began in the United States, but has now spread like wildfire. Youth organizations in 9 countries have already started a Do Something program with a 10th country joining the fun this year. Some of the countries that currently have young people working hard to change the world are the United Kingdom, Canada, Ghana, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Indonesia.

The members of Do Something are young people aged 13-25. People above that age range are considered “old people”, but are still an integral part of the organization. Do Something accepts donations and sponsorships from individuals and corporations alike in order to fund the campaigns run by their members.

Thurgood Marshall College Fund: Affordable Education for a Better Future

With the cost of education increasing every year, securing a scholarship has become the only chance some students from low-income families have in order to get a college degree. The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) is an organization that provides deserving youth with college scholarships to any of its 47 member schools which also include medical schools, law schools, and public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

The fund was founded in 1987 by Dr. N. Joyce Payne with the help of corporations such as Reebok, Sony Music, Miller Brewing Co., the NBA, and the American Association for State Colleges and Universities. The fund was named after Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, who was coinicidentally, a graduate of one of the TMCF’s member schools.

Since its inception, the TMCF has awarded over $200 million in scholarship grants and financial assistance to its member schools. Aside from its scholarship programs, the TMCF also connects high-performing students with some of the best employment opportunities available.

A Company Giving Back: The UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation Story

Healthcare is expensive. This is why many people invest in healthcare policies or look for jobs with great healthcare benefits. Unfortunately, there are many conditions and diseases that are not fully covered by health insurance, while some are not covered at all. Many of these conditions affect children and having to shoulder the expenses of getting treatment for a child despite having health coverage can be really frustrating for many people. UnitedHealthcare, a health insurance company, set up the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation (UHCCF) to help their customers pay for medical services for their children that are not covered in part or in full by their policies.

The UHCCF is a non-profit organization that operates on the concept of giving the children of policy-holders access to medical care and other health care services that are not covered by commercial policies from UnitedHealthcare. The services covered under the UHCCF grants can potentially improve the child’s health or quality of life. Some examples of the services covered by the grants include speech and physical therapy, prescriptions, wheelchairs, hearing aids, and other medical equipment needed by the child. Those who wish to apply for UHCCF grants need to meet the application criteria like economic guidelines, residency, and commercial plan coverage.

The UHCCF was incorporated in 1999 in Maryland to give financial assistance to the dependents of their policy holders who are aged 16 and under in order to get the medical services that they need. By 2006, the UHCCF grants became available in all 50 states. Since 2007, the UHCCF has awarded grants worth over $26 million to the children of those covered by their individual or employer-sponsored policies. As a non-profit organization, the UHCCF relies heavily on corporate sponsorships and donations in order to be able to pay for the services they give to qualified grant applicants.

Rainforest Alliance: Environmental, Social, and Economic Sustainability for All

Progress – be it social or economic – is always a good thing. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for progress to come at the expense of the environment.

The Rainforest Alliance is an organization that was founded to change that. The organization which was founded in 1987 has been working with foresters, farmers, and people in the tourism sector to ensure biodiversity while achieving progress through sustainable means. They do this by educating people regarding biodiversity and issuing certifications to companies and groups that utilize natural resources in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. While these certifications are not a requirement, they serve as encouragement for companies to do things the right way. Other programs they are working on are the Adopt-A-Rainforest program and the Sustainable Tourism program.

Today, the Rainforest Alliance has 16 offices across the globe and employs more than 300 people. They also have roughly 35,000 members in the alliance who help promote socio-economically and environmentally sustainable business practices all over the world.

Comic Relief: Charity through Laughter

They say that laughter is the best medicine. It is also a great way to raise money for charity. One example of using comedy to help those in need is a British charity known as Comic Relief. It was founded as a response to the famine that swept through Ethiopia in 1985. Its founders are comedian Lenny Henry and comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis. The charity’s vision is to one day have a just world that is also poverty-free.

Comic Relief raises money for its projects through its biennial telethon, aptly named Red Nose Day, which is broadcast on its broadcast partner BBC. Another major fundraising project was born in 2002 when Comic Relief partnered up with BBC Sport and came up with Sport Relief. This event happens during even-ended years and alternates with Red Nose Day which is held on years that end with an odd number.

The organization has reached out to several big corporations for sponsorship. The money the sponsors give the organization goes to operating costs and other expenses. This way all the proceeds coming from their projects go directly to their beneficiaries. The charity’s major sponsors are BBC, British Airways, BT, and Sainsbury. They help by providing money or services to help the organization with its fund raising projects.

The success of Comic Relief and the Red Nose Day telethons has inspired other organizations in other countries to do the same. In the US, Bob Zmuda created Comic Relief USA which conducts irregularly dated telethons which are broadcast on HBO to raise funds to help the poor and homeless people in America. Other countries on the other hand, had adopted the symbolic Red Nose for charity projects with beneficiaries ranging from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) research to charities for children with serious and life threatening diseases.