Shoe4Africa: A Charity That Started With a Pair of Shoes

Back in 1995, Toby Tanser was training athletics in Kenya. Before he returned to Sweden, he gave his last pair of shoes to a taxi driver at the departures stand in Nairobi. That event eventually led to the founding of Shoe4Africa, a non-profit dedicated to empowering people through sports and education, creating unique health initiatives, and promoting AIDS awareness.

In 2010, Shoe4Africa began building a school. This year, the non-profit started building East Africa's first public children's hospital.

With a focus on health and education, Shoe4Africa promotes AIDS awareness by holding sporting events where PHOs offer counseling, advice, and guidance; hosting AIDS awareness races; and giving out leaflets in the Kalenjin language. Moreover, Shoe4Africa distributes AIDS awareness kits to schools, holds peace sports days for schools, and brings sports and educational equipment to those in need. The charity advocates women's empowerment and peace as well.

Tanser, who serves as CEO of Shoe4Africa, is also its only full-time staff. The non-profit relies heavily on volunteers in Africa, the US, and elsewhere.

Face Forward Helps Victims of Violence Start Anew

One-third of women in the world have experienced physical, sexual, emotional, or other abuse in their lifetime. About two-thirds of reported domestic violence incidents are categorized as “simple assaults,” yet up to 50 percent of these “simple assaults” leave victims with physical injuries, disfigurements, and scars. These remind the victim of the abusive event and cause physical and psychological pain that is oftentimes more agonizing than the event itself, causing them to feel ashamed and unable to fully recover and move forward.

Face Forward, a Beverly Hills non-profit, is on a mission to help victims of violence find a new beginning. Founded in 2007 by Deborah and David Alessi, Face Forward provides free physical and emotional reconstruction for women and children who have been victims of domestic or gang violence. Face Forward works with community leaders around the US to find victims of violence who are working towards recovery and are living with physical evidence of past abuse. The charity provides facial reconstructive services for these individuals, as well as partners with local community centers that offer complementary housing, counseling, legal assistance, and job searches. Face Forward ensures that more than 90 percent of all donations go toward victim treatment and recovery.



Prior to establishing Face Forward, the Alessis have long supported charitable initiatives and have served as board members and benefactors of many non-profit organizations. Now the CEO of Face Forward, Mrs. Alessi, a Scottish-born businesswoman, previously worked in the aviation industry and managed the Royal Family of Bahrain's fleet of private aircraft. Her husband, Dr. Alessi, began his practice in facial plastic reconstructive surgery and head and neck disorders more than two decades ago. For years, he cared for several indigent trauma patients when no other doctor would. Mrs. Alessi realized that these patients not only required physical reconstruction but emotional support as well. She and her husband founded Face Forward to provide both.

Charity Helps Women Dress for Success

Founded in 1997 by Nancy Lublin, Dress for Success is an international non-profit organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged women find jobs and remain employed by providing professional attire and career development services. Clients, who must have an interview scheduled first, receive a suit appropriate for their potential job on their initial visit. After they're hired, Dress for Success supplies them with additional clothing that can be mixed and matched to make several outfits. The organization's clients are referred by various non-profit and government agencies, including immigration services, homeless shelters, job training programs, domestic violence shelters, educational institutions, and more.

Dress for Success also offers employment retention programs to assist women in gaining economic independence and become self-sufficient. The non-profit runs the Professional Women's Group program, a support system for women joining the workforce and building their careers, and Career Center, which provides career guidance and technology skills.

Since its inception, Dress for Success has served over 700,000 women around the world.

H.E.A.R.: A Hearing Protection Non-Profit

As a former singer and bass player for a rock band, Kathy Peck suffered from hearing damage and tinnitus due to repeated exposure to loud music. In 1988, after attending an earsplitting concert, she and local physician Dr. Flash Gordon decided to address the problems and dangers of blaring music. Together, they launched H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers), a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing hearing loss and tinnitus among musicians and music fans, especially teens, through education awareness and grassroots outreach advocacy. Hearing damage from loud sound, which can result from attending concerts, playing music, using stereo earphones, and more, is often cumulative, not immediately detectable, and irreversible.


H.E.A.R. serves musicians, music fans, DJs, sound engineers, and anyone who needs help with their hearing. The non-profit's programs include public service announcements in mainstream media, information and earplug tables at concerts across the US, and hearing screenings, among others. H.E.A.R.'s interactive website, Hearnet, is updated regularly with information and resources on hearing loss, hearing aids and assistive listening devices, ear doctors, and more. H.E.A.R. also produced the award-winning Listen Smart rockumentary, which features interviews with popular musicians such as Ozzy Osbourne, Moby, Wyclef Jean, and Lars Ulrich of Metallica, as well as information on the short-term and long-term effects of noise exposure, tips on hearing protection, and advice from music professionals.

Acting as a bridge between the music and medical communities, H.E.A.R. wants everyone to be able to enjoy music for a long, long time. Recognized as a leader in the charge against preventable hearing damage, H.E.A.R. has received support from performers like Pete Townshend of The Who, Les Claypool of Primus, and Lars Ulrich; media outlets such as MTV, Guitar Player Magazine, and Keyboard Magazine; and medical groups like The American Academy of Audiology and The American Speech-Language and Hearing Association.

Musicians Fund Provides Sweet Relief to Struggling Artists

Sweet Relief Musicians Fund is a non-profit organization that has, since 1994, been providing assistance to all types of career musicians who are struggling to make ends meet while dealing with disability, illness, or age-related problems. Grant recipients include recording artists, composers, songwriters, and club and session musicians from every musical genre, including pop, rock, classical, jazz, country, blues, hip hop, reggae, and everything in between.

For the past 19 years, Sweet Relief has been offering vital assistance to professional musical artists in need. Musicians, professionals, fans, celebrities, venues, companies, and organizations have all contributed to the fund, and benefits have been performed all over the country, with performances donated by both established and emerging artists, to assist struggling musicians.

Sweet Relief has helped musicians with medical and living expenses by covering prescriptions, medical treatment, insurance premiums, housing costs, utilities, food costs, and other basic necessities. While not every applicant receives a financial grant, Sweet Relief never turns anyone away. The charity also offers other resources such as information, counseling, and financial services.

A few years ago, Sweet Relief launched a directed artist and project fundraising initiative to assist musicians who face major illness or injury and have an under-insured health plan. In these cases of overwhelming financial and personal distress, Sweet Relief takes on the role of organizer, advocate, administrator, event planner, and media partner to bring together friends, family, fans, and industry partners to help the artist.

Sweet Relief was founded in 1993 by singer-songwriter Victoria Williams, who was forced to drop out of a career-making tour with Neil Young due to multiple sclerosis. Following her diagnosis, a group of friends created an all-star album of her songs called Sweet Relief, which alleviated much of her medical debt. Knowing there are many musicians like her, Williams donated some of the proceeds from the album to start Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.

UK Charity Wipes Away Ill Children's Tears

Wipe Your Tears is a UK-based children's charity that was founded by Damian McCoy in 2003. In the autumn of that year, McCoy saw a television program about the plight of sick children in the UK and how serious illness affected their loved ones. That show resulted in several conversations and ideas on how to help these children, and Wipe Your Tears was born.

The charity's mission statement and message to children is, “If you wipe your tears, we will help you smile.” Wipe Your Tears is committed to making the lives of children who suffer from serious or terminal illness and their families a little better by granting their wishes. Wipe Your Tears provides end-of-life wishes such as helping children meet one of their heroes or going somewhere they've always dreamed of, funds vital pieces of equipment like a wheelchair or specialist bed, offers financial support to families in need, gives Christmas presents to kids in wards, and more.

ChildLine: A Sympathetic Ear for Young People in the UK

ChildLine is a UK-based private and confidential service for young people up to the age of 19. Children and teens can call, email, or chat with a ChildLine counselor about anything that's bothering them – no problem is too big or too small. ChildLine counselors are trained staff and volunteers who all have experience listening and talking to youth. They are individuals who come from various backgrounds with one thing in common: a sincere desire to help troubled kids and teens.

ChildLine is provided by the NSPCC, a charity dedicated to ending cruelty to children in the UK. The service was launched in October 1986 by Esther Rantzen. During its first year, ChildLine assisted 23,000 young people. Since then, ChildLine has counseled more than 2.6 million children on a number of issues, including bullying, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. ChildLine launched its website in October 2009, offering help to children online for the first time.