Based in Solana Beach, California, Rerip is a non-profit organization dedicated to keeping surfboards out of landfills. Founded in 2006 by Meghan Dambacher and Lisa Randall Carpenter, Rerip sets up locations for people to drop off their unwanted surfboards, fins, and wetsuits. The non-profit also advocates for a cleaner surf industry by hosting local events and awareness campaigns for surf and environmental education.
While surfing is often associated with a healthy lifestyle, clean oceans, and beaches, the industry has a “dirty little secret” that was exposed only recently. The number of surfers has grown from 5,000 to 23 million over the past 50 years. As the number of surfers continues to increase, so does the number of surfboards that they own. Many people use dozens of boards each year. These boards, however, are highly toxic due to foam cores and fiberglass resins.
Rerip decided to become a part of the solution to this problem. After experimenting with various business plans, models, and ideas, the team zeroed in on keeping boards out of landfills. With no viable recycling programs for the surfing industry, excess foam and unusable boards usually end up in landfills.
Rerip collects surfboards in any condition. Many boards given to the program are in great shape, and Rerip works with local ding repair craftsmen to ensure they are watertight. Several boards are donated to non-profit organizations or people in need. Some are resold for nominal prices and the funds are used to keep the program running.
Rerip also works with different local artists and organizations that use surfboards for art projects, signage, or displays, including Wade Koniakowsky, Cherrie LaPorte, Brenda Griffin, Solid Surf, and Bamboo DNA. Everything from whole boards to fins and broken bits have been salvaged and reused. Other collected boards are broken up and tested for research and development.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Sunday, June 1, 2014
More Than Wheels Uses the Car-Buying Process to Promote Financial Stability
Founded in 2001, More Than Wheels is an award-winning, non-profit car-purchasing program that helps struggling individuals and families break the cycle of poor financial decision-making by using the car-buying process to bring about long-term change, control, and financial stability. Headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire, More Than Wheels is dedicated to improving the lives of its clients by helping them get the transportation they need to take care of their families, at very low interest rates. The organization also provides educational opportunities that teach essential financial skills such as developing and managing household budgets, improving credit, and saving for the future.
More Than Wheels works with individuals and families in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, helping them acquire the vehicle they need regardless of their credit situation. Prior to the car-purchasing process, clients receive customized one-on-one credit coaching, develop a personalized step-by-step plan with manageable goals, and participate in an interactive financial education course.
The second-largest low-income car ownership program in the US, More Than Wheels has helped thousands of families finance over $25 million in loans to date.
More Than Wheels works with individuals and families in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, helping them acquire the vehicle they need regardless of their credit situation. Prior to the car-purchasing process, clients receive customized one-on-one credit coaching, develop a personalized step-by-step plan with manageable goals, and participate in an interactive financial education course.
The second-largest low-income car ownership program in the US, More Than Wheels has helped thousands of families finance over $25 million in loans to date.
Reading Partners Transforms Struggling Students Into Confident Readers
Serving over 130 schools in low-income communities across seven states and the District of Columbia, Reading Partners is a leading non-profit literacy organization dedicated to improving students' reading skills and closing the reading achievement gap in the United States. Reading Partners works with under-resourced Title I elementary schools to support students who are reading 6 months to 2.5 years below grade level. The non-profit recruits and trains community volunteers to tutor students one-on-one for 45 minutes twice a week following a research-based curriculum.
Based in Oakland, California, Reading Partners was launched in 1999 by Molly McCrory, Mary Wright Shaw, and Jean Bacigalupi as a one-on-one tutoring program for children with the poorest reading skills at Belle Haven Community School in Menlo Park. The organization was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) called YES Reading in 2001 and was later renamed Reading Partners in 2008.
Strong reading skills are crucial to a child's success in school and life. In the fourth grade, students transition from learning to read to reading to learn, using their reading skills to explore new subjects such as geography, science, and history. Kids reading below grade level are four times more likely to drop out of school before graduation, and high school dropouts are more likely to be arrested or become a teenage parent.
In 2013, just 34 percent of the country's fourth graders could read proficiently. The statistics are more alarming among students from low-income families – 82 percent of kids eligible for free or reduced lunches cannot read proficiently.
Reading Partners works in schools with high percentages of children from low-income backgrounds, transforming an empty classroom into a reading center managed by a full-time staff member, complete with a library and teaching tools. Reading Partners recruits and trains volunteers to provide weekly tutoring using its easy-to-use, structured curriculum comprising lesson plans that range from phonics instructions to higher order comprehension strategies. To date, Reading Partners has helped tens of thousands of students become proud, confident readers.
Based in Oakland, California, Reading Partners was launched in 1999 by Molly McCrory, Mary Wright Shaw, and Jean Bacigalupi as a one-on-one tutoring program for children with the poorest reading skills at Belle Haven Community School in Menlo Park. The organization was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) called YES Reading in 2001 and was later renamed Reading Partners in 2008.
Strong reading skills are crucial to a child's success in school and life. In the fourth grade, students transition from learning to read to reading to learn, using their reading skills to explore new subjects such as geography, science, and history. Kids reading below grade level are four times more likely to drop out of school before graduation, and high school dropouts are more likely to be arrested or become a teenage parent.
In 2013, just 34 percent of the country's fourth graders could read proficiently. The statistics are more alarming among students from low-income families – 82 percent of kids eligible for free or reduced lunches cannot read proficiently.
Reading Partners works in schools with high percentages of children from low-income backgrounds, transforming an empty classroom into a reading center managed by a full-time staff member, complete with a library and teaching tools. Reading Partners recruits and trains volunteers to provide weekly tutoring using its easy-to-use, structured curriculum comprising lesson plans that range from phonics instructions to higher order comprehension strategies. To date, Reading Partners has helped tens of thousands of students become proud, confident readers.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The Exceptional Children's Foundation: A Life of Dignity and Happiness for Special Needs Individuals and Families
The Exceptional Children's Foundation (ECF) is a Culver City-based charity dedicated to providing the highest-quality services for children and adults living with developmental, emotional, and learning disabilities, empowering them to attain their highest potential. The Exceptional Children's Foundation was founded in 1946 by a group of parents of children born with developmental disabilities. Since then, the non-profit has helped tens of thousands of special needs children and adults live life with self-respect, dignity, and happiness.
Every year, ECF serves more than 3,200 infants, youth, adults, and their families, including those affected by learning and emotional disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism, mental retardation, epilepsy, and other conditions. With 15 program sites throughout Los Angeles County, the Exceptional Children's Foundation delivers fun, constructive learning activities that nurture self-esteem and new skills. The organization runs two Early Start Centers that provide therapeutic early intervention for infants and children up to 3 years of age.
Every year, ECF serves more than 3,200 infants, youth, adults, and their families, including those affected by learning and emotional disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism, mental retardation, epilepsy, and other conditions. With 15 program sites throughout Los Angeles County, the Exceptional Children's Foundation delivers fun, constructive learning activities that nurture self-esteem and new skills. The organization runs two Early Start Centers that provide therapeutic early intervention for infants and children up to 3 years of age.
Social Advocates for Youth: Hope and Support for the Youth of Sonoma County
Based in Santa Rosa and Sonoma, California, Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) is a non-profit organization focused on providing support, hope, and opportunities to children, youth, and families. For more than four decades, SAY has been creating a caring community where everyone can grow, thrive, and succeed.
Founded in 1971 in a two-room office in downtown Santa Rosa, Social Advocates for Youth was launched as a response to youth advocates and community leaders who were concerned about the lack of child abuse prevention and intervention services available. SAY currently offers community, counseling, and crisis programs throughout Sonoma County. The non-profit serves at-risk and high-needs individuals through age 25, including runaway and homeless youth, young parents, kids who are at risk of gang involvement, kids who need guidance in completing their education and finding a job, former foster youth and homeless young adults, youth who may be having a hard time transitioning from teen to young adulthood, and children who have been abused.
Since early 2004, SAY has run the Dr. James E. Coffee Teen Shelter on Ripley Street in Santa Rosa. Open 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, the shelter offers a respite for families in crisis as well as reunification services for homeless and runaway youth and their families. Short-term shelter, food, counseling, and referrals are provided.
Opening in the near future is the SAY Dream Center, which will be housed in the former Sutter Warrack Hospital building, also in Santa Rosa. The Dream Center will focus on four core areas of services: job training and employment, affordable housing, educational support, and health and wellness. It will be a place where the youth of Sonoma County have the hope, opportunity, and support to reach their full potential and dreams.
SAY's other programs include family and individual therapy, school-based counseling, functional family therapy, street outreach, tattoo removal services, and more.
Founded in 1971 in a two-room office in downtown Santa Rosa, Social Advocates for Youth was launched as a response to youth advocates and community leaders who were concerned about the lack of child abuse prevention and intervention services available. SAY currently offers community, counseling, and crisis programs throughout Sonoma County. The non-profit serves at-risk and high-needs individuals through age 25, including runaway and homeless youth, young parents, kids who are at risk of gang involvement, kids who need guidance in completing their education and finding a job, former foster youth and homeless young adults, youth who may be having a hard time transitioning from teen to young adulthood, and children who have been abused.
Since early 2004, SAY has run the Dr. James E. Coffee Teen Shelter on Ripley Street in Santa Rosa. Open 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, the shelter offers a respite for families in crisis as well as reunification services for homeless and runaway youth and their families. Short-term shelter, food, counseling, and referrals are provided.
Opening in the near future is the SAY Dream Center, which will be housed in the former Sutter Warrack Hospital building, also in Santa Rosa. The Dream Center will focus on four core areas of services: job training and employment, affordable housing, educational support, and health and wellness. It will be a place where the youth of Sonoma County have the hope, opportunity, and support to reach their full potential and dreams.
SAY's other programs include family and individual therapy, school-based counseling, functional family therapy, street outreach, tattoo removal services, and more.
Monday, May 19, 2014
OnBehalf: Supporting the Injured Vets of Iraq and Afghanistan
One of the highest-rated non-profits in New York City, OnBehalf in an all-volunteer organization that aims to raise money and professional services for the wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Founded by four USAR combat vets in 2005, OnBehalf provides cash for eligible military families as well as connects injured men and women with professional services, items, or advice generously contributed by small businesses and professionals from around the country.
The process begins on OnBehalf's website, where a wounded vet or military family can be nominated for assistance by anyone. Once their application is approved, OnBehalf will issue a financial grant, and if necessary, consult its Thank a Vet Network on Facebook for individuals and businesses who might be able to volunteer their services. If appropriate, OnBehalf's ScoreForce team will also identify and contact local businesses in a veteran's hometown that might be able to lend a hand.
Over 90 percent of contributions to OnBehalf go directly to veterans.
The process begins on OnBehalf's website, where a wounded vet or military family can be nominated for assistance by anyone. Once their application is approved, OnBehalf will issue a financial grant, and if necessary, consult its Thank a Vet Network on Facebook for individuals and businesses who might be able to volunteer their services. If appropriate, OnBehalf's ScoreForce team will also identify and contact local businesses in a veteran's hometown that might be able to lend a hand.
Over 90 percent of contributions to OnBehalf go directly to veterans.
The Progeria Research Foundation: Finding a Cure for Progeria
The Progeria Research Foundation (PRF) is the only organization in the world solely dedicated to discovering the cause, treatments, and cure for Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, commonly referred to as a premature aging syndrome or simply progeria. Progeria is a rare and fatal genetic disease of accelerated aging in children. Few kids with progeria live past the age of 13. PRF's mission is to find treatments and the cure for this disease and its aging-related disorders.
In 1998, Drs. Leslie Gordon and Scott Berns' only son, Sam, was diagnosed with progeria at 22 months old. They immediately started to collect as much as information as they could on the disease, but quickly learned that there was an enormous lack of medical data and resources dedicated to progeria. They also realized that there was no place for these children to go for medical help, no place for families and doctors to consult for information, and no source of funding for professionals who wanted to do progeria research. So together with friends and colleagues, Gordon and Berns launched the Progeria Research Foundation in 1999.
Since then, hundreds of devoted volunteers have joined the cause. With the exception of the PRF staff, everyone involved is a volunteer. PRF's board of directors, board of advisors, clerk, treasurer, corporate officers, committee members, lawyers, accountants, translators, fundraisers, graphic designers, and public relations reps all contribute their time, energy, and talents without pay to ensure more is spent on raising awareness and finding a cure for progeria.
Since its inception, the Progeria Research Foundation has discovered the progeria gene in 2003, conducted the first-ever clinical drug trials in 2007, raised extensive global awareness for progeria, and confirmed critical biological links between progeria, heart disease, and aging, among other accomplishments. PRF has taken progeria and the children it affects from the background and placed them at the forefront of scientific efforts and in the global spotlight.
In 1998, Drs. Leslie Gordon and Scott Berns' only son, Sam, was diagnosed with progeria at 22 months old. They immediately started to collect as much as information as they could on the disease, but quickly learned that there was an enormous lack of medical data and resources dedicated to progeria. They also realized that there was no place for these children to go for medical help, no place for families and doctors to consult for information, and no source of funding for professionals who wanted to do progeria research. So together with friends and colleagues, Gordon and Berns launched the Progeria Research Foundation in 1999.
Since then, hundreds of devoted volunteers have joined the cause. With the exception of the PRF staff, everyone involved is a volunteer. PRF's board of directors, board of advisors, clerk, treasurer, corporate officers, committee members, lawyers, accountants, translators, fundraisers, graphic designers, and public relations reps all contribute their time, energy, and talents without pay to ensure more is spent on raising awareness and finding a cure for progeria.
Since its inception, the Progeria Research Foundation has discovered the progeria gene in 2003, conducted the first-ever clinical drug trials in 2007, raised extensive global awareness for progeria, and confirmed critical biological links between progeria, heart disease, and aging, among other accomplishments. PRF has taken progeria and the children it affects from the background and placed them at the forefront of scientific efforts and in the global spotlight.
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