The Daily Tell

Merletta Martin always felt painting gave her a chance to see the world with fresh eyes. On her profile at TheBlackList, she writes, "My work is a reflection of nature and the universe as I perceive it. I dream of viewers being able to walk into each painting and experiencing that time and place with me."

For many youth growing up in dangerous communities, the ability to experience the vision, the time and the place of a painting may be a necessary escape from the harsh realities of day to day life. Martin honors this idea with her latest innovative art project – Black Legends Series – aimed to fund art programs in schools.

Black Legends Series is a line of motivational greeting cards that Martin hopes will inspire people of all ages with quotes from notable African-Americans and artwork from the Merletta J. Martin Gallery. African-American entrepreneurs, best-selling authors, and media personalities will form a partnership with Martin on this project. A portion of all proceeds will go towards funding art programs in schools.

It is statistically proven that youth participating in arts programs are more likely to achieve academic success and to be kept out of legal systems – particularly in urban communities with at-risk youth. This is an important fact to consider as Americans for the Arts reports that every day 2,833 children drop out of school. Moreover, youth account for 18 percent of violent crime in the U.S. and an estimated 135,000 children carry guns to school each day.

According to former Attorney General Janet Reno, arts programs offer a unique opportunity for inner city children to "engage in positive, constructive activities that have been proven in deterring delinquent behavior."

Martin hopes her Black Legends Series will offer this benefit to society. "I believe the Black Legends Series presents a special opportunity for generations of people to learn from the legends’ successes. As we face a critical juncture in our nation’s history with our schools and economy in crisis, now is the time for us to make a positive change," she says.

Volunteers from the Civil Air Patrol will lay wreaths provided by the nonprofit Wreaths Across America on veteran memorials and gravesites on December 12 in an estimated 400 ceremonies nationwide.

The largest ceremony will be held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where CAP cadets and officers will lay an estimated 17,000 wreaths from Maine’s Worcester Wreath Company at memorials and gravesites, and participate in color and honor guards.

"Our mission is to remember the fallen, honor those who serve and teach our children the value of freedom," said Wreaths Across America executive director Karen Worcester.

A December 5 ceremony on the International Bridge, which links the U.S. and Canada, as well as ceremonies at each state capitol will precede the convoy of wreaths from Maine to veterans’ memorials and cemeteries across the country. An estimated 600 to 700 motorcyclists from the Patriot Riders will accompany the trucks to their destinations. A wreath-laying ceremony at the U.S. Capitol will follow on December 7.

This year’s ceremonies will mark the fourth time that Wreaths Across America partnered with the Civil Air Patrol, Worcester Wreath Co. and other veterans’ groups to sponsor national wreath-laying events.

"Laying the wreaths is an honor to our veterans, a service to our communities and a learning experience for our members," said CAP National Commander Maj. Gen. Amy S. Courter.

Wreaths Across America began in 2006 after photographs of the 2005 Arlington Wreath Project gained national media attention, and founder Morill Worcester of the Worcester Wreath Company received thousands of requests from people who wanted to replicate the Arlington wreath-laying ceremonies at veterans’ memorials and cemeteries across the U.S. The group now sponsors ceremonies in all 50 states, as well as at 25 cemeteries and memorials abroad.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has received a donation of $10 million to advance the promising field of immunotherapy research to treat and cure cancer, even in late stages.

The donors, the Bezos family, said they are optimistic that their investment in immunotherapy – a direct outgrowth of the Hutchinson Center’s Nobel Prize-winning work on bone marrow transplantation – will help change the face of cancer treatment.

The family’s gift is expected to fortify Hutchinson Center’s Program in Immunotherapy, a $28.5 million endeavor that, Center researchers believe, may open the door to the final stage in the war on cancer. In fact, the American Cancer Society stated that many future advances against cancer would probably come from this field.

"We have been seeking significant private support to solidify the Hutchinson Center’s position as the world leader in immunotherapy research. The Bezos family has stepped up to that challenge," said Lee Hartwell, Ph.D., Nobel laureate and president and director of the Hutchinson Center.

During the next five years, the Hutchinson Center’s goal is to advance and broaden the field of immunotherapy so that it has the same impact on solid-tumor cancers that bone-marrow transplantation has had on leukemia, boosting survival rates from nearly zero to upwards of 85 percent for certain forms of the disease.

Despite funding limitations, Hutchinson Center scientists have demonstrated the potential of immunotherapy to save lives. In 2008 a research team from the Center’s Clinical Research Division described the first successful use of a human patient’s cloned infection-fighting T cells as the sole therapy to put advanced melanoma tumors into long-term remission. Donations such as the Bezos’ are helping to expand clinical trials that use T-cell therapy to treat advanced tumors.

The gift is the family’s largest private donation to support biomedical research.

Demonstrating the power of social media platforms to mobilize participation, raise awareness and generate support, America’s Giving Challenge has just concluded with $2.1 million raised by Facebook users in support of participating nonprofits.

The 30-day contest, sponsored by the Case Foundation, PARADE publications and the Facebook Causes application, challenged nonprofits to garner the most online donations, exclusively through the Causes application.

Winners included the Overseas China Education Foundation based in Houston, Texas, which received the $50,000 prize for the most donations received over the 30-day period. The foundation received 13,772 donations, and raised $156,637 in addition to the award money.

Two other causes won prizes of $25,000 each, while eight more nonprofits earned $10,000 each. Other causes received smaller awards starting at $500 for daily donation records.

A total of $245,000 was awarded during the contest, $150,000 of which was provided by the Case Foundation, $20,000 was funded by the Aspen Institute, and $75,000 was provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in a last-minute grant at the end of October.

Aside from the grant money, the contest successfully mobilized Facebook users to contribute to their favorite causes – more than 105,000 donations were made, totaling $2.1 million.

"America’s Giving Challenge proved that thousands of individuals and nonprofits were up to the task of utilizing both online and offline personal networks to encourage people to give to the causes they care about," said Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation. "The incredible number of donations and dollars raised demonstrates the potential for individual giving to have a significant impact, no matter how big or small the donation."

Facebook recently embarked on another philanthropic campaign, this time in partnership with JP Morgan Chase – the two companies launched a contest in which Facebook users vote which nonprofits will receive a total of $5 million in grants.

Up to 30,000 of Atlanta’s poorest residents are expected to turn up to Turner Field on Thursday for home-cooked Thanksgiving meals, a medical clinic, a clothing center, barbers and beautician services at the 40th annual Thanksgiving Festival of Services organized by the nonprofit Hosea Feed the Hungry.

The group will host the event in association with New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and the Braves Foundation. Organizers estimate that approximately 20,000 to 25,000 Atlanta residents are homeless and that 60 percent of those people are children, while a growing number of residents can be classified as "working poor."

"Because of the economy, rising unemployment rates and the recent September floods around Atlanta, Hosea Feed the Hungry is serving increased numbers of clients throughout the year who tell us they can’t believe they are in our lines," said Hosea Feed the Hungry executive director Elisabeth Omilami.

The Atlanta-based Hosea Feed the Hungry began in 1970 when founders Hosea and Juanita Williams served a Thanksgiving dinner to 100 homeless men in Atlanta.

The group now hosts four annual Festivals of Service holiday meals, complete with cosmetic services, medial screenings, and employment and housing referrals.

"Every year, our holiday dinners, which are now being replicated in other cities, represent the hard work of thousands of volunteers who make this happen for the needy in Greater Atlanta," said Omilami.

A growing number of people nationwide lack access to essential goods and services such as food, housing, clothing, medical care and basic hygiene as the economic downturn forces people into homelessness. An estimated 1.5 million Americans are likely to experience homelessness over the next two years as unemployment rises, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Rachel Zedeck is the Founder and Managing Director of the Medea Group, a group currently launching the Backpack Farm Agriculture Program, a commercial initiative targeting small landholders within East Africa to develop commercially viable, socially responsible value chains of high nutrition produce supporting local and regional marketplaces. Taking a special interest in combating the malnutrition of children, Rachel Zedeck is now launching the Backpack Farm Foundation. The Foundation’s purpose is to construct school gardens to enhance the food sustainability and nutrition levels of Africa’s most vulnerable citizens.

After working in Kosovo, Jordan and Iraq, I decided I wanted to work in Africa and build a small consulting firm called Medea Group Limited. During my first trip in late 2006, I first focused my attention on Sudan. I came to research new ideas on how best to impact the human security in such protracted conflict regions. With almost 1/3 of East Africa facing starvation and inadequate food aid, I committed myself to incubating schemes which enhanced the region’s food security through responsible commercial investment.

I started to play with grand ideas of launching communal farms to resettle refugees and IDPs. But even with my 10 years of field and management experience, these ideas were completely unrealistic. I found little if any support or track record for socially responsible commercial development, so I had to start over at the drawing board.

Instead of quitting, I went home to walk on the beach with my dog, drink wine with friends, and nurse my ego. Three weeks later, I returned to Nairobi. I finally realized that I was simply being too ambitious and needed to learn to be both practical and patient. With that understanding, the Backpack Farm Agriculture Program (BPF) was born.

The Backpack Farm is an all-in-one canvas backpack (weighing between 15 to 42 kg) filled with all the essential agriculture inputs needed for small landholder farmers to standardize both the quality and quantity of food production to mirror semi-commercial rates of production. The technical program includes a “fusion farming” system and a custom designed drip irrigation supplied by John Deere Water Technologies. The backpack is a modular system, customized depending on the final crops chosen for production.

But the backpack is more than mere technology; it also includes five stages of programming designed to enhance the capacity and financial viability of rural farm groups to build community or “cooperative” development production schemes. This program has been collated into a 328 page manual which we will share with any group working with Africa’s rural farmers. The BPF technology and programming offer both positive economic and environmental impact. By eliminating the need for traditional fertilizers, which damage soil and water tables, the BPF has the potential to shift how rural, agriculture economies are developed by supplying cost technologies including drip irrigation and increasing technical training.

The BPF team is committed to accomplishing sustainable food production by revolutionizing the way we work with and invest in rural farmers. Though the BPP can help enhance Africa’s food security by empowering rural farmers with access to new technology, investment and markets, there must be a willingness to explore new ideas. For example, we believe it is possible to eliminate the shortage of maize by mobilizing less than 300,000 of 100 million farmers in East Africa.

The BPF is still perceived as a high risk initiative, but we continue to move forward. In January, the BPF team will publish a study proving the impact of our technology and production model in eight crop varieties. I believe and fight for models which support sustainable food production and economic diversification in Africa’s rural agriculture communities. Now is the time for social entrepreneurs to take action and help change the world.

For more than ten years, Rachel Zedeck has facilitated international business and social development in post conflict countries including Kosovo, Jordan, Iraq, Kenya and Southern Sudan grounded in research, analysis and strategy. In addition to the Medea Group, Rachel Zedeck is also on the panel and fundraising Board of the Aid Workers Network (AWN) and collaborates with a variety of African based non-profit organizations including Heavenly Treasures, REFUGE, and Heshima Kenya.

Stop & Shop Supermarket Company made a Thanksgiving food delivery Tuesday that is really worth giving thanks; their surprise, last-minute food deliveries to the Greater Boston Food Bank, Rhode Island Community Food Bank, and The Open Door Food Pantry provided complete turkey dinners for 850 families.

Each turkey dinner serves six to eight people and includes a fully cooked 10-12 pound turkey complete with mashed potatoes, stuffing, butternut squash, gravy and cranberry relish. The last-minute meal donations are in addition to Stop & Shop’s annual Turkey Express program which delivered 20,000 turkeys to local hunger relief organizations earlier this month.

"Today more than ever families are forced to make tough decisions between paying for food or paying their gas bill," said Faith Weiner, senior director of public affairs for Stop & Shop. "This week we want to make it an easy choice by providing a free, ready to eat Thanksgiving dinner."

While the holidays are a time when Americans are particularly sensitive to hunger, this is an epidemic that is getting increasingly worse year-round. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reported that 14.6 percent of households were "food insecure" – lacking consistent access to nutritious food – at least some time during 2008, up from 11.1 percent in 2007. This is the highest recorded prevalence rate of food insecurity since 1995 when the first national food security survey was conducted.

In the Massachusetts region served by Stop & Shop’s recent donations, the USDA reported that more than 8 percent of households – approximately 206,000 – experience food insecurity. This number shows growth of nearly a percentage point over the past decade.

Stop & Shop will work to fight hunger even after the holidays; the supermarket company recently awarded a $1.5 million, three-year grant to 17 local Feeding America food banks to support hunger relief efforts.

Supported by a grant to the University of California at Irvine, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced a $2 million open competition for ideas to transform learning using digital media.

The competition was planned and announced in partnership with National Lab Day, a movement to revitalize science, technology, engineering and math in schools that was highlighted at a recent White House event.

The competition seeks designers, inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and others to build digital media experiences that help young people interact, share and explore in new and innovative ways.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), in cooperation with the Entertainment Software Association and the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, will team with MacArthur to support Game Changers, a new component of the competition. Game Changers will provide awards for the creation of new game experiences using PlayStation’s popular video game, LittleBigPlanet. SCEA will also donate 1,000 PlayStation3 systems and copies of the LittleBigPlanet game to libraries and community-based organizations in low-income communities.

"MacArthur is pleased to team with Sony and National Lab Day to encourage the next generation of innovators to focus on science, technology, engineering and math," said Connie Yowell, MacArthur’s director of education. "Digital media, including games, are the learning labs of the future and this open competition encourages people to consider creative new ways to use digital media to create learning environments that are engaging, immersive and participatory." said Connie Yowell, MacArthur’s director of education.

The competition is designed to promote "participatory learning," a form of learning connected to individual interests and passions, inherently social in nature, and occurring during hands-on, creative activities, which is increasingly online.

Awards will be made in two categories: 21st Century Learning Lab Designers and Game Changers and winners will join an existing community of 36 awardees from 2007 and 2008.

A report released by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, which has invested more than $100 million in grant money in performance management initiatives across the country, said that school districts and charter management organizations are improving student achievement and making significant progress in closing the achievement gap through performance management.

Performance management is defined in the report as a leadership culture designed to improve student academic achievement enabled through technology to gather, share and act upon relevant and timely information, according to the Dell family foundation.

Leading indicators like attendance, teacher attrition and performance in certain courses that allow administrators and teachers to predict and determine appropriate preemptive action for academic issues before they become problematic and permanent are making measurable differences, the Dell family foundation said.

"We’ve all heard the issues, with too many students falling behind in math, science and reading; low graduation rates and the lack of college readiness among some of our most at-risk youth," said Janet Mountain, executive director of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. "This report outlines how different school districts across the country are using performance management to move from framing problems to solving problems."

Using a performance management dashboard, a student’s teachers are able to compare scores and data between students at the same grade level and determine performance based on metrics such as student participation, academic performance, growth/student progress, academic rigor and college and career readiness, the report said.

Furthermore, despite the fact that more than 30 percent of U.S. students drop out before graduating high school and a persistent achievement gap between students from different economic circumstances and racial and ethnic backgrounds remains, the report said that administrators and teachers agree that performance management has given them new insights to help improve student academic achievement.

Continuing with its 11-year support of the program, the Vera Bradley Foundation has announced that it will grant another $10 million to fund breast cancer research through the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center.

The popular handbag designer has been supporting the IU Simon Cancer Center breast cancer program since 1998, when it donated $1.2 million. Since then, it has donated $2 million in 2003 and $6.8 million in 2006.

The Vera Bradley Foundation’s funding now represents the single largest philanthropic resource for the IU program.

"Vera Bradley Foundation funding has allowed us to be a leader in understanding breast cancer and to be at the forefront of critical discoveries," said George W. Sledge, co-director of the IU Simon Cancer Center breast cancer program.

"We now know that breast cancer is not a single disease, but many unique diseases. We also know that we are unlikely to find one magic bullet that cures all cases. Instead, we are working to develop an arsenal of successful treatment options and then learn how to determine the best approach for each individual woman," he added.

Based on the past 10 years of Vera Bradley Funding, the cancer center has become the only site in the world testing the only potential new therapy to force breast cancer cells to "grow old and die." The center also became the first site in the world to administer new life-extending treatments such as Avastin, which recently received FDA approval thanks to IU research. The grants have also helped the center’s faculty to grow from 6 members in 1999 to 34.

The Vera Bradley Foundation receives its funding through special events, donations through the company’s website, and the sale of breast cancer awareness designs on specific handbags.