Who are Americans?

‘Climb Up So Kids Can Grow Up’ is a program by the American Alpine Institute (Bellingham, WA) that supports the American Foundation for Children with AIDS (AFCA). AFCA provides relief, services, medical and social support, education and advocacy to children with AIDS in Africa.

Climbers and hikers all across the USA are invited to participate in climbing the highest peak in each of the 50 States during the June 27 - July 6, 2008 Summer Summit program dates. Teams and individuals raise donations from pledges.

For those who can’t participate in the Summer Summit event, a September 20-21 Climbathon is Read the rest

What is the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation doing globally?  Conrad Hilton was one of 7 children born to a Norwegian immigrant father and German-American mother, and was the founder of the international Hilton hotel chain. He directed that his wealth be eternally reinvested to alleviate human suffering throughout the world, and when he died in 1979, left virtually all of his fortune to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which was founded in 1944.

Barron Hilton (son of Conrad, and Paris Hilton’s paternal grandfather) is currently the Chairman of the Foundation and has directed that 97% of his entire net worth, estimated at over $2-billion, be donated to the foundation at the time of his passing.

More than 50% of its grants annually are directed to international initiatives, including water and sanitation systems for villagers in developing countries, blindness prevention and treatment, and other good causes. Since its inception, more than $560 million has been committed to charitable work around the world. Read the rest

Which organizations partner with American Idol on the 2008 “Idol Gives Back” campaign? The TV special was broadcast on April 9, but the donation campaign continues through May 31. To date, about $70-million has been raised. The program is operated by the Idol Gives Back Foundation.

The 6 organizations who are recipients of the donations in 2008 are: Read the rest

Salma Hayek (award winning actress and ‘Ugly Betty’ Producer) has teamed with Pampers and UNICEF in a program to provide lifesaving tetanus vaccines in developing countries. With every specially marked pack of Pampers products that you purchase, Pampers will donate the cost of one vaccine to UNICEF. Here is the link to Pampers tetanus program details.

To date, over 25 million vaccines have been funded from the UK and Western Europe, and the total goal is to provide 50 million tetanus vaccines to protect women and their newborn babies. It is hoped the USA and Canada will provide at least 27 million vaccines.

The program lasts from April 1, 2008 to August 31, 2008 and includes brands such as Swaddlers Sensitive, Swaddlers, Cruisers, Easy Ups, Pampers Sensitive Wipes, Swipers and Clean n’Go wipes. Read the rest

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an independent non-governmental nonprofit organization that works to prevent discrimination, uphold political freedom, protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice. HRW , the largest human rights organization based in the USA (New York), investigates and exposes human rights violations and holds abusers accountable.

Regional HRW offices are located in Brussels, Moscow, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tashkent, Toronto and Washington, and HRW tracks developments in more than 70 countries.

Issues followed by HRW include issues such as women’s rights, children’s rights, flow of arms to abusive forces, academic freedom, fair conditions of labor, international justice, prisons, drugs, refugees, and rights to health care. Read the rest

What are the dirtiest and cleanest cities in the USA? The American Lung Association on May 1, 2008 released its annual air pollution report card that ranks American cities.

Some overall findings … 1 in 10 people in the U.S. live in areas with unhealthful levels of all three types of pollution … ozone, short term and year-round particle pollution, and nearly one third of the U.S. population lives in areas with unhealthful levels of ozone.

No surprise that Los Angeles is at the top of 2 of the 3 pollution categories, but the report says L.A. “saw continued improvements in air quality, dropping its year round particle pollution levels by nearly one third during the last decade, and saw solid improvements in levels of ozone or smog.” Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has the distinction of being the first-ever (9 years of studies) non-California city to top one of the pollution lists.

How do the Top 10 cities rank for each category? Read the rest

The Teluga Association of North American (TANA) is a nonprofit, founded in 1978, that has over 32,000 members in the USA and Canada. TANA has a mission of perpetuating, integrating and assimilating the cultural heritage of the Telugu-speaking people of the North American continent into the cultural heritage of North America.

TANA, through its TANA Foundation, has supported numerous projects to provide humanitarian aid and other assistance to the people of Andhra Pradesh, India … the fourth largest state in India by area size and population.

Telugu is the predominant language of the Teluga area, which has a population of roughly 76-million. One of TANA’sprojects, Operation Envision, has raised over $332,000 to restore sight to the blind and visually impaired in Andhra Pradesh, India. Read the rest