Leyeh Leyeh Aja

Happy Wednesday you all!!!

Ok so . . . it's my once a month serious talk . . . (back to fun and cute tomorrow:-)

August's Charity Spotlight was Oceanic Preservation Organization and "The Cove"

(if you missed it chk it out here)

Now that August has come and gone (wow!)

I JUST donated my 5% of Memory Bean Design's August sales to "The Cove" cause,

and wanted to say a BIG thank you to the ladies who told me they donated last month, you rock and thank you!

Now on to a new cause:

This one is near and dear to my heart.

~Children~

Children are not able to fend for themselves.

They are just born into the situation they are in and don't know any different.

~About UNICEF~

"UNICEF has saved more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization in the world. Working in over 150 countries, UNICEF provides children with health care, clean water, nutrition, education, emergency relief, and more. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF supports UNICEF's work through fundraising, advocacy, and education in the United States."

"UNICEF is at the forefront of efforts to reduce child mortality worldwide. There has been substantial progress the annual number of under-five deaths dropped from 13 million in 1990 to 8.8 million in 2008. But still, 24,000 children die each day from preventable causes. Our mission is to do whatever it takes to make that number zero by giving children the essentials for a safe and healthy childhood. For more information, visit www.unicefusa.org."

(source)

Unicef is currently helping out a ton in Pakistan:

(I know you have all seen the flooding devastation of Pakistan on the news)

"More than 8.5 million children have been left vulnerable by the unprecedented flooding in Pakistan.

Homes, schools and crops are destroyed as 1/5 of the country has been inundated. UNICEF is providing clean water, immunizations and therapeutic food to stave off malnutrition, but there are millions of women and children still in need.

(source)

Help us provide urgently needed:

150,000 hygiene kits;

1.5 million vaccinations for children under 5;

3 million packets of ORS salts; and

support for 1 million school children."

(source)

"You must be the change you want to see in the world."

~Mahatma Gandhi

Ok I tear up just writing this!

So what can we do to help:

1) Donate: click here to find the donation form. We all know anything helps right?!

2) Text "FLOOD" to 27722 from your mobile phone to donate $10.

(this is found on CBS news and is legit-chk article here)

~Just did this to make sure it works~

3) Raise awareness: Maybe do a blog post (all you lovely bloggers)?

Twitter, FB, what have you . . . just spread the word and help save lives:-)

4) Volunteer: ok I know we all have our lives and aren't going to fly there to help, BUT through Unicef there are many many ways you can volunteer your time to help.

Chk it all out here

So for the month of September I will continue to donate 5% of my sales to Unicef, although it may not be a huge amount anything helps right?!

Thank you all for hanging in there for this!

Sometimes in life all we want to see are happy things . . . butterflies and rainbows . . .

we are so blessed and with that we should show soem gratitude by helping those who can't help themselves:-)

Ok I'm done, promise!

For tomorrow:

European Vaca 2010 Day 4!

Come chk back for a ton of pics from our last day in Rome on our vaca

. . . then finally off to other European destinations!

Hope you all have a lovely day!!!

***Ok ladies I'm going to take a break from cute-ness***
just for a sec
. . . time to get serious for a sec . . . bear with me!
Still there?! K . . .
I've been thinking long and hard lately . . .

I work my "day job"

I blog

I craft

I enjoy life

I love it all . . .

BUT I'm not really helping or benefitting anyone else but myself.

I feel like something has been pulling on my heart.

I've always felt like I've been meant to do more, to stand up and help people in some way

Sure we donate to charities here and there, but I need to do more!

Sooo after thinking and praying, etc. I've decided to spotlight a charity each month on my blog, and allow people to donate through here, raise awareness for the charities and their causes . . .

and even give a percentage (5%) of my Etsy shop sales toward my charity of the month.

So today being the 1st of August . . . my

charity of the month

inspired by the amazing and eye opening documentary

"The Cove"

OMG!

If you haven't seen this I highly recommend it, but it's not for the faint of heart.

It's heartbreaking what they do in Taiji, Japan to the lovely dolphins!!!

I was in tears several times.

They corner and hunt dolphins to sell all around the world, and then push the unwanted ones into "The Cove" to brutally kill and sell their meat. They do this knowing that the meat is super high in mercury, and even try to sell it as nicer more expensive meats. So sad!

Watch it!!!

About The Cove:

"The Cove is a 2009 American documentary film that describes the annual killing of dolphins in a National Park at Taiji, Wakayama, in Japan from an anti–dolphin-hunting campaigner's point of view.[3][4] The film highlights the fact that the number of dolphins killed in the Taiji dolphin hunting drive is several times greater than the number of whales killed in the Antarctic, and reports that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan every year in the country's whaling industry. The migrating dolphins are herded into a hidden cove where they are netted and killed by means of spears and knives over the side of small fishing boats."

(via Wikipedia)

Anyone remember hearing about Hayden Panetettierre being arrested with others in Japan for protesting against the slaughter of thousands of dolphins annually in Taiji?!

(source)

Hayden's support for "The Cove" project in Self Magazine

Hayden: “When we did the protest in The Cove, I thought I’d be scared, but when I saw what was going on, I had no fear at all. I was deeply angry. I left knowing I’m not going to let those dolphins die in vain. Their deaths will help show the world the big picture. I’ve also taken a lot of trips to D.C. and met with senators about the issue. I even met with Barack Obama, when he was campaigning. He said he grew up in Hawaii so dolphins and whales are very close to him. I knew I had two minutes to reel off what I wanted to get across. He was larger than live and so nice. Laws and politics—that’s where things change.”

Join Hayden and others by helping them stop this brutality!