Please Help Michael

There are lots of good causes in this needy world of ours. Including our work at the Humanity Project. So we don't normally talk much about other fundraisers outside our own efforts. But this is an exception. If you live in South Florida, please attend an important event this Saturday, November 21, in Pompano Beach. They're raising money to help the family of Michael Brewer, who was set on fire deliberately by five classmates several weeks ago. It is, to us, one of the most horrible examples we know of extreme bullying. Michael nearly died but is slowly recovering, just out of ICU. It's a long, expensive haul for him and his family. The fundraiser will be held starting around noon at a lovely restaurant/bar called Galuppis. Here's a link for the address: http://galuppis.com/ The Humanity Project believes that we can learn to help others in ways that also help ourselves. Surely, this important fundraiser is one time to give what we can, helping to make a difference in a child's life -- and in our lives too. Thanks so much!

Thank You, Michael Jackson

You may wonder why we're thanking Michael Jackson. Fair enough. The answer is best seen, not read. Go to this link and watch the Humanity Project's latest offering, "If You Help Someone." www.youtube.com/hpflorida. Loosely based on MJ's classic video "Beat It," we use child dancers and actors in our own tale of bullying -- and how to stop it. You'll hear original music that's very different anything Jackson did -- but that also sends a strong message young kids will remember. (While you're at our YouTube site, also check out the other videos, especially the wonderful news story about last year's anti-bullying Thousand Youth March for Humanity.) We think these videos will make you smile! Thanks MJ ... and thanks to you for your interest and support!

Big Thanks to Children’s Services Council!

For the second consecutive year, Children’s Services Council of Broward County has become a sponsor of the Humanity Project. We’re proud of our association with this distinguished tax-funded organization. And we’re appreciative of their continued enthusiasm for our work, an enthusiasm that once more takes tangible, meaningful form as monetary support for the Humanity Project. Last year, Children’s Services Council of Broward County helped us pay the costs for our Thousand Youth March for Humanity, the nation’s first mass children’s march against bullying. (If you haven’t yet, check out this news report about that march. It’ll make you smile! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4dIhJR_D_k. ) As you see, CSC plays a vital role in South Florida’s efforts to help kids – and they do a great job of it! Many thanks to CSC’s president and CEO, Cindy J. Arenberg Seltzer and her great staff for this important boost to the Humanity Project’s efforts. We are, again, enormously grateful.

Thank You, Elizabeth J. Liberty Charitable Trust Fund!

The kind folks at the family-run Elizabeth J. Liberty Charitable Trust Fund deserve a big thank you from everyone here at the Humanity Project! We just received a generous contribution from this organization to help support our original anti-bullying work in the schools. The timing of their donation was perfect too -- we really need donations and sponsorships to get our cutting-edge program to many more kids just now. Thank you so very much: Elizabeth J. Liberty, Anita Liberty, Phil Liberty and Frann Castillo. We are very grateful. The Humanity Project also wants to thank Anita and her two talented children, Trevor and Spencer Wayne, for helping us make our soon-to-be-released anti-bullying music video. Stay tuned for more details in this space. But for now, you should know that this new video included the acting and dancing skills of Trevor, 12, and Spencer, 8, as well as a slew of other talented young kids from performing arts schools. (Our new podcast talks more about this video: http://www.thehumanityproject.com/podcasts/Podcast66.html) We've already seen a rough cut of the music video and it will be something very special, shot in high definition. We expect to have it posted permanently on our website at www.thehumanityproject.com and on YouTube in the next few weeks. And it will be included as part of our in-school anti-bullying program. Thanks again so much to the Elizabeth J. Liberty Charitable Trust Fund for helping us to make it all happen. We appreciate your support more than you know.

Psychological Boost

Lots more folks are learning a little more information each month about the Humanity Project, partly through our free monthly email newsletter as well as our podcasts and blogs. Learning about who we are, what we do, where we’re going. As this happens, we’re definitely finding that our group is attracting a diverse collection of bright, involved people. Increasingly, this includes psychologists. So we’re very pleased that the Florida Psychological Association, Broward Chapter, is running an article about the Humanity Project’s anti-bullying efforts in its current newsletter. Our work includes an original anti-bullying program for elementary school kids. Empirical evidence shows our program really works. We hope many more psychologists will want to meet us personally in the weeks ahead -– and ultimately become involved directly with the Humanity Project. We’re genuinely grateful that this distinguished professional organization now has placed the Humanity Project on its radar screen. Many thanks to Dr. Heather Jordan Clark and Dr. Amy Danser, newsletter co-editors. Perhaps we might suggest that you folks consider a newsletter article about our blog article about your newsletter article??
:-)) Just kidding ... (BTW, if you want to receive our fun, informative and FREE email newsletter each month, just email us at rsk@thehumanityproject.com. Put “newsletter” in the subject line and you’ll get this month’s issue emailed back to your return email address. See? Some things in life ARE free!! Thx!)

Save This Date -- Really!

We know, we know. Everyone says, “Save The Date.” Like their event is the only thing to do in South Florida or something. But you may want to consider grabbing your pencil, or maybe pen, for this date. July 7, 2009. Here’s why: You can help kids to stop bullying in our local schools – AND meet some great people and listen to some terrific live music. All this for just $10. That seems like a date worth marking down. You’ll also be able to purchase food and drink at very reasonable prices, if you want, at the historic Downtowner Saloon. That community-minded establishment is the host for the grand finale to our “Freedom from Bullying Parties” over the 4th of July weekend. ALL of this money, every $10 we raise, will go to help us complete The Humanity Project’s anti-bullying program for South Florida elementary school students. These are the details for your calendar:
· Day/time: Tuesday July 7, 6 – 9 p.m.
· Location: Downtowner Saloon, 10 South New River Dr. East, Ft Lauderdale (954-463-9800) – Look for us in the beautiful refurbished Maxwell Room in back! A very cool space …
· Music: Jazz Survivors, a hot quartet that plays local festivals, jazz brunches, etc.
· Cost: $10, tax deductible – ALL money to benefit The Humanity Project’s anti-bullying program!
· Parking: Lots of free parking right behind the Downtowner.
· People: Fun, caring, looking to meet new friends!! (Not always easy to find in South Florida!!
;-))

Website Improvements For You!

Please make sure to see the significant additions to our website. If you go to our home page at www.thehumanityproject.com, you'll find two new menu items: YouTube Channel and NING Network. Click on the YouTube Channel to see an uplifting five-minute news story about our Thousand Youth March for Humanity, the nation's first ever mass children's march against bullying. The Humanity Project conceived and organized the march, and lead it to a huge success last November. The other website addition is our NING Network, which will bring you to a whole alternative website for The Humanity Project -- one with pictures of the march as well as informative anti-bullying videos and other resources related to our work. A BIG shoutout of thanks to our remarkable volunteer, Cheryl-Ann Henry, for tackling this web work for us. Eventually you'll find a completely redesigned website, with a bold new look as well as new features and new information that you can use. For now, enjoy the changes Cheryl made possible for us. And please, pass our website along to friends and family! We need your help for The Humanity Project to keep growing! Thanks!! ;-))

Sample a Yellow Strawberry

We hope you're planning your 4th of July "Freedom from Bullying Party," which we explained in the previous blog. But there’s another way you can help us complete our unique, effective anti-bullying program for the school kids if you live in South Florida. Our great friends at Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon in Fort Lauderdale are giving to The Humanity Project yet again. Owner Jesse Briggs is a wonderful guy who cares about kids a lot – and is helping us to stop bullying. He also has cut the hair of some pretty famous folks over the years. If you’ve never had the chance to try upscale Yellow Strawberry, now’s a great time because it will also help stop bullying. Here’s Jesse’s generous offer: Anytime in June, bring the below coupon with you and get a shampoo, conditioner, haircut and blow dry. He’ll give us $20 toward the music video for each woman’s cut (out of the total discount price: $45 -- or see this link for other services available with discount prices and anti-bullying donations: http://www.yellowstrawberry.com/ysblog/) and he’ll donate $10 for every man’s cut ($35 total price). Please make SURE to bring in the coupon below. The offer’s not valid without this. Just copy, paste and print the coupon. Simple, right? Ask for Jesse Briggs or one of the other four talented stylists who are helping us. They’re named in the coupon. You’ll get a great cut – and help a great cause!!
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COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON
This coupon is redeemable for one woman’s haircut ( total price: $60; $75 for long hair) or one man’s haircut ($35) at Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon, 1007 E. Las Olas, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, between June 1 – June 30, 2009. Yellow Strawberry will donate $20 from each woman’s cut with coupon, $10 from each man’s cut with coupon, to The Humanity Project’s important anti-bullying program. Ask for Jesse Briggs, Shelly Van Pelt, Franco Magnotta, Christopher Durst or Edy Gomez. Call for appointment: 954-463-4343.
COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON ____________________________________________________________________
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Anti-bullying … “Party”??

Yep. No joke. This is your chance to do good and feel good – and have a good time! We just gave two more great presentations of The Humanity Project anti-bullying program to elementary school kids. Thousands of children clearly are “getting” our message: bullying hurts everyone in school and everyone must help stop it. But we’re still lacking the final important component of this program … lacking it for the usual reason. Money. We have recorded another very cool original kids song, “If Ya Help Someone” and plan to turn this into a terrific MTV-style music video. It’ll really help drive home our point at the end of each program. We’ll also make it available to the general public for free on YouTube. We need around $3,000 to create, direct and produce a high-quality professional music video. You can help us make that video a permanent part of our unique original anti-bullying program … just by having a “Freedom from Bullying Party” sometime around the 4th of July holiday. It won’t cost you much: not much time, not much money, not much hassle. Here’s details of the idea (which was suggested by our great volunteer, Rebecca!):

** Invite from 5 – 15 friends to your 4th of July holiday wingding. Have the party when it’s most convenient for everyone, but ideally sometime near the 4th weekend.
** Ask each guest to bring something for the party: bottle of wine, six-pack of soft drinks, bag of chips, etc. Not much expense there, right?
** Tell each person about the important idea behind these parties: To free kids from bullying!! Request that each guest contribute just $20 to that cause.(We can give you receipts for each tax-deductible $20 donation!)
** Have a blast for freedom over our national holiday – knowing that you’re also helping kids become free of bullying. This gives your 4th of July party a whole new, very satisfying spin!
** After your party, just email us at rsk@thehumanityproject.com or call 954-205-2722. We’ll tell you how you can easily get the money to us over the Internet or where to mail the money you collected.

That’s it! No hassles at all, really! We’ve already got several parties lined up but need a whole bunch more to make that anti-bullying video a reality for the kids. Please help us. We need you! (And if you’re still not too familiar with The Humanity Project, check out our new presence on YouTube: www.youtube.com/hpflorida . You may want to include that link in your “Freedom from Bullying Party” email invites too!!)

One Mom & Two Kids

Just a quick post to let our many blog followers know about a podcast they may want to check out. It's called "One Mom & Two Kids," the first Humanity Project show on which we've heard the voices of children who actually have experienced bullying first-hand in their school. It's an engaging interview with a mom and her kids and you can listen to all or part of the program, which runs about 1/2 hour long. An interesting way to spend a little free Web-surfing time! Check it out at http://www.thehumanityproject.com/podcasts/Podcast61.html. Thanks -- and please email the link to your friends!

Some Podcast Fun

We hope you'll take a half hour to have some fun with our new podcast. Called "A Board Member Speaks," the title may not exactly be catchy! ;-) But the program will grab you if you begin listening and stay with it a few minutes. The Humanity Project's newest member of the Board of Directors, Bob LaMendola, is not only a socially committed, thoughtful person -- he's fun. As a full time journalist and musician, he tells some good stories on this podcast. We think you may also enjoy our cool original theme music for this show. (Each podcast has different original music, composed and performed by The Humanity Project's president/founder. Check out various programs and you'll hear everything from blues to New Age music, classical to hip hop.) Just go to www.thehumanityproject.com and click on the podcast tab. Then open the latest program. Let us know what you think of the new podcast -- and please help us spread the word. Tell your friends about our blogs and podcasts! Thanks!!

Happy Holidays!

We’ve been very busy since our highly successful Thousand Youth March for Humanity. That’s why there’s been no new blog since then. We’re creating a new monthly email newsletter that we hope to send out to members and supporters within the next few days. We’re meeting with potential new sponsors for exciting upcoming projects. And most of all, we’re working on those projects. One of these is our in-school anti-bullying program, which will go into South Florida elementary schools starting in early 2009. The other … well, shhhh! It’s a secret for now. We’ll make an announcement soon about one of the boldest ideas yet for The Humanity Project. For now, please accept our thanks for your support during 2008 – and our fondest hopes that each of you enjoys a great holiday season and healthy, productive 2009! Happy Holidays from everyone at The Humanity Project!

Children’s March A Huge Success!

The Thousand Youth March for Humanity brought together more than 1,300 students by official estimates, from kindergarten through college, along with some 500 or more adults. We all united in downtown Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, November 16 – a picture perfect day! Our message was simple: “We want no bullying around!” We delivered that message loud and clear, with original songs and poetry slams and dance and great speeches of hope. To our knowledge, this event was a first anywhere in the United States.

It’s just one example of what The Humanity Project is all about: Finding practical ways to help fulfill human potential, such as stopping bullying. Listen for our next podcast, at the end of this month, which will help explain more fully what we’re really trying to accomplish. This group is not New Age, not religious. Our efforts are practical and our ideas are rooted in realities we all would recognize in our individual lives. Stay tuned for that program. But for now, thanks to everyone who helped make The Humanity Project’s Thousand Youth March for Humanity such a powerful anti-bullying message.

Thanks, Nova!

As The Humanity Project continues our hard work on the fast-approaching Thousand Youth March for Humanity, we have reason today to celebrate. We welcome an important new sponsor to our efforts: Nova Southeastern University, an influential institution in South Florida. NSU has just joined our growing list of supporters for this big event, which is a march by students to end bullying in their schools. In effect, the students are taking back their own school yards, halls and classrooms from the troublemakers. It's part of The Humanity Project's programs to help make bullying socially unacceptable behavior. We’re proud that NSU wants to work with us.

Nova is based in the Fort Lauderdale area, with a lovely 300-acre campus and more than 26,000 students. It’s the largest independent institution of higher learning in the southeastern United States. The university also boasts a group of experts on the issue of bullying. We gratefully add NSU to a sponsor list that, as of this writing, also includes the Florida Marlins Major League Baseball team, AutoNation, Downtown Development Authority, Children’s Services Council and our old friends at Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon. Thanks to each of you and to Nova. Together, we can help end school bullying – and help prevent the psychological and physical damage to kids that often results from this abuse. The Thousand Youth March for Humanity can serve as our rallying point for change.

Thousand Youth March for Humanity

I hope you’ll listen to our new podcast, which is titled exactly the same as this blog: “Thousand Youth March for Humanity.” It will explain more than I can in this brief space about the unprecedented event The Humanity Project is organizing and leading this fall. On Sunday, November 16, we’ll head up a march of more than 1,000 school kids, grades K – 12, to stop school bullying. Think about that. When is the last time you’ve heard of students from five-years-old to 18-years-old coming together for anything? Then ask yourself when you’ve heard of kids from vastly different economic and ethnic backgrounds supporting the same cause. Then think about this: Have you ever heard of a massive number of students marching to take back their own schools from the bullies? I suspect the answer to all those questions is that, no you haven’t heard about this before. That’s why the Thousand Youth March for Humanity is unique. Our sponsors right now include the Florida Marlins, AutoNation, Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon, Downtown Development Authority and Children’s Services Council. But we need more sponsors and donors – lots more. An event this huge doesn’t come cheap. We hope the whole community will come together to say that bullying must be seen as socially unacceptable from now on, like drunk driving. Bullying is dangerous. Bullying damages and sometimes destroys young lives. This march can be the beginning of a new attitude about school abuse and violence. Because bullying isn’t just kids being kids. It’s kids harming kids. This march is our chance to join together and deliver one simple, powerful message about bullying: “Enough!”