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The Body Shop is Making LemonAid

Yay, Body Shop!

After taking a stand against child sex trafficking with their "Soft Hands, Kind Hearts" campaign last year, The Body Shop has launched a new fundraiser to again benefit ECPAT-USA and the Somaly Mam Foundation. The "LemonAid" campaign began on March 15, and it has already received so much support that The Body Shop has raised its goal to $15,000.

I just raised $5 for these organizations with a few clicks. It's so easy--visit http://www.lemonaid.thebodyshop-usa.com/ and you can raise $2 by becoming a Facebook fan of The Body Shop; $2 by following @thebodyshopusa, 50 cents by using the hashtag #LemonAid, 50 cents by squeezing the Lemon widget (below!), and $1 for installing it here.



I'm impressed by what the Body Shop is doing, and I'll be supporting them at every chance I get. Hope that you will, too.

Leaving Your Signature

This is sooo cool. Check out these new t-shirts and key chains from Freeset Global.  They are free trade products made by women survivors of the sex trade--and imprinted with their signatures.

I love this idea. Freeset has found a way to connect to the individual, in an issue that so often is deadened by statistics.  You can match each woman's signature on the website and click to read a little glimpse about them. For example, Sanda's nickname is "Mosquito" and she has recently learned to write her name--a mark she will now leave on each of the products she makes.

As an introductory special Freeset is offering free shipping. According to the website:

"Purchasing a Freeset Tee enables women to rise out of poverty and the sex trade. Many women are coerced, blackmailed or forced into India's sex trade by pimps and poverty. Shunned by society with no education or job training, it is nearly impossible for these women to free themselves from prostitution. Freeset offers women the chance to work instead of selling their bodies, and helps to restore their place in society by teaching them both vocational and life skills like budgeting and nutrition. They grow in self-confidence and receive a steady income so their freedom is sustainable. 

Purchasing a Freeset Tee helps to decrease demand for cotton produced using dangerous pesticides, child labor and irresponsible land management. Instead, purchasing a freeset tee supports sustainable farming practices that include fair wages paid to field workers, employment of natural pest management, and no child labor."  

I'm going shopping, and this is one time I would be thrilled to be wearing the same thing as every single other person in the room.

Hello Rewind; Or, How Your Laptop Found Its Home

Hat tip to my good friend Johnny Fitz for finding this cool site.  "Hello Rewind" takes your favorite old t-shirt and turns it into a comfy, protective home for your laptop--and simultaneously provides training and an alternate source of income for survivors of NYC sex trafficking.

Image from Hello Rewind

By partnering with Restore NYC, Hello Rewind works with sex trafficking survivors--many of whom don't speak much English, but now have the opportunity to learn--and teaches them a skill to support themselves outside of the brothel.  Check out some additional details on their work here: http://blog.hellorewind.com/some-additional-thoughts.

The process goes like this: 

You select the size of laptop case you want; pay $49; and Hello Rewind sends you a prepaid envelope for your t-shirt of choice. Once you've mailed the shirt in, they work with the sex trafficking survivors to make it into a beautiful, handy, and soft little case, and mail it back to you.  Voila!  It's a way to protect your laptop and also feel like you've done something to protect a woman from being pulled back into a life of sex trafficking and endless cycle of prostitution.

High fives to the people behind Hello Rewind for thinking way outside of themselves when they created this business model.

Change My Christmas

I've been thinking for awhile about putting together a holiday shopping list that benefits survivors of child/human sex trafficking or organizations that support the cause.  Since so many of my blogger friends had the same idea, I'm going to list a couple of the things that I'm personally asking for this year, and then point you to their sites for some really great additional places to look.

•  The SOLD Project DVD

• Va-Va-Voom Necklace from the River Kids shop 

• These pretty earrings and bracelet from Original Good
• This AWESOME shirt from WeAreOverlooked.com.   $5 from each shirt goes to Love146.  The front says, "Because some things were never meant to be caged."  

• Terrify No More by Gary Haugen 

And here are some other great places to check out for your holiday shopping (keep these links in mind for birthdays and other celebrations throughout 2010!):

• Diana Scimone: Making a List, Checking it Twice: Gifts Made by Women and Girls Rescued from Trafficking 
• Kiva.org: Anti-Trafficking Loans
  
• Change.org: Holiday Gift Guide: How to Help Human Trafficking Victims
• World Vision: Hope for Sexually Exploited Girls
• Love146 Holiday cards
• Emancipation Network: Made by Survivors
  

But before you go, take a minute (well, two and a half minutes) to watch this video from ChangeMyChristmas.com.

Change My Christmas from MZM Cornerstone on Vimeo.

Happy Hannukah, Advent and "Season of Light" to you all!

Update on Soft Hands, Kind Hearts

Yesterday the U.S. portion of the Body Shop campaign was announced (mentioned in my last post). Hurray! $6.00 of each hand cream will benefit ECPAT-USA.

I love it when beauty products have an impact that is way more than skin deep!

Soft Hands, Kind Hearts Against Child Trafficking

Apparently I'm on some sort of "hand" theme this week. I am going to track down the nearest Body Shop as soon as I can and stock up on this wonderful hand cream. (On second thought, looks like it's only available outside the U.S.; Body Shop, please offer this campaign here, too!)

A large portion of the proceeds will go to Beyond Borders to fight child sex trafficking. Apparently sales of cotton bags and gift boxes will also benefit Somaly Mam's foundation.

Some of the funds will pay for the smaller (and incredibly meaningful) actions beyond the typical shelter and treatment; things like removing the tattoo of a pimp's name from a child's hand.

It reminds me of what Billy Graham once said: "The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal, and bless."

Beautiful Art for a Beautiful Cause

Feeling inspired by the ways people use their talent to raise funds and awareness for anti child trafficking purposes.

Today's Black and White is the creator of the butterfly photograph. As I've mentioned before, all proceeds from photographer Jeff Hall's pictures go to Free Chains to fight child sex trafficking.

The SOLD Project, run by Rachel Sparks (who just got married, by the way, and is moving to Thailand for the next 9 months--congratulations!) has some great art for sale at Etsy. The photo montage was made by orphaned street children in Chiang Mai.

I'd love to wallpaper all the rooms in my house with these beautiful pictures made for a beautiful cause.

History Starts Now

Fashion is such a fun, artistic way to escape from reality. I love my In Style, Allure, What Not to Wear and Project Runway as much as the next girl. But I love high fashion even more when it makes a difference in the things that really matter in life.

On June 22 in NYC, lucky locals will have the chance to see a fashion show, in the front row, for $25--and benefit anti-child sex trafficking awareness at the same time. The designer will be revealed at the show, and word has it that fashionistas in the know won't be disappointed.

Check out History Starts Now for more info. I can't wait to see what they'll do to make a difference next. Best of luck with the show!

Heaven's Attic

I'd like to introduce you to a UK online store called Heaven's Attic. Heaven's Attic sells jewelry, accessories, and handbags, and then shares the profits with various charities.

Currently, their main charity of choice is a worldwide organization called The A21 Campaign, which tackles slavery and hopes to abolish injustice in the 21st century. In addition to raising funds to fight human slavery and sex trafficking, Heaven's Attic aims to be socially conscious around their product sourcing. Their website says,

"One of our current suppliers work with a cooperative in the Philippines. It is made up of 50 women from a displaced community. The co-op enables them to earn a livelihood while living at home and supporting their families.

An ongoing training program offers new jewellery making skills and the opportunity to participate in the creation of new designs.

As we grow, we intend to source more products from disadvantaged communities around the globe."

If you're looking for Mother's Day or graduation gifts, I hope this post comes to mind. Heaven's Attic can ship anywhere, and my wish is that their generosity will be rewarded by success beyond their wildest dreams.

One Cup of Saving the Earth and Fighting Child Trafficking, To Go

How cute/great/amazing is this?

There is now a way for you to help the environment, fight child trafficking, AND keep your hand from being scalded/frostbitten from your beverage of choice--all at the same time!

The designer of these GreenPockets reusable coffee sleeves is donating half of all sales to a "treader" as part of our Love146 Tread on Trafficking campaign. If you buy one between April 2 and May 2, 2009, you will in effect be supporting Love146. The handmade coffee sleeves are $6.50 and fit all "to go" coffee sleeves.

I think these would be really cute party or shower favors, and they're bound to make the recipient feel like they're making a difference against some big problems in our world... one cup of coffee at a time.

Another Side of Love146

I kind of can't believe I haven't posted on this yet.

You might have heard about Lamont Hiebert and his band Ten Shekel Shirt. Lamont is one of the amazing co-founders of Love146. When he took part of the lifechanging trip to the child brothels of Southeast Asia with Rob Morris and other future founders of Love146, he decided to put his musical career on hold and form the organization. Now that Love146 has really taken off, he has returned with a newly released album called "Jubilee" and is speaking about the issue of child sex trafficking and exploitation through his music. The iTunes review calls it a "welcome return" and describes Ten Shekel Shirt's sound as an "atmospheric folk-pop groove, reminiscent in spots of Coldplay and their British compatriots... These songs are written out of faith and experience by an artist dedicated to a noble cause."

I just bought Jubilee on iTunes and I'm listening to it right now (seriously? Not only

had I not posted on TSS, I hadn't purchased this yet? I don't even know what I was thinking.) The new Kelly Clarkson CD (which I also love, btw), is going to have to move over to make room for this. If you're interested, you can listen to some clips of Jubilee on iTunes here, or on their website.

I've posted a video below of Lamont speaking about Love146, Ten Shekel Shirt's music, and a few interspersed clips of their performances. It's great and I would recommend taking a few minutes to watch it. Fun fact--Johnny Rodgers, the lead guitarist, is also married to Love146's lovely Desirea Rodgers.

"Learn, as much as you can... and then join something. You can join a national group, a local, regional group: I started something at my house. A little justice study, we met and talked about issues of modern day slavery. And the third thing I would recommend to those who want to get involved is to act. They can act by giving money, by pursuing a career in law, child psychology, trauma counseling, a lawyer working on behalf of the oppressed; people can use their existing vocations or voice--I happen to be a musician so many of my songs are about abolition, restoration, and I speak about it all over the country. It's not just all a guilt trip and heaviness; It's incredibly exciting to be a part of the new abolition, the movement in our day... The reality is that it's very encouraging to see children learn to smile again, to walk in freedom, and see them restored." - Lamont Hiebert, Ten Shekel Shirt

Flip(cam) for a Good Cause

How great would THIS be for the upcoming Love146 trip?

I was checking out Flipcams tonight because I think they're neat and I'd love to be able to film some of the areas we visit in Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines on the upcoming partner trip (no identifying safehome details though, of course!)  The price is actually pretty reasonable ($179 or $229 for HD, it looks like) but unfortunately not in the budget cards at the moment!

Flip Mino Camcorder

""

Flip Mino Camcorder with Personalized Design - Available only at www.theflip.com. Check out this unique Flip Mino design. The Flip Mino camcorder combines remarkable video quality in a pocket-sized package. Now personalizable - create yours today. You've never had a camcorder that's this much fun.

View >>

What's really cool about the particular model I was looking at was that it's the Witness.org Special Edition.  You might remember when I posted about Witness.org in this post back in December--they use "video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations."  Now they have their own specially designed flipcam with their logo "See it. Film it. Change it." emblazoned across the front.  Oh yeah--and for every version of this flipcam sold, Witness.org receives $10.

So amazing--love that idea.  We really do change when we see things with our own eyes.  That's what makes this upcoming trip so exciting, moving, and so challenging.  Maybe someday I'll get the chance to post some Witness.org-worthy flipcam footage here, so we can all take a shared look at the hard things and change can keep on a'coming.  

Fashion Statement

Get it off your chest, by putting it on your chest!
Here are a few ideas of ways to raise awareness and get a conversation started. Click on the shirt to see more details.

Sowing Beauty

This post will be most relevant to those of you that live near the Boston area--but I think it tells a wider story of beauty that is worth hearing, wherever you may live.

Under the vision of a woman named Teresa Fung, a small, elegant fresh flower design studio named Mimosa set up shop on Pembroke Street in Boston, MA. Mimosa is known for its gorgeous bouquets and arrangements, and has even been recognized on Grace Ormonde's Platinum list, but I think its dedication to helping trafficked women and children is what makes this business really stand out. Mimosa's goal is to try to buy sustainable and fair trade flowers as much as possible, and 10% of their profits go to help women and children who have been trafficked in Southeast Asia.

I'm a tiny bit late for the Valentines rush--but the next time you want to show love to someone, send flowers to your sweetheart (ahem) :), or even think you might take a trip down the aisle at some point soon--think about someplace like Mimosa that offers the world something beautiful, in so many ways.

...It'll Last Longer

Boots.  Photograph by Jeff Hall.  All rights reserved.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!  

In honor of this day I wanted to tell you about something really, really cool I found a few days ago.  It's a website called "Today's Black and White" by photographer Jeff Hall.  Jeff is passionate about two things: his art, and ending child sex trafficking.  So he decided to use his talent to do something about it.

Jeff is posting a new photograph every day of 2009 to the Today's Black and White site.  He poses the question, "What if a picture was worth more than 1,000 words?" Each photograph is available to buy as a print, from $10 to $50, and 100% of the proceeds will go to a nonprofit fighting child sex trafficking called "Free Chains."  

Keep coming back to Today's Black and White whenever you have a chance, as it will be updated with a new chance to help end child sex slavery every day.   This is the definition of a picture that will last the longest if you take it.  Check out my two current favorites, "Boots" (above) and "Amberly's Tattoo" (below.)  

I had the chance to ask Jeff how he became involved with the issue of child sex trafficking.  Through a friend who helped with rebranding Love146, and another friend who started Free Chains, Jeff said that he became "exposed to stories and statistics that are too sickening to ignore.  I decided that God could use the gifts He blessed me with to make a difference, so I decided to start the Today's Black and White blog.  I'm just trying to make a difference." 

Rest assured, Jeff--you are.

Amberly's Tattoo.  Photograph by Jeff Hall.  All rights reserved.

Celebrating the Season of Light

Christmas is only three weeks from today, and Hanukkah festivities start even sooner--December 21.  Done with all your shopping?  

Didn't think so. ;)  Back in October I offered a few suggestions for great physical gifts to give that benefit organizations dedicated to ending child trafficking and exploitation.   But sometimes the best way to help is the old-fashioned way--a straight-up donation.   Know anyone who already has everything, or who would be honored by a gift in their name?  Below are several ways that you can put money directly into the hands of the people who will use it best, to help those that need it most.

First off is a really cool idea that I just found out about.  Full disclosure, this company is a PR client of my place of employment, but under a separate team--and very worth checking out.  It's called Razoo, and it's a centralized online platform for charitable giving.   Razoo aggregates and rates 1.6 million US-based nonprofits in a single search engine; lets donors track all of their donations in one place; and features articles spotlighting different causes.  It caught my eye this month because it's currently highlighting the issue of slavery in its article section.  The Slavery Giving Guide showcases five worthy charities--3 of which have made appearances on this blog (Somaly Mam Foundation, Shared Hope International and International Justice Mission), and 2 that I will be checking out ASAP (CAST and the US Association for International Migration).  Finally, Razoo absorbs any and all transaction fees typically associated with online donations (that can sometimes take up to 10% away from your donation) as part of their commitment to making sure that every cent makes it to the right place.  This is a great place to start if you're into charitable giving--or just beginning to be. :)

A few other good places to check out:

World Vision's Hope for Sexually Exploited Girls.  The "recommended" giving amount is just $25, but you can fill in the box for anywhere from $5 to $2500.  This gift offers rescued girls medical care, food, education, training, and counseling.  The donation is part of World Vision's gift catalog, so you can choose to let someone know of your gift in their name through a snail mail card, e-card, or printable note.  

My Born into Brothels DVD came in the mail from Amazon and we finally got to sit down and watch it last night.  If you're familiar with the movie and want to see what the kids are doing now, you can find an update from April 2008 here.  Amazingly, a safe home for children is going to be built in Calcutta to offer hope and opportunities for children currently living in the red light district.  Best of all, Avijit has been accepted to the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU! To donate to either the Hope House safe home or to Avijit's scholarship fund, visit this Kids with Cameras page.  

Because really--can you think of any better way to celebrate the season of light than by helping to give it?

Photo by miss_blackbutterfly

Fashion, Making Beautiful Music

Quick post before I go make some lunch (and get ready for the Colts game, of course).  First off, my Skreened Love146 shirt came in the mail this week and I kind of want to wear it every day.  Newport, RI got to see it yesterday on a quick trip down to visit @John_SHIFT.  (Thanks again John!)

I also just found out that Paramore has been promoting Love146 on their tour.   Hurley even teamed up with Paramore and Love146 to design a Riot! hoodie with a portion of the proceeds going to the charity and fighting child trafficking.  The design is a little hardcore for my taste, but I love the idea.  

And if you like Paramore, see Hayley Williams talking about Love146 at their recent NY show. (Heads up: the stellar camerawork for this video could = Blair Witch Project-esque nausea.)  I hadn't paid a ton of attention to the band til now, but they just made a fan out of me.  

One more music "note": If you're anywhere near Bridgeport, CT this week, there's a big Christian music concert with Love146 as the featured charity.  RocktheSound, Nov. 15, 6 p.m. at the Arena at Harbor Yard.  David Crowder Band, Newsboys, Skillet, and others.  Buy tickets at ticketmaster.com or learn more at www.rockthesound.com.   

Hello, Love

I bought Chris Tomlin's newest CD, "Hello Love," a couple of weeks ago and have probably listened to it 50 times (my two-hour-a-day commute helps!)  Here's something that makes me love it even more: Chris' ongoing support for the Christian charity initiative OneMillionCan.  One of their areas of focus is freedom and a future for sex slaves in India, working with the afore-mentioned SariBari and in partnership with Word Made Flesh.   

The goal?  To raise $100,000, which will result in 2,500 SariBari blankets being produced each year: an investment with a projected $96,000 per year return.  Find out more at www.onemillioncan.org. 

You can also sample Hello Love below.  #'s 2, 5 and 8 are current favorites, but I think you've got to hear the songs in their entirety to get the full gist.  Happy listening. 

The Heart on My Sleeve

I just bought this shirt from Skreened.com in green.

Love146 slogan + American Apparel t-shirt + all proceeds go to fighting child trafficking and exploitation = new best thing in my wardrobe.

Planning my next post on what else you can buy to support anti child sex trafficking causes. And maybe getting a little headstart on my Christmas list.