New Light Boys’ Home, Khela-Ghar, is the newest addition to its projects and is a part of New Light’s efforts to provide the sons of women who are in prostitution the opportunity to grow up in a safe and secure environment and realize their full potential. The boys’ home will help remove the male children from the violence filled environment of Kalighat, primarily, where they are exposed to crime and other socially undesirable practices.

The Home is designed to provide safe shelter, formal and remedial education, counselling, comprehensive healthcare, nutritious meals, therapeutic, creative and recreational opportunities to the male children, aged between 4 to 18 years of prostitution workers. These services are imperative to ensure their physical safety, emotional stability and provide them the opportunity to realize their full human potential.

The Home’s aim is to bring and retain as many children and young adults as possible into the mainstream by providing formal education; job oriented training and different vocational activities so that they can choose a life of dignity.

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A charitable, non-profit organization, the Tony Hawk Foundation was established in 2002 by its namesake, professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, to promote and provide funds for high-quality public skateparks throughout the United States—with an emphasis on the word "quality." Since then, the Foundation has awarded grants to over 500 skatepark projects in all 50 States. The Foundation focuses on working with local officials and grassroots, community-based organizations that plan to hire designers and contractors with strong experience designing and building skateparks.

The Tony Hawk Foundation was established by a gift from Tony Hawk. Its directors raise additional funds through events, industry donations, and continuing contributions from Tony and other entities. In addition to skateparks, the Foundation also makes donations to other children-related charities, as chosen by its Board Of Directors.

Visit Tony Hawk Foundation's website

LIFT is a growing movement to combat poverty and expand opportunity for all people in the United States. We envision a day when all people in our country will have the opportunity to achieve economic security and pursue their aspirations. Since LIFT's founding, over 5,000 volunteers have served more than 30,000 individuals and families, helping them find jobs, secure safe and stable housing, make ends meet through public benefits and tax credits, and use the resources in their community. Simultaneously, the LIFT experience has pushed volunteers to grapple with our country's most challenging issues related to poverty, race, inequality, and policy.

By 2014, our goal is that 10,000 LIFT volunteers will have advanced 100,000 clients on their path toward economic security and personal success, and that our nation will recommit to ending domestic poverty and ensuring that all people are able to realize the American dream.

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Living Lands & Waters' Mission

To aid in the protection, preservation and restoration of the natural environment of the nation's major rivers and their watersheds.

To expand awareness of environmental issues and responsibility encompassing the river.

To create a desire and an opportunity for stewardship and responsibility for a cleaner river environment

Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands & Waters'

Taking care to let others know how much he appreciates their good work, volunteer efforts, in-kind contributions and monetary donations is just a natural part of Chad Pregracke engaging personality. Chad raises the bar on leadership, motivating others through his infectious positive outlook and incomparable sense of humor. Founder & President of Living Lands & Waters, Chad Pregracke, is living, breathing proof that one person can make a difference.

The Mississippi River was literally Chad's back yard while he was growing up. The son of educators and river enthusiasts, KeeKee and Gary Pregracke, he spent the majority of his time on, in, and around the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Chad's brother, Brent, is a commercial fisherman who on occasion, sometimes makes an appearance as a Big River Educational Workshop expert.

While attending high school and college he worked as a commercial shell diver, a commercial fisherman, and barge hand during the summers. He sometimes lived on the islands of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers during that time. While there, he noticed that the condition of the rivers was getting worse due to the accumulation of trash on the shorelines. Based on his concern, while still in college, he set out in the spring of 1997 to make a difference... one river at a time…one piece of garbage at a time.

In 1998, he founded Living Lands & Waters, the not-for-profit environmental organization based in East Moline, Illinois. Today, there are several employees and a fleet of several barges and workboats. Thousands of volunteers have cooperated to help with the community cleanups, Riverbottom Forest Restoration and Adopt-a-Mississippi River Mile programs. Chad's project has been filmed by many of the major networks and featured in numerous national and international magazines. In December of 2001, Biography magazine selected Chad as one of the "Top Ten Future Classics in America” along with Rory Kennedy, Julia Roberts, Tiger Woods and others.

In June of 2002, Chad accepted the Jefferson Award for Public Service in the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. The Jefferson Award is America's version of the Nobel Prize for Public Service. In addition to Chad, the other national winners in 2002 were Rudolph Giuliani, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Lilly Tartikoff. In August 2002, Chad was invited by the Coca-Cola Company to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Environments in Johannesburg, South Africa. Chad met and shared information about his river cleanup projects with people from all over the world. He appeared in the August 2002 edition of Outside magazine. The PBS-TV special Main Stream aired in December 2002. He appeared in the National Enquirer in 2003, and although Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were on the cover, Chad had nothing to do with their breakup a week later.

Chad received an honorary doctorate for his work in education and the environment in May of 2003 from St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa. In October, the Manhattan Institute of Public Policy awarded Chad the 2003 Social Entrepreneurship Award for his efforts in bringing together thousands of volunteers that helped clean up America's rivers. His story appeared in the February 2003 edition of Readers Digest, and the April 03 edition of Smithsonian. Chad and Living Lands & Waters were the topic of one episode of Volunteers: For the Sake of Others, which aired on the Good Life TV Network. WQPT, the local PBS station, produced the first biography, Chad Pregracke: River Rescuer, which aired for the first time in December 2003. In 2004 Chad received the Quad-Cities Area Leaders under 40 award, presented by Black Hawk College Foundation, Moline, IL , Seventh annual “What's Right with the Region!” award presented by FOCUS St. Louis. In 2005 Chad was the recipient of the Achievement in Conservation award presented by the Hannah Caldwell Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, Environmental Stewardship Award, presented by the National Mississippi River Parkway Commission, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chad received the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Award (NOAA), Governor Rod R. Blagojevich, and People Are Today's Heroes (PATH) Award. Chad was named the 2005 Quad Citian of the Year by Best of the Quad Cities 2005 River Cities' Readers Poll.

In addition to the river cleanups and the educational workshops Chad and the LL&W team responded to people in need once again. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast in late August, 2005 Chad got the o.k. from the LL&W board and staff, cancelled the fall schedule, and loaded the barges with people, supplies, and building materials for a trip south on the Mississippi River. The hurricane relief project stretched over nine weeks. The crew of 18 helped clean and repair roughly 70 houses in New Orleans and Mississippi. The need for help was tremendous and there was only so much a small crew could do. The crew had a huge impact on the people they did have contact with. Folks were still calling for help after the crew had departed the area.

Chad enjoys skateboarding, snowboarding, snow skiing, water skiing whenever he can get away from his rigorous work schedule.

Visit Living Lands and Waters's website

Feeding America provides individuals and families facing hunger with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 25 million Americans each year, including 9 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks support 63,000 agencies that address hunger through emergency food assistance and programs.

Feeding America feeds hungry Americans each year, educates the public about hunger in America, and advocates for public policies that improve the lives of hungry Americans. In 2008, Forbes magazine gave Feeding America a charitable commitment rating of 98 percent—meaning 98 percent of all product and financial donations received by the Feeding America network go directly toward feeding hungry people, rather than to administration or fundraising.

How we work

The Feeding America network distributes food and grocery products to its member food banks. Those food banks then distribute food and grocery products to charitable feeding agencies nationwide.
Feeding America is fueled by donated and purchased products, as well as an efficient product recovery system that rescues items from retailers that might otherwise go to waste. The network benefits from the generous support of more than 500 national grocery and food service companies, individuals, corporations and charitable foundations.

Who we help

Today, there are more than 36 million Americans facing hunger, including 12.4 million children. Hunger affects all walks of life in communities all across the country—rural, urban, and suburban.

The people we serve include seniors living on fixed incomes, who have to choose between paying for medicine or buying food; neighbors who work long hours but still must choose between paying their utility bills or feeding their families; and children who have difficulty concentrating in school because they don't have access to adequate meals. Feeding America strives to provide a chance for a better tomorrow to everyone struggling with hunger.

Take Action: Donate, Advocate, Volunteer

You can help provide food and enrich lives by joining the fight to end hunger.

Visit Feeding America's website

The mission of Plastic Pollution Coalition is to stop plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on humans, the environment, and wildlife worldwide.

Plastic Pollution Coalition provides a platform for strategic planning and coherent communications; increases awareness and understanding of the problem and sustainable solutions; and empowers action to eliminate the negative impacts of plastics on the environment, wildlife, marine life, and human health.

Visit Plastic Pollution Coalition's website

Pick Up America is a local, regional, and nationwide initiative committed to reducing plastic waste in our communities and waterways. The Pick Up Artists will coordinate community trash clean-ups while walking across the country to encourage alternatives to our nation’s throwaway mentality. The two year trek began on March 20, 2010 from Assateague Island, MD., and will span 13 states to the San Francisco Bay, Calif., sometime in November 2011.

On average, the team and their volunteers pick up 120 pounds of trash per mile they walk. Come out and walk a few miles, will ya?

Visit Pick Up America's website

Protecting Our Beaches for 25 Years

SURFRIDER FOUNDATION

MISSION STATEMENT
The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans, waves and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
The Surfrider Foundation was founded in 1984 by a handful of environmentally minded surfers who were concerned about threats to their local surf break. In the years since, Surfrider Foundation has grown into one of the nation's premier grassroots environmental organizations.

Surfrider Foundation's first chapters were formed in 1991. Since then, our activist network has grown to more than 90 chapters worldwide. Each of our Chapters continue to be volunteer-driven and coordinated by our Global office, with activists implementing environmental advocacy campaigns and our national programs such as the Blue Water Task Force and Respect The Beach.

The Surfrider Foundation's Global Headquarters is located in San Clemente, California. There are 38 paid staff whose primary functions are to assist the grassroots chapters and membership. All 90 chapters are volunteer-driven, as is our 15-member Board of Directors and Chief Financial Officer.

INITIATIVES
For 25 years the Surfrider Foundation has focused its core activities and campaigns in the following categories of Clean Water, Beach Access, Coastal Preservation and Special Place Protection.

Clean Water - Surfrider Foundation volunteers, activists and members strive to prevent further pollution of our oceans, and to restore ocean health to the baseline that existed before industrialization. Surfrider Foundation's Clean Water initiative focuses on protecting water quality in coastal watersheds and in the near-shore marine environment. The Surfrider Foundation advocates for strong water quality regulations, adequate marine recreational water quality monitoring, reporting and posting, the reduction of polluted discharges into the ocean and education regarding personal responsibility for the reduction of water pollution.

Coastal Preservation - Beaches are unique coastal environments that hold ecological, recreational and economic value. Over the years, human activities and development in coastal areas have increased, making the need for preservation of beaches more apparent. Surfrider Foundation's Beach Preservation initiative focuses on protecting beaches through conservation and responsible coastal management that avoids the creation of coastal hazards or erosion problems, and supports research and science-based management of coastal resources to promote sustainable, long term planning and preservation of beach environments including public access.

Beach Access - Beaches are one of the most popular public resources. In nearly every state, some portion of the beach is public land, which means that all members of the public have a right to use that portion of the beach. Unfortunately, the land where people park and where they enjoy the beach is privately owned, making availability questionable. The Surfrider Foundation's Beach Access initiative promotes the right to low-impact, free and open access to the world's waves and beaches for all people. It is simply not equitable for only some people to have access to the oceans and beaches, which are public resources to be enjoyed by all people.

Special Place Protection - Coastal environments are a maze of interconnected zones including the open ocean, near shore water, beaches, estuaries and coastal watersheds. While some of these places have been designated for permanent protection as wilderness areas, parks, reserves, preserves, conservation areas and sanctuaries, less than one percent of our marine environment has any protected status. Surfrider Foundation's Special Places Initiative is designed to identify and protect ocean and coastal places through the establishment of marine protected areas. In addition, waves and surf breaks are natural recreational resources worthy of protection, and this initiative focuses on raising awareness about the importance of waves not only recreationally, but ecologically as well.

THE POWER OF GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM
The Surfrider Foundation is the one of the world's largest non-profit organizations dedicated to the protection and preservation of our coastlines. Surfrider Foundation members are powerful spokespeople and caretakers of the ocean environment. Our diverse membership of over 50,000 globally includes ocean enthusiasts from all walks of life. Together with our network of 90 chapters and global staff, the Surfrider Foundation dedicates countless hours to raising awareness about threats facing our beaches today.

In 2008 alone, the Surfrider Foundation succeeded in convincing both the California Coastal Commission and Department of Commerce to strike down a proposed six-lane highway through San Onofre State Beach, due in large part to the nearly 6,000 people who showed up for both hearings to voice their opposition to the road. This victory, along with 104 additional coastal victories since 2005, exemplifies the power and effectiveness of grassroots activism.

OUR STRATEGIC PLAN
We have crafted a Strategic Plan to challenge and inspire our network of volunteers, chapter activists, members, staff and board members. We believe this vision is ambitious, specific, unifying, inspirational, explanatory, measurable and – most importantly – capable of positively empowering our mission: the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans, waves and beaches, for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education.

We have identified seven Strategic Goals to move Surfrider toward this vision:
Stop human interruption of natural beach processes
Improve coastal water quality
Ensure healthy coastal ocean ecosystems
Protect waves
Secure universal, low-impact beach access
Motivate a global movement of care of the coasts
Attain our vision through chapter-based activism

ABOUT SURFRIDER FOUNDATION
The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit grassroots environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world's oceans, waves and beaches. Now in its 25th year, the Surfrider Foundation has grown from a small group of dedicated surfers in Malibu, California to a global movement made up of over 50,000 members and 90 chapters worldwide.

Visit Surfrider Foundation's website

Mission

Inspired by the distinguished life and legacy of Pat Tillman - professional athlete, military hero and a man of strong character and kindness - the Pat Tillman Foundation seeks to create a community of scholars dedicated to improving their own lives, the lives of their families and their country by creating a spirit of service.

Vision

The Pat Tillman Foundation carries forward Pat's legacy of leadership and civic action by supporting future generations of leaders who embody the American tradition of citizen service. Through military or civilian service an entire generation of youth has the capacity to improve their communities and their country...both now and throughout their lives. The Pat Tillman Foundation provides them with the resources and support to make a difference.

The Foundation's mission is advanced through Leadership Through Action™ initiatives such as Tillman Military Scholars, Tillman Scholars - Arizona State University, and Tillman Social Action Fund.

Through these programs the Foundation provides students the tools and support to reach their fullest potential as leaders.

History

In the aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001, Pat proudly put his NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals on hold to serve his country. This decision was just one of many he made over the course of his lifetime to help others and serve a cause greater than self-interest.

The Tillman family and friends created the Pat Tillman Foundation in 2004, following Pat's death while serving with the 75th Ranger Regiment in Afghanistan.

To honor Pat, the Foundation inspires others to create positive social change through its Leadership Through Action™ programs by providing scholarships and grants for veterans, active servicemembers, their families and college students across the country.

Visit Pat Tillman Foundation's website