hetrick-martin institute

A wonderful friend and non-profit colleague, Sue, works with an important organization helping LGBTQ youth in New York City and recommended them to be featured on goodiegoodie. The epidemic of bullying and abuse, and also the empowerment of LGBTQ youth are issues we care deeply about, so today we are happy to tell you about The Hetrick-Martin Institute.

In 1979, life partners and educators on gay and lesbian issues, Dr. Emery Hetrick, a psychiatrist, and Dr. Damien Martin, a professor at New York University, heard a heartbreaking story about a homeless 15-year-old boy who had been beaten and thrown out of his emergency shelter because he was gay. The two doctors were so moved by his story that they created what is now known as The Hetrick-Martin Institute.

The Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk High School, provides young LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning) people the safety and skills they need to reach their full potential. Hetrick-Martin is the oldest and largest organization dedicated to serving at-risk LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) youth ages 12 to 24 who are typically under-served by schools, communities, and often (sadly) their families. In addition to hosting Harvey Milk High School, they also provide after school programs, supportive services, internship opportunities for HMI Youth Members, advocacy, and education.

You can make a tax-deductible donation to HMI to help them keep their programs free for the youth that they serve. You can also help by donating gently-used clothing, shoes, and accessories to The Hetrick-Martin pantry to help those youth that come to HMI needing the basics — food, shelter, and clothing.

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we give books

We love to read. Lurve. We think reading is absolutely essential not only for a good education, but for a great imagination. Books teach, but they also transport and transform. This awesome organization has combined two of our favorite things - books and giving.

We Give Books is a new digital initiative that enables anyone with internet access to put books in the hands of children who don't have them, simply by reading online. Read a book. Give a book. Here's how it works:

On the We Give Books website, choose the charity you want to support. These are great non-profit organizations serving young people across the globe. This month, for example, you can donate books to Read for Central America, Todos a Leer, Room to Read, and Out of the Blocks.

Then choose the books you want to read from the growing library of great children's books. All of the books available for online reading are children's picture books appropriate for children through age ten. There is a mix of fiction and nonfiction, a range of authors, and an equal balance between read-alouds and books for independent readers. They add new books every month, and have special seasonal offerings.

For each book you read online, We Give Books will donate a book to the literacy group you chose. You can also change the organization you want to support with each book, if you want. What a great tool for reading with your kids and for teaching them about charity at the same time!

The more you read, the more they give. It's that easy!

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one laptop per child

A few years ago, I volunteered at a school in Costa Rica for extremely impoverished kids. They'd been working for years at the school to build a computer lab in the hopes that computers would teach the students valuable skills and motivate them by showing them that there exists an entirely different world outside of their shantytown. Through technology and education, they hoped to give these kids a chance. The school in Costa Rica has computers now, I am very happy to report. But millions of children around the world still do not have access to computers or quality education.

You can help put laptops directly into the hands of children around the world by doing something a lot of you may already do every day - buy groceries. Purchase specially-marked packages of Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Roll-Ups, and Gushers and enter the URL code from the box on the Win One Give One website. For every 100 UPC codes entered, Betty Crocker® will donate an XO laptop™from One Laptop Per Child to a child in Africa (up to 1,725 laptops). Apparently, you will also be entered to win a laptop, too...so that's cool.

If, like me, you don't eat Fruit Roll-Ups regularly anymore, I urge you to go and check out One Laptop Per Child and find one of the many other ways you can help. OLPC's mission is to create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning. Most of the more than one billion children in the emerging world don’t have access to adequate education. When children have access to this type of tool they get engaged in their own education. They learn, share, create, and collaborate. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future.

OLPC's cool little XO laptop is designed and built especially for children in developing countries. It’s about the size of a small textbook, has built-in wireless, and a unique screen that is readable under direct sunlight for children who go to school outdoors. It’s extremely durable, brilliantly functional, energy-efficient, and fun for the kids. Almost everywhere kids have XO laptops, school attendance increases dramatically as the children begin to open their minds and explore their own potential.

You can give a laptop to a child in the developing world with a donation of $199. You can also donate any other amount you wish and when you donate in someone's name, they will receive a card honoring the donation.

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