CSR Minute: Microfinance Bulletin; William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Grants

Corporate Social Responsibility News: Microfinance Institution Exchange’s Bulletin; William + Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Grants.

CSR Minute: Coca-Cola Enterprises’ Green Award; KOM Networks + Dell Work with Feed the Children

Corporate Social Responsibility News: Coca-Cola Enterprises’ Green Award; KOM Networks + Dell Work with Feed the Children

CSR Minute: 11/27/2009 – Timberland’s Help Haiti’s Climate Campaign; American Cancer Society Award

Corporate Social Responsibility News: Timberland’s Climate and Haiti Help Campaigns; American Cancer Society’s Corporate Impact Awards

PeaceKeeper Asks Celebrity Make-Up Artist Joanne Gair for her Favorite Beauty Tips

Truth Serum Blog

PeaceKeeper’s campaign MAKE-UP ARTISTS FOR PEACE asked some of the countries leading celebrity make-up artists to donate their favorite make-up tip(s) in support of PeaceKeeper’s work to end violence against women. Recently, we asked Joanne Gair, celebrity make-up artist for women like Madonna, Cindy Crawford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kim Basinger, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion, and more. Here is what she suggests:

HOT TIP: Skin maintenance, replenishment and protection are crucial for a fresh, youthful face throughout life. Before you put a lick of make-up on your skin, it must be happy and healthy. If you take care and prime your canvas on a daily basis the rewards later in life are well worth the time and money. Trust me.

Most importantly keep your skin (and body) hydrated by drinking lots of water every day. This is the most natural and nutritional way to feed your skin.

-Gently exfoliate your skin by keeping it buffed to allow fresh new skin to glow. This should be done every other day by washing your face with a gentle exfoliate face wash cream.

-Maintain the harmony in your skin daily by wiping your face with astringent on a damp cotton pad, or spray your face with natural soothing spring water and let it dry naturally.

-Replenishing moisture in the skin is a must. Use a nourishing eye cream or gel of your preference, followed by revitalizing day cream or face oil on both your face and down your neck.

-Before applying any make-up use a substantial protection number sunscreen. This way you don’t need to disturb your face make-up for the rest of the day. You may wish to gently pat an open face tissue around your nose and T zone before applying the sun screen. After application of sunscreen you may again wish to pat the areas that feel a little too oily gently to absorb any overly shiny areas before adding your make-up.

At this point your skin is ready and glowing for your day. Foundation and concealer is applied if needed at this point.

For a sun-kissed glowing face, apply a cream blush to add luster and color to your checks. Choose a healthy, fresh lip color. Apply the lipstick to your cheeks, smoothing out the color with your finger tips to create a natural tone on tone look. Now you can lightly dust your face with a transparent powder to set the look. Use a large head powder brush so it goes on evenly. Dip the head of the brush in the powder and tap several times on the side of the container to leave just a gesture of powder on the brush head before applying to your face. This way you still have a glow and the skin looks radiant.

PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics is an enterprising philanthropic brand which makes donations to women’s health advocacy and urgent human rights issues. PeaceKeeper funds women who have been indentured or who live on a dollar a day. Therefore, what is important about PeaceKeeper is that we source raw ingredients like rosemary and spearmint from third world farmers and give micro-credit loans to the families of those farmers. This is called Beauty For Humanity – Good For You & Good For The World! Now That’s Beautiful™. To learn more about PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics visit them at http://www.iamapeacekeeper.com.

Quite the feat: CRMS students send 500 pairs of used shoes to needy souls around the world

Post Independent (John Stroud) Glenwood Springs, CO – CARBONDALE, Colorado — Friends and fellow Colorado Rocky Mountain School juniors Kelsey Bohannon and JJ Worley recently found a way to help needy people around the world, and keep what otherwise would be trash out of area landfills.

Through the Soles4Souls shoe charity, they collected some 500 pairs of used shoes from throughout the Roaring Fork Valley. The shoes will be sent to a warehouse in Nevada, and eventually shipped to villages around the world where people cannot afford to buy shoes themselves.

“I heard about it and it just interested me as a way for people do something for those in need without sending money,” said Bohannon, 16, who lives in Glenwood Springs.

“Some people don’t like giving money, because they’re not sure what’s really going to happen to it,” she said. “There’s not much else you can do with used shoes, though. You know someone is going to be wearing them who needs them.”

Worley, also 16, from Carbondale, looks at it as a “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” sort of approach to global charity.

“People really do get tired of donating money. This is a way to get rid of something you’d be throwing away anyway, and for a good cause,” she said.

Bohannon and Worley put up flyers around the valley and set up collection boxes at Summit Canyon Mountaineering in Glenwood Springs and at Dos Gringos Burritos in Carbondale.

“They asked me to come empty the box at Summit because it was overflowing,” Bohannon said. “The shoes filled up my car.”

Once they collected all the shoes they realized it would cost $230 to ship them to Nevada, even after the 80 percent charity discount from UPS. So they approached the Aspen Skiing Company, and it covered the shipping cost.

“We didn’t even think about the money part of it,” Worley said. “We really want to thank the Skico for helping us out.”

They received some interesting shoes along the way, including some Go-Go boots, a pair of snowboard boots, and ballet slippers.

“Some of them are pretty fancy shoes, and not very used at all,” Bohannon said.

Miser’s Mercantile, a local second-hand store, also donated some of the shoes it had in stock, and the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary collected a box of shoes as well.

The students may do another drive in the future, but their collection efforts are done for now. However, Independence Run and Hike, a local running and outdoor gear store, is also a collection location for Soles4Souls.

The store, located in the Gateway Plaza at Highway 133 and Cowen Drive in Carbondale, is collecting “gently worn” footwear and/or monetary donations to help ship the shoes.

The shoes sometimes go to victims of a natural disaster, or who are subject to living in extreme poverty, according to the organization’s website, www.giveshoes.org.

“It is estimated that Americans have 1.5 billion pairs of unused shoes lying in their closets,” it notes. “The charity can use each and every one of these pairs to make a tangible difference in someone’s life.”

Independence Run and Hike owner Brion After said he is glad to contribute, both in the charitable sense and because of the reduced environmental impact of recycling used shoes.

“We believe in taking care of the land that takes care of us,” he said. “Partnering with Soles4Souls enables the local running and hiking community to be environmental stewards and assist those in need throughout the world.”  jstroud@postindependent.com

For more information on Colorado Rocky Mountain School please contact lraleigh@crms.org

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Christmas SPIRIT Foundation Launches TweetUp4Troops: Help give free Christmas trees to military families

Trees for Troops has delivered more than 50,000 fresh Christmas trees grown by American farmers to military families across the nation and around the world since 2005.   It is a program of the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation (CSF), a non-for-profit charity, along with support from FedEx Corp. Since its inception, citizens have expressed interest in participating in the program, but didn’t know how to do that since they didn’t farm trees or work for Fed Ex.

Now in its fifth year, Trees for Troops offers a new way for others to support the program. CSF is recruiting volunteers to coordinate locally-hosted fundraising events during Veteran’s Day week. These grassroots events, called “TweetUp4Troops,” are a great way to show support for veterans, raise money for the Trees for Troops program and have fun! Whether you organize a car wash or trivia night, sell raffle tickets or find a creative way to allow your business to support the program, all contributions raised go to support  the Trees for Troops program and military families. To get involved by hosting an event in your area, visit www.TweetUp4Troops.org and fill out a Local Host Registration Form.

About Trees for Troops
Trees for Troops is the pilot program of the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation. Created in 2005, the program works with corporate sponsor FedEx to collect fresh, farm-grown Christmas trees from American farmers to distribute to military families. In the past four years, the program has delivered more than 50,000 Christmas Trees to bases around the world.

About Christmas SPIRIT Foundation
The Christmas SPIRIT Foundation is the 501(c)(3) charitable branch of the National Christmas Tree Association established to advance the spirit of Christmas for kids, families and the environment. Visit www.christmasspiritfoundation.org for more information.

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Socially Responsible Business Supports South African Women

Elegant Roots Blog

Today Elegant Roots (www.elegantroots.com/) launches a new weekly blog feature, its Tuesday Tracts, by profiling Nadine Storyk Curtis who creates sustainable improvements in the lives of many women. Plaudits to Nadine. And welcome to you to the first of our series on people who deploy the power of socially responsible business.

Be Sweet is a company that exists to do good. Founded to build; to support. Is it ironic, or thoroughly expected that the impetus for it was an act of an altogether opposite cast?

Nadine Storyk Curtis and her husband were married in late August 2001, she from Northern California and he from South Africa. They were living in the States, but savored a dream to live someday in South Africa. On September 11, 2001, Nadine’s father was scheduled on United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. He did not board that flight on 9/11. But that tragedy and the personal near-miss helped Nadine realize the importance of living life to the fullest.  Within months they had packed up their life together and moved to Cape Town, South Africa.

In Cape Town, Nadine was enthralled with the mix of cultures in the area and fell in love with the beautiful handcrafted textiles created by women’s empowerment groups. www.elegantroots.com/Be-Sweet-mid-7-p-1.html She began to look into the whole process of mohair textiles. She wanted to help support these worthwhile endeavors and Be Sweet was born to tap the power of ethical business and her spirit of social entrepreneurship.

www.elegantroots.com/blog/ to continue reading

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Food Security Project is a New Model for Self-Sufficiency for Orphans in Conflict-Torn Regions

Equator Coffees Launches Chido’s Blend Coffee to Provide Critical Support

Chido Govero, a young Zimbabwean woman, trains orphan girls to grow highly nutritious food using plant matter from coffee farms – creating a solution for food insecurity, climate change, and orphan self-sufficiency. Equator Coffees releases Chido’s Blend, with 100% of the profits supporting Chido’s work. www.EquatorCoffees.com/Chido.