Special Olympics World Summer Games Organizing President Joanna Despotopoulou greeted the parade of athletes, as more than 7000 athletes from nearly 180 nations made their way into the Kallimarmaron Panthinaikon Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece to roaring applause from the fans.
As Special Olympics athletes and coaches from across the world settled in to the stadium, everyone welcomed legendary singer, songwriter, musician and producer Stevie Wonder. Stevie opened with his song ‘You can feel it’ followed by ‘You are the sunshine of my life’ which got the crowd on their feet and dancing. Wonder, one of the great personalities in music history, spoke to the audience about the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics: “Her vision has helped the world appreciate the value of all human beings. Eunice made us understand that we are all special. Our dreams are only limited by our vision.”
Last week Billabong held its fifth annual Design For Humanity event at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, CA. Billabong once again successfully brought together three very separate elements of fashion, music and art and rose over $120,000 for The VH1 Save The Music Foundation.
The sold out fashion-music-art block party was a blow out with indie band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros playing an incredible set and Hanni El Khatib performing it on the financial district stage.
The Roots and Shepard Fairey will join Van Jones and MoveOn.org in New York City on June 23rd to kick off a major new economic campaign called, “Rebuild the Dream”. While big banks and other major corporations are once again thriving, countless Americans continue to face high unemployment, low wages, home foreclosures and little hope about their economic future. Meanwhile in Washington, the debate is not about jobs, but rather deficit reduction.
The Rebuild the Dream campaign will promote an economic agenda to protect and expand America’s middle class. The campaign will harness the power of culture and technology to mobilize, organize and broaden the base of people committed to economic solutions that will work for the middle class, and all who aspire to belong to it.
The Roots and Shepard Fairey will join Van Jones on stage as Van lays out the new campaign.
Thursday, June 23, 2011 – 8:00 PM
Town Hall
123 West 43rd Street, New York
The film examines the profound claim that many of our most-debilitating degenerative diseases – such as heart disease, type-2 diabetes, and several forms of cancer – are almost always preventable, and in many cases reversible, through diet alone. The major storyline traces the journeys of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a nutritional biochemist from Cornell University, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a former top surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. The idea of food as medicine is put to the test. Throughout the film, cameras follow “reality patients” who have chronic conditions from heart disease to diabetes. Doctors teach these patients how to adopt a whole foods plant-based diet as the primary approach to treat their ailments – while the challenges and triumphs of their journeys are revealed.
The owner of G-Star’s NY store locations son is suffering from Cystic Fibrosis and they are holding a fundraiser with raffle and discount options for all consumers in the NYC, Chicago, and Miami locations.
Cystic Fibrosis is a devastating genetic disease that affects over 30,000 people who suffer with this illness in the US and over 10 million people who carry one of the known defective genes whether they know it or not. It effects the lungs and the digestive system which of course are two of the most important parts of our lives; breathing and eating. 25 years ago people with CF rarely made it into their 20′s, but today with new therapies and drugs life expectancy averages closer to 40 yrs and is improving every year. This amazing statistic has been made possible by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s relentless efforts. Over 90% of all money collected goes directly to this funding. Continue reading “G-Star Fundraiser: Thurs 5/19” »
Oki-ni is extending their hand to the relief of the victims effect by the earthquake that took place in Japan by offering this auction to public. Thom Browne donated not one, but two, of the custom-made astronaut helmets used in their spring/summer ’11 runway show; NN07 kindly provided a one-of-a-kind Japanese indigo pique shirt, which would have been too expensive to put into production; and Bernhard Willhelm contributed four Japanese headbands, as used in their spring/summer show; limited-edition Bag from Jil Sander; cosmic vest from Christopher Kane; SS11 T-Shirt from Marc Jacobs; Special-Edition Shorts from Burkman Brothers; Two Pairs of Limited Edition Shoes from Volta.
As Japan recovers from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11, the world’s top recording artists respond to the tragedy with this benefit album. The 38 tracks include some of their biggest hits, featuring an exclusive remix of Lady GaGa’s “Born This Way,” along with original versions of Katy Perry’s “Firework,” Bruno Mars’ “Talking to the Moon,” Adele’s “Make You Feel My Love,” and more. All proceeds go to the Japanese Red Cross. Purchase here.
On Monday March 28th, in Washington Square Park from 1pm until 4pm, THE BOMB SHELTER, an immersive multi-media installation exhibit will be open to the public. A periodic siren will sound and participating park goers will have 15 seconds to get from where they are in Washington Square to the shelter – the same length of time that those facing rocket attacks in Israel have to reach safety.
“The artists wanted New Yorkers to viscerally feel what Israelis went through this week during the bombing of a Jerusalem bus stop and repeated rocket strikes,” says Craig Dershowitz, President of Artists 4 Israel, the non-profit that created the installation. Continue reading “NYC Park: Bomb Shelter and Terror Attack Simulation” »
Levi’s Brand commemorated World Water Day today with their Levi’s Water<Less™ jeans collection, an assortment of denim made by using less water during the finishing process, has already helped save millions of liters of water since they first hit shelves this January.
To further draw attention to this important matter, yesterday, Levi’s and Water.org staged a World Water Day ‘Water March’ comprised of more than 100 ‘water carriers’ who embarked on a 3 mile journey through the winding, busy streets of New York City. Symbolic of the distance millions of people in developing nations walk on a daily basis to access clean water, the march took participants from South Street Sea Port through numerous Manhattan neighborhoods, ending in Union Square. Along the way, each participant hauled 5-gallon ‘water’ containers above their heads.
