See It: The Community being helped

Rise Up: Simple Ways to Make Big Change is an event in planning hosted by NJ Students for Change in Somerset, NJ. The event will focus on various topics, primarily serving to evoke a sense of global connection and social responsibility in youth. This rally is mainly for middle school and high school students.
The topics of focus are HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Hunger, Child Soldiers, and Human Trafficking.

Speakers are from the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation, Refugees International, the Young General Assembly (NGO), and a local faith based initiative focused on the homeless.

Admission is free. The event goes from 10am-3pm on Jun. 28, 2008. See below for address.

Projected date:June 28 2008.
Contact us:

See It: The Community being helped

In the Spring of 2005, two students at Person High School in North Carolina committed suicide. Everyone around the community wanted to do something about it, but no one was sure exactly how to do it. Many of the students of the school wanted to create plaques, draw, and have a full memorial for the two students. This is when I stepped up to the challenge and said, "Why don't we create something long term, to prevent this from ever happening again?"
I looked up valuable information from the American Foundation for Suicide prevention, as well as local records. In this rural county, there has been at least one suicide per year since the 1970's, usually silenced by the townspeople to retain the Stepford image of the area. So I had a series of ideas.
1) "Out of the Darkness" March - a silent, candlelit march through Main Street of the area.
2) "Into the Light" Rally - a celebration of life and friendship, with local bands, artists, poets, and speakers, on how suicide or this program has affected them and the community.
3) Peer Training - Teens help other teens in noting the signs of depression and suicide, and working with their peers to prevent it.
4) Teacher Training - Concerned parents and teachers are trained to note signs of depression and unhealthy behaviors, and how to help.
5) A financial planning guide - life insurance does not cover a suicide, and families of the victims are already suffering. Why should they financially suffer too? It is a guide of the options to take in such a situation.
6) Offer a Person County Link to the suicide help line (1-800-273-TALK)

Our first year we saved up $1500, and $1000 of it went to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, thereby granting us the link to the suicide help line, as well as the funds for the rally. Money is still being put into the training of the teachers, students, and peers. Since the program started 2 1/2 years ago, we have helped over a hundred troubled teens and there has not been an incidence of suicide between ages 14 - 21, our focused age range.

See It: The Community being helped

First CNY Lung Cancer Walk & Rally 9:00 am September 22, 2007
All money raised will benefit lung cancer research and be donated to the Lungevity foundation. Music, face painting, silent auction, raffles 1 mile and 3 mile walk. Held at Onondaga Lake Park in Liverpool, NY (just outside of Syracuse NY)
Lung cancer kills more men and women than any other cancer yet receives just a fraction of research $ per death as compared to other cancers.