Explore Posterous

Colorada Rocky Mountain School Blog

 "The fight for health as a human right, a fight with real promise, has so far been plagued by failures. Failure because we are chronically short of resources. Failure because we are too often at the mercy of those with the power and money to decide the fates of hundreds of millions. Failure because ill health, as we have learned again and again, is more often than not a symptom of poverty and violence and inequality." In a recent "This I believe" archive Dr. Paul Farmer one of the founders of Partners in Health spoke to the notion that, health care should be a human right. Paul is a man that has the potential to make millions of dollars a year, and yet he has chosen, a modest life traveling the world ensuring that people receive health care. He does all of this not for money but, simply because he is passionate about it.

This  is what really drew me to Partners in Health, and through them, the FACE AIDS cause. Trying to make a positive contribution in the world seems overwhelming, yes the saying "one person can make a difference" is uplifting but how can we as students in Colorado help make that difference?  I was talking to teacher Amanda Leahy today expressing how I felt that CRMS represented a world of its own, there is diversity in ethnicity, race, culture, and economic status, each person here has different strengths and weaknesses that they bring everyday. Through our experiences with school trips, work crew, and active we have the opportunity to discover our own strenghths and weaknesses. We learn to trust one another, and most importantly help one another. Wouldn't it be great to take the lessons we learn through  helping and apply it to the world at large.

During the past week it has been  really amazing to hear all the stories that have evolved from our Cake Walk fundraiser. Operation Smile not only raised money to help those less fortunate but, has also created many memorable moments with family's and friends at CRMS. Teacerh Kayo Ogilby shared his daughter's excitement while making a princess cake, and the Head of School Leahy house was filled with fun and memories as they made a cake together for this charitable cause. Experiences like these are what  truly inspire us. I think  often times we gain more then we ever imagined by simply giving what we can.

Find what you are passionate about and dedicate yourself to the cause. CRMS offers a wide range of ways to help and give back: Work crews, Face Aids, Operation Smile, Peace Jam, Random Acts of Kindness club. Possibly  these organizations are not what inspire you. Sometimes what stirs your passion doesn't have a preexisting structure, sometimes you have to be the one to begin. When you find a cause that touches you  it becomes easy to dedicate yourself to it. Dr. Paul Farmer does not do what he does for recognition, he simply does it because it is the right thing to do. By joining something bigger then yourself it gives you a sense of purpose, a sense that you can make a difference.

With the coming holiday season and the holiday spirit in the air, with a seemingly endless supply of food and gifts it can become easy to forget just how fortunate we are. It can be a time when we take our good fortune for granite or.... we can use the holiday spirit to appreciate what we have,..... and share it with others.

A Haitian proverb says "Beyond mountains there are mountains." In other words as you solve one problem another one often presents itself, one of the great things about CRMS is they shine a light on a lot of the world's problems and give us the tools to problem solve. Before we leave tonight I encourage all of us to take a couple of moments to reflect on a problem  that you are passionate about, and think of ways that you can help that cause. -- Katie Grant, 11th grade, Colorado Rocky Mountain School presentation to the entire student body at an evening program

via xfactor.itv.com

"[...] "We decided we wanted to do something annually on the show to help good causes,” commented Simon.  “This year we chose to work with Great Ormond Street to help raise funds and awareness for their incredible work. I'm very proud of the single and I really hope it raises an enormous amount of money for people who really need our help"

The X Factor has been closely linked to Great Ormond Street for some time and the decision to choose them as this year’s charity follows an annual tradition of our winners visiting the hospital and some of the judges paying surprise visit to its patients [...] no less than £1 from the sale of each single of You Are Not Alone will be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, to support the work of the hospital [..]"

Mr Simon Cowell and his X-Factor franchise provides an enormous helping hand for a national not-for-profit each year, selecting an official charity to be supported by the show - including proceeds from a charity single performed by the TV finalists and reams (and bits) of national media coverage.

This is fantastic, and as a PR for a national charity - I of course applaud this exposure and all of the subsequent fundraising. 2009's choice of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH) is indeed a very worthy recipient of this coveted prize.

However, I have yet to find out how one might apply for the show's charity of the year status. Is it Simon's choice (he has very strong links to GOSH as well as The Variety Club to name but two)? Is it a staff vote? Is there a pitching process? I guess I would just like to see a little more transparency - as without this, smaller and lesser known charities may never get the opportunity to pitch or prove their relevance to the programme's demographic.

The 'prize' is huge; £1m raised for Help the Heroes last year, and the kind of exposure comms teams die for, so it seems only fair to me that the selection process is given greater prominence. X-Factor producers could even turn it into an audience / online vote so that the viewers pick from a group of shortlisted charities (and all proceeds from phonecalls could be distributed among that shortlist).

I dropped a friendly tweet to GOSH on Sunday during the show to see if they could shed some light. I'm awaiting a reply but am happy to share it should it arrive.

For further reading, blogger Beth Breeze has also pondered the question. Read her blog at Kent Philanthropy.

Conceived and managed largely by volunteers (including the rather striking flyer), Whizz-Fest played out at The Arches in London on Thursday 12 November 2009.

It may not have had huge names, but it was a very different kind of fundraiser for Whizz-Kidz, and hopefully added another feather to our bow in terms of ways we are reaching out and engaging with young supporters - disabled and non-disabled.

The bands were brilliant too - watch this space particularly for StrangeFruit, Silicon Kid and Niteflights. We've shared some pics on our Flickr page - take a look.

We had a couple of bands 'not quite make it' but I won't name and shame (clue: they aren't in any photos on the Flickr page).

So Whizz-Kidz shared a new events fundraising poster to our online communities to poll opinion - with mixed results. A cautionary tale? What do you think? Hit or miss?

So I’m growing a mustache—for cancer.

Participatory fundraising has become popular for very good reason. We run races, we walkathon. And—around here anyway—we grow mustaches.

Movember = Mo(ustache) + (No)vember

Movember is just like a walkathon, but with facial hair. Enterprising mustache growers sign up, then fundraise for the cause. In the US, that’s cancer research: both the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong benefit from donations.

Yes, my mustache fights cancer. With your help --

• Donate today if you can, or 
• Grow a mo' and join the Itchy Lips team
• Spread the word about how Movember fights cancer

And check out Itchy Lips, our team blog, for mustache updates like this one --