Mission

As members of the performing arts community, we are compelled to help the communities in which we live but also recognize that we are part of a much larger community - one of humanity. Through our individual and collective talents, we hope to create a spirit of giving that all of us can be part of in helping those most in need.

We firmly believe in youth empowerment - kids and teens can make a difference! Our goal is to stimulate and empower youth through education and by providing programs which offer an opportunity for action as well as a realization that one person can make a difference.


WHY YOUR HELP IS NEEDED ...
We can not do this alone, but collectively we can make a huge difference in the lives of others.

• World hunger organizations estimate that nearly 1 BILLION people around the world are chronically hungry.
• 30,000 children die every day of hunger or diseases resulting from hunger.
• Nearly 200 million children in the world are malnourished according to the United Nations.
• The number of people who die from hunger every 3 ½ days is the same number of people who died from the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.
• The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world’s hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia together have approximately 40%, and the remaining hungry people are found in Latin America and other parts of the world.
• 36.3 million American people live in households that experience hunger. This means that one in ten households in the United States is hungry. (USDA, Economic Research Service, 2003)
• 13 million children in the U.S. go to bed hungry. (Bread for the World, 2004)
• In the U.S. hunger and race are related. 41.9% of African-American children and 40% of Latino children are chronically hungry compared to 16.2% of white children. (Bread for the World, 1995 statistics.)
• The U.S. Administration on Aging estimates that 1 out of 4 seniors in the U.S. has an inadequate diet.
• Around the world the most vulnerable to hunger are: children, pregnant and nursing women, single mothers, the elderly, the homeless, the unemployed, ethnic and racial minorities, and the working poor.

  Some little reported facts about hunger in the United States that might surprise you:

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate rose again in 2004 with 1.1 million more Americans living in poverty than the previous year.
• The infant mortality rate (IMR) in America's capital is twice as high as in China's capital. The number of babies who died before their first birthdays amounted to 11.5 per thousand live births in 2002 in Washington D.C. compared with 4.6 in Beijing.
• According to the United Nations Development program, an African-American baby in Washington has less chance of surviving its first year than a baby born in urban parts of the state of Kerala in India.
• The IMR has risen for the first time since 1958. The U.S. ranks 43rd in the world in infant mortality, according to the CIA's Factbook. If we could reach the level of Singapore ranked #1, we would save
  18'900 children's lives each year.
• Nationally 29 percent of U.S. children had no health insurance at some point in the last 12 months and many others get neither checkups or vaccinations. The U.S. ranks 84th in the world for measles immunizations and 89th for polio.
  
  
  
  

  pounds of food have been wasted this year.