www.emergeglobal.org
Emerge began when MIT undergrad Alia Whitney- Johnson encountered a group of teenage mothers (age 10-18) who were the survivors of rape and incest while conducting tsunami relief work in Sri Lanka in 2005.

A jewelry maker since the age of 7, Ali decided to host a jewelry workshop to get to know the girls better. Jewelry became a tool for transformation: a way to uplift their spirits and to help them overcome the economic and emotional obstacles they faced. Emerge was born as a way to sustain their work, connecting them to supplies and training, a global market, and a global community of support. Emerge jewelry sales have been widely successful, selling out all merchandise every time.

Emerge is launching its next project: a community with homes, a school, and a women’s cooperative for sexually abused teenage mothers in Sri Lanka that will promote leadership, community, and livelihood.

www.grandmasgifts.org
Grandma’s Gifts was founded in 1993 by Emily Douglas, at the age of eleven. Grandma’s Gifts provides food, clothing, books, toys, glasses, school supplies, scholarships, and educational experiences to children, families, schools, businesses, and organizations in Appalachian Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Emily founded this organization in memory of her grandma Norma Ackison of Ironton, Ohio, who passed away in 1991 of breast cancer. Since 2002, Grandma’s Gifts has operated as a donor advise fund through the Columbus Foundation.

To date, over $2,000,000 in goods and services has been provided. Additionally, over 650,000 books have been placed into the hands of needy children, daycare’s, hospitals, and libraries. One-hundred percent of funds raised go to pay for goods, services, or books. Grandma’s Gifts is always looking to help the community, work to educate people on giving, and organize projects.

www.carebags4kids.org
Care Bags Foundation was founded by Annie Wignall in Jan. 2000 when she was eleven years old. Annie got the idea after she learned there were lots of kids in crisis situations who have to leave their homes with very few of their own belongings. “ I love kids and wanted to do something to help make their lives better”, says Annie. Over the years, with increased support and donations from businesses, groups and individuals, along with numerous agencies who hand-deliver the bags, Annie’s idea has grown from a small home-based project helping a few Iowa kids, into a nationally recognized nonprofit organization that provides services to thousands of kids worldwide. Care Bags, which is run entirely by volunteer efforts, is now complete with its own headquarters for storing items and filling bags. As Annie Wignall says, “I know we can’t help everyone, but with your help we can make a difference, one Care Bag, one child at a time.”

www.hannahssocks.org
Two years ago on a chilly Thanksgiving day, 4-year-old Hannah Turner was helping serve dinner to the needy at Toledo’s Cherry Street Mission. Hannah had focused on a man in line wearing shoes that had split open to reveal he had no socks on “Mommy, won’t his feet be cold? Mommy, he can have my socks,” she said. That next day, Doris took Hannah to purchase and distribute socks to local shelters. The following two years, they were able to collect and donate over 100 pairs around Toledo.

Hannah’s Socks is focused on providing clothing necessities to the less fortunate in Toledo, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; and their neighboring communities. Through an annual winter “Socks Drive” as well as emergency “Socks 911″ drives, Hannah’s Socks collects donated materials in the form of men’s, women’s and children’s socks and undergarments, for distribution to both the homeless and to victims of domestic violence. Hannah’s Socks firmly believes that in a country as prosperous as the United States, no man, woman or child should want for something as basic as a warm pair of socks.

www.uniteforsight.org

Jennifer Staple founded Unite for Sight in 2000 as a sophomore at Yale University. Unite For Sight empowers communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness. Local and visiting volunteers work with partner eye clinics to provide eye care in communities without previous access, with the goal of creating eye disease-free communities. Additionally, vision screening and education programs are implemented worldwide by volunteers working in ninety chapters established at universities in North America, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In Africa and Asia, Unite For Sight volunteers work with partner eye clinics to implement screening and free surgery programs. What started with a single volunteer has now grown to a force of over 4,000 volunteers working through 90 chapters, based at universities, medical schools, corporations, and high schools worldwide, and delivering eye care screening and education programs to over 400,000. Unite For Sight has sponsored 11,712 sight-restoring cataract surgeries to date and anticipates reaching 12,000 by the end of 2007. Working with our partner ophthalmologists, we have also provided thousands of people with treatment for infections, glaucoma, pterygium, and refractive error.

www.planethope.org/
Sharon Stone and her sister, Kelly began Planet Hope in 1992 to help instill hope in the lives of those who need it most, the homeless. Planet Hope’s programs have been able to offer gratis medical and dental care, new clothes for kids, counseling and image makeovers for homeless women and women that have been victims of domestic violence. Their mission of providing hope for a better life has made a tremendous difference to thousands of homeless and abused children and their families.