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.choresforcharity.com
Ilana Rothbein started Chores-For-Charity when she was a high school student to create awareness about epilepsy and raise money for epilepsy research. Her older brother Paul was struggling with seizures and when Paul’s medical condition seemed hopeless, his parents sought the help of Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a world renowned neurologist and Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYU Medical Center. Finally, with the help of Dr. Devinsky, Paul was able to get his epilepsy under control and has been seizure free for five years.

As a tribute to Dr. Devinsky and her brother Paul, Ilana wanted to donate money for epilepsy research at NYU Medical Center through their non-profit organization, Finding a Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures (FACES). She set aside 45 hours of her babysitting earnings and donated almost $500 to FACES. Ilana then developed the Chores-For-Charity website and program to open a new avenue of private donations by encouraging high school students to become philanthropic by donating a small amount of their part-time earnings as an alternative way to earn community service credit.

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.

www.oprahsangelnetwork.org
Oprah Winfrey has used the power of the media to create an unparalleled connection with people around the world. Her accomplishments as a global media leader and philanthropist have established her as one of the most respected and admired public figures today. Oprah has long believed that education is the door to freedom, offering a chance at a brighter future. Through her private charity, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, she has awarded hundreds of grants to organizations that support the education and empowerment of women, children and families in the United States and around the world. Oprah’s Angel Network is a public charity dedicated to inspiring people to make a difference in the lives of others. Since beginning in 1998, they have been making grants to organizations and operating projects in underserved communities that provide educational initiatives as well as assist people in fulfilling basic human needs and regaining dignity.

www.vitaminangels.org
Howard Schiffer founded Vitamin Angels Alliance after a career in the natural foods marketplace which included creating or developing a number of well known brands including Balance Bars. Vitamin Angels is dedicated to providing basic nutrition and fighting vitamin A deficiency, childhood blindness and other vitamin deficiency diseases around the world. They have numerous programs supporting children and expecting mothers. Within a week after Hurricane Katrina hit, Vitamin Angels had ten trucks loaded with vitamins going out of warehouses south of Houston.