What One Heart Can Do For Haiti - March 14 Benefit
Upon seeing the images of Haitians suffering, Josef Nevigato, a local 12 year old boy appealed to his family to do something to help. In response, his family, which owns Cedro Ristorante Italiano in downtown Menlo Park, chose to hold a benefit for Haitian earthquake relief March 14th. More than 10 local businesses have since joined them -- see the event page for a complete list.
What can you do? Bring family and friends to any of the participating restaurants and shops on Sunday, March 14th, and a healthy percentage of profits will go to the people of Haiti. If you're a local business owner, please consider joining your community for this event.
The funds we raise will be divided evenly between Partners in Health and Whirlwind Wheelchairs International. These two organizations have been critical in the relief efforts, with a high percentage of donations going directly to the people in need. Partners in Health has had a presence in Haiti for over 20 years, with well-established clinics and doctors. Whirlwind Wheelchairs has been meeting the need of over 2,000 amputees from the devastating earthquake, providing simple, rugged, and inexpensive all-terrain wheelchairs, made in neighboring developing countries.
For more information, see the Heart for Haiti event page.
What's in the News?
Leaders in House Block Earmarks to Corporations
House Democratic leaders on Wednesday banned budget earmarks to private industry, ending a practice that has steered billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to companies and set off corruption scandals. Read more here...
New York Times
Winter Film Series - Community, Connection and Sustainability
Concerned about the environment and climate change?
Looking for ways to make a positive, sustainable change for people and the planet?
Join us for a Friday evening film series that focuses on hopeful and positive solutions to problems affecting our world.
On Friday night, Feb 19th, we kicked off the series with a hugely successful showing of The Power of Community and subsequent discussion. Instead of the dire and frightening stories of the plight that our planet is in, we were treated to an example of the great things that people can do when presented with a precipitous and immediate unavailability of fossil fuels.
Please join us over the next four weeks for more in this wonderful series.
Place: Acterra
3921 E. Bayshore Rd., Palo Alto
Directions
No charge for this event. Please RSVP using the buttons below (click "more >>>" first if you are viewing this article on the SVAN home page), to help us plan programs and keep you informed of changes!
more >>>
Take a stand against the Supreme Court ruling on corporate campaign spending
Last week, the Supreme Court delivered a highly charged ruling around the issue of campaign finance, voting 5-4 that the ban on corporate spending for political campaigns be lifted. Coverage of this issue can be found at the New York Times here and here. President Obama has been outspoken on the issue, calling it “a huge victory to the special interests and their lobbyists.”
Let your representatives know you oppose the idea of allowing special interests to pour money into elections by signing this petition, which urges members of Congress to take a stand against corporate special interests.
SVAN Newsletter -- March 2, 2010
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How 4 friends plus their friends turned a thought into a thing...
In October, four friends from the Obama campaign office in Palo Alto decided to ask a ‘few’ of their friends for donations of clothing and food to deliver to three local charities in January, 2010 for the MLK Day of Service and to celebrate the first anniversary of President Obama’s inauguration.
They decided to support three agencies:
- Bread of Life – East Palo Alto (BOLEPA): A ‘soup kitchen’ serving/providing more than 2000 meals per month; as the community has evolved, so has BOLEPA. It now feeds, supports independence (entrepreneurial) and requires individuals to move toward self-sufficiency with their help.
- Career Closet – San Jose: Provides professional clothing for women who are looking for or have recently found a job.
- InnVision – Palo Alto: Operates a drop-in center for the poor/homeless living in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park. Serves 3 meals/day and operates a clothes closet for both men and women every Wednesday. Groceries may be picked up once a month.
The drive was incredibly successful as these pictures show.more >>>
A renewed call to action
Obama's First Year: It Ain't No Crystal Staircase
Obama will increasingly have to choose - whether to hold to his vision and raise the stakes, or compromise his vision to cut the deal. And those of us whom he has inspired also have to choose. Whether to sit back and hope he does the right thing against the odds, growing cynical when he fails our expectations, or to stand up, mobilize, challenge the Congress and the President to get on with the change we need. The first year is but the opening scene. We should still have the audacity to hope, and the commitment to act. Read the article here.
Request for tech help - Drupal
We have a critical need for people with experience in building and maintaining web sites. Our site is built using PHP and the Drupal content management system. We're looking for people who are familiar with these systems, as well as those who are willing to learn. Please contact Dan Carnese (dcarnese@svanetwork.org) for more information or to volunteer. Thanks!
"Silicon Valley For Obama" changed to "Silicon Valley Action Network"
We've changed the name of our site to reflect the name of our new organization. So "Silicon Valley For Obama" is now "Silicon Valley Action Network". more >>>
Understanding the financial crisis
Need help understanding the financial crisis? Lisa Altieri has researched and written an excellent explanation of the crisis, available for download below.
The document offers a detailed explanation of the behaviors and circumstances that led to our current economic situation, with a goal of making an understanding of the crisis accessible to as many people as possible. As new information about the crisis is continually emerging, any feedback or input is welcome.
Click here to get the file.
