Charities
Dr. Gary M Weiss and Next Step® Institute of Integrative Medicine, Inc. have teamed up with six charities to help at-risk or needy children in Eagle County and around the world. 100% of net proceeds will provide direct support for these 501(c)(3) organizations. Raffle participants may specify which organization(s) they would like their ticket purchase(s) to support. Proceeds made from purchases without such designation will be divided equally among the groups.
Action for Children
Palm Bay, Florida
www.action4children.net
info@action4children.net
Action for Children is a 501(c)(3) organization founded by Dr. Gary Weiss in 2002. With its strong history of creating and funding innovative programs for developing healthy habits for youth, Action for Children has succeeded in supporting after-school programs, the construction of gymnasiums, life skills trainings for teens, and building improvements for schools/after-school centers in Colorado, Florida, Montana, and Mexico. Funds from the Eagle Nest Raffle will support the following efforts:
- San Ignacio, Mexico—building bathrooms, an athletic facility, and improving energy efficiency and computer systems at the San Ignacio Elementary School
- Funding athletic programs for at-risk youth in Eagle Valley, Colorado
Vail Performing Arts Academy
Vail, Colorado
www.vailperformingarts.com
Since 1996, the Vail Performing Arts Academy has been providing quality performing arts opportunities for students of all ages in the Vail Valley. By offering young actors theater arts direction from some of the finest professionals in the business, VPAA has enabled more than 2,000 young people to experience the power of performing arts—inspiring creativity and fostering confidence in every life they touch. Support for VPAA will help the organization continue to offer year-round programs, scholarship support, as well as to secure a permanent home for its classes and rehearsals. Programs include an annual summer musical production, spring and fall showcase performances, special appearances, holiday performances, school enrichments, and more.
National Association for Children of Alcoholics
Kensington, MD
www.nacoa.org
The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA) believes that no child of an alcoholic or drug abusing parent should grow up in isolation and without support. NACoA is the national 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership and affiliate organization that works on behalf of these children. The organization’s mission is to eliminate the adverse impact of alcohol and drug use on children and families. Support for NACoA will help to train growing numbers of clergy, pastoral ministers, social workers, primary health providers, and educators to identify, intervene, and provide healing support for the one in four children living in families with alcohol and drug abuse problems. NACoA creates and distributes educational and support tools and messages that will foster hope and help to prevent the mental, physical, social, and addiction problems that can harm the emotional and healthy growth of young people raised in alcohol and/or drug-abusing families. In addition to its national outreach, NACoA reaches and helps thousands more children and families each year with its training and materials through its network of 52 affliliate organizations and is national organizations in Germany and Great Britain.
UNICEF: Haiti Earthquake Children’s Appeal
Jacmel & Port-au-Prince, Haiti
www.unicefusa.org
Working in over 150 countries, UNICEF provides children with health care, clean water, nutrition, education, emergency relief, and more. The organization has been working in Haiti since 1949, collaborating with its government to develop long-term solutions to problems caused by poverty and lack of basic health care, education, and sanitation services. The poorest country in the western hemisphere, more than half of Haiti’s 10 million inhabitants are under the age of 18.
Following the quake that devastated the Caribbean nation on January 12th, UNICEF began dispatching emergency teams and planeloads of life-saving supplies to help those most affected by natural disasters—children. Thousands of children were killed or injured in the quake. Those who survived the disaster are now in temporary shelters, hospitals, or on the streets, with little access to food, water, or medical attention. UNICEF’s recovery operations in Haiti include ensuring children and families have access to desperately needed clean water, providing therapeutic food for infants, reuniting unaccompanied children with their families, and getting children back to school.
Holy Name of Jesus - Gym and Community Outreach
Haiti & Indialantic, Florida
www.hnj.org
Holy Name of Jesus is a large Catholic community known for its vibrant worship, life-changing small group communities and service outreach, spirit-filled scripture study classes, Youth Ministry, excellent parochial school, dynamic weekend retreats, and warm, welcoming spirit. Funds designated to Holy Name of Jesus will support the organization with two efforts: Hearts Out to Haiti and Share the Vision.
For 11 years, Holy Name of Jesus has stood behind its outreach mission, Hearts Out to Haiti. Created in 1999, Hearts Out to Haiti supports three sister parishes in Les Palmes, Morne a Chandelle, and Durissy. The Haiti mission has numerous achievements to its credit: helping to educate thousands of students, constructing two schools, helping to support 125 teacher salaries, paying the tuitions of five university students, helping to found the mountaintop Rainbow Clinic for year-round medical care, building outdoor toilets, constructing a cistern, installing solar panels and a computer lab with Internet access, providing on-going teacher training, and much, much more.
HNJ’s sister parishes suffered greatly in the recent Haiti disaster, enduring the loss of a beloved Archbishop and many community members; destruction to their homes, schools, and churches; and devastation to some of the Mission’s greatest accomplishments. However, as Haitian team member Angela Romano observed, “After the earthquake, we must start anew to assist our Haitian communities with the basic necessities of life, and then help to rebuild what was lost.” HNJ is humbly requesting contributions to help them provide desperately needed support to their Haitian brothers and sisters. Visit http://www.hnj.org/HNJ/whatsnew_haiti.html to learn more.
In addition to HNJ's Haitian efforts is Share the Vision. Share the Vision is the name given to the organization's capital campaign, which was created to fund projects designed to serve and energize the many ministries that make up its Florida-based parish life. Funds designated to Share the Vision will help fund:
- The Holy Name Life Center: 45,000+ sq ft—large hall, stage, kitchen, cafeteria, your ministry & child centers, meeting rooms, administrative offices
- Athletic Center: 19,000+ sq ft of air-conditioned exercise space, full-sized basketball court, locker rooms & retreat facilities
- Revitalized parish & school campus: new traffic pattern, additional parking, increased safety pedestrians, upgraded utilities
- Future of Faith: funding for upgrading educational quality
Eagle Valley Religious Foundation
Edwards, Colorado
www.edwardsinterfaithchapel.org
The Eagle Valley Religious Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created in the mid-1990s to establish a third interfaith campus in the Vail Valley, which will be located in Edwards, Colorado. Celebrating a rich history of sharing space, respect, and friendship, the EVRF is comprised of the B’nai Vail Jewish Congregation, the Episcopal Church of Transfiguration, Mount of the Holy Cross Lutheran Church, and Covenant Presbyterian Church. Focusing on what unites us rather than what divides us, the organization serves to:
- express the best religious tenets of tolerance and mutual respect present in all faith traditions;
- utilize combined human and financial resources to accomplish much more in building and programming than any of the congregations could achieve standing alone;
- encourage even greater cooperation and affinity between the faiths while inviting other traditions to join;
- respond to community needs with a higher community profile
The Edwards-based interfaith chapel will meet the needs of the rapidly growing community down-valley—the burgeoning demographic of young adults, couples, families, and retirees settling in Avon, Edwards, Eagle, and Gypsum. A 5-acre parcel purchased in 2006 will be graced by a roughly 40,000 sq ft campus. The Edwards facility will include multiple sanctuaries and classrooms to allow for meetings/classes of different congregations simultaneously; nursery and educational facilities for young children; outdoor youth activity areas, including ½ basketball court, and beautiful outdoor space; and conference facilities, administration area, and caretaker quarters. With these additional facilities, space, and parking, more congregations will be able to come together in a community-based setting to get to know one another and share in the spirit of faith, making the Edwards Interfaith campus a true center for community and faith in the heart of the Vail Valley.
St. Labre Indian School/St. Paul's Mission
Ashland, Montana 59004/Hays, Montana
www.stlabre.org
For more than 125 years, St. Labre Indian School has served the children of the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Indian reservations. Offering kindergarten through high school, St. Labre has helped children realize their full potential, bringing hope into their lives and the opportunity to break from the cycle of poverty and despair faced by Native Americans.
St. Labre is truly a unique environment, combining education, spirituality and Native American culture to educate the whole child. The school’s mission is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Catholic tradition by providing quality education which celebrates the Catholic faith and embraces Native American culture, primarily the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Tribes, so that Native American individuals and communities of Southeastern Montana are empowered to attain self-sufficiency.
St. Paul’s is a Mission School in Hays, Montana, which is dedicated to the education of area Native American children. The Mission School has welcomed grade school children of all tribes and backgrounds, free of charge, since the 1930s. Funds are desperately needed to help St. Paul’s Mission support its staff, buy supplies and rebuild the school, which fell to arson in 2008. Enrollment at the school is currently at its peak, with 104 students so far this year. The school is run by three Dominican sisters, five Jesuit volunteers, and seven Native American staff members serving as teachers, kitchen staff, maintenance workers, an athletic director, and a bus driver.
