Samaritanmag

Music-heavy news site about charities, causes and good deeds

kids

Sandy Hook "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" (feat. Ingrid Michaelson) 2013

The horror unleashed on Sandy Hook Elementary School Dec. 14 when a gunman killed 20 children and six adult staff will never fade for the parents and Newtown, CT community. While the grown-ups lobby Washington for new gun legislation, 21 kids from the school are singing out in a different way. Spearheaded by concert promoter Tim Hayes, the Children of Newtown Choir back multi-platinum-selling folk-pop singer Ingrid Michaelson on “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” The song was recorded at the Connecticut home studio of couple Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, formerly of Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club. Proceeds from the sale of the track will benefit the Newtown Youth Academy and the United Way of Western Connecticut. Purchase here. — K.B.

Toy Lending Libraries A Widespread Concept

If you’re a parent who is strapped by a limited income but still wishes you could spoil your children with various toys, an alternative solution might be closer than you think. Most family and community centres have toy libraries, where parents can sign out toys for their children for a couple of weeks at a time, then return them for others to use.

Samaritanmag.com is an online magazine covering the good deeds of individuals, charities and businesses.

Fledgling Non-Profit Seeks to Heal Kids through Art

If there is a subject grimmer than that of children suffering abuse and trauma, it’s children suffering abuse and trauma without receiving adequate treatment. But treatment can take many forms. That’s where a new non-profit organization hopes to implement its unique purview.

Samaritanmag.com is an online magazine covering the good deeds of individuals, charities and businesses.

Billy Talent, Kardinal, Lights, Harmer Contrast Their Childhood With War Kids

Billy Talent, Kardinal Offishall, Sarah Harmer, Lights and Kay are among the Canadian musicians who reflected on their own childhood for a series of online video clips, as part of War Child Canada’s powerful advertising campaign, entitled JAM.

Samaritanmag.com is an online magazine covering the good deeds of individuals, charities and businesses.

Yoga Helps At-Risk And Incarcerated Kids

It’s hard to believe that another chapter could possibly be added to the story of yoga, which already spans the globe and the millennia. And yet a new, perhaps unlikely group — at-risk and incarcerated youth — is discovering the stress relief, mood-enhancement and improved balance and fitness benefits of regular yoga practice.

That’s thanks to the New Leaf Yoga Foundation. The Toronto-based registered charity brings downward dog, shavasana, meditation and conscious breathing — and the above-mentioned benefits they confer — to teens “overcoming histories of abuse, neglect, incarceration, gang-involvement, addiction, marginalization and other factors that have led them to be identified as ‘at risk,’” according to the Foundation’s website, www.newleafyoga.org

Those involved insist yoga teaches real-world coping skills (focus, relaxation and calming breath, for example) that youth can access to constructively deal with anxiety and anger rather than acting out.  Plus, it’s fun. Judging by the testimonials of former students...

 

Samaritanmag.com is an online magazine covering the good deeds of individuals, charities and businesses.

Skate4Cancer's Rob Dyer's New Cause: The Dream Love Cure Centre

The founder of Skate4Cancer has evolved his vision. Rob Dyer, the 27-year-old Newmarket, Ontario native who has skateboarded across the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and parts of Australia to raise awareness about cancer, has a new goal in mind: the Dream Love Cure Centre (http://dreamlovecure.org/).

“It’s basically going to be a support centre for kids who are going through cancer, or kids who have been impacted directly or indirectly by the disease,” Dyer told Samaritanmag.  “There aren’t a lot of places available for kids to go and talk and share their emotions and stories, especially on the counseling side of things.

“When you lose someone to cancer, I find that there’s not really many places for you to turn, because it’s a life-changing experience. And if you don’t have a place that’s non-judgmental, it can be really hard on kids.”

Dyer knows from personal experience: within a year, he lost his mom, Wendy, his grandparents and his best friend Matt McInnes to the disease.

And he’s not alone: according to stats published on the Canadian Cancer Society website, an estimated 1 in 4 Canadians are expected to die from cancer, with an estimated 173,800 new cases being diagnosed every week.

Dyer’s loss occurred eight years ago, and he admits he fought depression, crediting his friends with bringing him out of his funk and keeping him positive.

 

Samaritanmag.com is an online magazine covering the good deeds of individuals, charities and businesses.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - kids