LOVE ANGELES

Krochet Kids

Source: KrochetKids.org - Recently, I stumbled upon a stand of beautiful crocheted goods on display inside of the Peet's Coffee on Larchmont (one of my new favorite streets.) After inquiring more from the down-to-earth gal representing the movement, I instantly fell in love with their international vision.

Mission: To empower people to rise above poverty.

Vision: To create sustainable economic development programs that support holistic growth of individuals and communities within developing nations. To inspire the knowledge of a generation about their ability to bring change to a world that is in need. Click here to browse their goods!

If you're still not convinced, just check out Krochet Kids' Values:

People: We desire holistic freedom for our people to grow and enrich their lives physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Our Product: We believe in quality, handmade products that not only bring comfort and style, but serve as a vehicle for social change.

Love: We believe actions rooted in love bring lasting and powerful change. Our model for love is that of the ultimate servant: Jesus

I love love love what these kids (now adults) are creating around the world:

Leo and Co. Seize the Moment

Source: CelebsGoneGood - After just donating a whopping $1 mil to help Haiti last month, Leonardo DiCaprio is already at it again!

There’s no surprise as to why he made the top 10 on our Top 20 Celebs Gone Good list back in November. He’s teamed up with Chace Crawford, Emmy Rossum, Justin Long, Jason Bateman, and more in a special video for “This is Our Moment” to mobilize the country towards working towards a cleaner, greener future.

“This is Our Moment” is the Natural Resources Defense Council’s new web-based video campaign that encourages Americans to actively participate in preserving the community by speaking to their legislative representatives via email and online videos. The campaign pushes for citizens to urge their senators to help pass climate legislation that is essential to help recharge the economy, reduce pollution and curb global warming, and create more jobs.

Seize the moment and check out what the A-list supporters have to say about how you can help to get the “Clean Energy, Jobs and American Power Act” passed in the Senate!

See the clip of Leo here:

Gates Foundation Pledges $10 billion to Vaccine Research

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND -Washington Post - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $10 billion over the next decade to research vaccines and make them available to the world's poorest countries, the Microsoft co-founder and his wife said Friday.

Calling on governments and businesses to contribute, the Gateses said the initiative will produce higher immunization rates and is intended to protect 90 percent of children in poorer countries against such dangerous conditions as diarrhea and pneumonia.

"We must make this the decade of vaccines," Bill Gates said in a statement. "Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries. Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before."

Gates said the commitment will more than double the $4.5 billion the foundation has given to vaccine research over the years.

The foundation said as many as 7.6 million children younger than 5 could be saved through 2019 as a result of the donation. It also estimates that an additional 1.1 million children would be saved if a malaria vaccine was introduced by 2014. A tuberculosis vaccine would prevent even more deaths.

"Vaccines are a miracle," Melinda Gates said. "With just a few doses, they can prevent deadly diseases for a lifetime."

Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization, called the Gates contribution unprecedented, and she urged governments and private donors to add to the initiative.

"An additional 2 million deaths in children under five years could be prevented by 2015 through widespread use of new vaccines and a 10 percent increase in global vaccination coverage," Chan said.

The Gates statement said the foundation would help to dramatically reduce child mortality in the next 10 years and urged others to pitch in with research funding and other financial support for poor children.

Hope For Haiti Now: The Telethon

Source: Yahoo Music - The massive tragedy of the Haitian earthquake has been enormous in scope--and the responses to that tragedy have been, in some ways, similarly enormous.

Among the artists slated to perform for the event: Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira and Sting in New York City; Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift and a group performance by Keith Urban, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow in Los Angeles; and Coldplay plus a group performance by Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna in London.

The worldwide broadcast will be hosted by Wyclef Jean in New York, with George Clooney hosting in Los Angeles and CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting from Haiti.

And you can check it out below as it happens--today from 8-10pm EST.

Significantly raising the charity stakes: All of the musical performances for the event will be available for $.99 per song through Apple's iTunes store--with all proceeds benefitting Haiti through Hope For Haiti Now charities.

Follow this link to iTunes for more information!

Much more information about this very worthy cause can be had at http://www.hopeforhaitinow.org/

Wyclef Jean Joins George Clooney To Lead MTV's 'Hope For Haiti'

Source: MTV - Wyclef Jean will join George Clooney and CNN's Anderson Cooper in hosting MTV Networks' "Hope for Haiti," the global telethon to air commercial-free across ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, the CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT on Friday, January 22, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

The telethon will be hosted by Clooney in Los Angeles, Jean in New York and Cooper in Haiti. All donations will directly benefit Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, UNICEF and Wyclef's Yele Haiti Foundation.

"Hope for Haiti" will feature performances and celebrity appearances to be announced in the coming days, as well as live news reports from CNN. "Hope for Haiti" will also be made available to MTV Networks International and CNN International.

Facebook and MySpace have signed on as official social-media partners to help steer viewers to the telethon and drive donations.

Yele Haiti has already raised $2 million through text-message donations, the organization announced on Friday (January 15). By texting "Yele" to 501501, mobile users can donate $5 to relief efforts. Head here to learn more about what you can do to help with relief efforts.

"This is apocalypse," Jean said about the destruction in his home country. "We spent the day picking up dead bodies, all day that's what we did. There's so much bodies in the streets that the morgues are filled up, the cemeteries are filled up."

Head here to learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see THINK mtv.